The Mission:

 

Get This Baby

Into This Bassinet.

Sleep time is hit and miss around this house. There are some nights we exclaim in a loud and British voice, "by George, I think we've got it!" ...and then we realize a few days later that our Night O' Success was probably nothing more than a fluke.

Did you know that there is no science to getting baby to sleep? Right, there are books which tell us that it is a science, and trust me - I like things you can get down to a science - but from what I've heard from all of my mother-friends and our moms and grandmothers, there isn't one. Like everything else in motherhood.

Anyway. Sleep time.

For the last 2 weeks or so, The Caterpillar has had a general routine (give or take) of sleeping between 4 to 7 hours early on in the night (say, 9:30 PM - 1:30 AM or onwards), waking up for a diaper change, a snuggle, and to nurse, and back to sleep around 3:30 AM until about 5:30 or 6:00 AM or onwards. In general. This is a blessing. Don't get me wrong. But for some reason we seem to have hit a snag and this "general" routine sometimes becomes less and less of a routine and more of a "remember when...?" between John and I.

And we're tired. (Like all you other new parents. Amen?)

Here's a little glimpse into our sleep time habits at the Butler residence:

Step 1: BATH TIME. 8 PM. This is non-negotiable. Not the time, and not the routine. Our baby is a messy baby, and only bound to get messier when she finds dirt and germs and muck more entertaining than her hands in her mouth. I think bath time is a relaxing, awesome way to get baby into down time.

Step 2:  Pajamas. Er, Onesies. A few weeks ago, a friend was telling me that her family enforces two sets of clothes - day clothes, and night clothes. Day clothes = cute t-shirts and dresses and jeans; night clothes = cozy onesies. I thought this was an awesome idea and quickly ran out to the thrift store with John to buy some newborn sized day clothes... so nighttime could become characterized by one-piece PJs that I think I should sleep in, too.

I mean, come on, how cool is this? (Thanks, Pinterest)

Step 3: Nurse.

Step 4: Rock to sleep. Vigorously. I don't know if it's because womb time meant jiggling around as I went swimming at the Y, or finding peace as I (tried) yoga with friends & mom, or bouncing about when we went for walks... but this girl needs to be seriously moved around in order to get to sleep. We've cleared our living room carpet of our coffee table (that's right, bye bye coffee table) just so that we have an all-purpose non-slip dance floor at our service anytime. I'll be honest.. I'm great at rocking her to sleep during the day, but John is King of the Nighttime Sleep Routine and has the best ability to get her to sleep via rocking!

Step 5: Put her in her bassinet. This part is tricky. Again, John is boss at it. There's a real technique in ensuring that her head is completely still while trying to lay her down in the bassinet... usually, after all of the work put in beforehand, one touch of her head to her bassinet = THE CATERPILLAR IS WIDE AWAKE.

Step 6: Rock her again.

Step 7: Put her in her bassinet again... maybe try the other bassinet.

This one.

Step 8: Nurse her again.

Step 9: Play Ticket to Ride on the iPad together, while nursing.

Step 10: Realize that at some point while she was nursing and you were forgetting about the sleep routine, she fell into a deep slumber.

Step 11: Put her into her bassinet. Successfully.

Step 12: Sleep for 4 - 7 hours.

All that to say...

there is no science to this. Refer to Step 10.