We have four very different kids with four very different sleep habits. For the first 3 years of his life, Silas was an only child. A very spoiled, only child. He slept with us night and day. When nap time came, either Archie or myself would rock him to sleep and hold him through his nap or lie down with him in our bed. I'm not even sure WHY we had a crib. We swore that we would never do THAT again.
Along came Gavin; pop in his lullaby CD, put him on his tummy, give him his raffie and he was out like a light!
Millie wasn't too terribly different either except that we had to let her Cry It Out a bit before she saw the light of peaceful sleep. No music ... no lights ... just her lovie and thumb.
Then we have Tucker. Came out of the womb a champion sleeper! He could sleep through ANYTHING! But as time wore on, he's turned into a monster of a sleeper. He's only 10 months old and down to one nap/ day. At night, he does relatively well. Some nights he makes it all night in his bed and some nights he fusses until we put him in our bed. His favorite position is either with his head on my pillow or his head rammed into Archie's back and his feet propped up on me. A small price to pay for a good (kind of) night's sleep.
When Archie was home over Christmas, we had the luxury of being able to rock Tuck to sleep and hold him while he got a decent nap. Not now though. Here's our nap routine now. I lie down with Tucker after lunch and he snuggles right up to me. I get a few kisses and he talks for a while. I'm not sure what all he's saying, but it's important stuff I'm sure. Then the yawns come and the eyes slowly close and then fly back open. He grabs hold of my shirt fiercely and then we start over again. Kiss, kiss, talk, talk and then it happens ... he's out ... like a light. I listen for that slow rhythmic breathing and feel his vise-like grasp give just a little. I slowly ease out of bed (this of course when I haven't fallen asleep myself). If he wakes up, I freeze; hoping he doesn't see that I'm trying to make my escape. I build up the fort of blankets around him so that he neither rolls out nor crawls out of bed. Head to the kitchen and crank up the baby monitor. Sometimes I get an hour; maybe even two if I'm lucky.
I really think that Tucker was God's way of telling me, slow down, enjoy this; it won't last forever and yes, every baby is different. I know that one day he'll be in his own bed, so I enjoy those sticky kisses and sweet baby breath while I can.
6 comments:
I love the bedtime and naptime snuggling. The wutz sleeps with us, I said I wouldn't do that, but we do!
And we love it.
Awww... he's so sweeet! Woodjie has been out of the pen since he was like 8 or 9 months. He could really scream up a storm. Now he just climbs out any time he wants. If he sleeps, you MUST hold him and pet his head. Or else.
lol such a sweet pic. I love snuggle time-but then aiden wants his own bed lol. He's like me, he wants his own space,pillow and blanket!
Oh, the sweet baby breath!
I feel for you. Liam is in and out of our bed too. And such an erratic sleeper overall. Right now he is trying out having a 2 hour break from sleeping from about 3-5 am or 4-6 am. Can you hear me banging my head on the wall from there?
But yes, there are days when I hold him and sigh, because he is so sweet and someday soon, he will be too busy to snuggle.
The snuggles make a lot of things better... even sleep deprivation. Though after 2 years of it, it got old and I just wanted to sleep, LOL
Post a Comment