Sleeping Through The Night

Dear Luke,

You are one amazing baby when it comes to your sleep.  If the definition of sleeping through the night is a 5-6 hour stretch, you've been doing that since Dr. Kyle told us at your 4 week appointment (March 28) that we could let you sleep until you woke up at night.  When you were first born, we woke you up every 3 hours to eat, day or night.  She told us at your appointment on March 14 that we could let you go a 5 hour stretch at night.  Once you proved yourself with your weight at your last appointment (10 pounds, 2 ounces), she said we could let you sleep until you woke up.  For awhile after March 28, you would pretty consistently wake up around 3 or 3:30 in the morning.  You were sleeping a good stretch, sometimes eating at 8:30 pm and then waking up at 3:30 am, but I wanted that stretch to happen later at night.  I started tracking your sleep, trying to figure out the best time to feed you for the last scheduled feeding before I went to bed.  I've read that it's not necessarily true that babies sleep later if they eat later, so it takes trial and error to figure out.  Then one morning you fussed a little at 3:30, but I didn't get you and you fell back asleep.  A few days later, this happened at 4:50, then 5:30, etc., and I wouldn't get you unless I was sure you were awake and needing to eat.  This past Monday I started feeding you every morning between 7:30 and 8, regardless of when you had eaten previously, since I'd read that having a consistent first feeding of the day can really help babies' sleep schedules.  Well, I'm delighted to say that for 2 nights in a row, you've slept from 10:20 or 10:50 to 7:20 or 7:30 in the morning!  Way to go, Luke!  I'm so proud of you for sleeping so well and am hoping this continues to be the pattern.  You are not even 8 weeks old yet, so I think we can count ourselves blessed to have such a good little sleeper!

Love,
Mommy