Wesley has never been one to just settle down and sleep. He fights sleep, especially if there are people around for him to watch. When he does sleep he doesn't do it for long. Up until this past week he nursed every three hours, around the clock. Which, in case you didn't pick up on it, means I hadn't had any more than three hours of sleep in a row for the past 6 months.With Paul being away for nearly two weeks, and me being near the point of exhaustion, I decided something *had* to be done.
Up until Judah was 18 months old he would sleep anywhere from 15-20 hours. He would sleep for 12 hours at night, and then take two 2-4 hour naps. At a few weeks shy of 2 he still sleeps for a total of 14-15 hours a day.
Wesley, at 6 months, was sleeping for maybe 12 hours a day, and that is being generous.
I began thinking back as to why Judah would've slept like that and what I was doing differently that was making Wesley not sleep like that... and it struck me, with Judah I gave him the opportunity to sleep - and he took it. Judah didn't have an abundantly affectionate brother keeping him awake. Or a loud brother keeping him awake.
I realized that while I kept wishing Wesley would sleep I wasn't giving him the same opportunities to sleep that Judah had.
So I decided to change that. On Tuesday when Wesley woke up for the day I nursed him, let him play for 30 minutes and then swaddled him back up and lay him in our bedroom - which was peaceful and quiet. Within minutes he fell asleep and slept for three hours.
When he woke up I fed him and kept him up for an hour and a half as I had errands to do, but when we came home I swaddled him again and lay him back down. And he slept for three hours.
I maintained that schedule - wake, eat, play, swaddle, sleep. Sometimes he would play first and then eat just before going to sleep. But I tried to not let him be awake for more than one and half to two hours at a time.
And you know what?! That first night he slept for four hours, nursed, and then slept for another four hours. I didn't know what to do with myself after the first solid four hours of sleep I got! I felt so rested and good!
The next day we kept up the schedule, and that night he again slept for four hour stretches.
And then the next night he slept for five straight hours!
And the next night.
I know it sounds silly to say "The more he sleeps during the day, the better he will sleep at night" - but it has been proven with both my boys. I am hoping soon that he will soon sleep even longer periods of time, but for now I am grateful for the five hours he is sleeping and am beginning to feel like a whole new person just for getting those extra couple of hours!!
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