Quinn has historically been a great sleeper. We could lay him in his bed with a bottle and a his blanket and call it a night. No fuss, no whining, just sleeping. It was heavenly and we certainly took it for granted. A bit ago he got a nasty cold maybe flu? and stopped sleeping. We all about died out of no sleep for three nights until we finally caved and let him in our bed.
Biggest. mistake. ever.
Now, months later, we are still trying to get him to sleep the entire night in his bed. We have it back to a manageable place – he isn’t allowed in bed with us until at least 5am. But we do have to tell him at least twice throughout the night to go back to bed.
I was lying there with my little munchkin on my left and the hubs on my right this past Saturday and was just thinking about how this little dude likes to sleep. He snuggles up super close to me and likes his face to be touching mine. He is also a huge pillow hog.
It was then that I had a bit of an epiphany. What if I put a pillow in his bed? It’s about that time and age for pillows to be introduced and he seems to have taken to mine just fine. So why not?
And so that’s exactly what I did. That day I made a big hubbub about him getting his own pillow. I let him help me pull it out of the closet and put the pillowcase on it. Then let him jump all over it in his own bed.
When I went to the twins sale last month I picked up a few stuffed animals, one of which was this super plush monkey with velcro hands. The kind meant for hanging over the side of a crib. Quinn found it the other day and was rubbing it all over his face, this kid just loves texture – I wonder where he gets that from?!? So at bedtime that night I grabbed the monkey, made sure his pillow was in place and laid him down cheek to cheek with the monkey, his blanket and his bottle.
And you know what happened?
Nothing.
No baby in my bed all night. No having to tell him a handful of times to go back to bed. Just, nothing.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. Sweet uninterrupted sleep. Where have you been all my life? (a bit dramatic, maybe, but it was sooo how I was feeling!)
It hasn’t worked so perfectly every night, but for 3 out of the past 5 nights we have actually gotten some decent sleep around here. And with two newbies coming I gotta say, I am taking full advantage of as much sleep as I can.
Because all that, is about to change.
xoxo