I love sleeping.  I love a big sleep in, I love an early night and I even love a nap in the middle of the day.  Not all on the same day of course but you get the point.  Therefore lack of sleep has been by far the most difficult challenge of parenting for me.  I hate to admit but I know that how much I enjoy being a mother is totally related to how much sleep I am getting.  These days I am getting a lot so I am immensely enjoying parenting.  I am also enjoying Nina the more she talks as well (something else I love as people who know me know) but this post is about sleep.

Nina is now sleeping through the night, from 7.30pm to 6.30am approximately.   Apart from a glass of water here and there I have not had to get up to her since about three days after I stopped breastfeeding about 2 months ago.  It’s wonderful.  I am still not over it at all.  I guess after 1 year and 9 months of getting up through the night (apart from two days before we left Syd) one becomes to realise what a blessing a full night’s sleep it.  I am also grateful that she can put herself to sleep.  I hope I will stay as grateful as I am.  Every night I go to bed and I actually feel excited knowing that I won’t have to get up.

She also continues to have nice long naps of about 1.5 hours.  It’s probably been 5 months of that now too and I am still very grateful as well.  As a baby she only ever had 40 minute naps and mostly that was in our arms or in the car so reliable naps is also something I do not take for granted at all.  I have now seen a number of new mothers breast feed their babies to sleep and then put them down in a cot or bed and they just stay asleep for an hour or so at a time.  I cannot believe that it can be that easy.  As said Nina would never nap for that long and as soon as we put her down she would wake up and cry.  People would often say that it was because I got her used to it.  Maybe I did but it was because from the first days in the hospital she would just scream every time I put her down.  I guess when you have spent ages trying to get her to sleep you are loathe to wake her up by putting her down.

I would totally recommend the book “The No Cry Sleep Solution”.  It took awhile but we now have a toddler who sleeps amazingly well.  Sometimes I wish she would wake a little later but I am lucky that I only have to get up that 3 times a week as Martin does the other 4.  She is happier and we are much happier for it too.  Yay for sleep.