Mornings with Mom

      Quinlan wakes up with a big yawn in the morning. His routine is that he stays up with dad till his 2 AM feeding, then he comes to bed in his co sleeper where mom is "on duty" through the morning. Dad usually has him either in the living room asleep on dad's chest, the dining room in his favorite swing, or in Quinlan's room in the crib. Dad usually is asleep nearby in case our little man needs anything.
     On some nights Quinlan will be good and sleep until his next feeding at 5 AM at which point mom will bring him out of our bedroom to change and feed him. However, if Quinlan is fussy and making a lot of noise, mom will bring him out of the bedroom sooner and usually assumes the usual position on the couch with Quinlan placed on her chest as this tends to sooth him quickest. In this position, Quinlan can usually return to sleep for another 1-2 hours.
 

     We usually let dad sleep until 10 or until he is rested. Quinlan has watched the sun rise with mommy many times as we listen to the bus out front that used to take mom to work and wait for dad to get up and make us breakfast :) All of those early mornings having to get up to bike in for a 7 AM patient have prepared mom well for being up and alert at this time, just as many late nights downloading techno or playing at WZBC have prepared dad for his shift.
     Quinlan is starting to sleep up to 4 hours at a time, usually from 12-4 or 11-3. From what we have read, babies usually are sleeping through the night by 9 months but some can start earlier. We are hoping for earlier, but will continue on the schedule Quinlan sets until he is able to snooze for longer stretches.