Hellobee

Here’s a look back at Sweet P’s sleep changes over the first 7 months. If you read the sleep evolution of Little P you may have been jealous or thinking we had it easy with kid sleep. We thought we were such ‘experts’ at getting a baby to sleep well. Turns out we were just lucky, as we learned with our sweet girl. She has put us through the wringer. Good thing she’s so cute! (And now so sweet!)

What was Sweet P’s sleep like as a newborn?

The only photos we got of her sleeping as a newborn were for her photo shoot. Otherwise we were terrified to take a picture and wake her.

Oh boy. Her sleep has never been great. She was never a sleepy newborn. Even as a newborn she had to be very intensely soothed to sleep, and then re-soothed to sleep after brief naps. But, it wasn’t really just about her ability to sleep. It was due to her reflux, colic, tongue and lip ties and dairy intolerance. Poor girl was uncomfortable the first 3 months of her life!

Has Sweet P always slept in a crib? Did she cosleep or sleep in a bouncer or swing?

She didn’t sleep in her crib until she was at least 4 months old. Not for a lack of trying, but her reflux caused a lot of spit up if she was laid down flat. She mostly slept in the Rock and Play. We were so grateful for that invention! She also slept a lot in her swing. But only the side-to-side swing. We had a front-to-back swing that just made her scream more. We didn’t officially co-sleep, but due to her reflux and colic there sure were a lot of nights that I slept for several hours upright on the couch with her on my chest since it was the only way she would sleep. Around 4.5 months old she started getting a little too big for the Rock and Play, so we elevated one side of her crib (per the pediatrician’s recommendation) and the transition went pretty smoothly despite the factI was so very nervous about it. I think the fact that she was still tightly swaddled helped a lot.

Did you swaddle? When did you stop swaddling?

Sweet P was a total swaddle addict! She has loved putting her hands in her mouth since she discovered them. We thought that would help her self-soothe, but if she could even see her hands she got too excited and wouldn’t sleep at all. And she could sure wiggle out of most swaddle blankets, especially the Halo for some reason. So, we quickly moved her into the Miracle Blanket, which was awesome! We tried so many times to wean her from the swaddle with one arm out, or even putting her on her belly (which we heard from many people washelpful for babies with tummy issues), but any time we did anything except strap her arms to her sides with no mobility she would scream and cry.

I asked so many moms how they ‘swaddled weaned’ and none of it worked for Sweet P. After she grew out of the Miracle Blanket we transitioned back to the “SwaddleMe” swaddles since they have the “Big Baby” size. We had to get them so tight though so she wouldn’t bust out of them. She got to be such a good Houdini that we then moved to the Wombie Convertible swaddles around 6 months. Thankfully by this point she was ok with the minimal arm movement it allowed her. We started doing at least one nap a day with one arm out of the swaddle and she started doing pretty well at that, but definitely wouldn’t sleep overnight with one arm out. I was worried about it and shared my concern with her pediatrician at her 6 months appointment, but the pediatrician told us that one day she would start sleeping better without the swaddle than with it and that we didn’t have to worry about it.

Then, right before she turned 7 months she started rolling to her tummy in her sleep. So, we tried (for about the 10th time) the Zipadee-Zip and it worked! Now that she was sleeping on her tummy she was sleeping deeper and better and with her arms strength and the flexibility of the Zipadee she was able to push herself up quite well. There were a few months there where I thought this girl would be in a swaddle until Kindergarten, so I’ll take 7 months for sure.

When did she sleep through the night?

Sweet P started sleeping through the night around 4 months. This is a loose definitely because she always woke up screaming within 30 minutes – 2 hours after bedtime and needed another bottle to go back to sleep. And then would wake up once again in the night needing her pacifier, but otherwise she didn’t have any middle of the night wakings that she needed to feed. But then, 2 weeks later, she got her first two teeth and started needing a bottle some nights. And then around 5 months she would STTN about half the time and the other half needing a bottle. Right after 6 months she started needing a MOTN feed every single night. I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that she hasn’t tolerated solids well yet, so she is legitimately hungry when she wakes in the night, so we are just feeding her for now until she gets more solid food into her diet on a regular basis.

Did you ever sleep train or nap train?

Once we got her tummy issues figured out around 3 months old and her naps were a disaster, I bit the bullet and nap trained right before she turned 4 months old. Before nap training it would take us at least 5-10 minutes to soothe her to sleep and then she would wake up after 30 or 45 minutes to need soothing again. After nap training she was taking three 1.5-2 hour naps and one catnap. She’s (so far) been a pretty good napper since! You can read all about it in this previous post that I wrote.

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

Thankfully we haven’t had to do this yet, BUT we also haven’t done any middle of the night sleep training yet. When she is “off” for whatever reason we do more back patting and soothing to help her get to sleep, but thankfully we haven’t had to return to any cry-it-out. Yet.

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

As a very new newborn, Sweet P would sleep in the car. However, once she hit about 6 weeks she became a carseat screamer. So, definitely no naps on the go for her. We recently took a 600 mile road trip and thankfully she slept in short bursts while we were driving. However, it was usually proceeded by about 5-10 minutes of screaming because the poor thing just can’t relax and fall asleep in the car without significant soothing. Which is very hard to do in the car, as you can imagine!

When did Sweet P drop from 4 naps to 3, and then 3 naps to 2? 

She didn’t drop to 3 naps until 4.5 months, and we are currently in the 3-2 nap transition. We have only tried 2 naps for 2 days and it has gone ok so far, but I’m sure there will be plenty of days that we will add in a third nap to prevent her getting over-tired.

What is Sweet P’s nap and bedtime routine?

Since nap training we haven’t had to do much of a routine. We were really strict about it at first, but she has gotten much better at falling asleep on her own. So, we usually change her diaper, put her in her swaddle, lay her in her crib and say, “night night.” She might fuss for a few minutes and we often have to go back in to give her her pacifier after a few minutes of fussing, but she usually falls asleep pretty quickly.

At night she gets a bath, put into her pjs, then a bottle. We often sing to her during her bottle. We then lay her down awake. She often fusses a bit and we go back in once or twice to give her the pacifier, but since she has started sleeping on her tummy she goes to sleep much faster. It’s really time that we add in a book to both her naptime and bedtime routine though!

Rocking out that Zipadee-Zip! Too bad it clashes with the sheet pattern, but look at that sweet face!

What is her current schedule?

Since the 2 nap schedule is very new and not very regular yet I will share her 3 nap schedule. We’ve also recently added solids to her day after either the first or second bottle of the day.

8am- Wake Time – The fact that she often sleeps until 8am is what makes us ok with her middle of the night feed!
8:30am- Bottle
10am-11:30 (or so)- Nap
Noon- Bottle
1:30-3:30 Nap (the start time of her nap depends on what time she wakes up from her first nap, so this changes each day)
3:30 Bottle
5:30pm- Catnap
6pm- Bottle
8pm- Bedtime Routine & Bottle
8:30pm- Asleep for the night

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

I definitely wish she would sleep through the night. But, for now I am grateful for the good day naps and the easier bedtime. I’m really hoping she will start STTN without cry-it-out nighttime training, but unfortunately, that may be in her future at some point.