So I have to start out this post with a confession...my son does not sleep through the night. He never has...not one night.
Clinically speaking, he used to sleep through the night: a six hour stretch. Then at about 5 months, Carter decided sleeping was overrated...now on a good night, he gets up 3 times. He goes to bed at 8:30, up at around 12-2, again 4-6, and up for good 6:30-7:30. He is only up for about 5-15 minutes each time...which is nice. That is a good night. A bad night is...well, bad. There are some reasons for why my son does not sleep through the night:
1) He is breastfed. Breastmilk digests very quickly, therefore, when he wakes up...he is often hungry! Human milk is meant to be low calorie and babies are designed to feed throughout the night. (Please don't tell me to give him a ton of rice cereal before bed, it doesn't work, trust me.) Would I ever consider not breastfeeding him so I could sleep?? OF COURSE NOT!! He is getting the best nutrition possible and that is important to us.
2) We do not allow him to "cry it out." Justin and I believe a baby's cry is a form of communication (thank you Dr. Sears). Now we don't pick him up every time he makes a peep, but when he starts to really cry, we get him and console him. I have always said: I would not like to be left alone to cry in the middle of the night, so why would he? Some may say that he is "training us" or "manipulating us" but he isn't. He is a baby and sometimes babies need to reconnect with their parents...especially in the middle of the dark night.
3) Some babies sleep through the night and other don't. I have done a lot of research on infant sleep patterns and the consensus is that some babies do not sleep through the night. Carter is getting to an age where he should be sleeping longer stretches (we will get there), but to expect him to go to bed at 8 and not wake up until 7 is a little far fetched. My son is just one of the babies that doesn't sleep all night long.
Why I am posting this is because I feel it is a weight that needs to be lifted off my chest. I often feel embarassed when I tell people that Carter doesn't sleep through the night. I wonder if they are judging me as a bad parent. Maybe they think we are doing something wrong and how awful it must be to not get to sleep all night. Carter is the happiest baby in the world all day. He smiles, laughs, plays, studies, and behaves wonderfully. If the worst thing I can say about him is that he wants to see Mommy and Daddy at night once and awhile to reassure him that everything is okay...I think we are doing pretty good. I am willing to miss out on some sleep so he can be the happy baby he is.
Now to the point of the title of the blog. One night this week, Carter was having a very hard time sleeping. Teething has been torturing my poor son and this particular evening he had enough. He was up every 1-2 hours SCREAMING and then stayed up from 1-4:15. We were pretty tired. Then on Thursday night...a miracle. Carter got up ONCE ALL NIGHT! WOOHOOOO!!!!!! He went to bed at 8:30, up from 2:40-3:00, and up for good at 7:15!!!! Now it only lasted one night (last night was another bad teething night), but it gives me hope that sometime in the future he might only get up once a night consistently (I would be happy with twice). Thanks for letting me get everything off my chest! I hope you all enjoy the pics and have a great Memorial Day weekend!
Carter and his playgroup friends.
Mommy, I came to find you because it is time for a nap.
I warned you it was time for a nap!!!!!!
My lilacs again...they just keep getting bigger!!
A close up of my lilacs.
Everything is growing great!
Almost ready to bloom...
I go out and check everyday to monitor progress!
My fruit trees.
My hostas.
I planted squash, tomatoes, and A LOT OF basil. Justin picked out some peppers!
Yeah...my tomato plant is in a kitty litter bucket...so what?? :)
Tulips in the front yard.
Justin has been working on tearing down the deck...hopefully it will be down by the end of the weekend.
I can't wait for it to be gone!
Starting to look good!
