Still Not STTN but I Can't Complain Much

As much complaining as I do about the lack of sleep I must admit R and I are very lucky. Riley has never been one of those babies that cries at night. Yes he cries to wake us up when he wants to be feed, but he doesn't continue to cry once picked up. He knows his needs are going to be meet and is as patient as a newborn can be.

When we made the transition to his crib during the night it was me not him who had the most issues. I was the one up every hour sometimes three or four times an hour to make sure he was still breathing. Quickly I learned I could also send R in a few times a night to check as well, although the first few times I made him do it he rolled his eyes at me.

After weeks of his night and days mixed up and us holding him while he was up we realized that a) the car would put him to sleep and then b) that we could actually lay him down in his crib and he could put himself to bed. The night we discovered this might have been even better than the night he slept 5 hours for the first time because it meant that R and I could go lay down even if he was slightly awake still. The biggest miracle of him putting himself to sleep is that he doesn't cry! Yes Riley can put himself back to sleep at night without crying! This is not something I expected him to be able to do, I had fears of him being 9 months old and still needing to rock him to sleep because I quite frankly refuse to ferberize my own child. Ferberizing as a nanny was hard enough, I knew I couldn't do it as a mother.

Now Riley has added one more trick to his sleep habits and it is one that I am very grateful for. He can now put himself to sleep for his naps too! He has done it twice today so far and did it twice last week too. Of course sometimes he won't and when he cries I am always there in seconds, as fast as my feet will carry me, to calm him down and help him get himself to sleep.

So while Riley isn't STTN yet in the sense that he goes 8-12 hours at night, I am sure we are on our way to that. I don't have any grand expectations that it will be any time soon, but one day I hope to enjoy my sleep again.