Hellobee

Here’s a look back at Little Piñata’s sleep changes over the first 3 years. And boy have there been a lot!

What was Little Piñata’s sleep like as a newborn?

Little P was a great sleeper as a baby! He slept pretty much all the time and it was kind of awesome. We got him into the Eat-Wake Time-Sleep routine pretty quickly because we had several friends that successfully used that method, but as a newborn that wake time was more like him sleeping and us trying to keep him awake for just 2 minutes.

Precious newborn sleep

Has Little Piñata always slept in a crib? Did he cosleep or sleep in a bouncer or swing?

When we brought Little P home we had a crib but no crib mattress. Until then he slept in a little Moses basket that a friend graciously lent us. We tried to put him in our room, but neither one of us could sleep because all the sweet baby sounds kept us up all night. S0, he slept for a few nights in the hallway before we officially put him in his own room. We also thought cosleeping sounded precious, but even as a baby he was so social that being in our bed was too exciting for him. He took pretty much all of his evening naps in a swing, and slept in a swing at daycare (once a week), but otherwise he was pretty much in a crib. And since I wasn’t breastfeeding, it seemed easy enough to have him get used to sleeping in his own room pretty much from the get-go.

Sleeping in the Moses basket- how was he ever this small!?

Did you swaddle? When did you stop swaddling?

Little P was a swaddle addict for sure. I know around 4-5 months he started busting out of his “SwaddleMe” swaddle once a night. Then we switched to the Woombie Convertible and did one arm out at a time for a few weeks and then he slept with both arms out of it (but still cozy and tight on his trunk) for awhile before we switched to a sleep sack. I can’t remember exact dates on this, but I remember he was in a swaddle for awhile and I didn’t mind as long as he was sleeping well!

 
He was busting out of his swaddle earlier than I remember!

When did he sleep through the night?

We were so lucky. Little Piñata started sleeping through the night at 12 weeks, just one week before my maternity leave ended. We did a “Dream Feed” around 10 or 11pm that helped him get to 7/7:30am. But, we dropped the Dream Feed at 5 months old. He kept sleeping through the night until he started teething and then there were occasional nights he would wake up crying. We were so lucky in the sleep department with him. Especially now that we have a 7 month old that doesn’t sleep through the night!

Did he go through any sleep regressions, like the famous 4-month or 9-month sleep regression?

Other than teething we never had any of this. We had some issues when we went from 3 to 2 naps and then from 2 to 1 nap and had to give him a super early bedtime. But, I think some of our early nap training and the fact that he’s a total high sleep needs kid meant any regressions were small and not too bad.

Did you ever sleep train or nap train?

When Little P was 11 weeks old he could not seem to sleep past the 45-minute mark for anyof his naps. This left him pretty cranky a lot of the day because he wasn’t getting the sleep he needed. A friend recommended nap training and even though I was terrified of it, we had awesome results. If he woke at the 45-minute mark we would have him cry in 5 and then 10 minute intervals before going in to soothe him, and within 3 days he was either soothing himself back to sleep or sleeping right through that nasty 45-minute intruder. And actually it was after this nap training that he started sleeping through the night. I think it might be related since sleep begets sleep.

Did you ever have to re-sleep train after illness or travel?

Usually after illness or travel (which was regularly) I did more soothing at naptime and bedtime to encourage more sleep. We never did cry-it-out again or for the middle of the night, and instead do more soothing when there’s a sleep issue. It can be annoying, but for the most part I’m grateful we didn’t really have to do MOTN CIO.

Sleeping on the beach at 2 months old. Is this not the sweetest sleeping baby you’ve ever seen?

Did teething or physical milestones like rolling over or standing affect Little Piñata’s sleep?

Yes! Definitely! I can’t think of all of the details now a couple of years later, but I remember that every time I thought he was an amazing sleeper, we could go through another transition and we would have night wake-ups again. The biggest was the month he turned one year old and got EIGHT teeth in one month. There was no sleeping through the night that month! I also remember the phase where he was starting to get really mobile (like crawling) and would wake around 4-5am just talking and playing in his crib for over an hour before going back to sleep. I could hear him from across the hall even with earplugs! But, overall he was such a good sleeper and we were lucky.

Will he nap anywhere else other than her crib, like in the stroller or carrier?

Sleeping in the pack and play on vacation 2 years ago. He still sleeps with that lovey blanket.

Yes! He was an awesome carseat sleeper. So much so that when I was working and driving him to my parents’ house to get watched as a baby, I would have to bonk him to not fall asleep on the way there since I wanted him to get a good morning nap when he arrived. This also meant that we could do overnight car trips since he would sleep the whole way in the car. But, he definitely never slept in the stroller or in the carseat if he wasn’t getting the movement of the car.

When did Little P drop from 4 naps to 3, and then 3 naps to 2? From 2 naps to 1?

He went down to 3 naps right at 4 months, and then started going down to 2 naps at 7.5 months. I remember Christmas Eve he just screamed and screamed when I tried to put him down for his 3rd nap and I thought something was really wrong. Within the next few days I realized it was because he wasn’t tired then anymore and so it was at the holidays that we transitioned down to the 2 naps.

The 2-1 nap transition was rough and took a full 6 months. He could occasionally do one nap starting at about 13 months, but wasn’t really ready for just one nap every day until he was 19 months old. We did every other day of 1 nap for a while and he had a horribly rough time at his 2 day a week PreK/daycare program that we couldn’t take him out of because it was childcare while I worked. They didn’t nap until noon and he was a tired and cranky mess by 11. But, again, right around the holidays (so a full year later) he finally was truly ready for just 1 nap. And glory be, it was a 3-hr nap too!

What is Little Piñata’s nap and bedtime routine?

We honestly never had much of a ‘routine’ for naptime. When he was a baby when it was naptime or he got cranky we just swaddled him up, gave him his pacifier and then put him in his crib. We were so lucky. Whew! Even now it’s pretty simple. At 3 years old we take him to the bathroom, brush his teeth (since nap is soon after lunch), put on a diaper and sleep sack and lay him down in his crib.

Bedtime is slightly more complex since it involves more books and prayer time, but it’s overall pretty similar to naptime. We only do baths about 2-3 times a week for him to not dry out his hair or skin, so that’s not necessarily part of his regular bedtime routine. Of course as a baby he had a bottle, and then around 1 year old that changed to a sippy cup of milk, but we haven’t done that since I can remember!

What is his current schedule?

Little P’s current schedule is pretty similar to what it was since he went down to 1 nap over 1.5 years ago. His nap has shortened and bedtime is later, but schedules are so much easier with just one nap!

7:30am: Wake up time (He’s usually awake by 7am, but thanks to his ‘ok to wake’ bunny clock, we keep him in there until 7:30).
12:30/1pm: Naptime – this is pretty flexible depending on what we have going on in the day, how tired he is acting, etc.
3:30: Wake him from his nap. And yes, it’s true. At 3 years old he still sleeps 2.5-3 hours and has to be woken up. We are spoiled!
7:30pm: Start bedtime routine – this is sometimes moved earlier or later depending on his level of tiredness
8pm- (Hopefully) asleep for the night

This was shortly after we brought Sweet P home and Little P’s schedule was a mess. He was supposed to be eating lunch on the way home from church at noon, but he was so exhausted he fell sleep in the car.

If you could change anything about Little P’s sleep, what would you change?

Overall I’d say I wouldn’t want to change anything about his sleep because he sleeps so much and I love that! I know I’m super lucky that he’s such a good napper even at 3 years old and is nowhere near being ready to drop that nap. He’s obviously a high sleep needs kid, which is great 95% of the time. However, it’s hard when we travel or want to do something fun in the afternoon. He literally cannot handle not getting his nap or going to bed too late. We’ve tried being more flexible and it leads to a lot of nighttime wake ups and trying to compensate for his sleep debt over the course of several days or weeks. I’m definitely not complaining, because I work from home and don’t know what I’d do without all those sleeping hours, but if I had to pick one thing to change that’s what it would be. I guess we will do more outings and travel in a couple of summers from now!