Sleeping Through The Night

Today Ryder is one day shy of 4 months old.  Last night he slept through the night for the very first time.  Yipee!  My excitement cannot be overstated. 

I must clarify.  At around 12 weeks old, Ryder started consistently sleeping from about 7:30 p.m. to 3 or 4 a.m.  Technically, I think this was considered "sleeping through the night" (i.e. I think doctors and the baby books would classify it as such).  I get that it was an 8+ hour stretch of sleep, which is awesome, but in my book- it ain't "sleeping through the night" until the baby is waking up at a normal hour.  It's not normal (or even tolerable) to wake up for the day at 4:00 a.m., so I never considered that Ryder was sleeping through the night despite his long stretches. 

[Side note:  When Ryder woke up once per night at 3 or 4 a.m., I would feed him and he'd go back down in his crib until 6 or 7 a.m.]

Last night I fed Ryder at 8:45 p.m. (which is a little on the late side for us).  He thrashed around and fussed a bit until around 9:30 p.m. (but never cried), and then he was finally out like a light.  I didn't hear a peep from him until 6:00 a.m.  When my alarm went off at 5:55 a.m. and I realized that Ryder never woke me up during the night, I jumped out of bed (literally) and grabbed his video monitor.  It was only after I confirmed that his chest was still rising and falling at normal intervals that I allowed the excitement to set in.  My child slept through the night.  Finally. 

I have no delusions about what this means.  Ryder may not sleep through the night again for another week or even a month from now.  But he is capable.  For now, I'll keep my fingers crossed tightly and pray, pray, pray that this is a new trend and not a fluke.