Talking In Your Sleep

At about 12 weeks old, my precious Jon Jon started sleeping through the night. And I'm not talking about the baby books definition of 5-6 hours. He was sleeping a blissful 10-12 hours a night! I was in heaven. Finally, the bags under my eyes and the fog in my brain started to lift. I was basking in the glow of my "good sleeper".

Last night Jon Jon quickly passed out at his normal sleep time of 6:30, but soon he would be changing the rules. A couple times I could hear (and see) him on the baby monitor crying early in the evening. I went to check on him, and he appeared to be crying in his sleep?! I did not even know this was possible. I left him alone and just as fast as he had started crying, he stopped. Then, during American Idol (grrr), he did it again. And at 10pm he was awake for real and wanting a bottle. Well that was not all - he woke again at 1am talking to himself in his crib for 20 minutes until he finally started to cry and we fed him again. At 3:30 I heard him once more and when I turned in bed to look at the monitor, there was my little angel, completely escaped from his swaddle and playing with the toy attached to the side of his crib. But he was also yelling at it. Kind of funny, if it was at 3 in the afternoon, but not at 3 in the morning. I fed him another bottle and he went back to sleep but only for another 2 hours, and then he was up for good.

Well, this was totally unacceptable! I have gotten used to sleeping again. This just would not do. So when Jon Jon went down for his first nap, instead of taking that much needed nap myself, I went straight to the internet and Googled "baby night waking." Good ol' Baby Center had some ideas. Temperature change? Nope. Change in nighttime routine? Guess again. Developmental milestone? Hmmm - he has been talking and yelling, umm I mean vocalizing, a lot the past few days. Could this be the answer? Could all his daytime chatting have left him wanting more?

So if this is the answer, what can be done about it? Should I "talk" to him nonstop during the day, so that he's all talked out by bedtime? Should I ignore his ooos and ahhs? Well obviously this would be a horrible thing for a Mommy to do! I am supposed to be encouraging his development. In fact all his talking has even led me down the Mom fantasy road of: Will he be saying his first words by six months old? Maybe he'll become a great singer! Or a fabulous public speaker! Maybe he'll travel the world on the lecture circuit and always thanking his Mom for her fabulous mothering and encouraging him from an early age. But I quickly see where all this mom-tasizing could lead, and reel myself in.

What will tonight hold? Will Jon Jon be talking in his sleep once more? Only time will tell. But for the moment I will enjoy the ooos and ahhs, even if they come at 2 in the morning, and spend my extra waking hours thinking of all the great things he may do with his amazing oratory skills... like saying Mamma.