I started this post on May 24th:

Ian’s new thing is twisting his head waaaaayyyyyyyy to the side. I think he’s testing to see how far his neck will reach.  I’m watching him try to nap in the swing after a failed attempt at napping in the co-sleeper. I think his teeth are bugging him enough to not be able to fall asleep. I know he’s tired. He’s been up since 5am, and was up every two hours since 11pm last night. As was mama, of course. Sleep, baby, so the mama can sleep!

It is now May 28th, and I guess I’ve started sleep training, although so far the changes I’ve made have been subtle, and (holding breath) seem to be working.

What it looked like before:

Bedtime routine began at 7:30pm. Change, read story, swaddle, nurse, put in co-sleeper.

A “good” night was Ian sleeping until 3-4am, nursing, and sleeping another 2-3 hours. An “okay” night was a “good” night with an additional feeding, usually around 1am.

A “bad” night involved a second nursing after the initial nurse to get him down (he would start to cry within 15-20 minutes of initially falling asleep), followed by wake ups every 2-3 hours where I would nurse him back down.

Initially he slept in our room, and then we moved him to his room, but I’ve been sleeping with him (cuz I’m lazy and don’t want to deal with a potentially snoring husband).

Now, I already consider myself very blessed with Ian for several reasons. First, he would always be fine after nursing, even if he was still wide awake. He would just talk to himself and eventually fall asleep. Also, he’s always been great in the co-sleeper. He also loves being swaddled, which still really helps him sleep long stretches, which I guess is a blessing and a curse.

What’s changed so far? When he fusses after the initial nursing, I’ve not nursed again. The first night, I soothed him by laying a hand on his chest and “shushing”. This took him from full on crying to quiet little moans, which he does to soothe himself, within 2-3 minutes. Last night, I didn’t go in at all and he cried for less than a minute, and proceeded to sleep 8 hours. I nursed him, put him right back down and he slept for 3 1/2 more hours.

Hoping this is not a fluke. Hoping this is not a fluke. He’s actually napping right now, unswaddled, in the co-sleeper. Wha?

I know I’m lucky. He was a good sleeper to begin with.

Of course I was up all night, wondering if I heard him, wondering if I should pump, feeling a little sad that he doesn’t need me as much as he used to.