Last week, our morning wake-ups started extending a little later each day. During the school year once Sam and Anna had stopped their morning bottle, our routine had been to wake them at 6:50 am to get out the door and to daycare before 7:30 am. It was my dream/wish/goal to get them to start waking up later throughout the summer so I could get a little extra shut eye. Teaching both our dogs to sleep in worked- so why not our children too, right? (I am fully aware that this was an extremely lofty goal, and almost certain to fail. But a girl can dream!)
I thought the key would be to push back bedtime a little each day, and then hopefully Sam and Anna would start waking up a little later to continue getting their typical 11 1/2 hours of night sleep in. To my surprise, Sam and Anna started sleeping in on their own, without a later bedtime! Last week we had a few 8 am get ups! Then a 10 am wake up (granted, this followed an unusually difficult night with lots of time awake at night) and a 9 am wake up the morning after that! I was ecstatic!
Then Sam woke up at 5:15 on Monday morning. I don't think there's really ever been a time that he woke that early but didn't fall back asleep on his own. I managed to get him to go back to sleep at 6:15 and he slept until 7:30 am. I was worried that my streak of good fortune had ended (if there's one thing I've learned as a parent so far, it is that things are always changing- so never get too comfortable that anything will last for long!).
Lo and behold, Sam and Anna slept in until 8:30 am this morning. That's 13 hours total of nighttime sleep. Awesome! Maybe sleeping in for a few days wasn't just a fluke?
Then it dawned on me- the 4 hour one-a-day naps hadn't happened for a while. Sam had only been taking a 2 hour nap in the afternoon lately. It appears I traded nap sleeping time for an extra hour or so of shut-eye in the morning. Do I mind? Not really. I prefer getting a little extra sleep myself in the mornings. But boy, I did like those 4 hour long naps!
6 comments:
I know I say this everytime you post about your kids' sleep, but YOUR KIDS SLEEP SO MUCH!! I am SO JEALOUS! Noah sleeps 12 to 12.5 hours TOTAL in a 24 hour period. Sometimes he makes it to 13 hours total, but very rarely.
I am insanely jealous. I just can't even imagine what it would be like to have that many extra hours be childless.
Bliss!
I was feeling sorry for myself getting up at 6:45, but I met a mom at the library who's toddler gets up at 5 a.m. no matter what she does.
I guess the babies are going to sleep as much as they need to.
That's awesome!
My Lauren has an internal alarm at like 5:55AM and has kept to it! They get 11 hours at night and maybe 3ish during the day. I will say though, they have FINALLY gotten used to napping in their cribs and are very consistant. My only dilemma is should I nap also, should I read, or should I get things done around the house. SUCH a nice dilemma to have! LOVING this summer so far!
Hahaha, I can't wait to read Lauren's comment on this post since you said Sam is "only" taking a 2 hour nap now. Katie, I hope you realize that your kids are phenomenal sleepers. Truly, they are. I am thrilled that Camden sleeps through the night, even if it means he's up at 6am (which he usually is). And a 4 hour nap?! Really?? Wow! Camden took a 3 hour nap the other day and I kept checking on him to make sure he was okay! Enjoy your awesome little sleepers!!
Oh My Goodness. I am so completely jealous of you right now. My son still gets up 4-5 times a night and I'm very lucky if he gets 2 hours of naps throughout the day. Usually it's more like 40 minutes all day long!!! Enjoy your little sleepers ;)
Seriously. Your kids are INCREDIBLE sleepers!!!!
Jealous over here.
As you read, we've been having insanely early wake ups here. I'm putting my foot down about it...we'll see...
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