Firstly I just want to say sorry for the lack of posts on here recently. I’ve actually found the last year pretty exhausting and I’m now starting to feel a bit more normal again (well the closest to normal I’ve ever been anyway)

Wierdly I’ve just noticed that my last post about sleep was exactly one year ago! In that post I was talking about the 4 month growth spurt taking forever – Little did I know it would carry on for another year at least!

Ruby was 4 months old when she started waking me up every 1-2 hours for milk. She’s now 17 months old and there’s not been much change … Until 4 days ago! I decided enough was enough, I was actually on the verge of loosing the plot – dreaming, needing and craving sleep like crazy!

I decided to try and keep Ruby in the cot all night (next to my bed) rather than pop her quickly in bed with me to feed as soon as she woke.  I knew it was going to make me even more tired (if at all possible) but I figured I should give it a try.

Here’s how it’s going so far …

Night one – she cried a lot, all night – I felt terrible but kept holding her hand through the bars and telling her I was there. Kept offering her water and popping the stars projecter and music on.

Night two – she cried less, woke only twice and was easier to settle – the stars projecter and music helped a little bit more and she even accepted a drink of water.

Night three – she slept all the way to 4am!!! This is the first time I have slept for 6 hours since she was born.  I also managed to persuade her to go back to sleep after a few sips of water.

Last night – she slept until 2am’ish but was quick to get back to sleep with reassurance I was there and would hold her hand.

She has stayed in her cot from 8pm to 6.30am for four nights now and I’m over the moon with this progress!

I’m thrilled with the results so far. I wish I’d tried this sooner actually but we were in such a routine of boobing to sleep and I was worried I’d actually get less sleep if I risked changing things.

Hopefully, fingers crossed – we are through the worst of the sleep deprivation and things will continue in the right direction.

Gosh these small people are so incredibly tiring but totally amazing and in my opinion worth every wrinkle and grey hair.

To any struggling / sleepy parent reading this blog .. I send you buckets of energy, patience and preserverance – follow your heart and things will get easier with time xxx