How to Get Baby to Sleep- Or Survive Trying

Oh my friends.
These babies… they are seriously laughing at us.
They know how cute they are and how sleepy we are. lol.

It can be rough trying to figure out how to survive that early stage of baby fog.
You can read one of the million books about it or call your  mom!
But I feel like every baby and mama is different. You have to do what feels right for you.
I thought I would share our experience with the whole thing.
I’m not an expert. I’m PRETTY SURE we did it wrong every time. lol.
But I wanted to write this post just to encourage any mamas out there who are feeling frazzled.
It all works out.. eventually they sleep MORE!
Key word is more. lol.
I have 3 bigger kids and you can count on at least one of them waking up at night.
I’m pretty sure they take shifts. It’s a whole operation to crack us.

 

I was blessed with friends who all have babies
who sleep through the night at 4 weeks old.
LIE TO ME. Don’t tell me that. lol.

My babes never want to sleep through the night till 8 months.
Asher is seriously right on track….
Tonight, for the first time in almost 8 months…(June 2nd)
He slept through the night!!!!
It was amazing, besides the excruciating pain in my chest from not nursing all night.
holy cow.
Don’t hug me or touch me people. don’t even look at me.
I tip toed up this morning at a few minutes before 7.
Asher is in there just laying on his stomach with his head up looking around.
So adorable and cute It almost made me forget the months of mombie mornings.

I’m pretty sure if I followed all of the advice that everyone in the world
gives you for getting your baby to sleep, He might have slept through the night sooner, lol.
BUT we just did what worked for us at the time.
The big breakthrough for us was when we moved the crib out of our room.
In most of our houses we have had to have the crib in with us because of space.
In this house we had asher in our room and then I hit the point where I knew that if I
didn’t let him cry a little bit more at night mommy was gonna cry.
all the time.
because I was going coo coo.
He was 6 months and it was TIME.
We moved Micah man into the girls room and moved the crib into his room.
I didn’t want all the boys together just yet. Micah is still a loose canon and
I didn’t need both boys up partying like rockstars all night.
Divide and conquer.

That crib move was HUGE. He started sleeping longer chunks.
I think he just sensed that he was tucked away from us but safe and quiet.
It was great for Ben and I because even though it started off as only a few
hours still of sleeping solid, those hours felt very separate and a good break.
We had the monitor and we could just relax for a bit.

We let him cry it out a few times each night…not long…
just a couple minutes…calm him down…help him know we are here but he’s ok.
This was a few months ago. He started sleeping longer and longer chunks of time.
I would put him down to bed around the same time as the kids…. Asher at 6:30….and big kids at 7:00.
I would nurse him and get him sleepy then lay him down.
The first time he would fuss I would typically let him cry a bit and he would soothe himself back down.
There was only a few times we had to let him cry longer than a few minutes…
but I knew that he was ok. He was dry, fed and sleepy.
He was waking up twice to nurse and be changed:
usually around 10 and 12…then would go back to sleep till around 5.
That was good for us…I felt a huge difference.

But now LAST NIGHT he slept from 7-7 and it was insanity and amazingness
and I’m hoping that he can keep it up.
I remember when our sophia started doing that.
I would lay her in her bed and pat her back “night night” and she would
fall asleep right away and sleep till morning.
The rain clouds broke apart and the sun came shining into my world. lol.
It’s a game changer as a mama.
It’s around that time I would feel way more confident and capable as a mama.

I think he grew another neck in his sleep last night.
Also his bottom teeth are just killing me.
literally.
ouch.

I am cheering on all of you going through the same challenges
and just want you to know that YOU GOT THIS!
Be patient with yourself…and baby…
and know it’s ok to take a minute and just breath and re group.
Motherhood can be exhausting and we can be hard on ourselves.
Remember you are doing one of the hardest jobs in the world
but amazingly rewarding!
Enjoy the baby snuggles.
Eat all the oreos when he or she finally sleeps.
jk. that last part is horrible advice.