Every little hiccup is usually coupled with a blessing.
Grace sleeps for at least ten hours every night. Some nights it's eleven or twelve, but it's always at least ten.
That's a HUGE blessing!
I've looked through so many things on the internet about baby sleep and everything has lead me to think that she needs to be taking 2-3 hour naps during the day too. This was stressing me out, not because I necessarily wanted that time alone during the day, but because I thought in order for her to develop correctly and be healthy that's what needed to happen.
But....
She doesn't like to sleep in her crib during the day. We tried getting curtains to block out the light. We tried putting her in her warm jammies. Basically we tried simulating how it is at night to get her to sleep, but she still would only sleep for ten minutes or less.
She sleeps longer during the day in her swing, but I hate having her sleep in that. I get so nervous and feel like I have to watch her the entire time.
On Monday she had her 4 month check up and her pediatrician said: "If she's sleeping that well that night then she probably will only take really short naps throughout the day or MAYBE a two hour nap if you're lucky."
That made me feel SO much better knowing that it's okay if she only sleeps for a half hour a couple times a day. Pediatricians are the best, they always give the best, most reassuring advice. At least Grace's does.
I realize that I'm ridiculously blessed that she's four months and sleeps so well. She's been sleeping like this since she was three months old, actually.
After talking to lots of veteran-ed moms I realize that most people aren't this lucky.
My visiting teacher came yesterday and was telling me all seven (SEVEN) of her kids didn't sleep through the night till they were at least 18 months old, usually 2 years old. She said they'd wake up every two hours or so and need to get rocked back to sleep.
She also said that she thinks it was kind of her fault though because she WOULD just immediately go rock them if they made a sound.
We were really fortunate with Grace cause she kind of just learned on her own that sleeping for longer hours at night is fun.
We never had to do the whole sleep training thing. I do realize though that as babies get older their habits change and lots of times parents have to start all over again with their 15 month old who was sleeping so well etc. I don't doubt things will change, but as of right now we are sleeping easy. Literally.
This past weekend before I talked to my pediatrician I was pretty frustrated that she wasn't sleeping very long during the day so I told Jeff we should try just letting her cry it out.
She ended up crying for about forty minutes and by the end of it I think I was crying just as hard as she was. It was no bueno.
She never did fall asleep that way. We eventually gave in and then I felt almost worse cause we just let her cry for that long for no reason.
Having a baby is hard stuff. I feel like there should be a couple years of training and instruction beforehand so it not as much as a whirlwind as it is.
But like I said, the hard things are usually paired with blessings.
Nearly every single day Jeff will be home from work in the evening and he'll just look at me and say: "We have such a good baby."
And he's right. We really do. She likes attention and doesn't like to be put down sometimes, but wouldn't you be the same way if you were as little and helpless as her? If you couldn't move around on your own and do things for yourself wouldn't you ask for help too?
The other day I was feeding her all of a sudden I had this overwhelming feeling that Jeff and I were exactly where we needed to be and doing exactly what we needed to be doing in life at this time.
There is no other way to describe that other than knowing that it was a feeling from God.
I saw this quote the other day and I think it's very true.
"Choose to converse with your Father in Heaven often. Make time every day to share your thoughts and feelings with Him. Tell Him everything that concerns you. He is interested in the most important as well as the most mundane facets of your life." -Elder Richard G. Scott
I know that is the case with all of us.
I try to fill up my spiritual tank with lots of fuel, but really I do struggle just like everyone else with prayer and scripture reading and loving one another etc. etc. I think the important thing about that struggle though is we never give up on it. Even if it is a "struggle", just let it be that way, because at least that means it's still there and you're not turning away from it.
Heavenly Father won't ever turn away from us and to me that's comforting through whatever hiccups I'm experiencing.
No comments:
Post a Comment