My precious person is 12 weeks old tomorrow.
She is by far and away the sleepiest of my three and she has pretty much slept off her fourth trimester …
Iām talking 3 hour day naps and 8-10 hour blocks at night.
Yep, Iāve put up my umbrella to shield the lemons coming my way for admitting that.
Sheās one chilled little customer and though sheās had her āneedierā days, by and large, sleep has come easily to her.
Sheās been boobed to sleep, cuddled, rocked and carrier napped each and every time. Sheās easily transferred to her basket and side car cot 90% of the time.
Sheās never been ātaughtā to āself sootheā but she obviously links sleep cycles just fine.
But suddenly, these last 3 days and nights, sheās catnapping like an expert …
Sheās barely making 2-3 hours without waking to nurse at night …
āRegressionā I hear them cry!
But, with even the smallest amount of observation, I can see my sweet babe is far from going backwards, sheās actually progressing with impressive speed.
Yes, her sleep has changed.
Yes, she is clearly needing more assistance than she did last week.
But a regression implies she has somehow ālostā some āabilitiesā and this is simply not true.
Her rapidly growing mind and body are hard at work.
She isnāt the same as she was last week.
Sheās more advanced and far more āawakeā to her world.
Sure, sheās tiring more quickly. She was lasting between 1.5 to 2 hours between naps but after a catnap sheās lucky to make an hour but can you blame her?!?
The hour she is awake she doesnāt stop moving!
Little hands that can now grasp an object!
Little hands that can now open and move things with supreme concentration.
Little voice that chats and experiments with a range of sounds.
Little bright eyes that smile and light up at the sights before her.
Little chuckles and giggles that burst from within
Little legs that kick, push and dig in.
A little torso that twists and arches with attempts to roll becoming closer and closer to reality.
Sheās nursing more often, needing more help to calm off to sleep and waking more frequently, but not because she has forgotten some mad sleep skills and in need of re-training.
She may not get back to the 8-10 hour blocks at night for the next month, year or even for life (I never make more than 4-5 hours before waking for a sip of water and/ or a toilet break and Iām 36 years old …) and that is okay.
Iām not sitting here wishing and praying for the sleep to return.
Iāve spent far too much time doing that in the past.
Iām living for the now.
She is only asking of me what she needs right now and Iām here to walk right beside her at this time in her life when she needs me so intensely.
I could ask all the questions, I could keep dreaming of the day, I could lament the hours of sleep lost but I donāt want to waste my precious energy on questions that have no answers and time since past.
I will spend my days in awe of what a small human learns in these early days, weeks, months and years and my nights knowing I am exactly where I need to be.
Iāll ride this wave with my darling and you can be sure Iāll be straight back there with her for the next one and the one after that.
We are in this together, my sweet love and I.
Itās an honour and privilege to be her mum ā¤ļø
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