I was thrilled when Che started sleeping through the night (defined as midnight to 5 in the morning by the Pediatric Sleep Disorders Clinic) at just two months of age. At 10 weeks, he started sleeping 8 to 10 hours a night. Now at three months he will sleep more than 10 hours a night. I still count Che’s ability to sleep so well as a blessing, because his sleep appears to be correlated to his health and happiness. Hey, everyone feels better after a good night’s sleep.

We were fortunate to find a daycare provider that has a 2:1 infant to teacher ratio that we could afford. His daycare provider is able to give him plenty of attention and contact, and she absolutely adores him. In a setting with more children, Che’s good behavior and happy disposition would have left him largely ignored , because attention is always given to the crying babies first.

However, I find myself jealous of the time his daycare teacher spends with him. Che’s propensity to sleep for twelve hours means that I only get one or two waking hours with him on weekdays. He is generally awake for an hour in the morning during which I feed him and then get both him and myself ready to leave by 7:30. When I get home around 6:30, I feed him and have about a half hour of play time before he conks out for the night. I didn’t even get to play with him some evenings because he would fall asleep while I was making dinner. Now I don’t start on dinner for my husband and I until after he has fallen asleep just so I can play with Che more.

Some times in the evenings I just want to pick him and hold him even though he is happily sleeping in his crib. I wake up during the night though he has barely stirred, and immediately want to grab him, but I restrain myself. I know that his healthy sleep is a good thing, and I don’t want to create bad habits. I already find myself missing the time when he would just snuggle with me.

Che is growing so fast that I savor every moment I have with him. And I acknowledge all those mothers out there who’s children are keeping them up at night. May you be able to bear the burden and still love and adore your children through your exhaustion. I wish I could relieve your burdens by giving you a full nights rest.