I had (my half of) the bed to myself all night last night for the first time since Micah was about a week old! I've been reading a book about sleep and it has become clear to me that our little baby had colic. Though I got zero support from my pediatrician on that and therefore I would have adamantly argued against it at the time. I've been thinking a lot about those days of bouncing on the exercise ball all day and all night, wearing the baby in the wrap 24 hours a day lest he get upset.
We managed it well and one of the ways we managed it is by sleeping with him. First he slept in the wrap and I slept on my back that way for about 2 months. When he was around 3 months old and starting to come out of his fussiness, I started just sleeping next to him so that I could feed him without either of us waking up (he was eating every 1-2 hours ALL night long). And I'll admit, I enjoyed snuggling up with him at night. But at the same time, I couldn't move or roll over because if I moved away from him the slightest bit, he would cry.
Since reading this sleep book, we've put him on a sleeping and napping schedule. The first week, we had him going to bed in his crib by himself without even a peep after four days. The second week, we scheduled in naps at 9, noon, and 3 and he never complained! This week, we're working on getting him to go a little longer between feedings overnight so that I don't get exhausted and bring him into the bed at 3am. Last night he only ate three times overnight. I know this still seems like a lot, but the night before, he ate five times in a 12 hour period and that doesn't include the feeding when he went to bed or the one when he woke up at the end!
It's really wonderful. I would say we should have done this sooner, but the only reason we didn't is because he couldn't have handled it sooner. As soon as we noticed his cry shift from a cry of panic to a request for company, we stared letting him figure it out on his own. I think we've got lots of good nights ahead! And I'm looking forward to them!
