Night 2 - No Cry Sleep Solution
Last night was better in some ways and not in others...
I finished the book when we got home yesterday afternoon and then talked with Bruce to make a bedtime and routine for Charlotte that we could both participate in. We decided an 8 pm bedtime would be best for her so that she could get ~10 hours of sleep to go with her 2-3 hours of naps during the day.
Here is the plan:
7:00 pm - Bath
7:15 pm - Dress in pjs and play in bedroom with daddy
7:30 pm - Book time until she loses interest
7:45 pm - Quite playtime with mommy and nurse 1 more time
8:00 pm - Rock/nurse until she is almost asleep
A key component to making night time sleeping work, according to Pantley, is getting enough daytime sleep. Before reading the book, if Charlotte fell asleep while nursing after school, I would try to keep her awake so she would sleep at night. Apparently, this was hurting and not helping. So, when she fell asleep at 4, I laid her in her crib and she slept for an hour. When she got up, we played and had a normal afternoon.
Then, I nursed Charlotte at 6:30 since she was hungry (it had been 3 hours) and she fell asleep when she was done. Since I wasn't sure what to do now, I just let her stay asleep. That only lasted for about 15 minutes, but it threw us off enough that we didn't start out bedtime routine until 7:30. At close to 8 pm, she began rubbing her eyes so I took over for daddy and nursed her and rocked her. I think somewhere around 9 pm she finally started to fall asleep and I put her into her crib.
She only woke up 1 time between then and 1 am which was an improvement over the night before. I am not going to track her sleeping every night though, that will make me crazy. I'll just wait another week or so and see if our new routines have made a difference. Pantley points out that tracking every night doesn't allow us to see the big picture and we might feel dejected by slow progress. Kind of like weighing ourselves on the scale every day when we are trying to lose weight.
I did not feel as rested when I woke up this morning as I expected. I suspect it was the getting out of bed every time Charlotte made a noise. My biggest obstacle to over come right now is understanding her nighttime noises better and adjusting my response based on her noises. Right now, I am still getting up everytime she makes sound. I am learning not to pick her up every time though.
Hopefully tonight will be better.
I finished the book when we got home yesterday afternoon and then talked with Bruce to make a bedtime and routine for Charlotte that we could both participate in. We decided an 8 pm bedtime would be best for her so that she could get ~10 hours of sleep to go with her 2-3 hours of naps during the day.
Here is the plan:
7:00 pm - Bath
7:15 pm - Dress in pjs and play in bedroom with daddy
7:30 pm - Book time until she loses interest
7:45 pm - Quite playtime with mommy and nurse 1 more time
8:00 pm - Rock/nurse until she is almost asleep
A key component to making night time sleeping work, according to Pantley, is getting enough daytime sleep. Before reading the book, if Charlotte fell asleep while nursing after school, I would try to keep her awake so she would sleep at night. Apparently, this was hurting and not helping. So, when she fell asleep at 4, I laid her in her crib and she slept for an hour. When she got up, we played and had a normal afternoon.
Then, I nursed Charlotte at 6:30 since she was hungry (it had been 3 hours) and she fell asleep when she was done. Since I wasn't sure what to do now, I just let her stay asleep. That only lasted for about 15 minutes, but it threw us off enough that we didn't start out bedtime routine until 7:30. At close to 8 pm, she began rubbing her eyes so I took over for daddy and nursed her and rocked her. I think somewhere around 9 pm she finally started to fall asleep and I put her into her crib.
She only woke up 1 time between then and 1 am which was an improvement over the night before. I am not going to track her sleeping every night though, that will make me crazy. I'll just wait another week or so and see if our new routines have made a difference. Pantley points out that tracking every night doesn't allow us to see the big picture and we might feel dejected by slow progress. Kind of like weighing ourselves on the scale every day when we are trying to lose weight.
I did not feel as rested when I woke up this morning as I expected. I suspect it was the getting out of bed every time Charlotte made a noise. My biggest obstacle to over come right now is understanding her nighttime noises better and adjusting my response based on her noises. Right now, I am still getting up everytime she makes sound. I am learning not to pick her up every time though.
Hopefully tonight will be better.
Hey Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteI know that everyone does things their own way, so you might just read this and then delete everything I said from your brain, but I figured I would share anyway!
I regards to the sleep thing. I have seen, and am learning still, that with my kids that having them on a bit of a schedule REALLY helps with the sleep thing. I know that many moms who are exclusively nursing kind of frown by the word 'schedule', as babies should eat on demand, but for me the schedule thing is not telling babies when they should or shouldn't eat, but listening to what babies need/want and then giving it to them the same time each day. Anna was at 5 feedings in a 24 hour period by the time she was 4 months old, but Nate is at 8 feedings and he will be 5 months old next week. Basically there isn't a cookie cutter method, but just figuring out what they need and doing it at the same time each day. It isn't really possible to schedule night time stuff. Typically babies wake up at night for 2 reasons, they are either hungry or they are in the habit of waking up. It is hard to determine which as even when a baby wakes up out of habit when mom comes to get them and soothe them, they will typically root for food. I am struggling with this with Nate. Tough!
I just know that when Nate's day time feedings are consistent, his nighttime sleep is better. We usually start the day at 7am with a feeding, but not always No matter how off the night is, he always eats at 10am. So sometimes that means going 2.5 hours between a feeding, and sometimes it is 4 hours. But he seems to just know that at 10am everyday he will be eating! Then it is 1, 4, 7, and usually about 9:30. Now those times can very 30min on either side, but it is just a standard.
I am not sure if you ever gave charlotte a pacifier, but that really helps when Nate is eating and starts dozing and then wakes back up without the boob. I can slip the pacifier in and he just happily keeps sucking. Anna didn't take one until she was 5 months old (and then was done with it at 12 months), but for those months it really helped as she was learning how to self soothe. Typically when Nate wakes up during the night, I give him his pacifier and just wait a few moments to see if he goes back to sleep, which he does about 25% of the time. If he doesn't, then I will feed him.
As far as the crying it out thing. Well, I have opinions about that. I REALLY think that it is misunderstood and abused by some. Here is what I think is okay. I think it is okay to lay your baby down awake. I think it is okay if your baby fusses. Nate fusses before he goes to sleep even when he is in my arms, so why can't he fuss in his bed?! I think that what I believe is okay is - fussing-it-out. HAHA! I put Nate down and he might fuss for a few moments and then he goes to sleep. If he starts actually crying, then I go in.
I also agree A LOT with the whole concept of how sleep begets sleep. I learned this with Elizabeth and it has be true with all of the kids!
Anyway - I will stop now, as this was wordy enough!