So, how's she sleeping?

Some babies seem to have a nack for sleeping right from the start.  Mine have not.  I would like to attribute this to my children's intelligence and overly active little brains, but it is actually probably more likely due to our over sensitive parenting style.

When Jonathan was a baby, we were clueless new parents.  I recall having an acute sense that there was a major error made when I was chosen to care for this tiny creature and there was always a lurking sense that I was completely incompetent.  I expected someone from the hospital to show up at the door at any moment to take him back.  When he cried, I panicked.  This was a clear and obvious signal that I was, indeed, incapable of adequately caring for this baby.  So if he fussed in his crib at all, we were immediately there to scoop him up and comfort him to sleep.  I remember spending countless anxious, exhausted nights desperately rocking him to sleep for the third or fourth time and then trying to inch him into his crib willing those little eyes to stay closed.  He got sleepy when he ate, so I nursed him to sleep every night.  He was a small baby, so we were constantly nervous he wasn't getting enough to eat- so it was inconceivable that he would survive more than a few hours without eating.  So I nursed him back to sleep every time he woke during the night.  All of that meant that he learned to fall asleep only if he was being held or eating.  After 11 months of up every 3-4 hours we finally took the advice of the "Sleep Lady" and taught Jonathan how to fall asleep on his own using her "sleep-lady-shuffle"

So while I was pregnant with Zoë I resolved to do things differently and I developed several cardinal rules we would follow from the begining:

• I would NOT let her fall asleep for naps or nighttime while nursing.

• I would start putting her into the crib "drowsy but awake" as soon as possible at bedtime and during middle of the night feedings.

• I would learn to tolerate a bit of fussing in the crib.

• We would start a bedtime routine early and watch her carefully to determine her natural bed-time.

And, while far from perfect, Zoë has been a much better sleeper.  At 3 months it became clear that after 6pm she was just too tired to cope well, so that became her bedtime and she would sleep *most* nights from 6:30pm-7am getting up once.  We've had to employ other strategies on a few other occasions- like helping her fall back to sleep without feeing her when she started waking up twice per night around 4 months- but these 4 rules have served us well.

Now at 6 months I would love to be reporting that she was flawlessly sleeping through the night and napping like a pro.  She isn't.  But I can see a full night's sleep in my near future; and while the afternoon nap needs some work, her morning nap is beautiful.