Sleep So Far

Our baby is now three weeks and one day old.  He is an expert sleeper right now, he sleeps a lot and sleeps through most noises still.  There is something to be said about sleeping like a baby.  The ability of him to nap anywhere during anything is amazing.  Last night I took an emery board to all of his nails while he dosed on top of the Boppy pillow on my lap. 

We're definitely getting more sleep than we thought we would in these early weeks.  It's intermittent sleep.  We tend to go to bed around 10 pm and get up around 10 am, and sleep on and off for 12 hours.  This works for now, but would be hard to keep up for the long term.  Luckily babies sleep for longer periods as they get older, so our every 2 to 3 hour feedings won't last forever.  I find it hard to nap in the afternoon, which must mean I'm getting enough sleep for now.  I mean, I don't feel well rested, but I function well enough right now.  Though I can tell that my brain is slowed down a bit. 

We have an Arm's Reach Co-sleeper next to the bed, but he doesn't spend much time sleeping in it.  The idea is that you get baby out of the co-sleeper, feed him and put him back in it then go back to sleep.  I tried this the first couple nights, but he slept so much better right next to me in bed.  And when he is sleeping better, I am sleeping better.  I also found myself watching over him way more when he was in the co-sleeper; when he's right next to me, I can feel him breathe and I worry less.  So, for the most part he's either on my side, with the co-sleeper acting as a barrier to him falling all the way to the floor, or he's in between us.  Even pro-co-sleeping people warn against having baby in between the parents, but Brent seems to be just as aware of him and we've had no trouble.  Plus I often fall asleep while feeding him and wake up to him squirming and wanting to feed again, and he's still right next to me.  If I move away from him, he eventually follows and I find him plastered right next to me.  For now I have Brent change his diaper when needed, usually once each feeding.  So we wake up about the same number of times.  Sometimes baby fusses for a bit, so I burp him or check his diaper, but mostly he just eats and sleeps overnight. 

The idea that we would roll on to him seems absurd right now, you are so aware of your baby when he's next to you.  Of course we rarely drink and don't take any drugs or medications that make us sleepy, and we don't smoke or formula feed.  The two biggest risk factors for SIDS is formula feeding and smoking.  We also try to keep pillows and or comforter away from him, which is easier than I thought it would be.  Some nights we just have a sheet on us because it's so warm.  Baby stays plenty warm with our body heat and sometimes a blanket covering his legs.  He's also a pretty big baby and has decent control over his head already, so I'm not too worried about him.  Plus we sleep!

When he starts sleeping for longer periods, I might try the co-sleeper more.  And if I ever get the elimination communication stuff going, we might be able to eliminate some of the night time diaper changes.  For now though, baby is using cloth diapers and this is going well. 

Daytime naps have been taken in a sling or mei tai carrier or the car seat if we are driving, and sometimes he will go down in the co-sleeper for a couple hours.  We are seeing slightly more awake time from him, Brent will read to him, I tend to talk him him or sing to him, the last song I sang to him was "Dumb," by Nirvana; it's what came to my head.  "I'm not like them, but I can pretend, the Sun is gone, but I have a light..."