Changes and Routines

As Brett is approaching her one-year birthday I can't believe how things have changed. She is independent, but not. Can walk, but doesn't. Should still be eating baby food but prefers people food.

She took 9 steps last weekend between my husband and I. We were both so thrilled but also a little sad- how quickly time truly does go by! Now, she has to be 'walked' everywhere with me holding her hands. This has led to me getting even less done than before because both of my hands are occupied. It is quite fun though. She likes to try to run and when she does she smiles and does a high-pitched shriek!

She may also be going through a growth spurt right now because she is sleeping SO much. I feel like I am going to jinx it now that I am typing it out, but for the last 4 nights she has slept 12 hours! Then, after she is awake for 3 hours she goes down for a morning nap that has lasted between 1-2 hours. It is so nice to be able to get things done. I actually baked cookies two days ago (they were terrible, but still, I baked them)! I can only hope that this lasts! It is strange, but wonderful, to actually have a routine. Her nighttime routine remains the same. She is still in the bath by 6:30 and sleeping by 7pm.

I am having so much fun as Brett enters this stage of movement and communication. She started signing 'all done' to us last week! She also waves bye-bye (sometimes at inappropriate times). Yesterday, she held her toy phone to her head as if she was talking to it. I can hardly believe how quickly she is changing and learning.

Horror Movie Moment

The other night I woke up around 2:30am to go to the bathroom. I am always so mad when I wake up if Brett is sleeping through. So, I'm laying there in bed about to go back to sleep and, from the monitor right next to my head (sitting on the table) I hear a frightening thing.

The words "Peek a-boo I see you" comes through the monitor in an adult sing-songy voice. My heart begins to pound. I'm laying there perfectly still wondering if I had just had a weird dream. My husband is sound asleep next to me and clearly hadn't heard anything. Was I hearing things?

A few more seconds go by and, again, "Peek a-boo I see you" comes through the monitor! I'm thinking, is there a person in there with a toy trying to entertain my daughter? Is there a ghost in there activating something? I had obviously watched one too many Ghosthunter episodes as a dozen strange explanations run through my head.

I got out of bed and began to creep towards Brett's bedroom. I peek in to see that no one is in there. I do see, however, that she is squirming in her bed. One more time, the "Peek a-boo I see you" words are spoken. I see that she has wiggled her way to the top of her crib and her head is pressing against a mirror that I have hanging in her bed! I had NO idea that it made any noise what-so-ever, but it obviously 'speaks' when it is pressed.

I was up for almost two hours from adrenaline! I took the mirror out of the crib that night and it is going in the donation pile. My next baby will have a different mirror in his or her bed!

Sleep Training and Scheduling

I know I’ve griped to many of you about the bad habits I’d gotten Matthew into. For the first couple months he napped only in my arms, which I loved at first, but then realized: I will never get anything done again… ever! =0 He woke the second I tried to put him down, so I started nursing him lying down in my bed and then sneaking away once he fell asleep. That worked so well that I threw his bedtime routine out the window and started doing it then too! I’d sneak him into his crib after he’d fallen into a deep enough sleep and that worked for awhile, until he started waking up more often needing to be nursed back to sleep all night long. What did I expect?? This kid had no idea how to fall asleep on his own! Now that I was up multiple times a night with him, I was growing more and more exhausted… so what did I do? Bring him into our bed, of course. Seriously, as I write this I’m wondering, “what on earth was I thinking?” I guess sleep deprivation got the best of me.

Alright, so here I am with a 5 1/2 month old baby who exclusively nurses to sleep, won’t sleep in his crib, and wakes up more times a night than he did as a newborn. =/ Yikes! I knew I had to do something to help teach Matthew how to fall asleep on his own, but I was so hesitant to try sleep training because I couldn’t bear to hear him cry. Our pediatrician had suggested night weaning, but to be honest I just didn’t think it would work. However, thanks to Lisa’s post about the success she had with sleep training and Holly’s suggestion in the comments section, I felt motivated enough to give it a try.

Let me tell you, the result has been AMAZING and so much quicker/easier than expected!! I started off by listing out all the things I wanted to accomplish: (1) Teaching Matthew to fall asleep on his own – I made the decision that I would no longer nurse him to sleep, (2) ALL of his sleeping would be done in his crib, unless he fell asleep in the car – He was not going to be allowed back into our bed (a decision that actually made me sad knowing I wouldn’t be able to cuddle with him during the night), (3) Teaching him that nights are NOT for eating – Unless I could tell that he was truly hungry, I was going to rock him back to sleep when he woke, rather than feed him.

I knew I had to tackle everything at once and be consistent if I wanted Matthew to understand and accept the new plan. So here’s how it went: for naps I established a quick routine (wipe down with warm washcloth, read, rock) then put him down tired, but still awake. The first time he cried for 15 minutes, I checked on him twice, and then he slept for 1.5 hours in his crib!! I was so amazed, and this definitely gave me the motivation to keep going. I started consistently doing his bedtime routine (bath, lotion, pjs, read, rock) and just like naps, putting him down when he became drowsy. Bedtime actually involved less fussing because he gets so tired by the end of the day and falls asleep quickly. The first night he woke up twice and I was up for 45 min. – 1 hr. rocking him each time. The second night he still woke up twice but for only 5 – 10 min. of rocking. The third night he woke once, but again we were up for almost an hour. Since then he has been sleeping GREAT! 7pm – 7am + every night! I was so amazed at how quickly he adapted. I still haven’t gotten used to the fact that I can put him down for naps and bedtime awake and he will curl up on his own and fall asleep with out making a peep!

(Side note: I had tried letting him cry it out a couple times previously and it did not work. I think we had to wait until he was really ready and old enough to understand we weren’t leaving him for good. The longest he ever fussed before falling asleep was 15 minutes.)

The sleep training along with introducing solids have all helped him fall into a good daily schedule. Something I’d been striving for since day 1! A usual day for him is…

7-8am wake/nurse

9am breakfast (2 tbs. rice cereal and bottle)

10am nap (30 min. – 1 hr.)

11:30 nurse

12:30 nurse

2pm nap (1 hr. 30 min.)

3:30 nurse

5:30 dinner (2-4 tbs. veggies and bottle)

6:30 nurse/bedtime routine

7pm asleep

Sorry for such a long post… hope it can be of some help to someone! =)

What Happened to My Sleep?

Just when I was worried that Brett was going to roll onto her belly in the middle of the night and stop breathing, quite the opposite is happening. She is rolling onto her belly, getting stuck, and wailing because she can't get herself onto her back! The problem is that she seems to have forgotten how to roll on to her back once on her tummy.

The first night this happened my husband and I went into her room at least a dozen times to roll her back to her back when she woke up (or at least started crying) because she was on her belly. There were times that we hadn't even left her room yet and she had already rolled back onto her belly again!

The third night of this was a bit better. She made it through most of the night before she rolled over and woke up. At one point I went to check on her and she was on her belly sleeping soundly so I am hoping we are making progress.

I was getting used to getting 6+ hours of sleep a night so it is painful to revert back to waking up multiple times a night... Oh well, this to will pass...

Back to Sleep

Last night I went in to check on Brett before I went to sleep (she usually goes to bed about two hours before I do) and, to my shock and surprise, she was sleeping on her tummy! I immediately checked to make sure that she was still breathing...

As most of the new moms know, the campaign "Back to Sleep" was initiated in 1996 to reduce the rate of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) in the United States and teaches new mommies and daddies to have their babies sleep on their backs rather than their tummies. The rate of SIDS-related deaths has dropped 56% since this was instituted! Our pediatricians pound this information into our brains and we become, rightfully so, afraid to put our babies on their bellies to sleep.

When I took Brett in for her 2-month visit I told my pediatrician that I sometimes let Brett sleep on her tummy for naps. He told me, "Don't do it! Mom's think they can put their baby on her tummy for a nap, they go put the groceries away and when they come back to check on the baby, the baby is gone." Well, after that uplifting anecdote I decided Brett would never again sleep on her belly.

So, back to me walking in on her sleeping on her belly... Breathing? Yes. I ran back into my bedroom to tell my husband. I asked him if he thought I should roll her onto her back. He said, to my surprise, yes! So, I went back to Brett's room and rolled her onto her back. I went to bed feeling much better.

I woke up a few hours later and went in to check on her. Again, she was on her tummy and, again, I rolled her back onto her back. I had a rough night of sleep as I woke up every couple of hours to check on her. She stayed on her back the rest of the night.

Luckily, we had a pediatrician appointment today. I asked the doctor if I need to roll her back to her back in the middle of the night. He assured me that now that she can roll herself over she is safe to sleep on her tummy. He recommended that I play with her on the floor and make sure she is also confident in rolling herself back onto her back as well.

I can't get what my doctor originally told me out of my mind. Now I have to reprogram myself to focus on what he told me today. With that information I hope that I have a better night of sleep tonight, although it will probably take me a few nights to get used to her sleeping on her tummy.

For more information on the Back to Sleep campaign go to http://www.nichd.nih.gov/sids/