6 hours

Before Ben was born, I'd usually sleep 8-10 hours a night. It's crazy how now I'm getting excited over a six-hour stretch that doesn't involving a bottle. But he's done it several times this past week, with last night's timeline being the most preferred by Mom and Dad.

Ben slept from 12:30 to 6:30 a.m. with the only interrupting coming at 4:30 a.m., when Daddy satisfied his son with a pacifier and postponed the feeding another two hours.

This is how it went for us last night ...

6:45 p.m. -- Ate 7 oz.
7:30 to 8:40 p.m. -- Slept
8:45 -- Ate 1.5 oz.
9:30 to 11:45 p.m. -- Slept until I woke him up to eat
11:50 p.m. -- 4.5oz.
12:30 a.m. -- Down for the "night"

Yesterday I was inspired [after reading what we did to help Cate sleep through the night when she was two months old ...] to stay up late and get the six consecutive hours of sleep for my little man to be in hours that jive better with our schedule. And it worked. Much better than the 9:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. stretch we had the night before.

The other inspiration was Ben himself. He ate 35 1/2 oz. yesterday, which was more than the 25-30 oz. he had been eating in previous days. So has he gulped down bigger helpings earlier in the day, I knew we were primed for a decent night.

Here's to hoping to more sleeping stretches that gradually extend themselves. Meanwhile, I'm thankful I have a 2 1/2-year-old who sleeps 11-12 hours each night and takes at least a two-hour nap.
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When people learn how obsessive I am about getting my kids to sleep through the night, they ask for tips. And, really, the best advice I can offer parents is to read "Secrets of the Baby Whisperer," which had a corny title but it packed with valuable information on developing an eating and sleeping routine that fosters independent sleepers. I can summarize the book all day long, but reading will be worth the time.