Sleepy bub

Alby slept for two and a half hours at nursery today – two and a half hours!!!! He was only there for four hours in total.  Apparently he fell asleep in his highchair whilst eating his lunch, they moved him to the cot and he only woke up five minutes before I came to collect him.  He has never napped for that long with me (nor does he settle in a cot for me as he does at nursery).  Honestly, I need to somehow become a fly on the wall and learn their secrets as they are clearly sleep shamans of some sort.

That Alby had sleep to catch up on doesn’t surprise me at all – on Friday night we spent the night in a hotel as the result of a slightly bizarre scheme to get Mark to the airport in Oxford by midnight (as clear a case of Miranda logic as you’ll ever need).  Alby went to bed later than normal, was woken at 10:30pm as we bundled him into the car, again at midnight when we unloaded Mark’s bag and again at 1:30am when he, Percy and I made our way through the car park, across reception and back to our room.  Despite all these disturbances he still woke at 6:30am on Saturday morning.  What’s more, he only he only took a one and a half hour nap that day.  And a one and a half hour nap the next day.  That is despite me trying everything in my power to get two naps out of him – walks in the pushchair, the magical powers of Baby Beethoven, driving in the car and even offering extra feeds all snuggled up in my comforting arms.  

So sure was I that he would nap plenty over the weekend for the first time ever I was planning to follow that old adage and “sleep when your baby sleeps” – I changed into lovely slobby clothes on Saturday afternoon, had a drink by my bed and my book open at the right page all ready so that I could snuggle down when he fell asleep.  But no – the only sleeping he did was just before lunch between the M69 and the M18 (needless to say that had I chosen to sleep at that point none of us would be awake right now).  

Thankfully despite his long nap today he has settled well tonight.  Very well in fact – falling asleep in my arms, waking when I lay him in his cot, almost crying at me but instead changing his mind, rolling onto his side and falling asleep.  I may not be anywhere near capable of reproducing the wonderful sleeping habits his nursery workers have managed but it’s a step in the right direction. Overall I'm just pleased he is getting the sleep quota he needs to grow but seriously Trouble Monkey, next time you're shattered try and snuggle down on mummy time so I can at least reap the benefits!

On the whole sleep topic, I’m liking this blog post from the author of Baby Calm.  Whilst I don’t agree with all her ways, on this post I give my full support: http://babycalm.wordpress.com/2011/05/23/why-hearing-%E2%80%9Cis-he-a-good-baby%E2%80%9D-aka-%E2%80%9Cdoes-he-sleep-through-yet%E2%80%9D-annoys-me-so-much/