Friday, and Updates on Sleep and Nursing (Bo-ring!)

We had lunch today with my high school friend Heather and her daughter, Alayna, who's thirteen months old. We hadn't gotten together with them for four or five months (not counting my brother's wedding last weekend), so it was fun to catch up on all things baby related as well as life in general. They just finished weaning, so of course I asked a ton of questions about that. It was amazing to see all the things Alayna can do now. And Eamon was back to his super happy, secure, smiley self. Granted, the babies weren't actually playing with each other and Alayna never took a toy away from him--perhaps the tide would've turned then.

It occurred to me that it's time to offer a little update on sleeping and nursing. Nursing three times during the day is working out fine, and I think I'm ready to drop the 3 a.m. nursing. E's gotten into the habit of waking up at midnight and 3:00 like clockwork, and it's not cool. Last night, for the first time, we didn't go in at all at midnight. Or rather we waited to see what would happen if we didn't go in. He cried some, but not hysterically and not for long. He went off and on for fifteen minutes or so, and then he went back to sleep, and get this: He didn't wake up again until 5:30. [Huge sigh of relief.] I've never been able to stomach the idea of not going to him at night, but I can't argue with these results.

As for naps, I think he's started the transition from two to one. He's ended up taking two today, for the first time since last Sunday. I guess we'll see what happens the next couple of days.

Oh, did I ever report back about the sleep training we tried a couple of weeks ago? I don't think I did. It was incredible! I never thought we'd see such clear results from any one method, but this one worked for us like no other. One night--that's all it took. As I mentioned before, we waited five minutes, then ten, fifteen, and twenty. (Twenty was the longest interval we had to go. Thank God.) We've never had to go that long again, although we've had to employ the method once or twice since then when he's gotten off the routine for various reasons. But it's been quick--nothing like that one night. For the most part, we put him down awake around 7:00 and he plays for a while and then falls asleep quietly or fusses just a bit before falling asleep.

Oops, someone's up.

Gosh, the non-mom part of me just skimmed this post. YAWN!