This is a very rare photo. Whereas we have tons of Katrina's funny contortionistic poses, we haven't really dared to take any of Nathan's sleep pics. In fact, we were scared to even tiptoe in to check on his room temperature ever since he woke up a few times right after the door was opened and took forever to go back to sleep. Katrina was much nicer to us - she would go 12 hours straight without a peep when she was 3-4 month-old.
Although Nathan was right on time on his other milestones, he sure took his time on this one but at least he finally made it ! It was probably partly my responsibility as I ALWAYS fed him when he cried in the middle of the night. Since he's over 50th percentile in weight and I'm like in the negative range, I always assumed hunger as he wouldn't take any supplemental bottles like his sister did. Right around the 9-10 month mark when he was eating a lot of solids, I started thinking he couldn't really be hungry and refrained from feeding him automatically although it was always the quickest and surest way to calm him.
I still remember the night of "the turning point." I was so tired I actually didn't hear him cry at around 2-3am (Jonathan usually does but didn't that time either) When I finally did hear the screaming, I remember this out-of-body experience of trying to get up - it was like I was floating above and looking down at my exhausted achy body and trying to wake it up but couldn't. Magically, after a while, (didn't even know how long), the crying stopped !!! No feeding or other intervention necessary ! So we started letting him settle himself for a few days and lo and behold - he's sleeping through without needing to nurse !
Although he still cries during his sleep on days when he napped poorly and I still have to go in and soothe him at times, he's definitely a much better sleeper now. Maybe I can finally pay back my own very deep sleep debt one of these days......
