Sleep Schedules

I'm in the middle of switching Seth's schedule to allow for more sleep.  On his part and on ours.  He can usually go about 8 1/2 - 9 hours between feeds at night and previously I was feeding him around 10:30pm, and then again at about 8am.  But he wouldn't go to sleep until midnight, and Tyler and I have to be up with the other kids to get them off to school around 6:45am.  So one of us would usually get up with the kids and get them ready as silently as possible so that Seth and the other parent could keep sleeping until 8:00.  It was a system, and it worked, but I knew it could be better.  And to get him to his 10:30pm feed he would have 2 regular naps during the day and 2 catnaps in the evening.  The other kids are in bed by 7:30 or 8:00pm so sitting around for 4 1/2 hours every evening when you're exhausted just so you can get a baby to sleep for a consistent amount of time is painful some nights.  It was time for a change.  The new plan was for everyone to be up at 7:00am so that getting ready for school didn't have to be a silent lonely affair.  And Seth was to go to bed for the night by 8:30pm, with a dream feed at 10:30 (in his sleep) so he's back in his bed by 11:00, and Tyler and I are also in bed by 11:00, able to sleep until 7:00.  8 beautiful hours.  Beautiful.  The biggest fear is ruining what you already have.  It wasn't perfect, but he was consistently sleeping at night.  

The first night he woke up at 4am, and I got him back to sleep, and then again at 6:45am and tried to get him back to sleep, without success until 7am when we got up.  The days were consistent and good.  Night 2 he was up at 2:00, 4:00, 5:30, 6:15, 6:40, and then was dead asleep at 7:00.  It was exhausting.  Darkest before the dawn, right?  I spent much if yesterday in zombie-mode.  I took two naps throughout the day to survive and crossed my fingers for a better night.  Max also prayed in our family prayers that Seth would sleep through the night.  Fingers crossed!! 

Last night he fussed a 2:30am but stopped on his own, and then was silent until 7:10am!  Hallelujah!  It's possible.  I'm not naive to believe it'll always be that good.  We're developing a new habit. It may take a few more awful nights, but we are on track to more sleep.  And eventually when he's better established on solid foods we can eliminate the dream feed at 10:30 and he will be in bed for the night from 8:00 on.  Which means I could go to bed whenever I'm tired!!  Oh please! 

I'm documenting this because I never have with my other kids because sleep issues and PPD were just too hard to talk about, so when I look back I have no idea how I managed it. No advice for the future, because each time I was convinced is never need that knowledge again.  Now, I don't believe I'll need this knowledge again, because the baby factory is closed, but I'm documenting it anyway.  Because I can do hard things!!