Progress

Jacob is 8 weeks old!  Hard to believe but he will be exactly 2 months old on Monday when he goes to the doctor's for his check-up.  He is doing so well at home and last night he had the best sleep of his life!  At 8 weeks I felt that it was time to start letting him sleep on his own, in his own room.  We have had him on a flexible eat, wake, and nap cycle every 3 hours for about 3 weeks now.  Normally we would rock him to sleep for his naps, which would take an hour sometimes and cuts into his sleep time before he wakes up to eat again.  During the day I was lucky if he slept for an hour in between feedings.  So yesterday I tried the tough love method.  After I fed, burped, and changed him I held him for a little bit then put him down for a nap.  I let him cry for a few minutes, then came in to soothe him, then walked away to let him sleep.  It took a couple of tries at first but sure enough he fell asleep on his own.  By bedtime he totally got it.  He was fed at 8:00 and in bed by 9:00.  He slept til 12:30 am, I fed him, and went back to sleep around 1:00 am...he did not wake up until 5:30 this morning!  Hooray, more sleep for mommy and daddy! 

Progress, progress, progress.  A month ago I was frustrated, weary, and not fully enjoying being a new mommy.  I was at my wits' end and did not know if I would make it to the next day.  But now I am actually enjoying it and look forward to our feeding sessions when I get to bond with my baby boy.  The best part of my day is when I have Jake on the changing table after he eats and we "talk."  He smiles and coos and melts my heart in the process.  I'm happy that it just gets better each week and everyone tells me it only gets better from here. 

Lessons learned this month: trust yourself as a parent, know that you are doing the best job you can, and be patient- especially with a newborn.  Trust that your child has the capability to be a good child, maybe the best in the world, even at 2 months old.  Everything is trial-and-error in the beginning and things get easier the more you get to know each other.   

Jake - 8 weeks old