A question I get asked a lot is “Is he (my one year old) sleeping through the night yet?”
Usually my answers starts with a laugh. You know, the laugh that say’s “Now that you mention it, he is supposed to be doing that by now isn’t he?!”
My oldest has never been a good sleeper. We tried just about everything, this book and that book, this rocker, that bassinet, this crib, our bed, you name it, we tried it. We finally realized it had nothing to do with where he was sleeping or what method we did or didn’t try, he just was not a good sleeper.
I struggled with it for a long time, thinking it was something I was doing wrong or something was wrong with my baby. It would frustrate me, especially the nights where I barely had any sleep the night before and then a busy day to follow. At this point he was a very busy little boy and already so independent. He didn’t like being in anyone’s arms for too long and refused to ever sit and cuddle.
As I was trying to comfort and rock him to sleep one night (probably somewhere between 2am – 4am) for the second time it all of the sudden hit me. He will never be this small again, this is the only time he lets me hold him and cuddle him. I started seeing those sleepless nights a totally different way. A precious time I got alone with my baby, with no distractions and endless cuddles. Sure it was still frustrating at times because of the lack of sleep in my own warm bed, but the frustration was quickly dissolved when I would pick up my little boy and rock and cuddle him back to sleep.
He sleeps much better now. Usually through the night most nights, but still every once in a while he will wake up and be yelling for “mama” and I will go and rock and cuddle him back to sleep. Honestly, there are times now, especially the rough days of growing pains and lack of obedience, that I go and pick him up out of his bed, sound asleep and rock and cuddle him for a just a little while.
Just remember sleep deprived mom, your baby will never be that little again and sleep is something we aren’t used to anyways and won’t be used to until they are grown and out of the house. Enjoy the little moments. The quiet cuddles and warm snuggles. Time goes by way too fast.
