Now that Samuel is 4 months old, I have picked up Dr. Marc Weissbluth's book again. He advocates beginning sleep schedules around four months of age. He emphasizes the child's need to get enough sleep ("sleep begets sleep"), at the right times ("perfect timing produces no crying"), with consolidated sleep as much as possible (one or two night wakings may be unavoidable until 9 months).

An example of our schedule using his method is waking at 8 am, taking a morning nap around 10 am, an afternoon nap around 2 pm, an evening nap around 6 pm (which phases out around 9 months), and bedtime around 9 pm with one or two feedings during the night (which also phase out around 9 months). I think I'd like to push each of those times back an hour so that we end up with an earlier bedtime, but then again it's nice when he doesn't wake up until 8 am. Once he no longer needs the evening nap, bedtime will be earlier.

I have done this for two days now, and so far it is amazing! For instance, I laid Samuel down for his morning nap awake this morning, went in to check on him and give him his binky a few times, and in a short time with a minimal amount of fussing, he was asleep. The key is putting him down for a nap at the ideal time, when he is drowsy but not overtired. When I did this yesterday, he slept for 3 hours, and I had to wake him up for his next feeding. He also took about an hour long afternoon nap. What a difference that made on a Monday! We actually had a good Monday, and I didn't know if that was possible any more. I was able to focus more attention on the big boys and keep them occupied, and I felt more like I knew what was happening in my world and how to plan. I even got some housework done.

I think it's safe to say I thrive on predictability and order, even if I'm not much for schedules with rigid times.

In other news, Jacob is riding his bike without training wheels now! Check out Heath's blog for a video and link to more pictures.