some clarification please?

So, what exactly does it mean when someone says their baby "slept through the night" for the first time? Does it mean the baby didn't wake up from the time she was put down at night until morning? Does it mean the mother didn't have to feed the baby from the time she was put down for the night until morning? Does it mean that the baby didn't go right back to sleep after eating, but was up for the morning? And by morning, do we mean when we'd like for the baby to wake up? Or when it is light outside? Let me tell you how last night went, and you tell me if you think that counts as "sleeping through the night".

Let me preface this by saying Reese has been off her sleeping game since we went to Montana five weeks ago. I thought maybe the time change messed her up and hoped that she would quickly go back to the 8pm-4am routine we were on before we left, but it seemed to get worse and worse. I started to feed her every time she woke up, simply because that was the fastest and easiest way to get her back to sleep...but then realized I was training her to be hungry so often at night. Last week I started to give her one bottle each day to see if maybe she wasn't getting enough to eat during the day, making her more hungry at night. The last few nights have been better, but we still have a ways to go.

Last night, Reese went to bed at 8pm. About 45 minutes later, she started to make some noise and I went to put her binky back in her mouth. (usually, this works instantly, and she goes right back to sleep) At 11pm, she woke up for a minute and Michael got her to burp and then go right back to sleep (no more than 5 minutes). At midnight, she woke up again, and I went to put her binky back in again. She continued to fuss for a minute and while I was re-swaddling her, I tipped her on her side and she was instantly back asleep. Weird. At 4am, I wake up--not to the sound of Reese crying, but to perfect silence...well, except for our neighbor's snoring, but that is a different issue for a different post. I go back to sleep for a little bit and wake up again just before five and, again, don't hear Reese making a peep. This time I get up to listen at her door to make sure she is breathing in there. Sure enough, I hear her moving around a little bit (I almost laugh out loud as I hear Reese pulling her legs us, having a little toot, and then dropping them again...and I imagine her sighing in relief). Then I hear her starting to make noise, but not fussing noises...more like chatting noises--the kind of noises she makes when she is happy to wake up, feeling nice and rested. I go to pick her up and feed her, and then put her back to bed. I hear her make a few more noises and silently pray that she is not ready to wake up for the day, but instead go right back to sleep. By the way, at 5am it is starting to get light here and I start to wonder, "Does this count as sleeping through the night?" The fact that she went 9 hours without needing to eat is a victory, that's for sure! Reese ended up sleeping until just after 8:30am, and both momma and baby were happy as can be!

So, in giving the play by play of last night and realizing that waking up 3 times during the night probably doesn't count as sleeping through the night, but I was impressed that Reese didn't need to eat until 5am. Without those binky malfunctions, as Michael likes to call them, it would've been sleeping through the night, right?

And, since I've told you everything in detail about last night, I suppose I shouldn't leave out what I found when I went to get Reese this morning. She had some crusty spit up around her mouth and when I picked her up, her entire back was soaking, as was her blanket and the sheet on her bed. Sometimes Reese gets quite sweaty while she sleeps, despite my efforts to keep her room cool, but as I looked closer, I saw that there was some crusty spit up in her hair and also in her ears--sick! It was everywhere! I called Michael at work to tell him about it and he said that he heard Reese making some noises this morning while he was reading, then heard her burp and then she apparently went back to sleep. I guess that burp was fully loaded. Needless to say, it was straight to the bath this morning!

Here's to hoping the next two nights get better before we go back to Montana for another two weeks, and that we don't have another 5 weeks of horrible nights awaiting our return!