But here's the thing -- while Gavin is, indeed, a great sleeper, it has not been without enormous struggle.
This is a child who didn't sleep a wink until six months. Seriously, we spent a full six months waking up every single hour throughout the night to feed him, hold him, console him, and beg beg BEG him to go back to sleep. Stephen and I were walking zombies. We took turns sleeping in the guest room. We snuck in naps after work and on Sunday mornings. We pretty much resigned ourselves to never sleeping again.
Finally, at six months, our pediatrician told us to sleep train Gavin using the Ferber method, and within ONE WEEK, Gavin was only waking up once or twice a night. It felt like bliss, and we were okay with the new nightly routine. Still, it wasn't until ten or eleven months that Gavin gave us an entire night's sleep. By the time he was a year old, we finally were getting twelve-hour stretches consistently. Now, seven months later, it is a truly rare occurrence for us to hear the monitor go off before 9:00 am. It's awesome and something we definitely don't take for granted.
Because we know what it feels like to have a terrible sleeper, Stephen and I are pretty strict about our schedule for Gavin. He has set mealtimes, a set nap, and a pretty detailed bedtime routine. It's not that we aren't flexible on times -- the kid doesn't have to eat breakfast at 10:05 on the dot or anything like that -- but in general, we like him to nap from 1-3 and sleep from 9-9, so we do pretty much anything in our power to ensure that those things happen. He'll only be this little for so long, and if we have to sacrifice late-night dinners for a few years in order to function like normal people, so be it.
But the more I talk with other parents, the more I realize that not everyone has their babies on a schedule -- feeding, sleeping, or otherwise. It seems so foreign to me, maybe because Gavin is so strong-willed and seems so dependent on a routine -- keeping in mind, of course, that our routine is wholly developed from Gavin's needs, not our own. If our growing boy doesn't get dinner around 6:00, he'll run to his highchair and try to climb up by himself. When he's ready for nap, he'll grab his binky and lovey and stare at you until you bring him to his crib. Furthermore, he is absolutely not the type of child who will fall asleep just anywhere. Occasionally he'll nap in his carseat, but he's never been one of those kids you see zonked out in their strollers at the park. Maybe we did this to him by enforcing "sleep cues" for the past year -- lights out, white noise on, fresh diaper, etc. -- and sometimes we find ourselves wishing Gavin would fall asleep in a stroller or pack-n-play so we could stay out longer, but at this point in our lives, this is what works for us. Sleep trumps all.
So yes, our child is a great sleeper, for now at least. When Gavin gets up before 8:30, I worry that something is wrong with him and endure incredulous stares from my mommy friends who wake up at 6:00 with their little munchkins. But we work for this. We work to make sure Gavin gets the sleep he needs, so that he stays happy and healthy. We work to make sure that we have time to spend together as a couple during naps and after we put Gavin to bed for the night. We work to enjoy the last few weeks of solid sleep we may ever get. So for now, we will continue to be the family that is leaving the zoo just as most are arriving, fighting the clock to ensure we are home around 1:00 for nap.
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