In this case.. A week.
I'm sitting here watching Kobe through our baby monitor. We've just fed him, put him in his little baby cacoon and put him to bed to fall asleep by himself. He is smiling, chuckling, talking (sort of) and generally having a good ole time by himself. He should fall asleep soon (hopefully!).
How things have changed...
If I think back to literally a week ago, there was no smiling or chuckling if we had done this, just lots of hysterical crying, scrunched up faces and tears - and that's not even including what the baby did. Kobe would not sleep at all during the day and it made life difficult. His naps during the day consisted of 10-15 minute bursts, which would require hours of bouncing, walking and general movement to even achieve. By the end of the day, Kobe would have slept maybe an hour, maybe two (if we put him in a baby carrier) and we were consistently left with a overtired and cranky baby to handle.
One week later, he can now (generally) fall asleep by himself without the aid of movement and us being around. If he startles or wakes up, he can often (with a bit of luck) put himself back to sleep without us intervening. This has resulted in him sleeping up to four sometimes five hours during the day which has given us what seems like an eternity of free time. This free time is spent doing exciting things like taking naps, cleaning the house and preparing dinner but at least we're not spending entire days on an exercise ball bouncing a baby.
Maybe it's a result of some sleep training we've been trying. Maybe it's a result of natural baby development. Maybe it's a bit of help from God and some amazing friends we are blessed to have in our lives. Who knows..
All I know is.. we're starting to feel a bit more sane....
But who knows what difference.. another week will bring.
