Sleep has been one of the more challenging parts of parenthood. Until 2 weeks ago, we had an elaborate routine of walking Mateo for 20 minutes (rain or drizzle or sprinkle or shine). He had to have his face covered, and then, once he was asleep we had our next task: transferring our sleeping Mateo from the Ergo to the bed and swaddling him without waking him up. That meant bouncing him just so as the Ergo was taken off, slowly transferring him to the bed, not looking at his eyes if they did open up (because then the nap would be over, before it began) and then slowly, carefully swaddling him. As elaborate as the routine was, the problem is that it started to stop working. . .
Mateo didn't want to fall asleep on the walks.
Two weeks ago, we started a new routine. When we thought Mateo was getting sleepy, we would change his diaper, feed him, take him outside to say good night to all sorts of things (in Spanish) and then sing him Twinkle, Twinkle little star and put him down and check on him every few minutes. After a bit of protesting, he has started to get used to his new routine and fall asleep in 15 minutes. (Note - that is less time than our walks normally lasted for!) Even better than that, he has been sleeping better when he falls asleep in his own bed.
Today, we had two firsts. We decided to try the new routine during his naps and on his third nap of the day he fell right asleep without a single peep. He just went down for his nap, and fell right asleep! People told us this would eventually happen, but WOW. This is fabulous! I love our new bedtime and nap routine.
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