Good Nights

From "Babywise" to "Sleep Like a Pro" to "Get Your Baby to Sleep in Just 3 Easy Steps", there are multitudes of approaches to getting your baby to that first full night of sleep.  I admit, I read them prior to Hannah's birth.  In writing and in theory the promise of a full night's sleep by the baby's second week of life sounded great.  They promised if you just followed their guidelines the household would be happy and well rested.  Needles to say, week two came and went and mama and Hannah were still having our 3 am meetings.  All three of us began to see that that cookie-cutter philosophy wasn't working for the Hargrove's.  What the books leave out is that every child is different (duh) and a 2 week old has no concept of routine or schedule and, in my newly formed opinion on the matter, doesn't need to.  The concept of routine doesn't come until months later.  The forced wake-play-sleep cycle wasn't fitting into our groove.  What we began to see was that we were forming our own groove.  We observed Hannah's behavior and what was working best for her.  Calm nights, slow feedings, and lots of night-time attention put her out like a little light.  By 2 months Hannah is going down easily and readily and sleeping until mama gets breakfast ready and milked pumped, which is usually by 6:30 a.m.  We weren't following any books or putting checks on a 3 step checklist.  We simply were going with our flow and it was working.  Hannah is well rested and mama and daddy are wide-eyed and bushy tailed come morning.

I think every family, and individual, must search to find what works best for them, regardless of what the books say you should do.  Why live out another person's philosophy?  I'm not saying refrain form reading.  Heck no! Read, read, read!!!  However, I think it is harmful to expect Life to work exactly like the words on a page.  You may end up disappointed every time you go to implement the author's strategy.  Take what you like, apply it, and then observe.  Write your own how-to book.  Live your life the best way YOU can live it.  We will fail every time we try to be someone else or live someones else's ideas.  BUT we are each GREAT at being ourselves!  Around here, and not even knowing it, we were writing our very own sleep book.  With the help of Dr. Suess and the yawns of Van Vleek, Hannah is sleeping so well we don't hear a peep.

Let us know what life story you are writing!

Happy trails,
Laura