Zachary and the Sea of Z's

One of the ongoing great mysteries of young babyhood is sleep - how it works, why it often doesn't, and how to get more of it (for both baby and parents). Granted, I can't really complain, since Zachary has been effectively getting up 1-2 times per night (generally at 3 am and then 5 or 5:30 am) for the last month or more at this point. (Another effect of sleeplessness: short term memory loss. What were his sleep patterns like previously, and when did they change? I honestly don't remember. I have a vague recollection of him being up every 2-3 hours. I'm convinced all of this selective memory is part of our genetic make up, to make sure we forget enough of the tough parts to ensure families don't all stop at one child.) And I really shouldn't complain because, when he's waken himself up, Meh nearly universally manages the soothing back to sleep.

Anyway, two nights ago (or was it three nights ago? You see?!?), Zachary miraculously managed to keep himself asleep all night. Yes, 12 hours of snoozing goodness, from 7 pm to 7 am. Meh actually woke up a few times herself, a little concerned at this turn of events, and had to go check on him to make sure he was indeed still just blissfully asleep. Last night he had reverted though, and actually was squeaky even earlier in the night on a few occasions.

So what changed? What did we do differently? And how can we repeat it? In some ways I feel like a baseball player, developing a series of superstitions in an attempt to recapture that elusive no-hitter. Fear not, we're not avoiding sidewalk cracks (challenging with a bjorn or stroller in front of you), keeping strange talismans, or refusing to change clothes until Zachary repeats his feat (quite the opposite with the frequency that he spits up), but there are still plenty of little things to tweak: the timing of the bath, the number and quality of daytime naps and feedings, the nighttime soothing routine, the amount of time we let him settle himself to sleep before going in, etc. It really is a bit of a laboratory experiment, but if it can be done once, it can be repeated. We hope!