One of the strangest nights...part 2

OK, so the previous post with this title marked the start of an awful stretch of Max not sleeping, with us worrying about never getting him into his crib and Holly never getting a good night of sleep. Last night was either a huge blip or the start of a new chapter. I'm REALLY crossing my fingers that it's the latter.

Holly was out with her friends last night and I was left in charge of the little guy. She left with a big feed around 7:30 so I figured he was good for a while. We did some dishes, washed some diapers, and played around a bunch until Max got a little cranky at about 8:45 or so. So I put together some rice cereal and some sweet potato yummies for a late dinner (Holly had been to the doctor with Max for his 6-month checkup and a late meal was suggested to us to help Max get a good sleep - worth a try!). Max hoovered the whole deal, but was still a little squirrelly in his high-chair, so we started to get ready for bed.

Max hung out on my shoulder for a bit while I tried to thaw out some milk for him...but Max's drowsiness set in faster than the bottle could thaw. Max conks out while we carry him all the time, but it's usually pretty temporary. I still needed to finish thawing the milk and pop the diaper liners in the dryer, so I took Max upstairs and laid him down in his crib so that when I got the milk, he'd be right by the feeding chair. I ran downstairs to fill the drier ASAP, but halfway through, I couldn't hear him crying. Was I too far away? Was he actually staying asleep, unswaddled? Certainly not.

I finished with the diapers and went up to the main floor to collect the milk. Still no crying. OK, so he was lingering in sleepland for a few minutes. I called Holly at the party to check what she thought of the situation (given that she would be getting home late and is typically responsible for the middle-of-the-night feeds, I figured she should have some say about when and how Max went to bed) and the consensus was to let him sleep - he hadn't been getting much lately anyway.

I sat in our bedroom playing Scrabble for a while, expecting Max to get up any minute...that "any minute" turned out to be over an hour. He started crying when he roused himself and I left him alone for 5 minutes to see if he really wanted to get up. Uhh, he did.

When I went to get him out of the crib, he still had his eyes closed so I gently moved him over to the chair, where I fed him on the breastfeeding pillow. In the end, I don't think he ever opened his eyes. After about 10 minutes of slurping on the bottle, he was reduced to comfort sucking while snoozing. Right about then, I realized that I had probably blown my best opportunity to change and swaddle him. Oops. He wasn't even equipped with a hemp night liner for his diaper. Oh well. I guess it was going to be another squishy hour or two. He would probably wake up when Holly got home anyway and I'd change him then.

Ten minutes later, when I was convinced he was out cold, I scooped him up, placed him in the crib and covered him in a flannel sheet for a little bit of tuckage. He fussed quite a bit and I figured this was not going to last. I retreated back to the bedroom at 10:20, waiting for either Max to get back up or Holly to get home. At 1:00 am, neither had happened yet so I went to bed.

Then Max woke up, wailing. Well, I knew it wouldn't last that...what!?! It was 5:00 am!! Max slept for 7+ out of 8 consecutive hours for the first time in weeks. Unswaddled. In his crib. Crazy.

Holly fed Max in bed and was likely prepared to hand him off to me once he was done, but then it was 9:15. Yes, Max slept about 11 hours out of 12. Un. Bee. Leavable.

Now, I have to admit that this may have something to do with Max getting his 6-month shots yesterday, but some part of me (OK, fine, ALL of me) wants to believe that he's turned a bit of a corner. I guess the funny part is that I stayed up so long, believing the whole time that he'd get up and all the while Holly was out for the evening, oblivious to the miracle happening at home. When he got up at 5, I thought "Wow, that was an amazing display. Too bad we both ended up with only 4ish hours of sleep..." That last blast of sleep was a wonderful early Mother's and Father's Day gift.


UPDATE (Mar. 24): While Max has taken to sleeping unswaddled in his crib, he doesn't tend to give us bursts exceeding 4 hours anymore. Sadness. He's still generally pleasant during the daytime though, so it's hard to get too frustrated:)