Doing his nights

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Wanna guess what this is?

These numbers represent time.

They represent hours.

More specifically they represent the hours in which Santi has slept over the past three nights. Oh my goodness...can you believe it?!

At his check up on Monday I asked his Cardiologist if it was okay to let him sleep. That sounds strange but I was previously instructed to make sure he ate every 3-4 hours, 24 hours a day, to prevent dehydration and make sure he gained enough weight (dehydration + HLHS can = death!). Well, our hungry hungry hippo now weighs 12.8lbs and he's almost 24 inches long! He's in the 50th percentile...for a heart baby that's HUGE! So anyway, she said "YES, let him sleep" and guess what? He is sleeping SOOOOO GOOOOOOD! I'm still nervous that this is a fluke, but three nights in a row is pret-ty good.

His bedtime routine used to go like this: 6pm bath, 6:30/7ish bottle & swaddle, 7/8pm bedtime. Then, I'd wake him up at 11pm/12am to give him his nightly meds and one last bottle and he'd sleep until 6 or 7am (I know thats more than 4 hours, but my motherly instinct told me that we both needed to sleep). He was getting 8-10 hours of sleep, but it was interrupted sleep.

Monday night I put him to bed at 8:15pm and I was sure he would wake up at 11 or 12 wanting his bottle. But he didn't. And you know why, because I used to wake him up for that bottle...I woke him up, he didn't wake up hungry, I would wake him up! Crazy. Little Sleepy Santi didn't wake up until 7:40am on Tuesday. And when he woke up, he woke up happy! Happy that I finally left him alone to absorb the benefits of getting 11 hours and 23 minutes of uninterrupted sleep. The funny thing is that I slept horribly on Monday night. I woke up every couple of hours in anticipation of him waking up.

Tuesday night we were a little off schedule and I didn't put him to bed until 9:08pm. Because I was late putting him down, he was overtired and fussy. Had I put him down earlier, like 8pm, his usual bedtime, he probably would have fallen asleep faster and without being fussy. Tuesday night Abe and I decided to try something outrageous, we slept in another room for the first time since Santi came home from the hospital. We have two baby monitors, the motorola video monitor and the AngelCare motion monitor. The AngelCare is so sensitive it monitors breathing. If he were to stop breathing for 20 seconds an alarm would sound. Armed with this technology we both slept great. In fact, we all slept great.

Last night I put him down at 7:57pm, (Abe and I slept downstairs, Santi slept upstairs) and I didn't hear a peep until 7:20am.

Another great thing about this sleep schedule is that when he wakes up in the morning, he gets a fresh diaper and a big bottle (he's eating 5+oz now!) and then he goes back to sleep for another hour or so. It's amazing. He continues to have great naps during the day and when he's awake, he's calm and alert and smiley and charming. Santi is a well rested, cutie-pie, sweetheart.

Now listen, I'm not SuperMom and he's not SuperBaby (and goodness gracious it's only been three days! this could all fly out the window tomorrow!). 3 months ago I didn't know squat about sleeping babies. There are only two books (and common sense) that have taught me everything I know about getting my love to sleep through the night. I started reading "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" while I was pregnant and actually had time to read. I really like it, but I haven't finished it. And just last week a friend recommended "Bringing Up Bebe." I'm only a few chapters in but I LOVE it and I've learned so much already. It's about an American woman and her British husband raising their kids in Paris. In France, parents don't ask each other "how" their babies are sleeping at night like Americans do. It is expected and very common that by 2-3 months old the babies are "doing their night," meaning sleeping through the night.

This post is getting a little long for my taste. So, with respect to your time as my reader, I'll blog about my current reading material next time, because I have a lot to say about these books.