The Happy Sleeper
Photo taken October 2014 at The Pump Station
Though Jack and I no longer go to our Mommy & Me classes, (you can see the cool thing we made for graduation here), we have kept up our friendships with many of the fellow people in the class and also the teacher. Julie (the only one not holding a baby in the photo above) helped guide me through many of the struggles of being a first time mom. I know it sounds extreme, but I am not quite sure how I would have survived Jack's first 6 months without the class. We all cried together, shared stories, laughed a lot and grew as moms. We talked a lot about sleep, which turns out is a pretty controversial topic. But one thing I know for sure is that I could barely function with being sleep deprived.
When Jack was around 4 months old he was waking up just once in the night, which was wonderful to me. Then he regressed and was waking up twice. Well, that just threw me for a loop and I read all the sleep books that were recommended to me. We decided it was really important to us that Jack learn to soothe himself to sleep when he was ready to do so. Since Julie advised not to start a sleep plan until after the age of 5 months, I got a bit antsy. Because so many of us in class were wanting to know how we could get our babies sleeping through the night, she led us through discussions a bit early. Thank goodness for that, because I really needed to be getting more uninterrupted sleep. Julie's approach to mindful parenting helped me through it. She told us she was co-authoring a book and we all could not wait to read it. Well, long story short, her methods helped us help Jack sleep through the night at around 4 and half months and then he got better with his naps at about 6 and half months. Of course there are other factors that I think really helped - moving him into his own room, then into the crib, and being able to turn over and sleep on his stomach. It also helped with him being a thumb sucker. To this day he is a wonderful sleeper and I believe that the methods we learned in class helped me a great deal. And helped keep me sane! For those of you who are blessed with babies who sleep through the night
Even though I had just gotten off a plane, I got home, dropped my bags, hugged Jack like crazy and then took him to Julie's launch party for The Happy Sleeper.
Photography by Docuvitae
Such a fun event, even though Jack and I had to leave a bit early due to his bedtime. Congrats Julie & Heather on your amazing book, The Happy Sleeper!
