Sleeping is one of those things that you don’t realize how precious it is until it is threatened. I certainly used to take a good night’s sleep for granted, thinking that a solid 7 or 8 hour snooze was a given, and waking up feeling fresh as a daisy. That is, until I had a kid. Those first few months of babydom are such a blur of exhaustion and near insanity for me… I remember so distinctly that feeling during one of many nighttime feedings that I was the only person awake on the entire planet. I am sure mothers all over the world can relate to that – if only we could all start texting each other in the wee hours so we wouldn’t feel so alone.

Jeremy and I have been extremely lucky with Jasper’s sleeping habits – we started some rigorous sleep training soon after he turned six months, and it has paid off in spades. It took about 3 brutal nights of listening to him cry, (the second night strangely being worse than the first), but after that, he finally was able to start doing 6 hour stretches with no feeds, and then a few months later, 11 to 12 hours. I was ecstatic with even just the 6 hour stretch – that was enough solid sleep for me to feel human again – but 12 is absolute heaven. Now he goes down around 7:30 and sleeps through till around 6 or 6:30am. If I had it my way, I wouldn’t hear from him till after 7 in the morning, but hey, beggars can’t be choosers. The random times he does wake in the night these days, which usually only happens if he is sick or unsettled for some reason, feel that much worse now because it is so foreign. And here I am now, a month away from having baby #2, and heading straight back in to the sleeplessness… At least now I know though, that there is a light at the end of the dark tunnel!

I am certainly no expert on sleep training kids, but all I can say is that the thing that really worked for us, was consistency. Every night we have the same routine with Jasper, same timing, and I really believe that has helped him to become a good sleeper. We do dinner, quiet playtime, bath, bottle & teeth brush, story and bed, and even if we are in a different house or place, the routine never changes. Because it is always the same song and dance, he doesn’t fight it, knows exactly what is going to happen, and as a result, is a really consistent sleeper. I know we are lucky… I have many friends who are still fighting the sleep battle with their kids over 2. I hope our next little babe will be as easy going, I guess you never know till you are there.

As I said, part of our bedtime routine has always been reading Jas a story or 2 (or 3 if he has his way!) It is so funny when toddlers start to show an interest in books – it happens all of a sudden, and it is so great. He loves his tractor and car stories, and never met a dog book he didn’t like, but the big hits of the moment are actually two books written by his Uncle Nick, Hatley’s Big Bear Hug and it’s soon to be released sequel, Making the Moose out of Life. Big Bear Hug tells a great story about a bear so full of love that he needs to hug everything he sees, especially tress, only to come across a hunter who has other ideas in mind. It’s a great story with a solid environmental message, which may be a bit too advanced for my little Jas, but he sure does love all the great animal artwork. I can’t say too much about Making the Moose out of Life since it hasn’t been released yet (look for it in August), but it is another great story full of memorable characters, and it is quickly becoming another one of Jasper’s favourite bedtime reads.

Here’s hoping the sleepless nights to come for us will be short lived… If anyone is up at 2 and 4am after June 25th,  you know you’re not alone

Check out this shot of Nick at a Big Bear Hug book signing in Toronto!