6 Hours!

Kate gave me a 6 hour stretch of sleep last night! Amazing! However, it was well-earned. This is two nights in a row now, but she was up from 6:30 pm - 1 am, just refusing to go to sleep. I'd nurse her, she'd fall asleep while nursing, but wake up when I swaddled her, so I'd rock her to sleep in the swaddle, and when she was asleep I'd put her in the crib. 15 minutes later she'd wake up and cry. Repeat this process for 5 1/2 hours and you have my evening. I think she finally gets tired enough and crashes, but I don't know why she doesn't give in sooner. At least she sleeps long stretches after all that to make up for it! I bought the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" and "Happiest Baby on the Block" to try to figure out what I can be doing better. One tip is to begin soothing them to sleep at the first signs of sleepiness. I hadn't been doing this - I've been letting her get as tired as possible, thinking she'd sleep longer. Turns out that's the WAY wrong thing to do! So just a few minutes ago, I noticed her yawning a bit, so I fed her, swaddled her, and started rocking her to a drowsy state, then laid her in the crib. I heard her rustle around a little, fuss a tiny bit, but I left her there, and now it appears she's been down 10 minutes! So a small success. Naps haven't been her problem these last two days though... It's evening into late night. So we'll see what happens tonight. At least I know if she repeats this again, there's a light at the end of the tunnel and I get a long stretch of sleep.

Here are a couple of cute Kate pictures from Today. Thanks Courtney for this adorable outfit!