In a desperate attempt to restore some semblance of sanity to my life, we are going to start working on teaching Althea some self soothing techniques so she stops waking us up every 90 minutes (slight exaggeration) But I can't let her cry it out, although I know some people have success with that. Anyways we got and read this book called 'the no cry sleep solution' (to which i say, haha! that assumes the child is crying for some reason other than that you are trying to make her sleep) and are implementing some simple changes for now:
earlier bedtime (6:30 instead of 7:30) with calm quiet activities.
a lovey
unswaddled (so as to free up her little hands for thumb sucking or bink re-insertion)
more attentive to tired signals to make naps better (hopefully)
quiet play time in the co-sleeper to be familiar with the space
and gradual lessening of services provided: i.e. only rocking/cuddling her barely to sleep for now and then putting her down.
theoretically in time we move on to phase two, only rocking/cuddling her to sleepy and then putting her down, etc. etc. and therefore she will become accustomed to being awake in her crib and going to sleep without so much help.
last night didn't go so hot. I put her down 5 times before i gave up and rocked her completely asleep. at which point she slept for 8 whole minutes before repeating the process with Walker. durrrrr. and she screamed at me for 20 minutes about nap this morning and had to nurse to sleep. for 30 min. *note, apparently this is normal. it get worse before it gets better. like poison ivy or similar.
anyhoo, part of the whole deal is keeping a sleep/nap log every 10 days. not more often since it will just discourage you, like weighing yourself every day on a diet. so here is our first one...
2/13: up at 8:00
nap #1 snuggled to sleep on futon. slept 10:00-10:30
nap #2 fell asleep in car. slept 1:45-2:15
nap #3. fell asleep in jogger. slept 4:10-4:50
Total nap hours: 1 hr, 40 minutes (poor)
Bedtime: went upstairs at 6:30. screamed and generally didn't sleep. put down just awake, immediately woke hysterical. screamed more. finally asleep at 7:30.
awake 8:35-9:20. put down just asleep approx. 9 times. then rocked completely to sleep so mama and papa could regroup.
10:20-10:30 awake, nursing. stays in our bed now.
1:45-1:55 awake, nursing.
4:45 woke up. nursed for 10 minutes. then played quietly with her lovey/bink for about 30 min. started making sad noises. got diaper change at 5:40. screamed for 20 minutes. fell back asleep about 6:10.
7:00 awake for the day.
Number of wakings: 4
Hours awake: 2.5 hours
Hours asleep: (baby) 9 hours. (poor) *my personal hours of sleep were more like 6.5. in 3 chunks. FML.
According to sleep experts (who knew that was a thing?) babies this age should sleep 12 hours during the night (with 1-2 feeds) and 3-4 hours for naps. poor little thing has a sleep deficit.
Here's the thing about babies and sleeping: I don't listen to the "experts" b/c they have never had MY child as their child. I think a lot of those kinds of statistics are from formula fed babies who are on eating schedules as well as sleeping schedules. It is NORMAL for breast-fed babies the first 2 years of life to wake a few times in the night. I do not let me babies cry it out for many reasons, but most importantly to me is this: How much nicer is it to fall asleep at the boob or in our arms rather than screaming for a certain period of time in their crib? I think they will learn self-soothing through other means later. Do what works for you guys and the baby. I realize your ultimate goal is to get more sleep at one time instead of in chunks, believe me that has ALWAYS been my goal since becoming a mom. However, once I let go of the fact that it won't last forever and their sleep patterns were how they needed to sleep, well, I started feeling more rested in the mornings. OK that's a lie. I felt less irritated about it in the morning.
ReplyDeleteBTW I am thoroughly enjoying and relating to your blog!