So last Wednesday whilst T was at his grandparents for the day, i commenced operation sleep!
Eve would sleep for quite long periods in her pram, but couldn't get her down at home, unless you cuddled her tight whilst she screamed and screamed and eventually fell asleep in your arms, but then as soon as she was put down she would wake and scream again.
So I had her by my side all day and began watching for sleep cues. Her cot is still by our bed, so I planned a day in the bedroom. I began by taking her out of her sleeping bag, opening the blinds and having the tv on quite loud.
An hour after she'd woken she started rubbing her eyes and her nose. I switched the tv off, put her in her sleeping bag and closed the blinds. Put her down in her cot and I lay on our bed so I was at arms reach from her. The first time she had a bit of a shout (she has a very obvious 'displeased' cry. It sounds like she's shouting 'hey hey hey hey')
As she quitened and started to settle I left the room, came back once she was asleep and read my book in bed, so I was there if she stirred or woke and would be reassured by my presence.
She woke the first time after half an hour. She saw me and gave me a big gummy grin, so I opened the blinds, took her sleeping bag off and put the TV on. Sat and played with her for a bit and then an hour later showed signs of tiredness. So repeated the process again.
She had 5 naps that day, only half an hour each time but went down with no problems. That night I did the same bedtime routine as I've done since she came home and she went straight down and slept till midnight. Normally she woke after an hour and then wouldn't go back down till around 10.
I've stuck with that ever since. Today she napped for 3 hours this morning and 2 this afternoon.
On a night she's sleeping 7- 12:30 having a feed then going back down till around 4 or 5am.
She has some very obvious signals as to when she's done sleeping too, sometimes she'll cry whilst napping and I go in to find her snuggled up to the side of the cot sucking it, this translates to 'I'm still tired but I need my dummy now' I give her it and she goes straight back off. I don't give her her dummy to go off to start with. Other times she'll wake up and start gurgling and cooing, when I go in she smiles and flaps her arms about this translates to 'I've had a beautiful sleep Mammy and I'm ready to play'.
On the very rare occasion she starts crying when I put her down I get her straight back up, open blinds, play with her then try again after 10 minutes when she's calmed down. I don't leave her to cry as I don't want her to associate her cot with crying!
Long may the good naps continue, and hopefully her night sleeping will extend a bit. But I'm happy with how everything's going at the moment! I'm being rewarded with a very smiley happy baby :)
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