Apologies – I wrote this yesterday and had a long evening and never got to post it. You may well get a second scribble today if I can manage it. (Lucky you!)

Following on from last post and the Sleep Bootcamp, guess who fell asleep by himself almost straight away Thursday night??!!

I couldn’t believe it. Around 7.15 pm I changed his nappy, got him in his pyjamas, read him his story, turned out all lights (except our salt lamp) and laid him down gently on the bed, fully prepared for another tough session.

It lasted about three seconds. After which he rolled over and snuggled up to the pillow beside him, closing his eyes and getting himself off to sleep with zero input from me.

I sat on the floor by the bed, amazed. And feeling slightly useless! My little boy, just six months old, was already starting to figure things out for himself and growing just that little bit more independent. I think I might have been a bit sad if I wasn’t so delighted.

Within ten minutes of putting him down I was already leaving the room, my presence no longer needed, his quiet rhythmic breathing evidence of that.

We had done it. I mean, mostly Bowie had done it, but there was a fair amount of effort on my part the first two nights. In the midst of trying to reassure and comfort Bowie on the second night, I could feel my shoulders starting to cramp and my knees ache from the position I’d been stuck in for so long.

I found myself thinking, ‘This is so hard, how much longer do I have to do this?” Yet there I was, trying to soothe and reassure Bowie by telling him over and over “You can do it, I know you can do it”and I realized how could I possibly convince Bowie that he could get through his struggles if I couldn’t even manage my own small ones? I needed to be strong if I wanted Bowie to be.

That little kid, that little bundle of feisty cuteness, he is without doubt my greatest teacher yet. He has inspired and humbled me with his capacity, at such a small age, to deal with a really difficult experience and learn a new skill in so short a time.

And you know what happened after he fell asleep? He stayed asleep, for four and a half hours, waking just at midnight for a feed, five hours since his last one after which, he went easily back to sleep.

He did wake around 3 am and bless his heart, he tried to fall back asleep, he really did, but it was just too hard, even with me cuddling him a couple times. In the end, Daddy took him and they slept snuggled up together until 6 am.

In eleven hours, he woke just twice. TWICE! For a kid that was waking up almost every hour for the past three-four weeks, that is incredible!

And you know what that means? There’s hope yet, that I might get a decent night’s sleep before the year 2025.

Ciao darlings!

Liz