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Silja's Sleep Diary: thirteen weeks old

Written by Taru, Silja's mom

At thirteen weeks old Silja sleeps quite well, although her sleep is often light and she wakes up easily. Her mother decides not to start cosleeping. Silja's naps become a bit more solid ...

Quite obviously, the magic of the cloth diapers has worn off a bit, and on most nights this week Silja has woken up once. She did sleep through very well - from 10pm to 6am! - twice, but on most nights she's fallen asleep around 9pm and then been up at around 4am or a bit earlier. I'm still happy about that of course.

Baby sleep patterns at thirteen weeks old

I'm noticing that it's not so straightforward to put her to sleep at night anymore as she seems to sleep very lightly for a long time, and then only goes on to deeper sleep if she's been completely undisturbed for a good while.

So there's absolutely no reading newspapers in the bedroom in the evening, or any other rustling sound. To my husband's profound disappointment, the sound of a condom wrapper being opened sends her through the roof (well that was probably a bit more information than you really needed ...).

Well, anyway, before Silja falls asleep at night she usually has a very good, long feed and nods off at the breast. I can tell she's going to go to sleep when she doesn't open her eyes when I burp her against my shoulder.

This nursing to sleep is not exactly what I planned, as I thought it would be better if she learned to settle herself in her cot, but that seems to be the only way for now to settle her for a good, deep sleep.

My husband wanted to try settling her down with a dummy again one night, and she did fall asleep after a while. She still really doesn't like taking a dummy, it's more like a wrestling match than going to sleep as I know it, but at least it tired her out without her getting too upset ...

But then she was up at 2am and not very happy about it, and again at 4am. So even more - although clearly less severe - disappointment for poor husband.

Co-sleeping?

Twice this week after a night feed Silja has been really wide awake, and once I felt too tired to stay awake for another second. Putting her in her cot requires a lot of grumbling and finger sucking and rolling about (although she eventually sleeps there quite happily) and I just wasn't up to that this time.

So instead of putting her to her cot to go to sleep - I just cuddled her close and we both went to sleep right away.

I used to have both of my bigger kids in my bed quite a lot when they were babies, and it feels lovely. But this time I'm not so keen on cosleeping as I find I just don't go into deep, restful sleep if Silja is right next to me. She doesn't seem to sleep as deeply either, and after an hour or so she was back in her cot ...

Better naps with better nappies

Although they have not been quite as magical - but still very helpful - this week, I think the new reusable nappies may have helped Silja to take better naps during the day.

As I write, she's now had a really good, at least 2-hour nap every morning, and at least an hour in the afternoon, and sleeping in the buggy is definitely a favourite.

I can't help thinking, though, that this is probably because the cloth diapers are so bulky that she can't move as much as with disposables.

On the last day with disposables, she worked very hard on turning to her side and finally managed to get on her tummy, but she hasn't done that since then.

It's a pretty brutal choice - should I compromise my thirteen weeks old baby's motor development for better sleep (and for saving the planet of course)? For now better sleep (and the planet) wins, and I'm not too bothered - I'm quite sure that in the end she'll develop enough muscle to move her bulky bottom, too.

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