The Sleep Update

I knew that parenting would be hard. But I thought the hard parts would be getting up at all hours of the night, discipline and other things like that.

For the first while, it was feeding that was hard and knowing that my baby was not gaining weight and thriving as he should.

And now it is sleep.

Now I feel like I cannot complain too much because Joash is doing just fine with his night sleeping. He has been doing 5-6 hour stretches pretty regularly. And the last few days he has been going to sleep pretty easily and with out much crying.

Napping has been improving, but this is still where my struggle is. If you know me, you know I like to read and I have done a lot of reading and researching on sleep and napping. And of course, everyone has a different idea. Let your child cry it out. Don't let them cry it out at all. Only start having them cry it out when the child is fourth months old. Don't let any item become a sleep prop. Find your child's optimal wake time.

It is overwhelming, really. But, I have been wading though it all and really just paying close attention to Joash. I am trying to learn when he is tired enough to go to sleep. I am learning when his cry says I will be able to go back to sleep on my own. The biggest thing that has worked for me is after I swaddle him up, we just sit in the chair until he is relaxed and drowsy. Most of the time he goes right to sleep in his crib after this. The biggest problem we have right now is him staying asleep. He will sleep for any where from 15 to 45 minutes, but then he wakes up crying. Sometimes he goes back to sleep, but most often he won't unless I hold him again for a bit.

So, we are continuing to work at it and I do feel like progress has been made. And it is times like the pictures below that make it all worth it.