To Sleep or Not To Sleep?

When I was pregnant I read ALL the books about it.
Seriously, all of them.
I didn't, however, venture into the after-pregnancy books because, well, I was still pregnant and figured I'd have time to read those when baby Jack came along! (Wrong.)

Anyways, I was told if there was one book I HAD to read, it was Babywise. So i bought it...
and in my bottom nighstand drawer it still sits.

And you know what? I'm so glad it is.

For those of you that don't know, Babywise is all about "sleep-training" I've heard it works wonders for some moms, and if that's you, that's awesome! I skimmed it here and there during the last few weeks of pregnancy, but it was all very orderly and scheduly and I was just sooo not into thinking about anything but nesting.

We chose to just listen to Jack's needs the first 5 months. When he was hungry, he ate; when he was tired, he slept...that sometimes meant in our arms, or (mostly) on the couch. It worked for us! Jack was sleeping through the night by 2 months and all was well.

Until 4 months. Suddenly, I was up 3-4 times a night feeding my boy. Where did this newborn come from?! Let me tell you, the first couple weeks of birth I was a machine. Up every hour to feed and snuggle, it didn't bother me because that's what you do as a mama! Once I got used to sleeping through the night though, it was a struggle to be perky/happy Becca every morning. I know a lot of other moms that were going through the same thing. One mom even told me she was happy Jack was sleeping through the night, but to get ready because they have a tendency to switch things up on us. I thought, not my kid! (yeah right)

So we started going a little crazy running on no sleep and longer days, but I have to admit..once you reach into that crib and hold that sweet boy, you forget it's 2:30 am. We finally went to Jack's 6 month Dr's appointment, and like usual, my pediatrician rocked my world. Give Jack a schedule, still listen to him, but give him some consistancy. And let him cry for a bit.

LET HIM CRY?! At this point Jack and I know each other. I know his fake cry from his real cry, his whining from his hungry chattering. However, I did not want my sweet, precious, new-to-this-world baby boy to think I abandoned him all alone in that big crib!

Well guess what? It took us 8 days. 8 long, teary (mostly on my part) days, but our sweet boy is sleeping through the night again like a CHAMP. We wake up all together, have breakfast together, he naps, lunch together, he naps, dinner together, and at 8:15 that boy is bathed, fed, and down until 7:30 am the next day.



 Seriously. My mind is blown.

Anyways...what was my point here?! Haha, oh yeah. Sleep training.
I would not change the way we did things AT ALL. I would never want to go back and give up those 3:30 and 5:00 AM snuggles so that I could get some sleep. Ever. I think Jack is the snuggliest baby by nature, but also because we nurtured that.

I know babies that were started on a schedule at 2 weeks old. Guess what? That baby slept through the night and continues too. But that baby doesn't snuggle constantly, is already very independent, and doesn't really reach for mom & dad. That works for that family! I just know my heart would have been broken if Jack didn't snuggle into me as much as he does. (I'm a SNUGGLER, people.)

Can you blame me?!

Each baby truly is different. You have to learn your own child, and learn to take advice from others with a grain of salt. I'm so happy we waited as long as we did to put Jack on schedule. However, now that we're on one, ohhhh boy is it amazing! We are both happier. The smiles I get from that boy after a nap...nothing can touch it.

This is his "morning is here!" face

I guess my point with this post is to let other mamas out there know, you're doing great!  It's hard figuring everything out all the time, and it's definitely a LOT of trial and error. If you're still having sleepless nights, don't forget...one day that sweet baby won't need you to rock them to sleep. It's not an easy job, but it's the BEST one. You'll make it through these restless nights, and I know (personally) I will be begging Jack to want to snuggle before bedtime. Until he's 16. Or 30. Whatever.