For the past several weeks, Niko has been sleeping thru the night (finally and yay). That means, no more waking up 3 or 4 times a night with a screaming and hungry baby. That means, mom and dad are getting more sleep.
As far as naps, Niko takes 2 naps a day for an average of about 45 minutes. Yeah, I would love them to be about 90 minutes each!!! Because, by the time he goes down (on the weekends, it is me who does it) and I go downstairs to take a breather (it’s a lot of work), Niko is awake!!! When we take him out, he gets about an hour and he goes to sleep pretty quickly.
Now, his crib where he sleeps is in our bedroom so when I want to take a nap in our bedroom, I have to either wait about 15 minutes before I can join him in the bedroom, go in immediately and have him sleep on me, or sleep on the air mattress in his bedroom. I have done all 3, but I prefer my own bed (who doesn’t).
Last weekend, I was adamant about taking a nap in my bed. But, I couldn’t wait the 15ish minutes for him to fall in a deep sleep so when I joined him, he woke up screaming bloody murder and nothing soothed him (not even having him next to me). I had to actually do a reset and start the process over!!! Unfortunately, that didn’t work as he was still screaming when I put him back in the crib. I even tried again to soothe him by laying down in my comfy bed and having him next to me. That didn’t work. Man, all I wanted was to take a nap and I failed miserably for both Niko and I. Lesson learned!!!
So, what did I do next? Well, I took him downstairs for some mama comfort and feeding. That always seems to calm him down. I took him back upstairs about an hour later and we both slept in the bed. It 1st started at 2:30 and we woke up around 5is (he probably could’ve kept sleeping), but I had to wake him up and did it gently. Niko had marks on his face from sleeping on me!!! He does cry when he wakes up, but as soon as we toddle down the stairs, a big grin appears with a laugh on his face!!!
I am not sure when we will put Niko in his bedroom for nighttime as we like having him with us and he likes being with us. When that does happen, it will be weird and one of us (probably me) will have to sleep on the air mattress in his bedroom for a few days just to make sure he is OK alone all night. I hear that nighttime training is easier than nap training.
Oh, we have a really solid baby routine down pat. He wakes up around 8:30 and his naps are at 11 and 3. He gets 3 meals a day of real food, Nina takes him for a walk in the morning because it is so hot in the afternoon (we live in South Texas…do a google search), he has mommy milk throughout the day, he plays with his toys, the cat, and us, and does a lot of walking and talking (although, we can’t understand him yet), At 7, we head upstairs to bathe him (Nina and I have to fight to see which one gets to get in with him), feed him (this is Nina’s job), dress him in his nighttime pajamas (most of the time it is me), and put him in the crib (again, most of the time it is me) for sleepy time.
One of the best parts of the routine is that I get more time when I come home from work to play with him (I arrive home around 4:45). And, when Niko gets his real food dinner, Nina and I are able to sit down and eat with him.
