I read an article in a magazine that said that if your baby is showing signs of crankiness around 5:30 or 6, you should aim for a bed time of 7-7:30. Well, Cal shows crankiness every night right around 5:30 or 6 and he acts tired, but he wasn't going down for the night until around 8 (he just wasn't ready to go down...or so I thought!). He was going down at 8 and sleeping until around 5, when I would feed him and then he would fall back asleep again until 7 ish.
After reading the article, I am now putting Cal to bed around 7:30 (sometimes a little earlier-- tonight he barely made it to 7! Last night he was still playing at 7:50). Last night he slept until 5:15. I fed him and then we both fell asleep in the chair. I woke up and tried to get up to carry him into the bedroom to sleep more, but he was wide awake then.
I would almost consider that sleeping through the night. He is going for much longer stretches, and I think he's learning to sleep longer-- yay! The article also said that a baby learns early on: the more sleep he gets, the more he needs, and the less sleep he gets, the less he will need....basically, the kid is going to learn to survive with whatever about of sleep to which they are accustomed. If they sleep more during the day, they will sleep more at night. Looks like we are going back to focus on some good day time naps!
Speaking of naps.... Cal was napping from around 9-11 and then again from 1-3. I have started taking him to the gym in the morning and it has totally thrown off his nap schedule. I need to get it figured out, I guess. I need to try to get to the gym around 8, so that I can have him back home by 9 to nap. It's just so hard to get moving that early when I've been up in the night! Once he is sleeping through the night (until 7!), I will get my butt in gear and get to the gym. There is no excuse then...!!!
Cal is sound asleep right now. Here's hoping we don't hear a peep from him until 7 am! (okay, that would be wayyyy too good to be true. Maybe he can hold off until 5???)
