12 weeks

Tomorrow begins the 12th week. During those first few weeks of crying my eyeballs out and wanting to leave her on someone's doorstep, folks kept saying "Wait 3 months and she'll be a completely different baby". Were they right? Yes and No.

She's definitely less crabby. She smiles and laughs so that's good encouragement when she's working my nerves. She sleeps a bit longer. I've witnessed a couple 5 - 6 hour stretches at bedtime but I am selfishly looking for 8 to 12 hours at night. In a perfect world, I would also like her to take three 2 hour naps (45 mins is her norm*). Her crank level goes way down after a long nap.

I do the 5 S's from The Happiest Baby on the Block: The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep Longer and they've all worked great for calming her down. I've skimmed Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and I have my doubts about the sleep begets sleep notion. On the nights she slept a long stretch, she was up until 9ish and hadn't had a decent nap the entire day. Could have been a fluke, I dunno. I also have to admit that I've let her CIO a bit even though she's too young to get it. Nothing but disaster there. Cry 2 hours, sleep 5 to 45 mins. Heartbreaking listening to her cry. Now that she's coming out of the "4th trimester" what can I expect?

*as I write this she has gone beyond her 45 minutes power nap. Babies are weird.