"You're lucky"

I had my first ever, "You're lucky" comment upon answering the question of how well Nolan sleeps with, "Twelve hours." 

Perhaps some of you moms did just completely and totally luck into a baby who sleeps like that and good for you, be blessed by it.

I, however, did not. I carefully structured and implemented a consistent routine using the Babywise book as a guide. 

People often forget that infants need a lot of sleep. Even if your baby doesn't act like it and avoids naps, babies still need sleep. A 6 month old, for example, is suggested to get 13-16 hours of sleep per day. 

Nolan sleeps 12 hours at night (finally) and has 3 naps a day (a 1.5 hour nap in the morning, a 2 hour nap in the afternoon, and a 30 minute catnap in the evening). 

I was blessed with a baby who likes his sleep (even though he fights it sometimes). Even with all the challenges we faced with nursing and the reflux, Nolan still was sleeping 9-10 hours a night at 3 months old. Within the last month or so he's started sleeping very solidly from 8-8. 

Even so, he needed the guidance and structure to learn when to sleep.

We also worked hard on laying him down awake and letting him put himself to sleep. Now, we don't even have to rock him until he's drowsy. We can lay him down wide awake in his crib and he will put himself to sleep. 

Now, I understand that the comment was probably a purely social response from another parent to a small child who might not be sleeping that well. Of course I just smiled and nodded when it was made. But, it did get me thinking about all the hard work we'd put into Nolan's days. Say what you want about routine and structure, and I'll say what I want about the lack thereof, but it's what got Nolan to where he is. It certainly wasn't luck.