My son has been a pretty decent sleeper from the start. I know I’m lucky. “They” all tell you to get all the rest you can now because you’re never going to sleep again but the truth for us, was that Oden started to mostly sleep through the night at 3 months old. Yes, we know exactly how lucky we were. BUT then that changed and he’d randomly wake up and play for 3 hours in the middle of some nights. Thanks SO much teething.
So we learnt never to hold our breath because sleeping well tonight doesn’t mean he will do that again tomorrow night. It’s basically luck of the draw.
Six things we have learnt about sleeping during our year as parents.
- Routine is EVERYTHING. If you change his routine he will not sleep well. I mean his day naps, the meals he eats, a day trip out the house and the time and person who take him to bed. ALL these things affect his sleeping habits. So we have learnt to be pretty strict about how we spend our days.
- Number of naps during the day can drastically affect bed time, wake ups during the night and next morning wake up times.
- A full meal and a bottle means we will most likely get to sleep properly for that night.
- Using a nappy that can’t cope during the night guarantees we will wake up to a crying and soaked baby. I am not a fan of certain brands for this exact reason. Ugh the constant hunt for the perfect nappy is still on…
- Bath time is a huge part of him winding down for the evening and it really helps to soothe him before bed time.
- He needs his sleeping bunny (do not wash it in the late afternoon and expect it to be dry by bedtime – you will PAY).
For Oden, bedtime routine looks like this;
- Dinner
- Bath
- Story time
- Move to the room
- Give him dummy and bunny
- Bottle of formula in the dark
- Put him in his cot
- Tip toe out the room
Every single night, that’s how it goes. The only variable is the person putting him to bed, sometimes it’s me, sometimes his dad and sometimes his gran. Last night however, we were eating dinner, Oden was for some reason too wide awake to put to bed and so he was lying on my lap while we watched TV – and to all our surprise he fell asleep in my arms. This is NOT how it works. That NEVER happens.
His dad said “well, he hasn’t had his bottle so he’s going to be up at 10 for sure” but… he wasn’t.
Instead, he slept through the entire night without having his pre-bed bottle!
We’re hoping this is a new thing for him and us but we won’t hold our breath that’s for sure!
K still has restless nights, so what I can say is that good sleep moments come and go. Also I’m with you on routine…it’s made it easier when we’ve stayed somewhere else overnight.
Ohhh if we go away, everything is thrown out the window but we try as much as possible to keep things the same as at home.
I’m getting the feeling that with kids, the sleep thing is ALWAYS a thing hehe