The Great Sleep Debacle

Ever since Ethan was born I have been worrying about his sleep. Is he sleeping too much? Is he sleeping at the right times? Is he sleeping in the right spot? Why won't he sleep longer (at night)? Should I let him cry it out? Will he grow out of it?

Hmmph. It can drain a woman to worry so much.

After wrestling with Ethan at about 3 months to only sleep in his crib and at certain times of the day- I gave up. He does not have a set schedule, but he can sleep pretty much anywhere and does when he is tired. Here are some places he has slept recently:

-At playgroup with 5 other babies crawling around and making lots of noise.
-In Dairy Queen in his car seat.
-At home through our neighbors moving in and blaring loud music seemingly into our house.
-On a walk in the stroller through the neighborhood.

We have a routine during the day and I can pretty much tell you at what times he will sleep during that routine- but it will most likely not be in his crib. He will have to one day when he gets to big to sleep other places. But for now, he sleeps in his crib at night.

My newest trick is a certain song that he will fall asleep to in the car when played repeatedly. I think he likes the calm soothing voice of Garth Brooks in "To Make you Feel my Love" ( a song made famous by Bob Dylan). I love hearing it over and over, so it's a win win.

We have had a time getting him to sleep at night. In the beginning he would get up once from midnight until 7 am. Recently it has been every hour and a half. And you might remember my post about him crawling inthe middle of the night. This may have happened more than once. After much thinking and brainstorming with my mom and Jason, we came up with a solution.

We have this thing that used to go on the pack and play. It plays music and vibrates the pack and play for 6 minutes. I put that on the crib and when I put Ethan down in it I turn it on. It puts him into a deep sleep. Thank you Jesus!

Last night I got some of the best sleep I've had in a while. He went down at 9, got up when we were going to bed to eat at 11, slept until 2:30, ate, and then slept until 6. I even got him to go back to sleep until Jason got up for work around 7. Hallelujah! I am hearing the Messiah chorus in my head right now.

This has been the hardest adjustment for me as a new parent. I hope that it will only get better from here.