Sleep

I really can’t complain too much about being a sleepless mom. Miles takes really great naps twice a day, and if I’m feeling tired, I take a nap, too. I do this even if I’m not truly tired because I know that when I have my next baby, there will be a little toddler to look after instead of taking a nap. And at night, when Miles does wake up to eat, it only takes about 10 minutes from the time I hear him wake-up to the time I am back in bed. But it would be nice to lay down at night knowing that I won’t have to get up until the morning.

And so I was looking forward to his 9-month check-up on Wednesday, and not just because he wasn’t getting any shots this time. Just a little prick to draw some blood. And because Miles is now eating solids really well on top of the breast milk 6 times a day (still twice a night!), he managed to gain about three pounds since his weight check in December!

This was what I was waiting for. I knew that by about 9 months, most babies are sleeping through the night and that it’s okay to stop nursing them if they haven’t gotten there yet. Of course I didn’t want to stop feeding him if the doctor was still worried about his weight gain. So after she gave me the green light, I felt such a huge elation. And then I just happened to mention that I think I produce a lot more milk at night. Ooops.

“Well,” she said, “some babies still need to eat at about 4 or 5 in the morning.”

So close!

But that meant that I wouldn’t be feeding him if he woke up before then. Just letting him cry. Or going in there to comfort him if I felt like he would calm down without nursing.

Miles has been fairly inconsistent with his night feedings. He has slept through the night a handful of times. Then he went back to waking up three times. Then once. Then twice. I never know when I go to sleep at night how long I have until he will wake up.

But after the appointment, Chris and I decided that if Miles woke up before 4 am, we would just let him cry himself back to sleep. The same way we let him cry when we were trying to help him learn how to fall asleep for nap times. I really dreaded this when we went to bed that night. I was pretty sure that I would have to go in there to hold him because I HATE to listen to him upset, especially if I could be sleeping. Selfish, I know.

But Miles decided that he would go ahead and sleep until 4.

And then the last night he decided that he would sleep until 5:30. And then slept in until 8 am after that!

Of course, because I am putting this out there in the universe, he will wake up five times tonight. And Chris is going back to working nights tonight. Yea!