Sleep, Precious Sleep

For years everyone has asked me how I get my kids to sleep through the night from such a young age.

Kaitlyn was 9 weeks old and Bradley just 7 weeks old when they slept 12 hours uninterrupted.
They are now 5 and 4 and still sleeping 12 hours uninterrupted.
They also had proper, long, restful day time sleeps-giving me plenty of time to relax, clean, cook etc etc.
It definitely helps keep stress levels lower and happier babies when they (and you) are well rested.
It is also amazing to walk into your child's bedroom put them into their cot while they are wide awake and walk straight out knowing they will fall asleep without any aids.

So how do I do it?

Well I have my mums ex next door neighbour to thank for it all. She had a little boy about 10 months before Kaitlyn and I babysat him a few times. Jo (the mum) told me her secret. A set of books she used. The Babywise series of books. They start at Babywise and go all the way up to Teenwise. The books cost approx $15 per book and are available online or from a bookshop called Word Bookstore (also have an online store)
These books are AMAZING!!! Seriously they are.

They teach you how to have a routine-but a FLEXIBLE routine. Not a super strict, can't deviate from the plan routine but a routine that's flexible and fits in with your life.

So my routine? Well for the first 3-4 months it looks like this:

7am- wake up, breast feed and get dressed ready for the day

7:45-8:30am wake time, play time.

8:30-10am Sleep

10am Wake up and breast feed

10:45-11:30am Wake time, play time

11:30am-1pm Sleep

1pm Wake up and breast feed

1:45-2:30  Wake time, play time

2:30-4pm Sleep

4pm Wake up breast feed.

6pm Bath

6:30 breast feed

7pm Bed time

10pm breast feed (Isla is still asleep but I go in and get her up and she has a 'dream feed'

3/3:30am Isla will wake up, breast feed

After a few weeks (approx6-8) The baby will one night skip the 3am feed. Once they are sleeping from 10-7am for about a week you can start to bring back the 10pm feed.
So for a week keep it at 10pm, then the next week make it 9:30pm if they go ok with that the next week bring it back to 9pm etc etc until the last feed is 6:30pm.

This way from 6-8weeks your baby is sleeping 12 hours with a 10pm 'dream feed'

I've used this for my two older kids who absolutely thrived on it. Isla is only 3 weeks old and doing amazing on the routine.

It's all about making the routine flexible though.
The basics are:
have a start time each day
Have a bed time each night
Fit feed times, sleep times around school pickups etc. keep it roughly 3 hourly but keep it flexible so if you have something on at 10am one day a week move that day forward or backward by half an hour to fit in the feed time to suit.
Put baby to bed when she is awake so she learns to fall asleep by herself.
Controlled crying-if baby cries leave them for 15 mins, if they are still crying go in and comfort them, if they continue to cry leave them for 10 mins before you go in and comfort/resettle them. If they still cry leave for 5 mins and go in and settle them. Continue until they are asleep. It doesn't take them long to learn to self settle.
When you go in at night time to feed or settle baby don't turn the lights on or talk to baby and try not to make too much eye contact as this will wake them up more.
Most importantly mum NOT baby decides when sleep time starts, and mum NOT baby decides when sleep time is over. This will be extra important in the toddler years.
If baby gets sick or is teething etc don't give in to the routine. Still put them to bed, in their own bed. Still use controlled crying, comfort them when comfort is needed. Don't go overboard and lose everything you have worked hard for.

And that is how I stay sane. I feel like these days people don't seem to understand how important sleep is for a child's development and behaviour. Happy well rested baby's mean happy well rested parents. More energy, better attitudes make for better learning and a generally happier environment to be in....why wouldn't you want to do that for your baby?
The routine above lasts roughly 3-4 months and then baby moves into having two sleeps a day and should definitely be sleeping 12 hour nights.
Once Isla reaches that stage I'll share my routine with you all.

I love that people always ask me how I get my children to sleep and have even tried (unsuccessfully) to follow the routine but give up after a couple days, or cheat and rock baby to sleep or let baby sleep straight after a feed, and then they whinge to me that their child doesn't like routines or it doesn't work.
I can promise you, that if your baby is generally healthy and well and you stick to the routine properly you WILL see results.

I couldn't survive without my sleep. I'm the mum that sleeps 9 hour nights. I always say to people I like it so much better when baby is out than being pregnant because I always sleep MORE with a newborn than when I'm pregnant. :-)