How I got my baby to sleep through…

…I didn’t, another click bait title I can only apologise for 😂…

So I thought I’d make a list of all my thoughts on baby sleep as it’s been far from plain sailing/10 hours night for me…ill keep it simple and to the point and apologise in advance if I annoy anyone- I have full respect for babies that sleep well (do I though, or am I just pissed off at them…)
Disclaimer…these are my experiences, take them or leave them…I’m too tired to care…

1. It gets easier – I beg to differ here…it just isn’t consistent. You think you’ve cracked it one night then for the next 5 they cry all through the night. Then they sleep through till ten one night, then they decide to grow a tooth and won’t settle one bit. My advice, enjoy the good nights as and when, they may be few and far between.
2. Just let them cry – well I tried this for 3 minutes and it broke my heart. Full respect for mummy’s who do it, but I think Reu is clingy (cos of me probs) and his cry was intense and in no way a whinge. I think you can tell when your baby is really upset and unfortunately for me Reu is either asleep or inconsolable. If they are a whiner I imagine this method works quite well..just not for me.
3. My baby sleeps 8 hours a night- anyone who says this is just a full on liar. I am yet to meet one baby that has done this consistently for more than a week at a time. Even the bubs that sleep super well have a whinge in the night or need a little loving pat or dummy putting back in. Don’t judge yourself on other people’s experiences as you’ll deffo always feel a failure, just get to know your baby and recognise they are learning a new skill in how to sleep..I’m 29 and still haven’t nailed the full 8 hours solid so how the heck can we expect a baby to.
4. I have to wake my baby up in the morning – if anyone says this to you just smile and walk away, you don’t want to be their friend.
5. Routine is everything- nope. This would literally mean never leaving the house. I did go through a phase for approx two days where I was like “ok this is our hour by hour routine and we are sticking to it!!”..day one went weirdly to plan and he did everything on schedule and I was like omg, nailed it…turns out all he needed was a routine. Ummmmmm no, day two was an absolute car crash and I got bored of being at home for three set nap times a day and decided to scrap the routine in favour of just letting him sleep in the pram/cot depending on my plans. Some days I curse myself for this cos I think, if I had just let him have a proper nap today he wouldn’t be so fractious tonight but at the end of the day it’s about balance. The more I try work Reu out the more I fail so I’m just gna try to roll with it…
6. Fill them up, they’ll sleep better- in theory this is a great shout and before I weaned this was my light at the end of the tunnel. In reality they sleep when they’re exhausted, food has no bearing on it at all really- unless they’re totally rav and want a snack or so full they want to vom.
7. Trying stop feeling like you’re owed a great nights sleep by your baby. Let’s face it they have no clue of your life pre them so have no empathy for your desire for solid ten hours a night. All they know is that they are hungry, cold, hot, need a cuddle, uncomfy, have a bad back (literally who knows, maybe they do) … and the only way they can share this with you is to cry, as annoying and exhausting as it is….

Things that worked for me…
1. I swapped my Motorola monitor for an angel care one. With the video one, every time I heard a noise I starred at the camera waiting to see some wide awake baby for tens of minutes on end when really Reu was just rolling around and making the odd whimper in his sleep which I’m pretty sure we all do. The new monitor has no screen, just a sensor bad that alarms if he doesn’t breath for 20 seconds, which calms my constant motherly panic that he’s going to die as well as a very sensitive audio, letting me know of any sound he makes…I think the older your baby the quieter you have the volume as you realise they are just asleep and probs snoring rather than involuntarily choking on their own tongue.
2. I put him down on his front. I think with baby number one the thought of this is terrifying as all advice tells you to put them on their back. For us though that was a major fail. Reu has had reflux from day dot and has been slow to learn to roll…one day when at wits end I decided to try him on his front to see if he settled any better, after all he sleeps so well on my chest, he must love to snooze front down?! CORRECT…it was literally a game changer, he was more settled and slept for longer…which in turn made him a happier baby in the daytime. He still can’t roll, but he can lift his head, thus quashing my initial fears of him suffocating in the mattress. The new monitor also helps calm my worries as if his breathing were to falter I’d know about it stat.
3. Dummy..I actually regret the dummy big time but when we started using it it was a god send so I guess I don’t really regret it if I’m being my previous self in the early days of motherhood. At present he won’t sleep without a dummy or a bottle and I sometimes have to do a little trick of giving him his bottle then switching it for a dummy without him knowing in order to get him to drift off in my arms before carefully lowering him into his cot. Sometimes he stays asleep, sometimes he needs his dummy putting back in all night…before you ask..yes I have tried shoving his own thumb in his mouth and yes I have tried making him love on of his 15 comforters…none of which have worked…

Overall my advice so far would be to just try enjoy those moments when you’ve got to hug them all night as they’ll soon be over (won’t they….) and equally enjoy the ones where they sleep all the way through, despite the fact that you wake up every hour to check on them anyway…

Ps apologies if you opened this expecting some miracle sleep cure. But they are just babies so enjoy the snuggles (not so much the cries) cos they’ll be 18 and not giving a shit before we know it…nb these are my views following a good nights sleep…catch me after 3 bad nights and I’ll be discussing how james and I can make cut backs to afford a sleep nanny….