You know all that talk in Parenting Land about babies sleeping through the night? And how if parents do x, y, or z it will cause their babies to sleep through the night/develop horrible sleep habits so they never sleep well?
Yeah, I'm starting to think it's all a load of crap.
Sure, there are things parents can do to help or hinder their children's sleep. However, I'm also becoming convinced that a lot of it is completely random. At least from our perspective (it may all make perfect sense in their little baby brains).
Wednesday night D slept 8 hours in a row. Thursday he woke 4 times, sleeping only 1-4 hrs at a time. Friday he woke 3 times. Last night he went to bed at 8pm, and slept a whole NINE HOURS before waking at 5am.
I do not entertain illusions that he'll sleep well again tonight. And I'm kinda over trying to analyze the previous day's events to try to see if there's something I might have done differently to help cause the good/bad sleep (I remember the comment my mom made once about how babies will get their parents to do ridiculous stuff through conditioning with their behavior, "I swear he's happier when I stand on my left leg and hop three times instead of just two!").
So I will continue to try my best to enjoy the good nights, and on the bad ones, repeat to myself that most useful of parenting affirmations, "This, too, shall pass..."
AGREE!!!!
ReplyDeletehey - listen - babies do not sleep through the night. and that is a fact. our society perpetuates this "babies sleeping through night" thing and babies who are breast fed shouldn't! you are doing a great job - look how big and beautiful he is. So I agree, don't let it bog you down. you're gonna travel in a few short days anyway and that's gonna throw everything out of whack. just keep repeating your mantra..."this too shall pass..." someday. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd don't forget to get enough sleep yourself during the day... :)
Amen to Sarita's comment.
ReplyDelete:D
Yes. It's all crap!
ReplyDeleteYou've learned the ultimate parenting mantra: enjoy what you can, and learn to accept the rest. He'll sleep when he wants to sleep.