It seems that there are two different types of schedules Zach is capable of following and it all depends on whether or not we were able to keep him awake and active during the day.
I know this sounds like common sense but yesterday was just brutal for Jodi, Zachary and I. The ancient and totally barbaric Jewish ritual of circumcision was performed and this screwed our schedule completely, and at 3:15am we are suffering.
On a normal day, we try to keep and feed Zachary on a schedule where at around 1am he is fed and then primed for at least 4 hours of sleep. In the eight days since Zachary was born we have had plenty of great nights and a few whooper late night craziness.
So how do we manage great sleep nights? Simple, by providing plenty of wakeful stimulation. When Zach is awake during the day we stimulate him with active play that extends the time he is awake. For example, after a feeding babies tend to take a nap, but we put Zachary in the floor gym and play with him, stimulating his brain with music, high contrast colors etc. Zach absorbs this and stays awake longer. This tends to give us longer sleeps at night, and hence happier parents and child at 3am. Don’t get me wrong, we let him sleep when he wants to sleep, he is a baby after all.
It is a learning process for all of us, and we have to adjust each day. It will be like this for a few months and all we can do is enjoy the ride.
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