to sleep...or NOT to sleep!

About a month ago Ethan moved into his crib to sleep. He had been doing very well there and had been consistently going 5-6 hours before waking up. He even did 7 hours one night! I was thrilled and thought that we were on our way to finally sleeping through the night. Unfortunately, he seems to have gone backwards in the past few days! Previously, he would sleep soundly and I wouldn't hear a peep from him until he was ready to get up to eat. However, he has now started waking up between feedings. He will cry and I will go in and he seems to be partly awake. I will hold him a bit and put him back down but he will be up again in a very short time. He also is only going about 3 hours before wanting to eat, which is reverting back to when he was much smaller!

During the day he loves his pacifier and usually needs it to settle down and fall asleep. However, he has never needed it at night. He has always fallen asleep easily after nursing and stayed asleep until he was ready to eat. I am now wondering if he is needing it even in the night since he keeps waking up. However, I am very hesitant to start using it at night because I don't want to have to get up and put it back in when it falls out and he wakes up.

He is 11 1/2 weeks old and I was hoping that we were consistently moving in the other direction so this is making for some exhausting and frustrating nights! I must also say that I am very thankful for such a wonderful husband! While he hears nothing in the night and sleeps through everything, he has been wonderful at getting up with Ethan in the morning so that I can sleep a bit longer. I am once again thankful for his flexible work schedule and the close proximity of his work.

I am confused because he was previously doing so good. Does anyone have any advice/thoughts on this? Any similar experiences with your children? Are there things I can do to help him sleep more soundly and longer? Is this just a stage that we will hopefully soon pass through?

Recent Happenings

Ethan is now 2 months old! He is thriving and doing great! It is such fun to watch him grow and start to see more of his personality. He is such a mover! His arms and legs are almost always moving and he kicks like crazy when laying down. He is currently kicking me as he lays on the couch beside me. He has also learned to smile and that is such fun! He is soo cute and it makes us very happy to see his smiles and his responses to us. :) He is starting to be more alert and will look at people and things more. He is very vocal and makes all kinds of noises and sounds. I think he will be a talker and a mover! :) He recently transitioned to sleeping in his crib in the nursery. It was a scary first night for me! I had to resist the strong urge to go in and make sure he was breathing. He seems to like his crib and overall sleeps well in it. He is also doing better at falling asleep after eating in the middle of the night and staying asleep when I lay him down. He will generally do a 5-6 hour initial stretch at night followed by about 3 hour stretches. That usually means we are only up about twice in the night, which is great progress! The only thing we struggle with is a general fussy period at night. Ethan often gets fussy in the evenings and will cry if not in a specific position or doing specific movements. It can make for some long evenings but otherwise he is a great baby. We had our first overnight away from home this past weekend at our RA retreat. Overall, Ethan did great and the RAs had fun snuggling and playing with him. He had a rough time sleeping in a new place but we survived the night. We had a fun first Halloween and enjoyed showing Ethan off to our family in his giraffe costume. :)

He is such a fun little guy and I am incredibly thankful for the blessings that God has poured upon our family. It is a great blessing to have Curt work soo close to home and have such a flexible schedule. He is able to watch Ethan while I exercise and it is nice to have some time to myself. He is also able to come home periodically during the day to see us, which is always a nice break. We can't believe that it is already November and that the semester will be over before we know it!