Sleep is a Slippery Thing

When Owen was born he was at least somewhat nocturnal. Though he slept a lot in general, he seemed to be more alert at night. As he got older he slowly shifted from going to bed for the night at 4 am to 2 am to 1 am to midnight. We'd often put him in his swing until he fell asleep and then transfer him to his bed. After more weeks he started going to bed closer to 11 pm which was great.

This whole time he slept fairly well through the night. He'd wake up to eat a few times, but then he'd sleep in until 11 am which made up for the nights when neither of us went to bed until the wee hours of the next morning. Over time he stopped getting up as often in the night just as he'd started going to bed a little earlier on his own over time (weeks and months) until he began sleeping through the entire night with no feedings.

A full night's sleep taking place between 11 pm and 10 am was perfectly alright with me and I had and have no idea how it happened.

Between four and six months, we started trying to get Owen to bed earlier. We tried adding a bedtime routine and laying him in bed to fall asleep on his own around 9 pm. Some nights it worked. He'd lay in his bed quietly talking to himself until he eventually fell asleep. Other nights didn't go so well, and he'd cry until we went and got him. We weren't trying terribly hard at the time. We didn't like hearing him cry for long periods especially when we knew there were times he didn't cry at all.

After his six month well-child visit, we started putting him to bed at eight and letting him cry longer. The first night was rough, but he eventually went to sleep. Most days he cries for a few minutes, usually less than five, and then falls asleep. At first he still slept through the night though he woke up early (between seven and eight which is early compared to ten). Something, however, has changed. In the past few weeks he's been waking up at least once a night. In the past several days it's been more like twice or, more often, thrice.

At first Tyler and I figured it was because we'd thrown his schedule off. We'd gone on a trip to help his brother in San Francisco, been down at his parents' for his sister's wedding, and stayed at my sister's to visit. However it's been weeks since then and he's waking up more now than he did then, especially since some of those nights can be counted among the smattering in which he didn't wake up at all. Frankly, we have no idea why he isn't sleeping through the night since we know he is fully capable of doing so. The main problem is that we don't know what we can do to get him to sleep through the night again because it just happened on it's own the first time.

Last night he only woke up once after being put to bed for the night and it was before we'd even gone to bed. Hopefully, this is a good sign. A sign of sleeping through the night in the days, weeks, months to come. I sure hope so because if we have to just let him cry until he falls back asleep I will struggle. I hate hearing my baby cry, and I definitely can't sleep through it with him in the same room. That means we'd have to move him to the other room for sure...and currently there isn't much room for him in there. I guess I should get back to cleaning in there just in case.