sleeping habits

We reintroduced the swaddle for bedtime right before we left for Kentucky when Sam was almost ten weeks old. He had slept through the night many times without it, but he still has a very sensitive startle reflex. We thought this might allow him to start sleeping through the night consistently. And it worked. Yippee! However, we were still rocking him to sleep for every nap and bedtime. Not necessarily a bad thing, but he fights sleep something fierce! Thus it took quite a while to settle him down, and he wouldn't sleep more than 30-45 minutes a stretch unless he had fallen asleep in his car seat.

Last week was a turning point. We made some changes in Sam's routine, and they have made all the difference. We decided to try swaddling him for naps as well as nighttime again; we had done this in the past but it hadn't made any difference in the length of his naps. Another change was that we started playing soft music continuously while he sleeps to drown out some noise. He still seems to be easily startled while sleeping, and the front door is on the other side of the wall from his crib. Additionally, Jake's toy box was also right outside of his door. We moved furniture around this past weekend after taking down the Christmas tree so that this noise is a little further away. Another thing is that we started laying him down earlier for his naps while he's still happy. This allows him time to unwind in the crib and makes it easier for him to fall asleep because he's calmer. Lastly, we started putting him down for the night between 7:30 and 8:00pm right after he eats. He's always happy and content at this time so we would keep him up but then he never had a consistent bedtime. Now he knows that this is bedtime and falls asleep in a few minutes rather than fighting it for an hour or more!

All of these changes have worked. He only fusses for a few minutes, and as long as he keeps the pacifier in his mouth, he soothes himself to sleep. He now sleeps for an hour and a half or so for his naps! What a difference this additional sleep has made. He is so much more content and happy. He smiles all the time now and no longer needs to be held all the time or have a pacifier in his mouth to be calm. He generally only uses the pacifier when sleeping now instead of all hours of the day. Now we get to see that beautiful smile more clearly:)

Our happy boy!