Baby sleep milestones

Star was a poor sleeper from birth. Or should I say she was a great waker. We never had that sleepy newborn phase where they sleep 20 hours a day. As a newborn she would frequently stay awake most of the day. When she hit two months she started sleeping well at night but would only catnap during the day. And falling asleep was a real struggle – first I rocked her in my arms, then in the bassinet. She seemed to need a lot of movement to settle into sleep and she usually screamed very loudly for more than ten minutes as she went to sleep. Being a very curious, alert little baby, she just hated to shut her eyes.

Two weeks ago she suddenly flipped. At first I thought she had flipped out. She screamed when I rocked her in the bassinet. I had to feed her to sleep. She skipped a few morning naps and was horribly cranky by the afternoon. But then she progressed quite quickly. First, rocking her side to side in the bassinet with my arms. Next, just patting her to sleep! Today, I patted her a little and left the room and she fell asleep by herself. What a miracle! I never thought I would see the day, but I did visualise it every day as I rocked her back and forth, back and forth in the bassinet… three times a day. I’d been planning to sleep train her the “no cry” way, Elizabeth Pantley style, but Star decided that she would like the accelerated pathway, thank you very much!

It was nothing that I did. She just learned to do it by herself, just as she’ll learn to crawl and walk and talk. Babies are amazing creatures.