In my mind money, food, and sleep all fall into the same category: you may not think about how important it is until you don’t have any. And one thing that I was lacking for the first full 12 months of Cole’s life was sleep. And that, my friends, was one of the most challenging parts about learning how to be a mom.
Pre-Cole, I was a woman who needed a good 6.5-8 hours to function. I remember setting three alarms for work: 6:45, 6:55, and 7:00. I’d snooze the first two, and roll myself out of bed at 7. Hop in the shower, rush around, and be out the door at 7:35 – the VERY last minute I could leave so I could still get to my desk by 7:55-58. Little did I know how drastically that lifestyle was going to change, seriously, huge LOL.
I know that most, if not all, of new moms go a stretch of time with very little sleep – interrupted every few hours because newborns are hungry often and need to eat frequently. But little did I know that this pattern would continue for the first 9-11 months of Cole’s life. I read articles, books, experimented with bed times, experimented with room temperature, tried to sleep train twice, changed outfits, used multiple binkies, and probably hundreds of other things just to try to crack the code to Cole sleeping through the night. I OBSESSED over it. I asked friends, family, and maybe even a random stranger or two while in line for more coffee at work…..
It was brutal. Especially being a full time working mom. Dragging my exhausted self out of bed and in to work after getting 4-6 hours of interrupted sleep was awful. But I will say that once I stopped obsessing over sleep and just told myself, “it’s just how he is, you’re not a bad mom – he’s just not figuring it out yet – and that’s ok”, life got a whole lot better despite the sleep challenges.
When Cole hit that magical 1 year mark, things started to slowly change. His stretches of sleep got longer, and he started to learn to put himself back to sleep on his own. I am so blissfully happy and excited to say that he’s slept through the night for almost a month straight as of now, and mommy feels like a new woman! I’m writing this blog this morning, and Cole is still sleeping after putting himself back to sleep around 6:30. I’m sitting here thinking back to those rough nights, and truly don’t know how I survived – but I did. You just push through thanks to lots of support from your husband, friends, and family, lots of coffee, sometimes a few hundred muffled curse words, and knowing (well, more like praying with all your might) that the phase will pass.
As You Can See, I’m New At This.. 