It has been one of those weeks.  Disco baby *used* to have a routine, sure it wasn’t perfect; you couldn’t set your watch to it.  I didn’t particularly like the routine, but I really, really miss it now that it is gone.

He would go to bed between 7:30pm and 9pm.  If he went to sleep before 8:30pm it was a bit of a pain because he would wake every 30-45 minutes and need a snuggle; but hey, what are you going to do.  He only went to be early if he wouldn’t go down for his third nap.  He would sleep until 8-9am, not of course uninterrupted but he would only half wake up to eat and then we would both fall asleep again.  No problem.  He would stay up for 30 to 60 minutes in the morning and then sleep for 2 hours.  This is the part I wasn’t in love with.  If I wanted a nap that was too early for me and I couldn’t sleep, but oh well.  It gave me time to get some stuff done (which I never did, I would just read my blogs).  Then he would take a nap around noon and a nap around three (maybe).  The afternoon bit was up in the air but that was ok, it meant if we went out he wasn’t a bear because it was “nap time” he would just roll with it.

Now my hubby would say if it takes 10 minutes to explain a routine, it is not a routine.  But what does he know?

Ha!  Starting last Monday Disco-Baby would get up at 4:30 am and throw a party. Yaaaay!  Then *assuming* I could get him back to sleep by 5:30 or 6am  he *might* sleep till seven.  Owie!  Not good for a night owl like me.  So between being completely exhausted and it being a million degrees I was cranky, the last thing I need was a cranky,  hot, sticky baby who would not NAP!

This was my routine about a million times a day.  Lay him down then he would roll onto his belly.  If he wasn’t already tired he was happy for about 5 minutes then he would start fussing because he didn’t want to hold his head up anymore.  But would he roll over, NO! And if I rolled him over he would scream and roll right back, and fuss because he doesn’t want to be on his belly.  Repeat. 

I tried to pin him down, I tried to use the positioning pillows to prop him on his side(the way he preferred about a month ago.  I tried to get him to sleep in his swing.  I tried to get him to sleep in my lap.  I tried to walk him to sleep.  I tried to get him to sleep in his stroller.  NOTHING!  (And it was waaay to hot to use the carrier).

Just for more fun he would constantly roll onto his belly when he is sleeping.  Not only do I prefer that he sleep on his back because of SIDS, he can not/will not go put himself back to sleep if he wakes.  See he was pretty good about going back to sleep on his own if something would wake him.  So what to do?  Yesterday I tried to encourage him to learn to put himself back to sleep on his belly, by just shhhh-ing him without snuggling and gently putting his head back down when he would lift it up.  But to be honest, I am really nervous about him sleeping on his belly.  I am so worried that he won’t get enough air.  I know they say that once a baby can roll over you do not have to reposition him, but he isn’t terribly good about rolling from his belly to his back.  So if he were struggling in his sleep I do not know if he could roll over or cry so I would know he is in trouble.

So what did you all do when your baby got to this stage?  Let them sleep on their belly or keep rolling them over?

(Oh and Disco-Baby says he will nap once he learns to crawl… great.  I think it will be another month before he figures out the whole crawling thing.  Then the fun begins.  I am such a pack rat.  There is clutter everywhere and the house is packed with furniture because we are renovating the basement.)