Like a Dream

Lily's new sleep habits are worth a high five.

Lily had her six-month check up earlier this week (I know, we couldn't believe it, either). She was given a clean bill of health, and she received four shots in the chubby legs for her trouble. Our baby is now 15 lbs, 9 ozs, which puts her in the 45 percentile for weight. Her head circumference (an important measurement, to be sure) is in the 35 percentile, and her length of just under 25" places her squarely in the bottom 20% of her peers (no surprise there).

While speaking with Dr. Boe about Lily's development, we got talking about her sleep habits. Specifically, we discussed the fact that though she'd been sleeping fairly well in bed with us, she still wholeheartedly refused to spend any time in her crib. Additionally, sleeping "fairly well" in bed with us meant that she would wake up at least two times a night...and Katie would nurse her back to bed. Dr. Boe told us we have a window between 4-7 months to get her to sleep well by herself, and he encouraged us to try again with her crib. Though Katie had been very reluctant to let Lily cry in her crib to that point, we left with a renewed determination to make progress on the sleeping front...though that didn't mean we were going to let her cry herself to sleep...

That night we did our usual routine: bath, books, and bed. But this time, dad was solely responsible for the latter two so that breast milk was not an option. After Lily's favorite books, The Noisy Farm, Where is Baby's Belly Button?, and That's Not my Puppy, we retired to her room where I rocked her until she was visibly sleepy. Then, as I had done so many times before, I lowered ever so slowly onto her crib mattress for what I was sure was to be a veritable fireworks display of vocal protest. With Katie downstairs monitoring the monitor, I retreated to our bedroom and turned on ESPN, determined to stick to the plan of reassuring Lily after five minutes of crying, then ten, etc. As expected, before I could even get the score of the game, her wails filled the room...and the five minute allotment. Staying true to the plan, I went in and retrieved her, rocked her gently and talked quietly to her, promising that she was all right and her parents did truly love her (though I don't think she believed me). When she had settled down, I returned her to her crib, and the crying resumed. As I sat on my bed attempting to watch the baseball game for the second time, I checked the clock for no other reason but to know when the ten-minute interval would be up...and then an amazing thing happened. The crying got softer. Then it slowed. Could it be true? Could our daughter be falling asleep by herself? Lo and behold, it was true. Little Lilian's crying stopped within about a minute of her being put down for the second time. This was truly newsworthy. And even more amazing, our baby has consistently slept in her crib for the entire past week...both at nighttime and nap time. How? We don't know. Why? We're not asking. We're not looking a gift horse in the mouth. The only catch...dad is the only one who can put her down. So nighttime duties have largely switched from mom to dad. And Lily has in a small way switched from a little baby to a little girl. And we couldn't be more proud.