So you wanna know what's hard about being a parent? It's not all smiles, photos, kisses and cute clothes. There are several issues that could be considered tough in my opinion ... I mean, I was still trying to figure out how to take care of myself - now I have to take care of another human. But that's another story. Aside from the dirty diapers, the spit ups and occasional crying the hardest part of being a parent is trying to get your baby to sleep through the night.
Apparently this is a big issue with new parents. There have been books written about it, philosophies debated and lots of techniques thrown into the mix. Stacey and I of course thought we knew everything about raising a child before Zoe was born so we skipped the notion that she would wake up every other hour during the night. Now...4 months in, we haven't gotten a single full nights rest and we're tired. We just want her to sleep like a normal person so we all can get a full nights rest.
Last night Stacey showed me this blog post from her friend Laura. It's an entire post dedicated to how she gets her baby girl to sleep. She even posted it 6 days before Zoe was born. WHY HAVEN'T I SEEN IT TIL NOW?!? Well I'm glad I saw it when I did because it's not too late to try something new. I guess there's a book, but what LaLa wrote is about is a philosophy called "E.A.S.Y". "Eat, Activity, Sleep, You." The you stands for sleep!!! :) So we're tryin' it out. We've been letting Zoe Toes go to sleep after eating, during eating and just whenever. Not any more. We're in the army now and on a schedule. She'll get to eat every 2 1/2 - 3 hours and then we'll play until she's tired. Once she's sleeping, it's "You" time and that can mean work, sleep or whatever.
We may not have the whole parenting thing figured out completely. We'll probably get it perfect when she moves out of the house. But until then we're trying our best to make sure that our little baby girl is healthy, well rested and happy. And that means Daddy and Mommy gotta be healthy, happy and for now, most importantly, well rested. Here's to the adventure before us!
How do you, or how have you, gotten your baby to sleep through the night? Tell us your secrets!
