Monday, April 19, 2010

Oh, sweet sleep!

There are many milestones that you will experience in the early stages of parenting. The first smile in the most beautiful thing you have ever seen. The first smile is the greatest sound. There will be others that will hold high rank as well. But none of them will be as personally rewarding as the first time the baby sleeps through the night. I am not talking about almost sleeping through the night - I mean when he goes all the way. The first night is the greatest because you don't expect it. You put the baby to sleep fully expecting to be woken up around 3 or 4 or whenever he usually wakes up, except it doesn't happen! You will role over in the morning and glance at the clock to find it is 6 or 7 and shoot up out of bed like someone just hit you with a cattle prod because you just assume that something is wrong (and hopefully all is well). You'll rush into the nursery and sigh with relief when you see him breathe and fidget. This is then followed by a cocky saunter back to bed and an overwhelming sense of gratitude for this little creature that has given you the gift of sleep.

But, my fellow new mothers, be warned: very rarely will this phenomena be a permanent fixture right away. Following this magnificent occurrence, the baby will most likely resume his previous schedule for a night or two. Basically, he was teasing you. But have no fear. A night or two more and it will happen again. And then maybe again the next night. Then you are well on your way to having a full night's sleep every night. From then on you are a new person, my friend.

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