I’ve hesitated to write this post because I know it will change, but for the past ~2 weeks, Elijah has been going to sleep amazingly easy. Or maybe we’re just getting better at learning his queues. When 7 or 7:30 rolls around, we go through a ~20 minute routine and the last step is actually putting him to bed. Lately that has only taken 2-3 minutes. We can lay him down even if he’s awake and just walk away. He falls asleep on his own!
There are so many opinions and books out there about how to teach your child to fall asleep on his own and go back to sleep when he wakes up at night. I picked one and read through it to make sure we weren’t starting with any bad habits. The book implied that up until 4 months old, it’s a crapshoot. At that point they start to have the biological capability to make it through a night without feeding but their circadian rhythm doesn’t develop until somewhere between 7 and 10 months. If that’s all true then I’m taking this as a complete bonus and expecting to return to the tough bedtimes and difficult returns to sleep after night feedings. But for now, it’s awesome!
On a typical night he goes to bed at 7:15 and then wakes up around 1 and 4 for feedings. We haven’t slept through a night since June 15, but we’re thankful for how much easier it has gotten in that time frame. Now we’re looking forward to his little tummy getting big enough to hold enough food to get him through the night. We probably have a ways to go yet.