Sleep!
Sleep is something that will never be the same for you once you're a parent. "A good night's sleep," doesn't really exist anymore. This was really sad for me, because I've always been a person who has really liked my sleep. I enjoyed a good 8 to 9 hours each night. Sometimes I got crazy and enjoyed 10 to 11 hours. Oh, those days.
As a parent you'll, ultimately, be faced with two options for a sleep schedule; cry it out or don't cry it out. What worked for me and my kids was the Cry It Out method. Lots of parents are highly against this and that is fine. I totally understand. The CIO method is when you put your baby down for the night, you know they're fed, cleaned, and cozy, so when they start crying you just let them cry themselves back to sleep. It is brutal listening to your baby cry and not going into the room to get them. Absolute torture.
I did the CIO method with my first child when she was 4 months. I cried each night as well, because I felt so bad. It only took 2 nights of long periods of crying. The third night she fussed for about 10 minutes and went back to sleep. That was all it took. She slept through the night from there on out, because she knew I wasn't coming in to play or feed her, so if she woke up she just cooed herself back to sleep. Now she's two and sometimes I hear her talking to herself at weird hours through out the night putting herself back to sleep. It's not like she never makes a peep. After four months she would wake up here and there and fuss, but ultimately knew to go back to bed.
Another big one will be to co-sleep or not to co-sleep. For me, I chose to not co-sleep. Which is really hard to do, because, look...
How could you not want to snuggle, cuddle, and bombard those sweet sleeping souls?
I just knew, if I let my kids in my bed now, I'd be letting them in for the next five years, which, for me, was something I didn't want. I looooove spending my days with my kids and I looooove putting them to bed and having some personal time, time with my fiance and falling asleep in adult land (even though it's interrupted through out the night). For me, it was important to create a schedule where I had nights to collect my thoughts. You might not even want to put your kids on a schedule or bed time and let them sleep with you whenever, where ever and that's great! It just wouldn't work for me and the type of person I am.
If you are a person who wants a schedule and a bed time; consistency is key! Be consistent and start their schedule as early as 2 months. Not crying it out then, but just the same bed time and nap routine. My kids routine is simple- sound machine, swaddle, bedtime lotion, a little rocking, and bed! They'll catch on and some babies will start to sleep through the night with no crying out necessary!
Cry it out, no co-sleeping, and consistent schedules have really worked for me. They're not for everyone, but have been good to me. Tristan, my 6-month old, takes two 2 hour naps each day and Ashlyn, my 2 year old, takes one 2-3 hour nap each day. Tristan goes to bed at 7 (still working on getting him to sleep through the night) and Ashlyn is in bed by 8 and sleeps through the night (although, she now gets up since moving into her toddler bed). So I have my nights free and a few moments a day to catch my breath.
I learned through lots of trial and error and each night isn't picture perfect. I still have nights my kids are up all the time and days they won't take naps, but the majority of the time; their sleep schedules aren't too bad.
Good luck finding what works for you and your beautiful, little beings! If anything, embrace the early morning moments with your new babies. Quiet mornings, before the world's awake, before the sun has risen, with my newborns and hot coffee, on the floor are some of my favorite memories.
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