Lullaby Not Required

Mac has always been a very good sleeper. When we were at the hospital, I assumed he would tell me when he was hungry, but the nurses made me wake him up to eat. That continued when we were home, until our pediatrician told us we could extend the time he could go without eating. Finally, I stopped setting alarms to wake him up in the middle of the night to eat.

The last few days have been strange for Mac's sleep schedule, but it's worked out well for his parents. Wednesday, he slept most of the day.*  But he ate at 9 pm and somehow went to sleep around 10, his normal time. Then he slept until 1:45 am, and only took 2.5 ounces before passing out.

Thursday was a busy day, and because we were out and about, he slept more than usual (again). That night, though, he went to sleep around midnight, and slept until 5:15! I was so thrilled! (Especially because the MacDaddy takes the 5 am feeding, so I got to sleep from about 12:30 to 8:30!)

Now, I know that when babies start changing their schedules, there's a lot of flux during the transition. So I was ready for who-knows-what on Friday night, moreso because Mac hadn't eaten much that day. After eating at 10:30, he was still awake (hanging out quietly in his bassinet) when we went to bed at 11, and then nodded off at midnight. Around 3:55 am, he started to stir. I immediately gave him the binky (after all, 4 am is the cut-off: if he wakes before that, it's my turn, and after that, it's the MacDaddy's), and he was quiet until 4:15!

When he heard Mac cry, the MacDaddy asked when he was last fed. He was shocked when I told him 10:30 the night before. But we are absolutely thrilled that he's now going almost 6 hours between feedings!

I hope we can keep him on this schedule -- eating around 10 or 10:30 and sleeping until 4 or 5. I also hope he'll gradually sleep a little longer. Maybe we could move up the last feeding to 9 or so, and eventually I hope he'll sleep until 6 or 7. But this is a great start!  Mostly, I hope I haven't jinxed it by bragging about it in a blog post...

And now, just to show you how much Mac has grown, a comparison to the photo above. The one at the top of this post was taken on October 29. The one below was taken on September 27.

*I should note that on Wednesday, October 27, he gave me his first real smile! I know it wasn't gas, because his eyes were smiling, too.  He did it again this morning, after play time!