Sleeping Through The Night

Anyone who says that babies sleep through the night by the time they're 6 or 8 months old is telling you a lie.  At least that's how I feel.

My soon-to-be one year old does NOT sleep through the night.  I can count the amount of nights that he has (9 if you were wondering).  Otherwise, he gets up at least once in the middle of the night.

Now I know what you're going to say.  "Don't go pick him up in the middle of the night and he'll sleep better."  That's not true either.

Our night time routine is that after his bottle, 2.0 is rocked until he's drowsy.  Not asleep, just drowsy.  Then I lay him down in his crib, turn on his My Pal Scout for 5 to 10 minutes of bedtime music, and out the door I go with a gentle "goodnight" and "I love you".  About half an hour to an hour after he goes to bed, I go to bed.

Then it gets ugly.  About three hours after he's laid down, 2.0 is up again.  I lay in bed for about five to ten minutes, listening to the type of cry, before I decide to get up or not.  If it's a panicked cry, I'm up immediately.  If it's a whiny cry or simple yelling to get attention, I don't get up for awhile.  What normally happens is the whiny cries turn into panicked cries.  I get up, rock 2.0 for about five minutes, then lay him down (awake or not) and go back to bed.

I toss and turn for about two hours before finally going back to sleep.  It seems like ten minutes after I get back to sleep, the ugly routine starts all over again.  And again.  And again until about 5AM.  Then 2.0 gets up for the day between 730 and 8 in the morning.

He doesn't get a bottle in the middle of the night.  I don't change his diaper in the middle of the night (something I'm thinking about changing in the routine as for the last three mornings his diaper has leaked).  I simply get up, rock him, and put him back down.

There are nights when he only gets up at 430AM.  I blame the upstairs neighbor for that since that's when someone up there gets up and starts walking around.  But lately it's gotten worse, back to the every two hour routine.  I don't have a newborn anymore and I'd really like to get some sleep.

I'm trying to make sure that 2.0 gets his naps at the right time, that he's getting enough to eat and getting enough activity throughout the day.  I'm also trying to make sure it's quiet when he goes to bed for the night.  But I guess some kids just aren't good sleepers.  *yawn* I guess I'll get used to it.