Naptime

Little Jacob is almost 6 weeks old, and we're thinking it's close to time to start trying to create some sort of predictable routine in our lives. There is a theory that "sleep begets sleep" for little babies, but we sometimes get so caught up in playing and nursing and diapers and visitors that naps are just random occurrences. So we're trying to really work at having a long morning nap and a long afternoon nap, in the hopes that this daytime routine will lead to better night sleeping as well. Actually, Jacob has always been a good night sleeper - in the early days he was a little too good and we had to wake him up to feed. Now that we're wanting him to go 4 or 5 hours at a time, of course, he is starting to wake up more on his own, which is good for feeding but not so good for mommy's sleep. We aim to have bedtime at around 7:30 or 8:00, which works about half the time. Depending on his mood and determination to stay up and hang out with us, he will sometimes force himself to stay up till 10 or 11. Those are the tiring nights for all three of us.

There are about a million baby-sleep books out there, and I've read my fair share. They range from "here is a minute to minute schedule that your baby must follow" to "just let your baby do whatever s/he wants and deal with it" and we're trying to work out something in between. Slowly but surely. He's still too young to REALLY get into a schedule, but he's close, so hopefully if we lay the groundwork it will come naturally. Our current strategy is to really focus on having a consistent wake up time in the morning in the hopes that it sets us on a consistent track throughout the day. So far, so good. He slept from about 9:30-7:00 last night, but he got up three times to feed. He took a nice, long nap this morning and a fairly decent one this afternoon, and now he's catching a quick catnap before we start our bedtime routine.

A couple of my books describe newborns as "disorganized" in their sleep and eating, but this almost certainly is meant to describe parents as well. I have an endlessly long list of things that I manage to get through each day without achieving, so if you are expecting a thank-you card, phone call, bill payment, birth announcement, clean kitchen, or for me to be showered, you might be disappointed a while longer. But they say that six weeks is one of those magical times when things start to sort themselves out, so maybe our attempts at "organizing" will start to pay off soon. In the meantime, Jacob is filling our days with lightness and joy. There is absolutely no better reason to have a messy house than because you spent the day napping on the couch with this perfect little creature on your chest. Nap on, little one, nap on!