Sleeping By Herself

I really don't mean to brag here but I have to record this down for my future reference. For the past few days, Angie has truely been sleeping on her own.

After a bottle of milk, I simply put her down in the cot right away, no rocking at all. I then give her a kiss goodnight and just walk away. And you know what, she doesn't even cry, just smiles at me and turns over to hug her bolster. It takes about 20 mins for her to go to sleep soundly this way. The first few minutes I will hear her singing and babbling to herself, and sometimes she thumps her leg on the bed. But soon after, there is silence and you know she has successfully soothed her little self to sleep.

I am seriously impressed if I may say so myself. Many of Angie's sleep milestones have been quite accidental actually. I've been finding her really heavy, so I've been putting her down before she is sound asleep. At first, it was after substantial rocking so she was laid down semi sleepy. I realised that she did not protest when I left her like that. Lately, she herself has been squirming in our arms as though she is not comfortable and started leaning towards the cot, as if signalling that she wants to be put down. So,I decided it might be safe to just lay her on the bed and pat her to sleep. (Mark still does that) But for some reason, she does not like my patting , So for the past 2 days, I have just laid her down in the cot, wide eyed! and just left her to go to sleep by herself. And she does not protest at all.

Actually in all aspects, Angie is a dream baby. I am beginning to suspect it might have something to do with the hypnobirthing that I did before, during and after Angie's birth. She is super calm, or as my friend Karen puts it, it's like she's on "grass"- always happy and so calm. My doula Ginny said many of her clients have reported similar tales, although of course every baby is different. I might just have a real good baby on my hands. But I think the hypnobirthing made her even better then.

Still, back to the sleep habits. We seriously stuck to her regular nap and bedtime routine from birth and I think that has definitely played a big part.