Rant about Putting Kids to Bed

Kids need their sleep. If you've ever watched Supernanny, you've seen examples of parents who don't put their kids to bed at a reasonable hour and how cranky and grouchy the kids are. Sure, the kids think they want to stay up and that they'd be happier if they could watch TV till all hours and such, but as their parent, you need to decide a reasonable time to put them to bed and keep them on a schedule. They may resist, but in the long run they'll be happier and more well rested.

Alex and Sleeping

So after two months of feeding Alex at midnight, Aaron (understandably) was a little sick of it and wanted to wean Alex from his nightly feedings. I was basically waiting for Aaron to say he didn't want to do it anymore before we tried because how can you tell when a baby is ready to make it through the night without a feeding? We tried at the beginning of September and he wailed at 2 a.m. for hours because he was so hungry. I didn't want that to happen, so I waited as long as Aaron was fine with it. I don't blame him for wanting to wean him, though, and he said that Alex was getting more restless during the feeds (maybe like he wasn't too happy and being woken). As we started, I prayed that it would work and Alex would be fine without eating. I'd been keeping track of how much he ate at night hoping he would start to taper off naturally and basically wean himself, but that didn't happen.

So we started the process of weaning. I wanted to go slow, so we planned to reduce the amount he ate by .5 oz each night, but the first two nights, Alex didn't even finish the amount in there, so I lowered it even more. Once we got to 2 oz, I went right to 1 oz and then nothing (seemed stupid to wake Alex up for a half an ounce). The night we gave him 1 oz, I was crossing my fingers. I figured if he could make it with just 1 oz, he could make it with nothing. That night he slept fine and I woke up in the morning and realized that he had gotten through the night without crying.

This gave me confidence that he would make it through the next night without anything just fine as well, but I was still a little worried. Well, that night, not only did Alex make it through the night fine, but he slept till 7 a.m.! Then this morning he slept till 6:50 a.m. I guess waking him up during the night to eat disturbed his sleep, or something. If this becomes a habit, I may just change my alarm clock to 6:30 a.m., rather than 6 a.m. I'm not getting up if he's not. So that was pretty exciting.

In addition to weaning Alex from the nightly feeds, Alex has been indicating that he no longer needs his late afternoon nap, which was only 15-30 minutes anyway. So for the last couple of days, I've been keeping him up a little more between waking up and his nap and between each nap so the naps are later. He's still adjusting, but seems to be doing fine. This is great because it gives me time in the late afternoon to go out with Alex and do stuff, where before he was only ever up for about 2.5 hours at a time, and once you feed him and change his diaper and such, that doesn't leave much time to go out.

So overall, it's pretty exciting. I'm glad my boy is such a good sleeper. That Sleepeasy Solution really worked for us. I'm glad I found that book.

Sleep-Training Conclusion

Or at least I think it's concluded. Last night Alex slept through the night! Well, he actually fussed a little at 2:30 a.m., but then fell back asleep before I went in to do a check-in, and then he fussed some between 5:30 and 6, but I'm not supposed to get him out till at least 6, and he wasn't fussing very loud or very much, so I wasn't sure if he was all the way awake and I should do a check-in, or if he was partially asleep, and I should wait. But basically he slept through the night!

The Sleepeasy Solution Training Continues

Okay, so the last two nights have been rough, but I can see progress, so I'm happy.

Two nights ago, Alex went down fairly easily. After crying for 50 minutes the first night, I wasn't sure what to expect, but he only cried for 20 minutes. But then, unlike the night before where Alex slept other than when I got him for a feeding, Alex woke up at 1:30. I was planning on giving him a feed at 2, but because he woke himself up, he needed to get himself back to sleep without a feed. So I got up and started doing my check-ins (basically I go in and say something like, "Alex, Mommy is here and it's okay to go to sleep. I love you, and I'll come back in a little while to check on you"). So  I did that 5-10-15 minutes and then continued at 15 minutes. Well, he continued to cry and wail for an hour and a half. Talk about hurting my little mommy heart. I did not enjoy hearing it! But I kept reminding myself that he would be better for it and that I would be better when I could get a full night's sleep. But I like that I go in every 15 minutes to remind him that I am here, I am not ignoring him, I haven't left him, and that I love him. I think that's better for both parent and child then just letting the child cry it out.

Sleep-Training Continued and Homemade Baby Food

So today's been pretty eventful. First of all, the sleep-training is going well so far. It took Alex 50 minutes to fall asleep last night, but at least it wasn't longer, and it should get better with time. I woke him up twice to eat (1/2 hour before he got up the two nights before) and although he squawked both times when I went to put him in the crib, that was the only sound he made (assumably, he went right back to sleep). So that was good.

The first nap of today was not so good. Alex cried for the whole hour, but the book does say that it's harder to get the naps worked out and I know it's partially my fault because I put him down a half hour late, and he fell asleep in the car seat while we were walking around the store; the book says that falling asleep for even 5 minutes between naps can really cause problems with the baby getting to sleep for his next nap.

Six-Month Checkup and Sleep-Training

Yesterday Alex had his six-month checkup. Checkups are always bittersweet. It's great to find out how Alex is progressing--how much he's grown in height and weightand such--but I don't look forward to the immunization shots. So yesterday morning kind of got away from me and I realized I only had 15 minutes before I needed to leave. So I was rushing a bit and totally didn't think to bring a bottle with me. Alex usually takes a bottle after he gets his shots to calm him down, since he won't take a pacifier. So I get to the doctor's office and realize this and I'm like great. So I ask if they have any samples; they do, but not in bottles (like they had at the hospital). So I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping Alex will be okay.

Swaddle Frustrations Continued

So Alex is officially out of his swaddle, but I don't know if that's a good thing or not. Sometimes it seems fine, like yesterday when he took a 2.5 hour nap, and then there is today, where he slept for an hour the first nap and 45 minutes for his second. I don't know if it's because he wasn't in his swaddle or if it was something else. I think, though, that I'm going to make sure he's in a sleeper or a long-sleeved onesie when I put him down from now on, just in case that was part of the reason why.

Additionally, Alex doesn't go down easily for his naps and at night like he used. When he was in the swaddle, he would fall asleep either sucking on the bottle or being rocked in our arms. Then we would put him down. He would sometimes open his eyes as we put him in his crib, but he would go right back to sleep. Now, as I put him his crib, I can't hold both arms to his side and so at least one falls. This wakes him up and then when I put him down, he usually moves both arms and legs about, waking him further. I also wonder if the matress is cold while my arms are warm. Sometimes he falls back asleep within a minute or two. Sometimes he falls asleep 10 minutes later. Sometimes he just keeps crying until we get him.

Swaddle Frustrations

When we discovered swaddling, and especially when we discovered the SwaddleMe blankets, it helped Alex fall asleep and stay asleep longer. In fact, he was sleeping through the night (10 hours) by 3 months. It was heaven.

Then he got bigger.

Well, let me explain. Most babies are ready to not sleep in a swaddle by 3 months, but some continue to like it until 6 months, 9 months, or even longer. You just have to watch your kid for clues on when they're ready to get out of the swaddle. Well, as I mentioned, I use the SwaddleMe blankets. They have velcro that really helps the baby stay in the swaddle and unlike the Miracle Blanket, don't cost $30+ (around $10 each), so you can afford to buy more than one (you don't want to need the blanket and find out it's in the wash; it's good to have backups).

Getting Baby to Sleep

I think I posted awhile back about how the first night Alex didn't sleep at all (new parent + cold newborn = disaster). Well, it basically became my mission to figure out if there was anything I could do to help Alex sleep longer, and to know at what age I needed to do what so he would sleep as well as he could as soon as he could. I was somewhat disappointed to discover that there is not much you can do when babies are newly born. They need to eat often because they can't eat much, and they're too young to be trained to sleep longer (one book claimed that you could train a newborn, but from all the reviews on it, I don't believe it's true. I read the book as well, and completely disagree with the author). What the majority of books I read do agree on is that you can begin to train your baby between 12 and 16 weeks old.

Babies who hate cribs

So I frequent the ads on KSL.com because I've gotten some great deals on used stuff. One section is for cribs. And basically, I'm sick of people who put on their ad that they are selling their crib because their child hates cribs or won't sleep in their crib. Okay, well, maybe I don't know their situation and their child really won't sleep in a crib, but an ad I saw today really got to me. It says, "i bought this brand new a couple months ago but i came to realise that my son hates cribs so im selling it, it has only been used once for 10 minutes tops." Now, besides the fact that this person has lived long enough to have a child, but to not realize that I is capitalized, and doesn't seem to have grasped grammar, I can't believe that putting her son in a crib for 10 minutes "tops" is long enough to realize that he "hates" cribs. I mean who is the parent here? Apparently not this woman.

I have to wonder how she discovered this. Did she put her baby in the crib and, like all babies (at times), he cried because he didn't want to be put down to sleep. I mean seriously. And where does the baby sleep now? Probably in bed with mom where he has slept since he was born and has not been taught to sleep anywhere else. If that's the case, you just need to give the baby time to get used to the crib. This is why I stopped having my son sleep with me once he was about 2 months because by 3 or 4 months they start to understand and realize, "Hey, I like it here with mom. I'm going to cry if she doesn't let me sleep with her." Since I stopped it before then, he didn't have a problem transitioning to a crib and has slept in one since we got it for him--no problem.

I just don't get some people.

Pillow Heaven

So on Monday (10/29) I had a prenatal checkup. I asked my doctor if there was anything I could do to sleep better and he recommended two things: contoured pillow (made of dense memory foam) and a body pillow. So that night after water aerobics (at the Gold's Gym by Costco), I stopped by Costco to see what they had. They only had one contoured pillow and no body pillows. I wasn't sure if that pillow was the one I wanted, but I figured it was Costco--the land of eternal returns. You can pretty much return anything besides electronics even if it's been years since you bought it. 

So I decided to give it a try (it was actually a two-pack. This is Costco, afterall). So I have been using the pillow since and I had NO idea what a difference this pillow would make. I have to say, i wasn't even sure it would be comfortable, but between the velour cover and the memory foam, it is amazing! First, I feel complete support on my neck, which allows me to sleep on my back or my side (before I could only sleep on my back. If I tried to sleep on my side, I would have a kink in my neck). Second, before if I tried sleep on my side, not only my neck, but many times my ear would hurt really bad, and I'd only be able to stay on my side about a half hour. I was worried about this because I've heard that it's hard to sleep on your back when you get further along in your pregnancy. I was hoping I'd be an exception, but I now I don't have to worry so much. 

So basically, I went from sleeping a few hours at a time and then waking up because I was uncomfortable (and sometimes taking awhile to fall back asleep) to sleeping 6-7 hours in a row before waking and then being able to fall back asleep rather easily. I was also having issues with my back hurting (which is due partly to how I sit at work) which would add to my not sleeping well, but I haven't had any backpain since getting this pillow either. So yeah, I'm pretty happy with my purchase. I still have that extra pillow, but I figure I can keep it for either guests and/or when the first one stops giving me support. My husband tried it for about 5 minutes and didn't like it, so I guess it's not for everyone.