I'm gonna regret this...

My knuckles are pretty sore from all the knocking on wood I have been doing lately but I think we have a pretty good sleeper in Grace. I bet we'll have a total reversion to the first few weeks now that I have put that statement out to the entire blogosphere instead of just mentioning it in conversation or in emails but I'll throw caution to the wind for now.

The first few weeks were rough, as they are with most babies. The girl likes to eat and she had only one food source - me. As it turns out, we probably were running up against a need to nurse for comfort as well since it turns out she has reflux (we have long suspected this is the case and had taken steps to address it but it really all came to a head in the last couple weeks). Getting up every 90 mins to two hours was the norm (as it should be in a new baby, for sure). Rob and I would go to bed around 7:30-8:00 in hopes of cobbling together 6 or so hours in a 12-hour period.

One night at about 5 or so weeks we had a particularly rough time settling her down but once she went down she was out like a light for about 6 hours. That was confusing to say the least, but was an appreciated chance to sleep a bit more than usual (the other breastfeeding moms out there will know what it was like for me to have my baby miss a couple feedings for the first time...no fun).

Since that night, and especially after getting through her 6 week growth spurt, we have not had too many nighttime issues with Grace. She is very comfortable sleeping in her bassinet for both night sleeps and naps. She seems to have figured out the difference between night and day - nighttime wake ups are very short and to the point (new diaper, nurse, back to sleep) and are becoming fewer and far between (this follows some effort by Rob and I to keep the nighttime wake ups as quiet, dark and non-eventful as possible). In fact, four times in the last eight nights she has gone 7-8 hours straight with no wake ups (for her - Mom and Dad still wake up out of habit). We can count on a stretch of at least 5 hours pretty much every night, which according to baby sleep experts (yes, there is such a thing) constitutes sleeping through the night for a little one. This long sleep is usually followed by a shorter one of a few hours and then two good naps in the morning. The afternoons and evenings are less regular but for now I will take what is developing into a good night and morning routine for all of us.

I'm sure all of this will go out the window at some point - when we travel, teething, growth spurt, eventual move to a crib. Look forward to the next sleep-related post where I complain about how she isn't sleeping anymore. But, in the meantime, I'll take what I got while I have it.