Our Current Nighttime Routine

We take the word “routine” seriously around here these days, y’all. In fact, when my parents first came to meet Finn, they cracked constant jokes about our attempt at “structure” and “schedules” and such. They are probably right, I guess. Our pediatrician told us that, in the beginning, there are no patterns.

But now that Finn is nearly 7 weeks old, we are starting to develop patterns, and the need for routine is REAL.

Don’t let this picture fool you. Our little man has never actually spent a night in his own room, let alone his crib.

He started sleeping in our room immediately, which most people advised, especially since Sona is breastfeeding round the clock.

We started by having him sleep in the Nuna Mini, but he just wasn’t having it. It was too big and too open for him when he was a newbie, and one loooooong night, at 5AM, I ordered the Rock N Play from Amazon Now, and it was delivered a few hours later. (Thank goodness we live in a place with immediate access to all things Amazon.) He’s slept in that ever since.

While Finn has pretty much always been a decent nighttime sleeper, we haven’t done the best of job getting him on a “normal” baby schedule. That is, while a lot of babies we know sleep 7PM-7AM, Finn usually sleeps 11PM-11AM.

This is the result of a couple of things. First, we’ve both been off of work, luckily, and we are taking advantage of every opportunity to sleep in. So, we’ve trained our little guy to “sleep in,” too. (Once, at a B&B in Anguilla, a mom we met told us that she had “trained” all three of her sons to sleep until 10:30. I think we both secretly hope we can do the same.)

Also, if we’re being real, we just had a very difficult time getting our own schedules in order during the first few weeks. I don’t know where the time went, but we often found ourselves eating dinner at 10:00 or 11:00 at night, after just having put Finn down for the first time. That also meant, of course, that we wouldn’t go to sleep until after he’d had his first nighttime feed–usually at around 1:00. Needless to say, we had a hard time getting it together.

Finn is still going to bed pretty late, but we usually get a good 12 hours of “bedtime” out of him–all in increments of sleep, eat, poop, of course.

Here’s our routine: Finn usually sleeps 3-4 hours. This week, he’s inching closer and closer to 4. He even slept for 4 hours and 45 minutes one night, and we almost wept with joy!

He sleeps on my side of the bed. So, I am usually the first to hear his hunger whimper. I let him whimper for a good 10-15 minutes before I wake Sona and tell her that it’s time for her to whip it out. (You know what I mean.)

Finn rarely ever cries at night, which I think makes us very lucky. We always get him on the boob before he wails, and he usually goes to sleep without much of a fight–USUALLY.

So, I pick him up. I take off his swaddle and watch his ridiculously adorable biiiiiiiig stretch, and I hand him to Sona. If I’m feeling particularly generous, or if I start looking at my iPhone, I will stay up while she feeds him. Mostly, though, I’ll go back to sleep while she’s feeding him in bed next to me.

We make every attempt to be quiet and to keep the lights off during this time.

After about 25 minutes, which is how long he’ll feed on the first boob, Sona will wake me up. I’ll change his diaper, re-swaddle him, and give him back to her. She’ll feed him for 5-7 minutes on boob #2, and he’ll usually fall asleep right there. Then begins the most delicate, skilled process of trying to take him from her arms to his Rock N Play without having him wake-up.

Oh, parents, you all know this dance well, I’m sure.

(I should say, this new method is thanks to a good friend. Before her advice, we were feeding on both boobs and THEN changing. As a result, he’d wake up during the diaper change, and we’d have to spend 20 minutes rocking him back to sleep. This new method allows him to fall asleep on boob #2, and it’s been a game-changer. Instead of being awake for 75-90 minutes each time, we are now awake for only 45-50.)

Finn usually stays asleep, though there is generally a good bit of grunting at first. Then, 3-4 hours later, he starts to whimper again, and the whole thing starts all over.

 

This has been a routine we’ve grown accustomed to over the past 6.5 weeks. Though, next week, it’s going to have to start changing. Sona goes back to work in just a week and a half (insert VERY sad face, here). So, I’ll will be on FT night duty, which means that Finn will need to go to bed earlier, drink only from bottles, and–hopefully, very soon–sleep in his own room.

He’s been napping in both the Nuna and his crib for the past couple of weeks. We wanted him to get use to sleeping on a flat, non-vibrating surface before The Big Transition.

Truthfully, though, I think we’re both a little freaked out. We’re going to start transitioning slowly this week. So, wish us luck.