6 Reasons Why I Sleep Through the Night
I am such a good girl. My mommy tells me so every night. She calls me her super sleeper because I have been sleeping through the night fairly consistently since I was 2 months old. No nighttime feedings or diaper changes required. I don’t mean just a few hours. I’m talking about a solid 8-10 hours each night. That’s how good I am! Mommy says she is lucky to have such a good baby. I agree. Mommy is lucky indeed.
I know that there are lots of mommies out there who wish they could be as well rested as my mommy. Everywhere we go, people ask us for the secret to our success. Today I will try to answer that question by sharing my top 6 reasons why I sleep through the night. Hopefully it will help other mommies finally get some sleep.
1. I eat enough during the day
We all need a certain amount of food every day to keep our engines running and babies are no exception. When I was in my mommy’s tummy, food was constantly delivered to me day and night. I didn’t have much need for a large stomach, and not much space for one either. Since then, my stomach has grown every day, allowing me to eat more at each meal. Mommy carefully monitors how much I eat by making a note in my feeding journal. Regular feedings help my stomach grow without making me sick.
My stomach and I are now big enough to eat all I need to during waking hours. Mommy uses my feeding journal to make sure I eat enough to last me through the night. I always get a good meal thirty minutes to an hour before I go to sleep. Close enough to bedtime to prevent hunger, but not so close that lying down will upset my stomach. I used to get a bottle of milk, but now that I’m eating solid foods, my last meal of the day includes my favourite oatmeal with that milk.
2. I keep busy
There is time for sleep, and there is time for play. The night is time for sleep. My nap time in the middle of the day is time for sleep. The rest of the time is for adventures. You can’t expect a baby that does nothing but stare at the ceiling all day to be sleepy at night.
Mommy likes to keep me busy. I play with my toys such as Clip Clop, Star Bright Symphony, and Pink Elephant. I have physical activities like the dreaded tummy time. I play games on the tablet or I watch TV. Mommy and I go outside for adventures, and I even help mommy in the kitchen. Sometimes I get tired and have a little snooze, but once I wake up it’s back to some sort of activity.
3. I sleep in my own room
For the first two months, I slept in a bassinet in mommy and daddy’s room. As soon as mommy started transitioning me to the crib in my room, I started sleeping longer at night. My room is nice and quiet and my crib is very comfortable. In the morning, my curtains keep the sun out, letting me sleep in longer. Sleeping in mommy and daddy’s room was fun, but mommy and daddy are noisy. Sometimes daddy snores! Mommy tosses and turns all night. The bed creaks. How is a baby expected to sleep with all that racket? Now that I’m in my own room, I can finally get some rest.
4. I have a wind down and bedtime routine
My wind down routine starts in the evening with my oatmeal. Once my tummy is nice and full, it’s time to wind down and mentally prepare for bedtime. Mommy and I relax on the couch together. I rest in my favourite spot on mommy’s lap. When bedtime rolls around, I’m either asleep or almost there.
Mommy takes me upstairs and we do our last diaper change for the night. Then mommy dims the lights, picks me up, and holds me for a bit. Mommy rocks me while she whispers in my ear about sweet dreams and the fun we’ll have together after a good night’s sleep. Then mommy puts me in my crib, gives me my pacifier, and strokes my hair. She wishes me a good and safe night. As I fall asleep, Mommy tells me that she loves me, turns off the lights, and leaves my room, closing the door behind her.
5. When it’s time for sleep, it’s time for sleep
When I was born, I had no concept of day and night and I slept on my own schedule. There was no bedtime where I came from. I had to learn when to sleep and when to stay awake. Mommy started teaching me right away.
From the very beginning, if I was awake during the day, mommy would play with me, or engage me in some sort of activity. If I was awake at night, mommy would tend to my needs and go into our wind down routine. It took me some time to learn what the routine was for. At first it would take me a while to get back to sleep, but mommy is patient and persistent.
6. Mommy gives me a chance to get back to sleep
These days I rarely need mommy during the night. If I do happen to wake up, I can usually get back to sleep on my own in just a couple of minutes. Mommy doesn’t rush into my room every time I make a sound. As long as I don’t cry, mommy leaves me alone until morning. If I do need mommy, it’s usually because I had a nightmare, and all I need to get back to sleep is my pacifier and a few calming words.
There you have it! My tips for sleeping through the night. Hopefully they will be of some use to tired mommies and fussy babies. Sweet dreams everyone.
My little one slept from 9 weeks old too. There are blips of course and now that shes 2 and a half she comes in to us once in the night every few nights but falls straight back to sleep. Routine is so important and worked for us, but every baby is different. I definitely think we’re blessed!
Good habits and a solid routine are important, but luck is certainly a part of it. The first time Peachy slept through the night, she was only 2 weeks old. I don’t think it had much to do with anything that we did, and the following night she was up again. It happened a few more times here and there until she was 2 months old. That’s when Peachy fell into a good routine and slept through the night with some consistency. At first I was worried that something was wrong, but her doctor keeps reassuring me that she is perfectly healthy. Turns out, we’re just, as you put it, blessed.
Peachy’s mommy
I totally agree with so these steps and think it is so important you share your success with other mummies! Long may your rested nights continue! #KCACOLS
Thanks 🙂
It took Pops 4 months to sleep through despite us having a good bedtime routine from a young age. If she does wake in the night now she’s pretty good at settling herself while I lie in bed waiting to see if I need to get up! Good tips to share #kcacols
Although Peachy has excellent sleep habits, she does still wake in the night from time to time. I spend many hours watching the monitor in the night to see if she can settle back to sleep. She never needs me, except when she manages to flip onto her tummy. Sometimes she’s too close to the rails to turn back over. That’s when she cries for me. But all I have to do is turn her onto her back and talk to her softly for a minute, and she’s ready to go back to sleep.
Thanks for reading.
Some great tips. My first was a great sleeper but my 2nd is awful and still wakes frequently at 22 months! You are very lucky to have such a wonderful and cute sleeper #KCACOLS
I feel lucky. Peachy sleeps around 12 hours straight these days. She will be 9 months soon. Some babies just like sleep more than others. But she does nap less during the day than other babies seem to. Still a pretty sweet deal for me.
Thanks for the comment.
Some great helpful tips here, but you are also very lucky (and what a cute baby in that picture). I did all these things with mine and they still didn’t sleep. But that’s ok – it’s character building. 🙂 #kcacols
Thank you. Some babies are definitely better sleepers than others. I do know how lucky I am, but there were some hard night too. Once I felt that Peachy was ready to get on a sleep schedule, I didn’t sleep for several weeks to make that happen. I would spend all night insisting that she sleep. That`s my step 5 on the list. Most of the night was me rocking her until she fell asleep, her waking up five minutes later, and me rocking her back to sleep again. It was hard work. What makes me lucky, is the fact that this only lasted for a few weeks.
My son took a long time to sleep through the night, and even after it started there have been long blips along the way, but I do believe strongly in the need for a bedtime routine and to clearly distinguish between day and night. From about 6 weeks we started a bedtime routine of bath, massage, story, feed, and bed which definitely helped, as he’s always been great at settling himself to sleep. Thanks so much for linking up at #KCACOLS. Hope you come back again next Sunday
We started a routine at about 6 weeks too but it took some fine tuning. What I had planned for our bedtime routine is not what Peachy had in mind. But after a few weeks of sleepless nights we got that all sorted out.
Thanks for reading and commenting.
Gosh! You are so lucky! My 5 yr old still wakes up in the middle of the night! I am so tired! lol! Thank you so much for sharing your post with us on #FabFridayPost
I’m definitely lucky, but we do have hiccups once in a while. Last night it took me 2 hours to get Peachy to fall asleep. She just wouldn’t settle down during her bedtime routine. After much effort I managed to get her to fall asleep in my arms twice, but both times she would wake up as soon as I put her down in her crib. I think her tummy was upset because what ended up working was me rubbing her tummy for 20 minutes while Peachy moaned softly. Eventually the moans stopped, she fell asleep, and I was able to creep out of her room. But most nights she is very good so I am very lucky indeed.
Aww… poor peachy. Hope She’ll get better soon. xx
I have been on both sides of the spectrum. My 6 year old NEVER slept, even still he is often up late into the night. My 4-year-old has slept through the night since he was 6 weeks. Now with baby number 3 we’re working towards another solid sleeper. Here’s to hoping! #KCACOLS
I hope baby number 3 is a good sleeper for you. Best of luck.
we had a good routine but my bubba was an average baby re sleep – I think at least. hed wake every 3 hour or so until around 4 months. he is now 3 and we have more ups and downs in the nights than ever before – he wants a wee, he wants a drink, he’s scared. it is never ending. ill just say – enjoy the long nights of unbroken sleep while you can – you just never know when they might change 😉 #KCACOLS
I often wonder what will happen when Peachy is big enough to climb out of the crib. That may be a game changer.
Thanks for reading.
My daughter slept really well until she was 4 months old, then it all went out the window! She’s much better now but it took a long time to get here! x #KCACOLS
Peachy will be 9 months old in just a few days, and so far so good. I’ve been very lucky. She almost never needs me during the night. Occasionally it takes a little longer for her to settle down and fall asleep, but once she gets there, she’s asleep for at least 10 hours. Thanks for reading.
You sound like both my sons Peachy. We had the same routine too and they both slept through the night from 2 months old. I think this is great, it gives new mums a chance to see the light at the end of the tunnel. 🙂
Thanks for linking to #pocolo (and thanks for being the blogger in #bloggershowcase)
Thank you for having me in the showcase! It’s been a fabulous experience.
I’m happy to hear that your little ones were good sleepers too. People think that being a mommy to a baby means you’re sleep deprived but I don’t think that has the be the case. With a little planning most babies should be able to sleep through the night relatively early. Unless some babies, like myself, are just extra amazing. I guess that could be the case as well. Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Yey!!! However I’m very jealous right now as my 6 month old keeps waking for formula 2-3 times a night and has started to snack during the day (days and nights muddled?) This is my second baby and I’m doing all the things I did with my first baby who was a dream like yours and slept through pretty much from 8 weeks. I’m now about to start night weaning… give me strength. Had I not had a baby before I’d have really questioned myself. I think with second babies it’s harder as you don’t have the time to always finish feeds (I’ve only 18 month age gap) or give the same attention as when I only had one. Let’s see how things pan out. And king may your good sleeper continue 😉
We have been tremendously lucky with Peachy. She is such a good sleeper. I hope you manage to get your little one on a better schedule. Good luck and thanks for reading.
I am guessing Peachy is not a ‘high-need baby’
In my opinion, Peachy is the perfect baby with exactly the right needs in exactly the right places. 🙂
Peachy’s Mommy
Great Post,Keep Writing
Thanks 🙂