Perfect Little Angel

After Eli got over his last illness, we knew it was time to try again at getting him to sleep through the night.  It was so much easier than the first several times we tried it.  He cried for 35 minutes two different nights, but that was the worst of it.  He's now been sleeping through the night for over a week.  I think I might be able to start pulling back the time of his last nighttime feeding so that he's eventually sleeping 12 hours a night.

I do agree with Babywise and Cry-It-Out methods to help infants sleep through the night, but they just didn't work with Eli until he was ready.  He wasn't ready at 9 weeks, or 3 months, or 6 months.  At 8 months, however, he was ready.  I was so scared that he would never sleep through the night and that I would have a 2-year-old that had to be rocked to sleep every night, that I couldn't have any peace with any decision I made concerning his sleep cycle.  If I had known he would eventually sleep through the night with only minimal crying, I would have relaxed and just fed him in the middle of the night instead of stressed myself out by holding myself (and Eli) to a standard set by a book.  Most babies will follow "the book," but not all.

Now that he's getting the solid sleep that he needs at night (and isn't sick), he's doing much better during the day.  He takes good naps and eats better.  He still sometimes has trouble with wanting to be held all the time, but even that has decreased.

He's pulling up on stuff, wanting to stand on his own.  He'll scoot all around the carpet, but no real crawling yet despite putting forth a lot of effort on his part. 

Overall, this is the kind of baby I remember having with Silas.  Sleeping and eating well.  Crying sometimes, but mostly for reasons that are known (instead of hours of nonstop crying for unknown reasons).  Eli is a pretty small baby, with a tiny waist and very little baby fat.  He's so cute and adorable.  He's my perfect little angel!