4 month sleep PROGRESSION

I keep seeing in general and in the blogging/internet world of moms who have little ones who are in the 4 month sleep regression phase. And are frustrated with their little one not going to sleep. I laugh at this not because they are going through not fun phase of no sleep but rather that with my child I've had the opposite problem. Like I've said in previous blog posts, Grant hates sleeps. He slept wonderfully like all infant do, and then he hit three weeks, where he became generally fussy during the night, and starting to sleep less and less. As the weeks progressed, Grant's bedtimes were at 1:00 am, and taking small naps through the day. He would wake up at 2:00, 5:00, and 7:00 am in the morning. Finally when I went back to work we got him to go to bed now at 10:00-10:30. (Anything sooner than that is IMPOSSIBLE). One time I was lucky to get him in bed by 8:30. BAD MISTAKE! He ended up waking up at 11:00 and didn't go back to sleep until 1:00. It's like I threw off the world with putting him to bed sooner.

So instead of the 4 month sleep regression phase, Grant had a 4 month sleep progression phase. In the last month it's like sleep has finally clicked for him. Well not 100 percent but I'll take what I can get. All the sudden he started sleeping through the night. Finally! He would sleep from 10:30 to 5 or if I get really lucky, 10:30 to 7:00! Yesterday was the best record yet of sleeping from 10:30 to 8:00 am! It's been wonderful, considering I need sleep. Occasionally Grant throws off this schedule by waking up at 2:00 am. But I won't complain. It's nice to get 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep on occasion! 

But sometimes getting him to sleep is a big fight. It has especially been rough the last couple of nights, because of teething and him just being generally overtired. On Sunday night he was inconsolable and kept waking up. I was desperate, I tried everything. I even did the old fashion driving around the block. He fell asleep, and I carefully took him out of the car-seat, and put him in bed. 15 minutes later started bawling his head off.

One thing I've learned with Grant's sleeping woes is patience. Some nights where I'm just so frustrated and spent on trying to get him to sleep, I repeat the Serenity Prayer to myself:

"God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference."

OK maybe that isn't exactly the right thing to be saying in the situation of an inconsolable baby, (because maybe I can change the situation of a crabby crying baby) but it does give me serenity and patience when saying it.  That's one thing I've learned with Grant's sleeping woes, if patience and learning how to function with low amounts of sleep. Because as one of my favorite catch phrases to say, This to shall pass. And it is slowly passing. Grant's sleeping is getting better. But he still hates naps, and of course he doesn't sleep for me all weekend, and ends up sleeping for Aunt Amy all day today. That is my luck. I've should have know I would have a child that hates sleep. There is just way to much to see and explore. Who needs sleep after-all?

So for all those mamma going through the sleep regression stage, remember this too shall pass. It will get better. :)

Such a silly sleeper