Do we actually have a schedule?

James David is settling into a bit of a schedule, to my complete surprise. I honestly did not expect any regularity for at least a month. But inexplicably, I have observed almost the exact same pattern for at least 4 days and the days before that were pretty similar, too.

We have been heading up to bed around 9 pm. James and I will bring the computer up there and watch shows on Netflix while I feed up the little dude for the long night ahead. Around 10-10:30pm I start really crashing and getting tired--and ideally by now James David is asleep or very nearly. If he needs additional changing/burping/rocking, etc, I pass him off to James and pass out. Usually little James is asleep by 11, though, in his cradle by our bed.

Then he will sleep until just about 4-4:30. I start hearing his waking up noises in my sleep(slash my boobs start ACHING) but both of us take a good half hour after this to get fully awake--this is usually the 4-4:30 time slot. Finally I wake up (big) James and ask him to change (little) James and while he is changing him, I sit up, arrange my pillows and boppy around me, and I'm all set to feed him.

James David eats for a good half hour, sometimes even 45 mins, because this is by FAR the longest stretch he goes without eating so he's really quite hungry when he wakes up, and needs to eat for a long time. When he's done eating, he usually needs to be changed again, and he typically isn't ready to go RIGHT back to sleep, so I wake James up again, he sets up the cosleeper, changes him again, and then usually hangs out with him for a half hour or so, burping him and rocking him--I go back to sleep while all this is going on. Then James David goes back to sleep from 5/5:30 until about 8:30.

We repeat our middle of the night situation at 8:30--James changes him before and after a long feed. Then we usually get up, get the little man dressed for the day, get ourselves dressed for the day, and go downstairs.

Around 9:30 or so, James will fall asleep again and take a nice long morning nap. Usually he'll sleep for at least an hour and a half--and sometimes he'll sleep for more than two hours and I'll start thinking about waking him up so he doesn't sleep too much during the day.

But usually he wakes up on his own between 10:30-12, and again wants to eat for a good long spell.

Then he is pretty awake for the rest of the day--a few hours later--sometimes between 3-5, he'll start his all-night eat-a-thon where he'll cluster feed and basically nurse non-stop (5 mins on, 5 mins off, etc) for several hours. He might at some point in the evening take another longer nap as well but this afternoon/evening time is definitely the least predictable in terms of eating and sleeping.

And then we're back to 9pm or so and it's bedtime again! Not a bad little schedule! I am SOOOO grateful that he is such a good sleeper and we have minimal middle of the night wake-ups. There was ONE night that he woke up every two hours and I wanted to pull my hair out. I can't imagine days upon days of that.

Of course, it would be amazing if he continued with this same schedule/pattern, but I REALLY don't want to get too attached to it. I know babies can change at the drop of a hat because of growth spells, getting older, everything. So I know that tomorrow he might do something completely differently. But I'm going to try to enjoy the predictability and sleep while it lasts.

The Benefits of Cluster Feeding

So our evenings--starting as early as 4, and ending as late as midnight, but usually for a good 4-5 hour stretch . . . are basically an all-night eat-a-thon. Meaning that James David nurses for 5-15 mins, then takes a 5-15 min break, and then wants to nurse again. This seriously does last for at least 4 hours.

I will let him go on one boob for a total of 30-45 mins of EATING time, and then switch to the other one--but after several hours of this, they haven't had time to fill up again by the time it's "their turn" again.

So, by the end of it, I almost feel bad because my boobs are completely done--or at least, it feels that way--like there is no milk left in them. And yet when he pops off, there is still milk in his mouth--where is it even coming from???

Yet eventually the baby goes to sleep--typically, sometime between 9 and 12, and when he FINALLY and REALLY goes to sleep, then the benefits of all-evening cluster feeds start to shine through. Because that baby will sleep almost the whole night through!! Last night he slept from 11:30-4, ate, and then slept again from 4:30 to 8:45. Ahhh, the blissful wonder of (nearly) uninterrupted sleep.

There was ONE day (in the past week) that he didn't spend all evening eating. And that night he woke up every two hours on the dot, and it was SO SO much worse. For some reason one's body is not programmed to sleep in tiny chunks (unless one's body is 13 days old, that is).

So, all in all, no matter how sore my nips are by the end of it, or how deflated my boobs, I'll take the cluster feeds and sleeping at night over an every-two-hours-throughout-the-day-and-night sort of schedule. The sleep at night is totally worth being attached to an adorable baby all evening.