Posts Tagged ‘sleep’
Sleepy Yogi
Posted on: May 6, 2010
- In: Parenting | The Niko Files
- 1 Comment
It’s funny how babies can get so sleepy sometimes. Last night Borys was giving the Little N Man his last feeding of the day, and before he sucked it all back he was completely TKO, and still sitting up in Borys’ arms. I took a few pics as it was just so cute and strange to see our sleepy little monkey, all propped up in the lotus position.
And the Angels Sang…
Posted on: February 21, 2010
You know in movies when something really good happens and you see the sky open up, the light shine through and a choir of angels starts singing? Well, that’s how I felt this morning, when after taking a double take at the clock I was actually correct in seeing that it read 6:55 am! Whaaaaaaat!? Yes it is true. Munchkin Niko Man slept for 11 hours straight last night: his longest stretch ever! At which time I got up, fed him and he fell back to sleep for another two. Sweet dreams little man.
I, on the other hand, had not gone to bed at 8 pm like he had – try closer to 1 am for Mommy. And why did I stay up so late, you (and I) may wonder? I guess it was the double combo pull of Daddy being up and watching SNL, that lured me in to the wee hours of Sunday morning. However, even six straight hours is record breaking for me these days.
While Niko’s sleep patterns are still proving to be irregular, these longer stretches are happening more frequently: so fingers crossed that this is just the beginning of a new era!
Sleep On, Baby Sleep On
Posted on: February 11, 2010
It’s time for a mini-celebration! Borys says, “Let’s not talk about it.” – because he doesn’t want to jinx it, but I can’t help but comment on Niko’s monumental sleeping patterns this week. Monumental seeing as when we were in Halifax he woke up every two hours – hello 1 am, 3 am, 5 am, 7 am – and I was contemplating starting him on rice cereal just to get him through the night. But then when we got back to Ottawa, and he was back in his regular crib, he has had three wonderful nights of sleep IN A ROW! Yes – the last two nights he did two 7.5 hours stretches, and the night before that he did an 8.5 hour stretch – followed up by another solid three hours on all three days! Not only that but he has been going to bed without as much fuss as well – 10 to 15 minutes of fussing as opposed to us having to calm him for a good hour!
They say good things come in threes – so hopefully this is a sign of what’s to come in the future. They also say that the only constant in a baby’s life is change – so time will tell how long this lasts! But for now, celebration time it is! YAH!
Two Hour Sleeps
Posted on: January 6, 2010
You know, I often feel really lucky that Niko sleeps so well in the night. A lot of the times he makes it from 10 or 11pm to 4 or 5 am. However, last night my luck seemed to have run out! He was up like clockwork every two hours and hungry! What is going on? Maybe he is going through a growth spurt? I don’t know. But ironically enough, today he has been napping for 3 hours (or more) straight! It seems like his clock is off for this last 24 hour cycle! At least I don’t have to worry about sleeping in or missing appointments: having Niko is like having a living, breathing alarm clock sleeping right next to me!
Patchwork Parenting
Posted on: December 17, 2009
- In: Feeding | Parenting | The Niko Files
- 7 Comments
Upon becoming (first time) parents we have been inundated with information about how to raise a baby, and on the right and wrong ways to do things. This information has come from various sources: the best intentions of friends and family, health care workers, magazines, the internet, books, etc. and we as parents are left to sift through and choose the pieces that we see as the best fit for our own parenting style. But what is a parenting style? How are we supposed to know which information to follow, after all each baby is unique and what works like a charm for one may be total bunk for the other! Actually, to keep myself sane I vowed not to read up too much on parenting, to sort of just go with the flow and try to follow my baby’s needs in order to keep him happy: that was until this week.
About four trusted people recommended the book The Baby Whisperer to me. So, seeing as I had not bought any parenting books and Niko had hit the three month mark I figured this might be a good guide to help me sort out some sort of a routine. I’ve heard that by three months a lot of babies will start to sleep through the night, so why not back up my practice with a little research, some advice from an expert? With The Baby Whisperer under my belt of holiday purchases I went home and started reading. This book is a little daunting at first as it is about 300 pages of small type and no pictures, but once I started reading it, I found it easy to read and enjoyed the bits of humour peppered throughout the text.
Anyway, one of the techniques describes giving your baby a “dream feed”, which means waking him up around 10 or 11pm and feeding him in his sleep. Yes, in his sleep! The theory being that the little dear will “tank up” and be able to do the long stretch of sleep that mommy and daddy both used to enjoy in the pre-Niko days. So “tank up” we did and sure enough after a bit of encouragement, Niko did just start eating in his sleep, though it was a little slow going at first. After his tank was full, I lied him down and kept my fingers crossed that the next time we saw each other would be in the morning! And time passed, when what do I wake up to but Niko’s crying (which is really just like a living, breathing alarm clock!). “Yah!” I think to myself! “We did it! He made it through the night!” Well, I should have held off on my little parent party because when I looked at the clock it was only 1:15! What?! Yes, 1:15am, his earliest wake to date! So much for the “dream feed”, all it really seemed to do was interrupt my dreams! But, the book says establishing a sleeping through the night routine takes time and patience and that I should not give up! So, on we forge, continuing to sew this patchwork quilt of parenting, together.
Note: Did you notice that everyone seems to be “whispering” these days? As far as I can tell it started with that novel/movie “The Horse Whisperer”, then came along that TV show “The Ghost Whisperer”, then my beloved Cesar “The Dog Whisperer”, and now even “The Baby Whisperer”. What is up with all this whispering?!
Tired Much?
Posted on: November 18, 2009
- In: Parenting | Sleep Time | The Niko Files
- 8 Comments
There are many signs of being overtired, for both adults and babies. In no particular order, crying, rubbing one’s eyes, yawning, and restlessness, are just a few of those signs, and the list could go on and on. Last night I discovered another way of telling if someone (namely me) is overtired. As I have mentioned before, Niko is on an on demand feeding schedule. His usual routine is to wake up once in the night for a feeding and then he sleeps again until somewhere between 6 and 8am. Last night he awoke, on schedule at around 3am, and this is when I discovered yet another way of telling when someone is overtired. I found myself arguing with myself (yes, with myself!), in my head at 3am. The conversation (can you even call it a conversation, if it is just between your tired self and your rational self?) went something like this:
Tired Me/Rational Me: Niko’s crying, and it’s 3am; he must be hungry.
Rational Me: Get up and feed the baby.
Tired Me: I already fed the baby!
Rational Me: The baby is crying; get up and feed the baby.
Tired Me: I already fed the baby!
Rational Me: No, you did not feed the baby yet, otherwise he would not be crying!
Tired Me: Yes, I fed him, and I’m going back to sleep! … But why is he still crying?
Tired Me/Rational Me: Oh, the baby is crying which means he has not eaten and must be hungry. I have to get up and feed him. Am I having an argument with myself in my head? This would make for an interesting blog entry.
After this little ditty with myself, I proceeded to get out of bed and tend to the needs of my hungry baby. Lucky for Niko the rational side won out. Although, I am sure if his crying would have persisted this would have snapped me out of my reverie like state, a state in which it seemed perfectly normal to be arguing with myself ! In conclusion, I think arguing with oneself at 3am is a sign of someone who might just be a touch overtired! That said, I took the advice of many today, and napped when Niko napped and really didn’t get out bed for good, until 11am: oh, sweet, sweet sleep!
Good Night
Posted on: November 10, 2009
- In: Milestones | Sleep Time | The Niko Files
- 2 Comments
Wow, Niko had such a long sleep last night. When I woke up to his cries, I was surprised to look at the clock and see 
that it was actually 5am. That means he slept for five hours straight. His body must have been telling him to prepare for this long snooze because he ate pretty much non stop from 5 to 8pm the night before, and then again at 10:30pm.
Overall Niko is a really great baby: he sleeps well and does more grunting than crying. The other day my friend Jamie wondered if all that grunting is a sign that he will grow up to be a chatterbox. Time will tell I guess. I think Niko actually hugged me today. As I was rocking him over my shoulder and watching The Dog Whisperer, I felt a little hand come up and hold on, on one side of my neck and another little hand squeezed my other shoulder. It was probably just a reflex, but it felt just like a mini-hug and he held on like that for a minute or so. Adorable!
Sleepy Head
Posted on: November 2, 2009
- In: Parenting | Sleep Time | The Niko Files
- 2 Comments
How much do babies need to sleep? And how am I supposed to know the answer to this question? At times I feel like there is some magical formula out there, and I am just searching for the ingredients to the recipe called The Right and Wrong Way to Raise a Baby. But then when I really think about it, I realize that this magical formula can’t exist: there is no perfect way. As time passes I guess I will gain confidence and develop and rely on my own instincts. But seriously, when do babies get on a schedule?
Right now Niko sleeps a lot, but over the past few days I have noticed a shift. He is sleeping less and has more alert time. Last night I set my alarm for 4am and had planned to feed him then, but he had other plans and woke up hungry at 3am: maybe it had something to do with the time change. This morning he followed a similar pattern: he woke up hungry at 6:30 am and I had my alarm set for 8am. But what a smiley guy he was this when he woke; I have never seen him grin so much! I have to say, that the first few weeks with him have been amazing and getting to know this little man is so much fun.
But back to the main question: I wonder, is he ready to sleep through the night? I know if I look online I will come up with about a million websites offering me free advice. Is he too young to try to do this now? Probably the best thing to do is just listen to my baby. Won’t he tell me if he’s ready? Well, I just did a quick search and this is the first hit I came up with. I guess he might still be a bit young for a full night’s rest…and who knew a full night’s rest in baby terms only meant 5 hours!?
Sleeping Through the Night
You have probably heard that babies should start “sleeping through the night” at about 2 to 4 months of age. What you must understand is that, for a new baby, a five-hour stretch is a full night. Many (but nowhere near all) babies at this age can sleep uninterrupted from midnight to 5 a.m. (Not that they always do.) A far cry from what you may have thought “sleeping through the night” meant!
What’s more, while the scientific definition of “sleeping through the night” is five hours, most of us wouldn’t consider that anywhere near a full night’s sleep for ourselves. Also, some of these sleep-through-the-nighters will suddenly begin waking more frequently, and it’s often a full year or even two until your little one will settle into a mature, all-night, every night sleep pattern. (http://babyparenting.about.com/cs/sleeping/a/newbornsleep.htm)
Parenting 2.0 