He Only Sleeps when He Drinks...

Lyrics to Tim McGraw's next big single?? nope...
However, if it was a country hit, the next line would be "...and he only drinks when he's with me."


An insomniac's excuse to par-tay?? try again...
Although a glass of red wine is always a great way to relax before bed.


My four month old's relationship with eating...and sleeping?? BINGO!!

I know this may sound like the recipe for parental disaster, but to be honest, I have LOVED every minute of it! For the past four months, a couple of times a day, Augustine snuggles up to me for a hearty meal and falls into a peaceful sleep. As soon as he begins sucking, he closes his beautiful blue eyes, rests his tiny hand on my chest, and spends the next half an hour or so sleeping and drinking. It is absolutely precious and so peaceful.

But when he stops eating, things get a little more complicated because:

1) He only stays asleep some of the time when I try to put him down = he may not be getting enough sleep during the day.

2) Since he usually wakes up if I transfer him into his crib, I end up putting him down on his boppy (which I pad with an incredibly soft blanket to wrap around him and make him feel like he is still in my arms) = he doesn't get used to napping in his cold, stale crib--can I really blame him for waking up in there??

3) and probably most significant...He doesn't get many opportunities to learn how to put himself to sleep = he wants Luke or I to soothe him back to sleep every time he wakes up--day or night!

Before you tell me I am CRAZY, there are a few caveats to explain how we made it so long doing things this way:

1) Augustine goes to sleep like a little angel in his crib, often times awake (yet drowsy), at night. As in we have never had to get him out of his crib before he has slept for a few hours.

2) Ok, so maybe I was exaggerating a little bit with the whole "only sleeps when he drinks" thing...he does occasionally sleep in his crib and loves cat naps in the car.

3) Augustine is so stinkin' happy all the time that I don't really mind if his favorite place to sleep is in my arms while he eats.

ALL that being said, practically speaking, Augustine does need to learn to nap in his crib...so scheduled napping has begun--sigh. (We will keep you posted on the progress, but so far SO good). Even though I will miss him sleeping in my arms more during the day, I'm sure he will still fall asleep during his last feeding of the day for awhile...and of course, there's always the sleepy middle-of-the-night feedings (although those can go away whenever they want...).

I probably broke every rule in the book by letting my Little Man nurse to sleep--and may have not done it the "right" way--but I honestly can't say we did it the "wrong" way either. I have found that there are a lot of "right" ways to do things when it comes to babies, and learning what is "right" for you and your little bundle of joy is just part of the fun!