I Feel Spoiled.

Other then her sleeping at night, the only other battle that I've had with Kate (and umm minus the search for the right formula for her, forgot about that!) is her napping in her crib. Now, I know many say you can not teach a young baby a bad habit, so whatever gets you the most sleep, that's what you should do. Whether that be having your baby sleep on you, in a sling/carrier, the swing, the bouncey chair, it does not matter as long as your baby is sleeping.

I personally believe that you can teach a baby a bad habit early on, and with Natasha I tried to avoid doing so. I've learned however since Kate came in to our lives that Tash was one weird/abnormal kid when it came to sleep. :p

I had no problem letting her sleep anywhere when she was very new, because I felt it did not matter and I loved having a sleeping baby on me. But I knew that in a couple of months I'd need to do stuff, play with my other child and get things done, so if my child would not sleep anywhere but on me, it was going to cause some problems. And along the same vein, she was eventually going to outgrow her swing and bouncey chair, so why not just start things off right to begin with then go through a battle later one when she was older and stronger willed. :p

Anywho, the point is, I have been having trouble getting Kate to sleep in her crib for naps. Bedtime? Perfect, no fuss at all. We feed her, put her in her grobag, turn on her mobile and leave the room and she's fine. Nap time however, a completely different story. She fusses which then leads to crying. And then when I finally do get her settled down, she sleeps for a max of 20-30m and then wakes up again. I know there are babies out there that do only nap for 30-45m, but Kate I have learned over the last almost 3m is not one of those babies. If she does not get enough sleep during the day, bedtime is a nightmare!

Yesterday when it came time to put Kate down for her morning nap, Owen came in with me to help. I put my back out yesterday and lifting Kate and numerous other activities are just not doable right now. So I move the grobag out of the way and he sets her down and goes "Why are we not putting her in her grobag?" I stood there a bit stunned and had no words really. I guess I just felt because her room is not cold during the day, there was no need for her to be in it. It never occurred to me that she had fallen into the 'habit' of feed, grobag, mobile, lights out and therefore expected that routine for each time she was put in her crib.

I'm just going to blame this one on sleep deprivation, even though the little monkey is sleeping a lot better now. hah Owen picks her up again, I move the grobag into place, he sets her in, zips her up, turns on her mobile and we leave the room. And you know what? She went to sleep within 5-10m (only coo'n could be heard through the monitor) and slept for 1.5 hrs.

I figured it had to be a fluke, but when naptime came around in the afternoon, same thing, a bit of coo'n but sound asleep for 1.5hrs. And today? Same thing, except this morning after 1hr she pooped and it woke her up, BUT I went in, changed her, gave her a bit more to eat and presto, she was back to sleep for another hour. Afternoon? Yup you guessed it, she is sound asleep.

The only difference is that I was a bit slow reading her cues so when we got up to her room it did take me about 10m to settle her before she'd take her bottle to eat and then go in her crib.

All this to say, I can finally see that light at the end of the tunnel. So much so that I want to cry. Natasha was an 'easy' baby (which I was aware of at the time from talking to other mom's) but I did not realize how laid back easy she was until Kate came along. So the fact that she's sleeping for 5hr stretches at night and for 2 days in a row has willingly napped in her crib? I think it's fantastic. The best part of all this? She's so well rested now that when we go to get her after she wakes up from a nap or in the morning we are given several of her sweet little smiles.

The only downside to this is that 2xs a week Tash has pre-school and depending on when Kate wakes in the morning, her morning or afternoon could disrupt things. Where as before I'd pop her in the bucket seat and she'd sleep from the moment we got in the truck until after I picked up Tash and came back home, lately, she's not been doing that. As soon as she's out of the truck, she wakes up. I'm not quite sure what is up with that, but needless to say, I'm not loving it. So the fact that she's adjusted to sleeping in her crib it fabulous.

Natasha doing her favourite summer activity, blowing bubbles!


Kate sharing with me some morning smiles. :0)