We were lucky; we’ve ended up with a toddler who mostly sleeps very well. In part, perhaps, due to good sleep genes, as both M and I are excellent at sleeping, both soundly and for long periods of time (or we were, until Pip came along, at any rate) and in part because some children just take to it quicker or more easily than others.
Not that we didn’t have to work at it. We did. This is what I learnt:
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We were from the beginning big believers in “the pause”. We NEVER ran to her side the minute she peeped. we always waited, paused, assessed. Of course, if she was distressed, or hungry, especially as a small baby, we attended to her. But often, she was just re-settling. Being heavy sleepers helped with this too, of course, as she would have to be quite loud for us to wake.
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If you are interested, you can read more on my thoughts on baby and toddler sleep in my latest post for TalkMum.
