Sleep Woes

"What ma! Who me? Naps? Sheesh... who needs those?"

"Ok, Ok... I guess I do need 'em. I am only 5 months old. Gawsh!"

"As long as I get to keep wearing cool PJ's, I'm in!"

Bobby has been all over the place lately with his sleep patterns. Once he was consistently sleeping through the night, it was heaven to us. He would often sleep in some mornings as late as 8:30 am. But, alas... those days are gone (for now). We still start Bobby's bedtime routine around 7:00 pm each night. We are pretty consistent with that. However, for the past few weeks, he has been waking up earlier than usual. He now awakes in the wee early morning hours (4, 5 am). Our solution? We have been bringing him into our bed. He'll usually sleep at least another 2 hours. I know that's a bad habit to have. But, I really don't mind. Bob is usually up and gone to the gym, so I have plenty of room in our king-sized bed with the munchkin. Plus, he is basically sleeping through the night in his own crib. I have scoured the internet for reasons why he is waking up so early. I have found that it could be due to several factors: 1) Teething (even if he does not cut a tooth for 2 or 3 months, the symptoms can start to appear) 2) His brain is working in overdrive because of his developmental milestones, and 3) A combination of the above... which basically means babies from 4 months on will be inconsistent with their sleep. From what I have gathered, this can occur anytime between 4 - 9 months. But, this does not happen with all babies. And, some may be inconsistent in their sleep schedules for months (which seems to be us); or, for just a few days.

Now, naps. Those are another story. For well over a month now, Bobby has been taking catnaps. At first, it was very annoying, and I found myself getting flustered. Once I realized that he may be just a catnapping baby, I resigned myself to the idea of him taking only 30 minute naps. I thought if he slept any longer, it was a treat! Ha! Well, last week, he started napping normal again. He would sleep 1 - 3 hours for at least his first nap. I was so happy that this catnapping phase was done. I guess I had jumped the gun, because now we are back to catnaps. Again, after consulting friends and the internet, I have found that it is truly a phase, and he will outgrow this. Some friends have said their baby started napping better at 6 months. Others have said a year! Either way, I guess I will just have to live with it. As of today, his first nap was only 15 minutes. Yes, that's right... 15 minutes. I tried rocking him back to sleep, and even letting him cry some, and nothing worked. His second nap has now been an hour and 15 minutes. I am hoping that he is making up for lost time.

So, I want to hear from you. Did your baby have these same sleep problems? If so, when did they resolve themselves? Or, did you change something to fix the problem yourself? Or, are you a lucky mom, with a good sleeper all around? If so... I am jealous! ;-)