Big Steps for Little Feet

Up until this week, Carina's evening schedule has pretty much looked like this:

6:30 pm bath
7:00 pm nurse, possibly fall asleep
7-10 pm sleep on her Boppy pillow on the couch (if she does indeed fall asleep)
10:00 pm nurse, bedtime in crib

We had sort of a rough week. Carina had a fever Monday night (102) and threw up right before bed. I was too spooked to let her sleep in her crib in case she threw up again plus she was super fussy and didn't want to sleep in her crib anyway. So she slept (or didn't sleep) in our bed all night. Her fever was down to 100 in the morning but she was still cranky. The pedi said they would call back and check on us in the afternoon to determine if she should come in. I didn't want to but the pedi had us come in just to rule out an ear infection. Turns out it was just a sore throat.

Wednesday she was a smiley, happy baby again (after catching up on her sleep). She still didn't sleep through the night till Thursday though. After getting some ideas from my Mom we decided maybe we should start putting her in her crib for the night at 7 pm instead of having her hang out with us in the living room (even if she's asleep). If she would stay in her dark, quiet nursery for those 3 hours, it certainly couldn't hurt to get some extra good sleep.

So we gave it a try Thursday night and guess what? It worked! She slept great from 7-10 and then I still nursed her at 10 (I just can't bring myself to cut out yet another feeding - not just yet) but she slept right through it. We did it again last night and while she did whine once or twice, after a little cuddle she was right back to sleep. Catching up on sleep has done miracles for the entire family.

So in my opinion - this is a big step. Peter and I now have the downstairs (and the entire couch!) to ourselves for 3 hours at night now. It's great for cuddling and bonding and we don't need to whisper anymore. It's a newfound freedom. And while it feels very strange not to have her around at night, we know it's best for everybody. This feels good.