When does a baby sleep through the night? And other worn-out daddy questions ramblings.

I always say that the first 6 weeks are the toughest. You're all getting to know each other, developing routines, figuring out when and where you'll get sleep or catch a moment's sanity.

And in terms of sleeping through the night, all babies are different. My daughter slept 14 hours straight at night starting around 6 weeks. My son was still waking up 5 times a night (albeit it briefly) until he was ONE! Let's hope your little Monkey is more like the former than the latter!

What my husband and I figured out to do was one of us stayed up until like 3am and the other woke up in the morning with the baby. Then in the late afternoon we were all together.

You guys sound like you're doing great, though! And it's obvious you love Monkey and that will show to him and he will greatly appreciate it!

Found you guys through Twitter... cute site!

I'm echoing Tracy T here a bit... as she said, you have to find what works for you, but here's what worked for us. We tried SO many things in those first difficult weeks. I had vowed that we would never have our child in our bed, so the last thing we tried was cosleeping. It changed everything. I wished we had done it from the start. We all three got far more sleep than we had in the first several months. If you don't want the baby between you, there's always a bedside cosleeper or bassinette. We eventually taught her to sleep in her own crib (I used techniques in the book "Good Night, Sleep Tight"). She's now a preschooler who can fall asleep by herself in her big girl bed.

In the end, the sleep issues are deeply personal, and you truly have to find what works for your family and for both of you. We tried a bit of the crying-it-out training that worked for some of our friends, but I just couldn't stand it. Deep down, I knew it wasn't right for my baby. But it works great for many parents, and some babies adapt quickly to the training. There really isn't a 'right' way, except what is right for you guys at this moment (and that can change, and probably will change over time... it did for us).

Above all, hang in there on those tough nights/days, and keep repeating "this too shall pass!"

Okay.. every baby is different. Buy Monkey sounds sooo much like our baby. We tried EVERYTHING.. man it was hard. We'd just switch off. My husband would hold him for a couple hours. Usually sitting in front of the runngin dryer with his back touching it, or sitting in the dark bathroom with the water and/or fan running.. or just sitting in his glider in a dark bedroom. then he'd wake me up when he just couldnt do it anymore and we'd switch. Those nights we not fun. We tried so hard to do a routine. Most importantly no talking, no lights at night. (except to shush..) And during the day we turned on the tv or music and opened all the blinds. We were desperate to make him know the difference between day and night. I go back and read some of my blog posts from that time and just laugh. The first night we got 4 hours of straight sleep I thought perhaps i died in my sleep and woke up in heaven! We never got more than about 2 hours a time. (if we were lucky..)
I would say the break through came at about 2-3 months. Sorry..
My other advise would be to bottle feed at night. that helped us SOOO much. We found he didnt have to work as hard or wake up as much. We also knew his tummy was getting full. Something you cant accurally gauge while breast feeding. I woke up and pumped and my husband fed the baby his bottle, changed him, put him back in his bed. Granted we did this every hour so we didnt get much more sleep, but we felt more in charge and that helped boost our spirits a little.

On the monitor front.. we have 2. and couldnt live without either of them. I love them both SOO much and would have spent double or triple the amount of money. The first is the AngelCare monitor. It is a pad that goes under the mattress of the crib and senses the breathing of the baby. it also has sound and tells you the temperature of the room. We love it sooo much. We moved our baby to his own room at 3 weeks. I coudlnt have lived without the peice of mind it offered.

We also bought the Summers brand video monitor. One that pans/tilts and zooms. It is the BEST Thing I have ever purchased and has truly saved our sons life twice now. He was violently throwing up and aspirated. We saw the whole thing happen on our monitor. It works in a pitch black room and we can see as clear as day. It is so comforting to see him sleeping and know he's okay. We can even zoom in to see him breathing. Or when he wakes up we can see what the problem is and watch him for a couple minutes to see if he'll calm down or if we need to get him.

Just remember this will pass... :)

@Mr. Tarzan

Well, actually 'Dream feeding' doesn't work for every parents. I reckon all nursing mother has experience on dream feed. If you were interested, you can check this out (Dream feed in more detail):

http://www.picknicksbrain.com/sleep-training/dream...

All the best!

@Tracey T ... Oh cool! I'm going to go out and pick up a copy today. Thanks!

The name of the magazine that your blog was referenced was Pregnancy: A New Look at Motherhood. It was the September 2009 issue. It was listed under "3 blogs that keep me coming back."

Hey everyone,

Well, Jane just talked to me about this. Yup, she did buy it and did return it. I didn't know about that. Jane said she told me, but of course, everything is a blur over the last few months!

I guess we won't be using that route. And to hopefully help buffer any fights or disagreements among commenters about parenting styles, let's hopefully all try to agree that many times some of us may disagree on certain parenting styles, books, methods, etc. and it's OK. We were all brought up differently and still alive and kicking. :)

There are so many pregnant woman who read our posts, I could only imagine the fights that could start! LOL

Tarzan, about a month before Monkey arrived, Jane was talking on Twitter about "Babywise" and I, along with SEVERAL others I saw, convinced her to return it. Please read the following threads:

http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.ph...
http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.ph...
http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.ph...

I can't understand the push to pressure your child into sleeping through the night or how anyone can make their baby lie there screaming for food, love, and comfort just to get more sleep. It's not as if you will never get sleep again. You will. Personally, I follow this idea for parenting advice: if it puts my baby's needs first, I'll consider it; if it puts my needs first, I won't.

My little one is 6 months old. She's slept through the night three times for no apparent reason, but you know what? My husband and I BOTH woke up multiple times during the night to check on her anyway. Other than that, she sleeps in stretches anywhere from 2-5 hours long. Sometimes she'll wake up for 2 hours in the middle of the night to practice moving around. And yeah, sometimes it annoys me to get out of bed and watch her crawl around, but that fades quickly under her smile.

Weeks 1 & 2 were easy for us. Weeks 3 & 4 were not that great. Weeks 5 & 6, I honestly thought I'd never sleep more than an hour at a stretch again, that I was the worse mother ever, and that I should never have had a baby. It wasn't until week 14 or so that things started to get "easy".

Be patient. Please. Please treat your baby like a person and not an inconvenience. I know it's hard to operate on little to no sleep, but you will get through it, and there'll come a day when you wake up, look at your Monkey, and realize he's NOT that little squalling newborn anymore, he's growing, and that you've made it through together, as a team, trusting one another.

I second the Babywise warning.... plus, it's a little early to start sleep training, imo. Try the miracle blanket sleep sack!! When you said his arms were moving around- that's the thing that always woke mine. We started using the miracle blanket and literally went from getting up every 2 hrs to once to none in about a week. We started it at 10 weeks - mainly because i forgot we had it.

Sorry for typos - NAK

Just a quick note - do your research on the "Babywise" book before buying and following it. Its methods are very rigid, and involves leaving your baby to cry, and has been linked with failure to thrive in infants. The author, Gary Ezzo has no background or expertise in child development, psychology, breastfeeding, or pediatric medicine.
If you read it and think its for you, great. but just do some research first!

I actually had to re-read what I wrote here last night! I was truly in the new-parent zombie daze and did not remember one word I wrote, let alone really even writing a blog post!

Maybe I was "sleep blogging"? LOL

@Jenny ... Thanks so much! Even though you just went through this 8 weeks ago, something tells me that you can't remember the 1/2 of it. Ha ha ha! Jane and I can't remember what we did yesterday - heck, we both forgot to make and have dinner tonight! But it's great to hear and know that it will pass... and things will get easier... someday... soon.... I hope... LOL

@Gilz ... The post-pregnancy daze... we are right where you were back then. Exactly. We even went for a walk today! Well, tried to anyway.

@Peta ... Happy due date day! So when are you going to get that baby out and join us on this wild first-phase of parenthood!? It will be fun seeing your 1/2 asleep replies to our 1/2 asleep blog posts. Ha ha ha. But don't worry, even though Jane and I are zombies 1/2 the time, it's all worth it when those big blue eyes look up at you. :)

@TheAngelForever ... Monkey Part Deux!?!? LOL Someday... someday we'll try for a baby Jane maybe. But we'll need some time to get caught up on our sleep first. :) That's great that NHL slept through the night at 3-5 weeks! WOW! If Monkey goes that route, that would mean we're almost there!

@Tracey T ... Thanks for the great comment! We didn't know our blog was referenced in the magazine :) Which magazine is it? I'd like to pick up a copy.

@Sarah ASP ... Congrats on your 4th Monkey! :) You made me laugh remembering my parents tell me the stories of the things I said in front of people that I shouldn't have when I was younger. Almost got my father knocked out a few times by bikers I called "girls" because they had long hair. Actually, I said, "Hey Daddy, those guys think they are girls because their hair is long!" And what logo did the bikers have on their black leather jackets? Yup. Hells Angels.

@Amy ... I can VERY VERY easily see how people would let their blog, heck, even their normal life as they knew it slip during this phase. This is tough. The crazy thing is that most people we talk to and a lot of people who comment on here always say they barely remember those first two weeks. We're doing what we can to keep blogging - even when I blog when 1/2 asleep and couldn't tell you when in the heck I wrote the day before. Actually I've been thinking the whole time when I've been replying to everyone's comments that I need to do a blog post tonight because I need to post Jane's one week postpartum picture. Uhhh... I did that a few hours ago. I can't wait to read the post and see what I wrote! LOL

@Alice Law ... Dream feed? That's new to me! But Jane is the breastfeeding expert, not me. I'm very curious about that though. How do you dream feed a baby? Is that someone you came up with or do all breastfeeding woman know this secret? :)

@Carrie ... Excellent!!!!! I can't wait to tell Jane about the book. I'll order it on Amazon and we'll read it and follow it. Sleeping through the night by 10 weeks or sooner sounds like a very good thing to me - for the ENTIRE family! ha ha

@Jessi ... Thank you! And yes, the more I research the more I see many babies actually have their days and nights confused. I had said that kidding awhile ago (feels like years ago) to someone, but also heard today at the Dr. appointment (which Jane will be blogging about tomorrow - I won't say a word about it so you guys can learn about Monkey's 1st Dr. appointment from her) what was I saying? Oh yeah, the doctor also said today that was normal. I'm running out of gas here.... OK... few more...

@Sarcastica ... Yup, I have a feeling that much of what we're going through with Monkey many, many others go through this same exact routine! I just wished Jane and I had slept throughout her last week of pregnancy so we could have been rested up. ha ha

@Torie ... Thanks! And yes, we'll get that book for sure. Glad you guys shared it with us. Now the question is... when in the heck do you have time to read it!? And for that matter remember the last paragraph you read? ha ha

@Kelly ... Thanks for the kind words :) You mentioned routine... Jane and I are having a tough time with that one I think. Maybe we do have a routine... I'm not sure. Is it possible to have a routine in the first couple of weeks? :) I forgot to move the pack and play into our bedroom... my fault. So I'm stuck on the couch here while Jane gets some much needed sleep in bed for a little while. Makes me sad though. I miss sleeping with my beautiful Jane. :( But I'll get that pack and plan in there tomorrow so we can go to sleep together at night.

@Helen ... 5-6 weeks, eh? Of course I don't hate hearing that - actually, it excites me to know that is even possible! Maybe Monkey will follow that track - we sure hope so! You make a great point about monitors. We don't have one yet, but wanted to get one. But the more I thought about it, I wasn't 100% sure if we needed one. Monkey has a GREAT set of lungs on him - so if he starts crying and we somehow sleep though it, one of our neighbors or someone in the next town would hear him, come over, feed him, and we can sleep. ha ha. Kidding. But seriously, hearing and waking up to Each and Every sound Monkey makes would drive me crazy. How do I know? Because it already does! Last night I would jump off the couch over and over again to go look at him because I hear him make a noise. I jumped up just as many times because I imagined him making a noise or a noise running through my head just as I was trying to get a little shut eye. And as I write this, he just made a little squeak that had me look over at him. He just made another one - I looked over again...

... It's going to be another LONG night.

I'm BEAT.

Again.

... somehow we need to figure out a new plan for tomorrow. Forgetting to make and eat dinner isn't good for Jane's milk production! I'll make sure she eats a big breakfast.

Oh, and stay tuned... I have some reviews/contents coming up that we are WAY WAY behind on. I'll get at least one up tomorrow where you can win some DVD's. I hope I can remember writing this part at least so I don't forget!

..... zzzzzzz

I haven't read all of the responses, but you're probably going to hate me when I tell you that my first baby slept through the night at 5-6 weeks old! One thing I remember that mom told me (she had 5 kids herself) was that if your baby is hungry at night, he will definitely make his needs known. In other words, don't pick them up at the first sounds or squeaks, and realize that babies (and everyone) has times during sleep where they are only lightly asleep and can still move or wiggle around.
I tried not to get my babies up unless they were actually crying to be fed. Often they would fall back asleep after a couple of minutes if I waited.
My second baby woke once a night from about 2 -4 months, then slept all the way through the night from then on.
I think one of the big things was that I moved them into another room after 3-4 months. I didn't use a baby monitor either. Mom was right-- when they woke up and they wanted to be up, they weren't subtle about it:-) I woke up instantly at the first sound of a cry. After a few months, they would wake up and play quietly in the crib. I remember lying in bed and listening to my daughter talk to herself and play with her busy box in the mornings.
Times have changed though. Parents seem to want their babies rightbeside them all the time, and they use monitors and videos so they can hear EVERY sound the baby makes. I think I would have lost my mind if I'd done that, but I was doing it pretty much on my own- so I'm sure that makes a difference.

I've asked myself that same question. My daughter didn't sleep through the night until about 20 weeks. But, it didn't last long. She went in spurts. When she hit about six months she didn't sleep because she was teething, she again didn't sleep around one...why I'm not sure. Now she is two and is on and off again (I'm guessing it has to do with new baby and his routine) with her sleep. If we didn't have some routine we would have been in trouble. The thing I have learned though is it is okay to be flexible once in awhile. It's hard to be rigid with feeding when you don't formula feed, and your baby has other plans. Sleep when baby sleeps couldn't be suggested more. Why I'm not asleep now is beyond me (other than my two year old coming in wanting mommy to play). All I can say though is thank goodness for proactive fathers! It makes me cry knowing how great it is for us as moms to have the help of your husbands. It's wonderful and joyous time; but it's also frustrating, tiring and work at times. Also, it's an amazing experience when your little ones are here. I'm so happy for you and Jane. Believe it or not, these times will come and go. Enjoy it while you can. It's amazing how they say time goes fast. It's definitely, an understatement. I've read every book I could to prepare, but the only thing that helped me was having my child. Now even though it's my 2nd, it's still so different in many ways. Nothing can ever express how much your children become your life and joy. You both are lucky to have each other in your life. Baby tarzan is even luckier. He has a mom and dad that love each other and him. You guys are blessed and I know you know it. Glad your keeping up to date on how it's after the fact.

I was going to recommend the book On Becoming Babywise to you all, but I see Carrie has already beat me to the punch! I haven't had my baby yet, but the book makes TONS of sense and has been successfully used by thousands of families. I intend to use its scheduling and tips with my baby (due Nov. 13). So far I think that book has been the most helpful baby book I've read (and I do a lot of reading :) ).
Congrats again and good luck on getting the baby sleeping through the night!

Oh wow you guys sound like Matt and I - and every other new parent lol! I think sleeping through the night greatly depends on the baby, but Monkey could have his days and nights mixed up. Nolan wakes up 2 times during the night but sleeps 5 hours in between night time feedings. They SAY babies who get formula at night sleep better because its thicker but I wouldn't no, Nolan is breastfed and he has no immediate plans of changing that.

Hope you all get some sleep soon!

You seem to know that "this too shall pass"...It really will. Every baby is different though, and you must keep that in mind. Just because someone's baby slept through at 5 weeks does not mean yours will, and you shouldn't expect them to. My 4 month old still does not sleep 100% through the night. However he does go down at 9pm and wake up between 3-6am to eat, then right back to bed til 8am. I've taken many concepts from the Babywise book, as well as the Baby Whisperer book. And some I just do it my way.

Almost all babies have their nights and days confused. It's totally normal and its an adjustment from the womb for them. Start the day at one time, a lot of babies thrive at 7am. Get up, feed him, change him, a little play time and then get him to sleep for a nap. Don't worry about them going to sleep by themselves yet, it probably won't happen unless you're lucky. Just get him to sleep, and overtired baby is not a happy one. Nurse him to sleep if he will, rock him to sleep, just get him to sleep. Don't let him sleep past 3 hours during the day. Wake him up, feed him, change him/play with him, then down for a nap again. Do this during the day, keep the areas bright and keep the noise going in the house (quiet down a little for naptime). At night, turn off the light, dim all sounds and stimulation and set up a bedtime routine (bath, change, pjs, a quick song, feed, then bed) and stick to it! Consistency is key. Do not play with Monkey at night time. Minimal talking (unless calming him with shushes and pats), no lights, no tv, no music, ect. Give this a week or two and you might get him to sleep better at night.

Like I said before, babies don't always sleep through the night at "supposed times". HA! And do not expect them to. You will only get frustrated. Sleeping through the night for a baby is 5-6 hours tops. Some can go longer, others not so long. When he wakes up, change him (in the dark or dim light), feed him, and get him back to bed, no play time. Try to put him down when he's very drowsy (eyes like slits) but not totally conked out (this may not work for awhile, but start it early). Otherwise just give it time. I still nurse my 4 month old to sleep and he sleeps from 9am til 5am most nights, then eats and goes right back to bed without a peep until 8am.

You guys are doing great, this time will fly by and you'll feel like you didn't enjoy it enough, so enjoy every moment with your little man.

So, I am 13 weeks along with my first baby, but I have raised several nephews and my godson. I can't believei didn't think to recommend this before the baby came, but I live by a book called "On Becoming BabyWise" If you follow the routines set in place the baby should be sleeping through the night literally no later than 10 weeks. The book says 8-12, but I have found that no later than 10 all of my boys were sleeping through the night. It's basic principle is that you have 3 hour periods of eating, wake time and THEN sleep. So you feed Monkey, change him, play with him and then put him down by himself for sleep time. You do this at all feedings EXCEPT at night. At night you should feed change and then put back to bed immediately. They may fuss or even cry the first few times, but they get in the routine and it is sooo worth it. The book gives lots more guidelines and even explains how to get started if after the baby is born as opposed to as soon as the baby is born. Just a thought for you guys to look into, but I am a firm believer in it! I am wishing you guys the best, and sweet dreams!

Hrm... my Little Sprout slept through the night after she was 6 months old- when her sleep routine was fixed and started on solid food! We put her on bed around 8pm, then gave her a "dream feed"(Breastfeed while baby is still asleep) at 10pm- 11pm.
On top of that, we always keep her busy during the day and won't allow her to nap after 5pm! Good Luck!

It's amazing you can even blog right now, thanks for keeping us all posted. I know a lot of bloggers that slip out of the blogger world after having a baby... understandable! You two really have your hands full, hang in there!

FertilAid Amy w/ Fairhaven Health.

You know I stumbled upon your blog while researching pregnancy nausea. I'm 14 weeks pregnant with my fourth monkey. As I read about your first few weeks I was impressed by how little of my own three's first few weeks that I remember well. Certainly if I was asked to recall the first few weeks of my eldest's life (she is 8), I would have a tough time. Much more prevalent are the memories of my sons (now 6 and 4) turning on the neighbor's outside spigott while they were on vacation and forgetting that they had done it. The conversation with the neighbors when it was discovered is forever seared in my brain. Or the time I took my three year old daughter to the gym and she pointed to a woman not three feet away from us and said "Mommy, that lady's fat".
Now I'm contemplating the first few weeks of what will most definitely be our last foray into parenthood. I want to remember it in all it's sleep deprived loveliness. It seems hideous at first but it's literally a blip in the journey. One day you'll be wondering why you can't remember those first weeks but then you've written this great blog. It's a great resourse for someone like me who is more likely to be focusing on homework and discipline when there are precious moments to be locked into my brain.

OK, first a disclaimer. Every family needs to find out what works for them and their babies. I do not claim that what works for us will work for you or everyone, but I love the first 3 months after baby is born and I'm expecting baby #5 in 5 weeks + or - 2 weeks and I'm really looking forward to the little newborn stage ;) I thought I would share some of what helps me and maybe it will help you or someone else out there.

First, I have no expectation of my babies sleeping through the night or falling asleep independently until they are around a year old. There are so many developmental changes, teething, illnesses, growth spurts, etc. in that 1 st that even if your baby has been sleeping through the night for awhile, SOMETHING is going to happen to throw it all out the window. Your baby's temperament plays a big factor in sleep as well.

I hate to admit it to parents who have such a hard time in the beginning, but I find the first three months rather "easy". I'm tired, but not exhausted. I've tried to figure out why and the biggest difference between me and my friends who are feeling like "zombies" those first weeks and months is that we co-sleep with our new baby. From day one, baby sleeps in bed with us. Your pediatrician/doctor etc will tell you not to, but it's a blanket statement. I had a friend whose pediatrician told her "off the record" that she co-slept with all her children. Yes, some situations are not safe for co-sleeping (ie parents who are on medication that affect their sleep, go to bed intoxicated, sleep with big comforters and pillows, sleep on a water bed, etc), but world wide, this is the way most babies sleep and SIDS is almost unheard of where this sleep practice is used. A book that discusses this sleep arrangement choice is Nighttime Parenting: How to Get Your Baby and Child to Sleep by William Sears. Dr. Sears also has a website www.askdrsears.com Some people think that if you co-sleep, your kids will never sleep on their own. My kids 9, 6, 4, and 2 all fall asleep on their own, all sleep through the night and sleep in their own beds (the 2 year old sometimes joins us).

The next thing that I do is learn to nurse laying down in bed (as soon as baby and mom have figured out a good latch normally in a few days or less). You barely need to wake up at night to feed baby. I don't get out of bed at night unless absolutely necessary, ie diaper changes, or soothing baby laying down isn't working. My babies rarely need to burp after nursing laying down.

Next if I'm ready for sleep and baby is awake, I take baby to bed with me and lay her down with me and I put a hand on her tummy and just breathe deeply and heavily sometimes with a quiet sigh. No talking, no playing, maybe hum a quiet song, but no lights, simulations, etc. If baby is happy and awake, it's ok to let him lay there with you while you go to sleep, but within a week or so, my babies aren't trying to have a nightly party or expecting play time. It will still happen on occasion and require walking around with a sad, fussy baby, but everything is kept dark.

Next, assuming baby is gaining weight, and mom's milk has come in, etc, DON'T WAKE the baby :) Especially at night. IF you are co-sleeping and nursing, mom and baby's sleep cycles are more in harmony and mom and baby come into a lighter sleep together and wake to nurse without full blown crying. (The book and website talks more about infant sleep cycles and the book talks about a nursing mom and baby's sleep cycles. I find it fascinating.)

Also, I would recommend Jane skipping pumping at night. It sounds like milk supply is not a problem, so my understanding is that it's for a middle of the night feed for later that she's pumping for. If she wants to pump to save for later, do it during the day. If baby is asleep and mom is asleep, don't wake up mom. The emotional roller coaster is so much worse without enough sleep.

I recently came across a website about nursing/sleeping/pumping/etc that I haven't looked over completely, but I've really liked what I've read their so far. www.normalfed.com/index.html

I also practice "baby wearing". I've used LOTS of different carriers and my favorite that I've used the most with the last 2 and soon this baby is www.kangarookorner.com It's made of polar fleece and breathes really well. I often wear the baby to get baby to sleep, while nursing and walking through the store (no one can see and when they want to see what you have in there, they are surprised when I tell them baby is feeding), etc.

On a totally different subject, I was in the waiting room waiting to meet with the consulting OB to my home birth CNM and in the Sept. 2009 "A New Look at Motherhood PREGNANCY" I found your blog referenced under "3 blogs that keep me coming back." You may already know that, but I thought I would share.

Once again, there are many different sleep philosophies out there and you need to find what works for you and Monkey. I thought I would share what has helped me not just to survive the first few weeks and months, but to really enjoy them. I know that you find the recipe that works for you guys :)

Jane and Tarzan, sadly this "schedule" that Monkey has is so typical of babies. They really do seem to have radar. Honestly, our oldest was tough for the first three months. He sort of slept at night, but was always crying. Once he really got the hang of nursing (I pumped 3 months before he would latch), he was a much happier baby since he knew how much his tummy wanted to be fed. Our little guy slept through the night by 3-5 weeks. He had those early weeks that we a little rough, but got into a sleeping patter easier. Of course, I would not sleep those night. My poor chest hurt from missed nursing sessions. Some days I would pump to have extra in the freezer.

Good luck to both of you. Keep smiling, laugh lots and remember it really will get better. These days that are a blur will be a distant memory before you know it and you will be thinking about Monkey Part Deux ;)

Guys you giving me so much to look forward to
I am due today and so far no real sign that labor is going to start But i hope it does soon I really want to meet my little girl and start the journey in to parenthood, your insights have been great for me to mentally prepare my self , so hats off to you both fro still finding time to fill us all in on the adventure that is parenthood.

The first two months for me was a blurr. I didn't know what day it was, I couldn't remember when last I'd washed my hair and some days I didnt' even get out of my PJs. By the time my husband came home at night I was knackered and I just wanted some adult conversation and to get out of the house a little. We go for walks but we'd always turn around and come home because we were so tired.

It gets easier!!! I promise.

By the time they were 8 weeks they were sleeping through. By sleeping through I mean a feed at 9pm and waking at 5am.

My girls are now 6½ and 3½ and I've been enjoying full nights sleep for over a year!

Every day closer to that...

Oh guys! I have nothing to say, except for that we were exactly the same 8 weeks ago, everyone said it would pass, but it was SO hard to believe it would when you're in the middle of it. As the mother of a now 10-week-old I can tell you that everything WILL settle down in the next few weeks. You'll discover more ways to settle/more things that work, and a rhythm (not necessarily a routine) will begin to work. For now its just about riding it out!
For the record our girl used to be like Monkeys "bad"nights non stop for the first few weeks, then it gradually settled. She now wakes every 2-3hours for food overnight, and this is definitely manageable.
Good luck, you're doing great, and what you're feeling is SO normal.