Nora 1 month old

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Eat/Wake/Sleep Routine
I didn't work much on teaching Nora to sleep on her own the first few weeks. This is the norm for me and my new babies. I am mainly just getting the e/w/s pattern down, enjoying snuggling with my baby, and trying to rest. I also can't emotionally handle any possible crying from baby at this point. I have found that helping babies take long naps is really beneficial, even if they are taking them in your arms (the same goes for night sleep). It helps get them into a pattern of spread out eating and sleeping.

Sleepiness
Nora was pretty sleepy the first 2-3 weeks. She fell asleep pretty easily in my arms, with or without a pacifier. If I set her down, she almost always stayed asleep for a couple hours. This was amazing! None of my children have done this. I know to very thankful for this, and the fact that she fell asleep easily. Jacob, my 6 year old, literally didn't have a single sleepy day in his life and he never ever fell asleep easily, no matter how may sleep props you used.

After about 2-3 weeks Nora started to have a harder time falling asleep in my arms. She usually had 1-2 sleepy periods a day where she'd fall asleep somewhat easily, and the rest of the time it started to take her up to 45 minutes. She'd be restful and start to fall asleep, but then keep waking up. I decided that it was time to work on having her sleep in her own room since she was obviously starting to get too stimulated by her surroundings to fall asleep in them. Books usually say that babies have to be older to not sleep well wherever, but that has never been the case for my children.

Newborn Sample Schedules

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**see example schedules below

Newborns can be very sleepy eaters, so it can often be hard to get a full feed in the first few weeks before baby falls into a coma like sleep (tips on keeping sleepy newborns awake here).  If baby isn't able to get a full feed, then she'll likely feel hungry much sooner than if she had a full feed. Just do your best and feed baby when she is hungry. She will get less sleepy soon and full feeds will be easier to get. Read more about full feeds on this post.

A well rested baby will eat much better than a tired one. You'll struggle to get full feeds when baby is overtired because she'll be too sleepy or fussy. This means that while you may be trying to work on having baby learn to fall asleep on her own, you will also want to make sure this doesn't results in her being too overtired. This is a tricky balancing act, I know!

IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SWING-CEED, TRY, TRY AGAIN.

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A baby swing can be a very magical thing. If you've ever had a fussy baby or a 'I like to wake up every 20 minutes all nap/night long' baby that drops to sleep for HOURS once placed in a swing, you know what I mean.

Wait. What? This hasn't ever happened to you? You thought swings were just suppose to be a baby decoration in the corner of your room? Well, you're not alone. Some babies are

Is Swaddling Dangerous?

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If you've read many newborn posts of mine, you know that I've a huge advocate of swaddling. I recommend it for pretty much every newborn. And I plan on swaddling my baby girl who is due any day now.

Why? Because it's an awesome soothing tool and sleep tool (it's part of the 5 S's for a reason!). Swaddling helps most young babies fall asleep quicker and sleep longer. It doesn't take more than that to convince most people that swaddling is pretty awesome! To add to this, a baby that sleeps better may

0-3 Month Newborn Sleep Guide

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*Baby older than 3 months? Check out the 3-6 month sleep guide.*

As much as the idea of snuggling up with a newborn all day long for days (err, months) on end sounds kind of nice at first, when you get in the thick of it (i.e. you haven't brushed your teeth since yesterday, your stomach has been making sounds that would scare a bear away and the last time you showered was, well, you can't even remember when) you start to think that while this was nice for a few days or even weeks, now it's lost a bit of it's charm. 

We all have things to do and we all have our own personal insanity beeper that starts to go off when we've done nothing outside of care for a newborn for so long. Add in an extreme lack of sleep to the picture and you've got

Newborn Survival Guide 0-3 months

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Joshua, 4 days old

A little overwhelmed by the list of sleep posts? I don't blame you. It can be a bit daunting, particularly if you have no idea where to begin.

That's where this post and the 0-3 Month Newborn Sleep Guide come in.

Here you'll find a summary of the most asked about topics from baby's screaming introduction to this new world to around

Luke and Jude 1 month

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You know how sometimes time goes so slowly, but it goes by quickly as well? This is one of those times. It's hard to believe a month has passed.

Luke and Jude Week 1

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So Luke and Jude aren't my own babies, but seeing as how I'll likely never have twins and many of you have requested updates like this, I'll go ahead and do some every so often of my cute nephews

Sleep By Age Index

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Sleep by Age

Sleep Problems by Age Overview

• 0-3 Month Newborn Sleep Period
• 0-3 month Newborn Survival Guide
• 0-3 month Newborn Sleep Guide
• Baby Sleep Index
• Average Sleep Charts by Age and Situation
• Newborn Example Schedules
• No Cry Sleep Solution for 0-4 month olds
• Sleep Props and Newborns

• 3-6 Month Sleep Period
• 3-6 month Sleep Guide
• Baby Sleep Index
• Average Sleep Charts by Age and Situation
• No Cry Sleep Solution for 4 month - 2 year olds

• 6-9 Month Sleep Period
• Baby Sleep Index
• Average Sleep Charts by Age and Situation
• Jacob at 8 months
• No Cry Sleep Solution for 4 month - 2 year olds

• 9-12 Month Sleep Period
• Baby Sleep Index
• Average Sleep Charts by Age and Situation
• No Cry Sleep Solution for 4 month - 2 year olds

• Toddler Sleep (1 and 2 year olds)
• 2 Year old - Example Schedules
• Toddler Sleep Index
• Average Sleep Charts by Age and Situation
• Jacob's Sleep at 2.5 years
• No Cry Sleep Solution for 4 month - 2 year olds
• The age of great resistance 14-24 months
• Why won't my toddler fall asleep?!

• Preschooler Sleep (3 and 4 year olds)
• Average Sleep Charts by Age and Situation
• Joshua at 3 years old
• Preschooler Sleep Index
• Why won't my preschooler fall asleep?

Sleep Props and Newborns

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Me and Baby Jacob

Newborns are where the sleep props (something that baby relies upon to go to sleep that he isn't able to do himself) often start. Maybe not in that first couple weeks when they are as tired as Koalas (ok, not quite, they sleep about 22 hours a day!) but after that, things often start to change.

Your baby that used to go to sleep easily whenever and wherever suddenly starts to get

No-Cry Sleep Solution: Sleep Solutions for 0-4 months

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Pantley goes over several ideas that may be able to help your child sleep better. She suggests you look over all these ideas and decide what will work best for you and baby. She also suggests you look over the section for older babies since this has a bunch of useful information in it too.

**This section is organized slightly different than her book. I thought it flowed better this way.

Read, Learn, and Beware of Bad Advice
Knowledge is power (as the saying goes). Pantley mentions that "the more knowledge you have the less likely that other people will make you doubt your parenting skills." When you are knowledgeable, you will be able to better choose what parenting