Somewhere between 6 and 9 months of age, most babies tend to settle themselves into a '2-3-4' daily schedule. This means that a baby will take a morning nap about 2 hours after waking up for the day, then will take the afternoon nap about 3 hours after waking up from the first nap. Finally, the baby will go to bed for the night about 4 hours after waking up from the afternoon nap.
Kora pretty much has put herself on this schedule. She wakes up around 7:30AM, goes down for her nap between 9:30 and 10 and wakes up around 11ish. She then goes down for her afternoon nap sometime between 2 and 2:30, and sleeps for about an hour. She then goes to bed around 8:30. So, more or less, we know her schedule.
What we don't talk about normally, is her nighttime 'schedule'. She is kind of on a '3-2-1' schedule. This means she sleeps her longest stretch first - 3 whole hours. Then her second stretch is about 2 hours, and finally she wakes up about every hour until 7:30 when she's up for the day. This is one of the reasons why I get so irritated when people ask, "is she sleeping through the night?". No. She's not. Well, actually she kind of is. It's not like she's partying in the middle of the night. She wakes up to pee and to nurse. But for the most part, she stays asleep.
Many people talk about 'training' their babies to sleep by letting them cry. They'll talk about how babies needing to learn how to 'self-soothe' and fall asleep on their own. Yes, I realize that by enduring my baby cry her eyes out for a few nights, she may learn how to fall asleep on her own. But I don't. I'm not going to write about the research done that shows it harms babies. Another blog has a wonderful post about this already. What I will write about is that there is a very good reason why breastfeeding puts both babies and mamas to sleep. It is natural mammalian act. Babies are not meant to sleep through the night (although some lucky moms have babies that do quite early in life). As sleep-deprived as I am, I will not rush my baby into this. My convenience will not trump her development. There will be a day when I look back on this time and realize that my baby doesn't need me in the middle of the night anymore, doesn't need my cuddles and kisses, doesn't need my milk. I do not want to look back with regret that I didn't give her enough when she needed it.
