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June 08, 2004

Sleep aids

Everyone's favorite, well-meaning question these days is:

Is Gus sleeping through the night?

I know what answer everyone wants to hear. Maybe it makes people feel better to think that John and I get more than three to four hours of sleep at a time. Maybe there's a sense of it just being the right thing. Maybe it is the question we're programmed to ask.

But really, even though you well-meaning askers want the answer to be 'But of course he sleeps all night', you don't really think that's what we'll say, right? I mean, you would be plesantly surprised if he were, right?

The truth is, Gus doesn't sleep through the night, and I don't really expect him to. When he sleeps for seven hours, I am thankful, but surprised. These past few weeks have seen restless evenings for Mr. G. Teething? Hunger? Thrush (which we just got rid of for the third time...I've heard something about charms and threes)? I decided it was time to do some investigating to see what works for other folks.

We went to the library after work, and I found a book about evening parenting that I found interesting. I also had ordered this ocean aquarium thingy you can put in the crib. It plays music, has moving fish and bubbles and has little lights. It came yesterday. I was so excited, I thought maybe this will be the thing that draws him to fall asleep. I ripped open the box last night, anxious to get it set up before Gus went to bed. Denied. Needs four D batteries. Not something you have sitting around. John was nice enough to go to Walgreen's to buy some. We were set! Crib thingy, book knowledge, we were on our way to figuring stuff out. By the time John got home, Gus was asleep. I figured, okay, when he wakes up I'll use my new knowledge and set up this aquarium.

But he slept.

And slept.

And slept.

And all of those restless nights of the past month faded into memory as we all had seven hours of uninterupted sleep.

It was as if just the mere effort of trying to do something different impacted Gus.

It just reminded me: there is no formula to parenting other than doing what really feels right for your child. And that may change every day...or every hour. Listen to this little person, he has a lot to say in many different ways. So I've decided to stop beating myself up for not living up to some kind of socially perfect mother who's baby sleeps 18 hours a night, never poops, and never cries in public. I love all of this, I don't mind if he doesn't sleep through the night, and I love all of you for asking because I know you're interested and you care. As the mother of a baby who is who he is, and certainly does not fit any textbook infant I've ever read about, the more interesting question to ask a mother like me is, 'how are things going?' To that I will have so much more to tell! (and I'll refrain from talking about poopy diapers or my boobs, I promise)

Tonight the best thing yet: we attached the aquarium thing to the crib. We put Gus in, asleep. He woke up about two hours later. I heard him fuss a bit. I said to John, I'm just waiting for him to turn that thing on (totally kidding, of course). Literally a second later we heard music. He figured out how to hit this big button to turn it on. It turns off after five minutes. He turned it on again. And again once more. But then turned it off before the five minutes was up.

He must have decided it was time for bed.

I'm in heaven.

Posted by janna at June 8, 2004 11:34 PM

Comments

Posted by: Aunt Deb at June 15, 2004 01:28 PM