Napping

I've been off for the past two weeks, so we've gotten a bit lax on Lyla's sleep schedule. She's also six weeks old now, and if you look around the internet, you'll find plenty of wide-eyed mothers who say their little six-week-old darling sleeps through the night.

I do not like these people. I think they are baby-druggers who cheat on their taxes and spill pop in movie theaters.

Julie and I also hear the occasional comment like, "I put Frankie-kins down for his nap right after I feed him in the morning" and "We start his bedtime routine at 7:00." And these are things that make us go "Hmm."

My perspective is that a baby that young is going to sleep when she's tired, no matter what you do to try to influence it. And this bedtime routine? For a six-week-old? Our doctor said there is nothing you can do to spoil your child until they are four months old. If you think about what spoiling actually is, it's getting your child accustomed to a routine that's inconvenient for the parents and/or harmful to the child's development. If you can't spoil a young baby, then is it even possible to accustom her to a routine?

You might say yes, but I'd argue that it's the parents who become accustomed to the routine, and the kid is along for the ride. Not that that's a bad thing; once the kid is older, the routine will already be in place, and they'll start to comprehend it. Until then, though, your baby doesn't sleep at a certain time because of a routine but because she happens to be tired then.

I might be talking out of my ass. I think one mistake Julie and I have made is not putting Lyla in her bassinet during the day. During the day Lyla is held, fed, played with, and put in her bouncy chair. Those positions are all more comfortable than lying in that hard, lonely bassinet. No wonder her first impulse is to cry. But what we're doing now, actually literally right now, is putting her down for a nap in the bassinet during the day when she's tired, when we know she'll sleep. This way, she'll start to associate the bassinet with sleep rather than with abandonment and discomfort.

But assuming she'll make a positive association with the bassinet is like assuming she comprehends routine, isn't it? Good grief, now I need a nap. I'm comforted that every time I see somebody, they always say, "So, are you sleeping?" with a doubtful expression. Maybe it's my red eyes and overall dishevelment, but maybe it's also that everyone expects new parents to struggle with their child's sleep schedule, and there's no amount of routine that will contradict what nature has in store.

Maybe I should just read Lyla this post every time I want her to go to sleep.