To Sleep or Not To Sleep

What is it about sleeping that we cannot stop talking about it? Or is it just me?! It is the main topic of any conversation, even when you don't even know the mom/dad: "You have a lovely baby, how does she sleep?". You just want to know if they are as sleep deprived as you are, and if they are not, you desperately want to know why? how? when? how?!? what? HOW?!?! . 

So it begins, the search for that mysterious recipe or knowledge that will bring back the full night of sleep (or at least more than three straight hours) that you desperately need... The Holy Grail of Sleep. 

I talked to everybody and tried everything they suggested, but for me it only got better when I learnt to roll with it. As soon as I stop fighting him and the fact that he didn't sleep more than two hours at a time, and fighting the fact that I had to be awake at night, then it got easy. 

Here is the list of all the things I tried to get him to sleep... with very little or no success whatsoever... 

1. Warm room: it got too warm so he couldn't sleep

2. Cool room: it got too cold so he woke up

3. Less naps during the day: almost impossible and super grumpy baby

4. Eat as much as possible during the day: only help him to put on weight, loads!

5. Bath him before bedtime

6. Massage him before bed

7. Wearing a plain sleeping suit: apparently one with prints got him too excited to sleep

8. Put a warm water bottle in his bed to warm his spot up before laying him down

9. Have the mattress on an incline

10. With the hair dryer on

11. With the vacuum cleaner on (all night long!)

12. With the white noise app on (he preferred the real sound from the vacuum cleaner)

13. In the car seat while driving him around the neighborhood 

14. In the car seat in the bedroom

15. Swaddle: he spent more time awake trying to break free than actually sleeping

16. With a sleeping bag

17. On the baby sling

18. With my hand on his chest: which meant I slept on the floor

19. In bed with us: I was too worried about rolling over so this didn't work

20. With the dummy: he spit it out and cried for it more times that I can count

21. Trying to reason with him: we are not fluent on "baby language" so it didn't work

22. Pray: all the Gods from all religions were off duty that day

23. With my mom, in the spare bedroom: Best. thing. ever. She didn't mind being awake in the middle of the night, and it gave us 3 solid hours of sleep 

Have you tried any other way to get your baby to sleep longer?

Loving the baby sling

This weekend was all about walks, and what better way to walk than using a baby sling. There are some lovely lakes near where we live so we decided to go for a quick walk while the sun was out, which in England is very rare and as expected it was very briefly. 

I have found that Seb has a better day if he has some fresh air so I tend to go out almost every day with him. By 'better day' I mean I get to recharge my batteries and therefore I have more patience to tackle the sleepless night. I use both the push chair and the baby sling, but let me tell you why I love the later. 

1. It's cuddle time - who doesn't like cuddles with their little ones? The sling let me do that even if I am out and about

2. Bonding time with dad - it is actually the best excuse to get some 'me' time while dad carry those 13 pounds of love around the shop

3. He gets to be in all the action - Seb is now old enough to be facing forward so all the drools and dribbles are contented on the sling rather than my t-shirt 

4. Freedom - I have both hands free to do other stuff like carrying an umbrella or even take selfies!

5. Sleep - it works every time

6. Spontaneity - It is my best friend on those days when you feel like you want to run away but you really can't. I just put the baby on the sling, go for a walk, and it allows me to escape from the messy house, the dirty dishes, the empty fridge without all the fuff of the push chair. 

Have you got any other positives for using the baby sling?

The oddysey of his first night alone

You, like me, have probably been told that once the baby has moved to his own room everybody sleeps much better. Well, the baby is surely sleeping better. Me, on the other hand, well... Keep reading... 

10pm 

Feed him, burp him and try desperately to make him understand it is sleep time, not play time. 

11pm

Finally, with the baby asleep, I get ready to do the same. Just before bed I check on the baby (still asleep), and check the baby monitor to make sure it's working. 

12am

Tucked up in bed and after reading a few pages of my book I am ready to sleep. Check on the monitor one more time, and make sure the volume is sky high. 

1am

Monitor goes off but no sound is coming from it. I stare at it for what it seems to be an eternity and eventually a noise... A fart that made the house tremble because of how high the monitor's volume was. Clearly the baby is not that bother about it so after changing the volume to a more suitable setting I go back to sleep. 

Hold on a minute, what if that fart came out with something else? Surely, I cannot leave the baby with a dirty nappy all night, or can I? I force myself out of bed to check on the baby. Nothing came out so I go back to bed. 

2am

The monitor hasn't gone off for an hour?! Might be I screwed up the volume before! What if the baby was crying and I didn't hear it?! I might have emotionally damaged my kid for life! Quickly get out of bed to check on him. Incredibly, he is still sleeping like a log. 

3am

Monitor goes off with a very strange beeping. Oh no, the temperature of the room has dropped to 19 degrees and the monitor is letting us know. In fact, it's letting the whole neighborhood know. Quickly, get out of bed to check on the baby. He is not bother at all about the temperature, in fact, he seems pretty content. 

Anyhow, I turn the heating on so the damn monitor stops beeping.

Read: 5 people who will test your parenting skills

4am

Monitor goes off and this time is for real, the baby is crying. Quickly rush into his bedroom, only to find out that he is just dreaming, the crying is actually a very creepy laugh and he is still sleeping like a log. 

But hang on... something smells... Baby has a dirty nappy, so since I am up let's change him. There is no way I can do this without waking him up, so after changing him I spend a ridiculous amount of time making him understand it is still not play time. 

5am

Back in bed and ready to catch up on my sleep. 

6am

Monitor goes off, again, to let us know the temperature in the room is now to high. Of course, I forgot to turn the heating off. At this point I have no energy to get out of bed, so I kick husband out of bed instead.  

7am

Monitor goes off one last time, baby is crying. Husband shows at the door apologizing, because on his way out to work stopped by baby's room to check up on him and woke him up.  He couldn't explain how, and I didn't really care. Only thing that matters is that we have survived the first night of the baby sleeping in his own room... Or that is what he thinks. Me, on the other hand, wish I was the one going to work! 

Note to self: ask husband to oil the baby's room door. From all the checking up at night it is now creaking...