Of Schedules

About a week before we had our first child, I, of the mommy-blog stalking type, read on a fellow Bison alumna's page about a book she had found which promised great things in convincing one's child to sleep through the night.  Because I like sleep I immediately found On Becoming Baby Wise at my local library and began ravaging through the pages. 

I did not make it all the way through by the time Micaiah was born, but out of desperation, spent every waking minute finishing the book before she was a week old - flipping the pages furiously as she cried in the background while I attempted to figure out what should be done to stop this crazy thing.

The book promised that if our children followed a scheduled-yet-flexible routine they would not only be sleeping through the night before we knew it, but they would also be content and feel secure in knowing they were well taken care of.  Happy babies, the author insisted, were no coincidence.

Now, you may be laughing and waiting for me to reveal just how wrong that little book was, or at least a little too bold in its statements, but you won't find that here.  No, we followed the guidelines in the book and within two months Micaiah was sleeping 8 hours a night and a month later she was sleeping 12 hours.  She never reverted to being a frequent waker, she naps wonderfully and, to this day, rarely argues about going to bed (and on super-cranky nights, she may cry, but she's out within five minutes).  We were always told what a happy baby we had and every time I remembered the statement in the book and secretly winked at the author.

Not wanting to take too much credit ourselves or too highly exalt the methods of the book, we reasoned that until we had another child it would be difficult to tell if it was the schedule that gave us a wonderful daughter (as far as sleep goes, anyway - our child is definitely not perfect!) or if we were merely blessed with a sweet temperament. 

And then came Emmett.

Before he came along I did a refresher perusal through my freshly checked-out library copy, just to make sure we remembered how things go (it's amazing that as a child reaches each new stage you completely forget the one before or how you got to where you are today).  And we were ready to go at it once again.

What we weren't ready for was how difficult it would be to establish any sort of routine when facing a solid month of in-and-out houseguests.  While we were so happy to be able to share our new little one with all who wanted to shower him with love, we found a routine to be absolutely impossible.

And while he was never horrible, our little man was a cranky little man.  He would be thrown into fits of rage, nearly inconsolable.  He would not nap (read the blog, you've seen it!).  He wore an already-tired momma out. 

And I began to wonder if this was just how life with Emmett was going to be. 

But as soon as we had our time to ourselves once again we began to implement the plan.  And I will have you know that I took a nap yesterday.  And I was able to do so because my children nap at the same time.  They do so every day.  Our little Emmett naps on a regular schedule, he eats on a regular schedule (but sleeps for 6-7 hours at a time at night) and he rarely ever throws a fit anymore - in fact, the only time he does is if it's time to lay down for a nap or time to eat.

Thus, I would officially like to endorse here and now the concept of scheduling your children, specifically as laid out in the aforementioned book.  I'm not sure I could survive without knowing when Emmett will eat next or knowing I will have at least an hour to myself during the day while my children sleep.  I will say, there are days, in the beginning of the process when it will be difficult and you'll question whether or not this is really worth it or if it will even work.  Keep trying!  Your sanity will thank you.

Now stepping off the soapbox.  Thank you and good night.