Fresh from a Nap

Around the time Jane turned four months old, we hit rock bottom with sleeping. We had spent the first three months moving from a co-sleeper to a travel bassinet on our bed...I managed this in our bedroom while Matt and Luke slept together in the guest bedroom. We wanted to Luke to feel as tended to as Jane and I wanted the boys to actually get the sleep they needed for school/work. Jane was a horrible sleeper and I rarely got more than 1-2 hours of sleep at a time. I watched a lot of reality TV and took lots of naps during the day. The naps really saved my life.

Anyway, as we neared the end of my maternity leave, it was time for Jane to move into her own room so I could get some sleep. She just would not sleep in her crib...so she slept in the vibrating bouncer/rocker. She actually slept quite well for the month that we did that! But we just couldn't get over the fact that she was literally vibrating for 10-12 hours a night. Just didn't seem right.

Around month 4, with our nanny's help, we moved her to the crib and went back to 1-2 hour wakings and REALLY tough work days for mommy. No naps = zombie mommy at work. Then, we had a big a-ha moment. OK, the nanny had an a-ha moment. She swaddled her one day and Jane slept for 2-3 hours. Consistently. And then it worked at night and she began going down faster and sleeping for 6 hours at a time. It took us four months to figure out the swaddle. Yep, about the time that she shouldn't be swaddled anymore. Oh, well.

This is what a well rested Jane looks like. Heaven.