Stick to What Works!

I am learning one key lesson: if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Our routine lately at nighttime has been that I feed Lily around 7 pm, she plays, then I feed her again around 8:30 and we swaddle her and put her in her swing. She falls asleep and gets into a nice deep sleep while we're able to have a bit of time to relax and watch a movie. Around 10 pm I feed her again while she sleeps, and she then goes in her crib, and we follow shortly. This has been working fantastic, and lately she's been sleeping right through until 8 am!

As a new mom, you get ALL sorts of advice (not always wanted). So, last night I thought that it was about time we stop relying so much on the swing. After her 8:30 feed, I rocked and sang to her and put her down in her crib. She woke up a few minutes later, Brian went in, and got her settled. Fantastic I thought! I'll feed her again at 10 and then we'll all be able to go to sleep. Who needs the swing anyway?!

Well at about 9:45 pm I could hear her stirring, but wanted to see if she'd go back to sleep on her own. Five minutes before I was about to feed her, we hear this screaming cry, much like the cry we heard after her shots. Now, Lily's not a crier, so it's always alarming the occasional time she does cry. We tried to get her back to sleep but it wasn't working, so brought her back out to the living room to be with us and where there was a bit of light. She calmed down after a little while and was her happy, cheerful self.

I think she'd woken up in the pitch black room and realised she was all by herself and got scared. This never happens when she's out with us in her swing. So, why did we bother? She sleeps great. We sleep great. Why mess with that?

Fortunately, she did sleep right through until 8 am once we got her down around 11 pm, so I can't complain, but the lesson of the day? If it's working, go with it. When it stops working, that's when you know to change.