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| When sleepy, any place will do! |
Phase
1: Out of whack, zombie land 'non'-schedule, i.e. the first 2 months. His
circadian rhythm was yet to settle and he was wide awake by 3. I mean 3AM. And
his temper and impatience for his milk was no help either. He wanted milk in
his mouth within 3 seconds of waking up else hell would break loose! Dude! Hang
on lemme open my eyes first! Lemme go pee before you're glued to me for the
next forty five minutes! But that was apparently an inordinate delay for my
little hot tempered boy!
Phase
2: Two naps + bedtime at 7-8pm i.e. 2-18 months. He
slept through the night but he woke up some four times for milk. Although this
was obviously better than phase 1, he took very long to actually fall off to
sleep, and putting him to sleep meant carrying him around in a gandong (sling)
for over half hour each time. Of course half the world warns you not to
"encourage" such habits ("you'll have to carry him to sleep till
he grows old and has his own grandchildren!") but we did it anyways. He
DID outgrow the habit, and by the time he was One year old, most times we would
just pat him on the bed till he slept off.
Phase
3: One long afternoon nap+ bedtime at 12 am, i.e. 18-22 months old. It
was slightly better than phase 2 as he had night weaned, yet worse becuz it was
12-effing-AM! Being with the fella 24/7 would result in threadbare patience and
energy levels by nightfall. So no running to warm a bottle of milk or pumping
in the middle of the night, but there wasn't any time to "unwind"! So
much so, that in fact many times I would be out cold by 10.30 - after which he
would alternate between running around and waking me up every fifteen minutes
till he finally curled up next to me at the unearthly hour of 12. Thankfully
that lasted only 4 months!
Phase
4: No naps + bedtime at 7, Began around 22 months. No
need to tip toe around the house cuz he's napping, and I can finally call it a
day by 7! it also means no dinners outside but who cares! We can always do
lunch! And ppl can come over to our place for dinner! I can finally "relax"
and unwind like a normal person by evenings! First time in almost two years we
are now finally sleeping WELL. there had been few slips a couple of times when
he dozed off in the afternoon- ended up sleeping at 12 am- waking early for
school- then the lack of sleep resulting in a vicious cycle. Terrible not just
for him but all three of us. But we've learnt from those and NEVER let him nap
during the day!
I let everything go the
"natural way" wrt sleep and milk intake when he was younger but not
anymore, he's a big boy now! Turning all of TWO next month! So the rule is
never to let him sleep before 6 pm, and voila! He wakes up directly at 6ish in
the morning.
This post is dedicated to
all the sleep we lost in two years: glad you're back in our lives!
Next agenda: getting
him to sleep in his own room.... Hmm! That will be a tough one!
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