Once upon a time......

…..there was a Mom who knew what she was doing. She had one precious little son, who she worked hard with as a baby so that he would know how to sleep well. And most of the time he did sleep well. That Mom was happy, so happy in fact that she wanted to have more precious little children. And soon she did. She wasn’t scared, she was a Mom after-all, and like I said in the beginning, She KNEW what she was doing.

Or so she thought. You see she forgot to take into account that when she was sleep training her first precious son, she only had to worry about him all day long. There were no toddlers running through the house screaming as she was so lovingly trying to sooth her sweet little baby. There was no one banging on the door to the nursery, just to see what would happen. How had she over looked the fact that her circumstances had changed? Was she really so focused on the new little son that she didn’t add the first son into her equation? Her math was all wrong and now she is one stressed out Mom who has NO IDEA what she is doing. She is living Nap to Nap, and SHE never ever gets one. She is reading and asking lots of questions. She is experimenting and trying to do her best. But she is quite often frustrated. What can she really do? Who is she to believe?

One trusted book is telling her that since her baby was born 3 weeks early, he is really going to be 3 weeks behind. This would mean that consolidated night sleep won’t come until he is at 9 weeks old and that regular daytime naps won’t come until he is 4 months old, or maybe even older. How will she make it through? She has been asking God for miracles, but she wonders if He puts a limit on just how many blessings you can receive in a day.

The new precious baby boy sleeps Okay at night, going for 4-5 hours between feedings once per night, then 3 hours on the dot for any other feedings. The problem is with the day time naps. Today she decided that she just didn’t care to much about what she should and shouldn’t do. If her 6 week old is really a 3 week old- sleep wise, then she should just get used to it. She should Hold him, Feed him, Revel in the 30 to 45 minutes that he does nap, and not worry too much about the 15 minute cat naps he seems to like to take, (or really he seems to hate taking and thus fights off as much as possible). If he wants to sleep in her arms every day at 2 pm, then that is where he shall be for a few more weeks…..maybe. Her resolve is not so strong. She really, really wants him to nap better, is 1 to 2 hours at a time really that hard to accomplish?

Oh, there will be a happy ending. At some point this Mom and her precious baby will understand each other. Eventually she will figure out exactly how to keep the older precious toddler busy while she soothes and puts the baby down for his naps. Sooner or Later (pray that it is sooner) the precious baby boy will sleep for 6, 8 or dare we say 10 hours at night. Yes, they will live happily ever after. Unfortunately for this Mom she is still dreaming of once upon a time, when she knew what she was doing…..