the more they eat the more you sleep

I think I should write a book.  I would call it I Have No Idea What I'm Doing Guide To Being A Mom.  This chapter of the book would be Sleep Untraining.  

I have been blessed at a very early stage of Sadie's short little life with some full nights of sleep.  From what I hear it's rare and only comes to few.  Sadie's been a fairly good sleeper since we brought her home from the hospital.  For her birth weight (6lbs 7oz) and for being a breast-fed baby she's always known her days from her nights.  Since I got a taste of the good life early I became spoiled and when she reverted back to her 3AM feed I just wouldn't have it.  I was on a mission.  A mission to keep this baby quiet till at least 6AM.  I have heard advice from some other newmies out there that worked for them, but what I've decided on my own is you have to do what works for you and your baby.  So here's my trick - FEED FEED FEED.  

All day I have Sadie on a pretty good schedule of feeding every 3 hours.  I am not an anal person by any means so if she doesn't eat exactly every 3 hours I try to relax and let her call the shots a little.  Here's the catch...at around 7PM it's like someone takes over my child and she becomes possessed.  She has her own little move that I call "crazy arms."  I'm sure you newmies know what I'm talking about.  It's the movement of the arms one at a time in a robotic motion.  When you see this occurring prepare yourself for meltdown mode. Here's my unprofessional solution to meltdown mode: feed your baby till he or she passes out.  What I have realized is that babies are just so exhausted at this time therefore the reason they fuss is because they just want to be sleeping.  Like us, it seems they just need a little night cap.  For me it's a bowl of ice cream (not helping the post pregnancy body) and for babies it's that warm bottle or boob.  It's given me success so far.  So what if my baby becomes a sumo wrestler, right? At least double chins are cute on babies.

So, there you have it.  You can read all of the "professional" advice you want, but I'm sticking to what would probably be considered force feeding for a little shut eye.  And if that doesn't work I would recommend investing in a good under-eye concealer (something I never needed before becoming a mom:).