Adventures in Sleep Training: Day Two

I'll try to be brief with this recap, since my first two were pretty detailed. Jacob's first nap was pretty similar to day one. The one improvement is that even though he fussed as I laid him in the crib (he really wanted to fall asleep eating), he fell asleep as soon as I left the room. That was an improvement. Unfortunately, he only slept 20 minutes again, and cried the rest of the time. I was a sad Mommy when I went to go get him.

Nap #2 also started with him fussing as I laid him down and then falling asleep right away. It seems he's at least making progress in getting himself to sleep for his nap, so this was encouraging. This time he slept about 25 minutes, and then cried the rest of the time. He did have a few breaks in his crying, so that seemed to be a little bit of progress.

Since his naps were short again today I decided to put him in his swing for nap #3, and it was tough just getting him to pass out. I ended up feeding him until he pretty much passed out. He put his thumb in his mouth the last minute while the swing got started. I had to go in the bathroom and cry for a minute, because I was so exhausted by this day. A few minutes later Jacob woke up, so I ended up feeding him some more and letting him sleep in my arms. I swear that if he wasn't sleeping so well at night I would be really tempted to give up at this point. I just hope Josh has better luck Monday & Tuesday and that Jacob can actually sleep longer during each nap.

Good news is that once again Jacob went to bed pretty easily. He started getting fussy around 6:45, so I started his bedtime routine a little earlier than normal. As soon as I got done feeding him he stuck his thumb straight into his mouth and his eyes already were starting to close. I quickly set him in his crib and turned on his sheep as he fell asleep. It was so precious! He did wake up crying 3-4 times throughout the night and once in the morning, but each time he put himself back to sleep within a minute or two. Josh and I never had to check on him! I'm doing the happy dance now!

After 3 successful nights of sleep training I am so sold on this process. Although the naps have been rough (and may be for awhile) I am amazed at how well he is able to put himself to sleep at night. I highly recommend the book Sleepeasy Solution to everyone who has babies or will in the future. Although I'd love to detail every day as our training continues, I'm sure you would all get bored of my updates. Instead I'll give you an update probably when he turns 5 months. Hopefully I'll be able to say by then that his naps are going as well as his nights!

Adventures in Sleep Training: First Full Day

Well, we made it through night number one quite successfully and have now completed our first full day of sleep training. That means we had to conquer not just night sleep but also naps. According to the book, it can take up to a week to get babies to successfully fall asleep and stay asleep during naptime. The odds were not in our favor.

Nap #1 was pretty rough. Jacob fussed for about 10 minutes, slept for 20, and then cried off and on for the last 30 minutes. Naps are supposed to be at least an hour, so unfortunately I couldn't take him out of his crib before that hour was up. Since he had such a good night, it was rough hearing him cry so much.

Nap #2 also started with crying. This time it was only about 5 minutes, and then he slept for about 20 minutes again. He then woke up and cried for the remaining 35 minutes. Once again, this was not fun for me to hear.

Nap #3 was kind of a cheat. According to the book, if your baby does not get a full nap the first two times around, you are supposed to either use motion (driving in the car or moving in the stroller) or your old ways to get the baby a full length nap. This way the baby will not be overtired and have a harder time settling at bedtime. Since Jacob has never slept in his stroller and rarely sleeps in the car, I decided to feed him and then put him in his swing to sleep. This totally worked. In fact, he only ate for about 5 minutes and then passed out for 1 hour and 40 minutes!

Because he struggled so much with his naps, I began to get worried about putting him to bed that night. Luckily, it ended up being super easy. We went to church before he went to bed, and they gave him a bottle right before we left. They said he tried to go to sleep, but they kept him awake (because I asked them to). As soon as we got home I changed him, read a story, and then put him right into his crib with his sheep. He must have fallen asleep immediately, because he didn't make a peep. I even checked on him 10 minutes later, and he was passed out. It was amazing! I honestly could not believe how easy it was.

Jacob slept great the whole night. He had 3 or 4 times when he woke up crying for about a minute or two, but then he fell right back to sleep on his own. He even woke up 10 minutes before his wake up time, put himself back to sleep, and slept 6 minutes past the wake up time! So he ended up getting a full eleven hours with no difficulty. We still had to feed him, of course, but we started the weaning process and were able to put him back to bed with no problems after each feeding. I am so happy with this process already. I can't wait to see how the next few days go.

Adventures in Sleep Training: Night One

Well, last night I decided to start sleep training with Jacob to see if we could finally work towards getting him to sleep all night long. For those who don't know, sleep training is basically letting your baby "cry it out" until they learn to put themselves to sleep. This keeps them from constantly relying on their parents to get them to sleep night after night. The book I am using is called The Sleepeasy Solution, and it involves several methods to get your child to fall asleep and stay asleep, including slowly weaning them off of night feedings, setting up a predictable bedtime routine, and creating a good sleep environment. Originally I planned to wait another week, but for whatever reason I just decided to go ahead and start this weekend. I am just sick of being so tired and never knowing if he will fall asleep easily or how long he will sleep.

Anyways, last night began our adventure, and I was very nervous about starting the whole process. The book states that babies may cry for up to an hour the first night, and I was expecting the worst based on Jacob's struggle with sleep. I went through our sleep routine which involved a bath (this will only every other night), a diaper change and pajamas, reading a book with Mommy, and a feeding. The hardest part is that I wasn't supposed to let him fall asleep while feeding, because the book said it would make it harder for him to fall asleep on his own and possibly cry longer. The whole time I fed him I was moving his legs, rubbing his belly, and doing whatever I could to keep him awake. He was not very happy about this, because he wanted to fall asleep like usual. After he finished and fussed for about a minute he was calm while I burped him. Then came the time to lie him down and leave. I gave him lots of kisses, turned on his sleep sheep, and left the room. He was totally calm. I went in 5 minutes later to check on him, and he was just lying there sucking his thumb. I then had to wait 10 minutes to check on him again, so I washed some bottles to distract myself and when I went back in he was asleep! I could not believe it. He slept until about 10:05 and then woke up crying. Josh checked on him, since I was trying to go to sleep, and I guess he kept crying off and on for 30 minutes. That was the only crying he did all night. Josh and I fed him according to the book's directions, and he went straight back to sleep each time.

According to the book, since we laid him down at 8:00 his wake time should be 7:00 unless he sleeps later on his own. At about 6:40 I heard him wake up on the monitor and just make noises. He started crying about 5 minutes before wake up, but the book said not to get him up early. So I just waited the 5 minutes, went in and gave him hugs/kisses, and then gave him his morning feeding. I was so proud of my baby!

Now that the first night is over, we are supposed to start working on his naps today and then resume the same bedtime schedule tonight. The book said naps are much harder, usually, so I know that it could be a rough day. I'll keep you posted on how the first full day goes!

4 Months Old

This past month has brought many exciting changes for Jacob. The best change of
all is that our fussy newborn has blossomed into a happy, sweet infant! Of
course, he can still be fussy and temperamental at times, but his fussing is
what I would consider "normal" baby crankiness rather than the unpredictable,
unconsolable fussing that we dealt with the first 3 months of his life. In fact,
the change happened so suddenly that I'm starting to think he was a colicky
baby. Luckily, the worst seems to be behind us, and we are able to have a lot
more fun and do much more with our sweet baby boy. He has been able to get out
and about with Mommy and Daddy much more. He's now been to the mall, Olive
Garden, and Babies R Us in addition to many other places. It is so nice to be
able to get out of the apartment with him without the constant anxiety of
whether or not he will start wailing.

In addition to being less fussy, Jacob is doing many new things. He now puts almost everything into his mouth. It all started with his fists and fingers, and lately he has started sucking on his thumb. He also likes putting his bibs and blankets in his mouth. Another thing Jacob has started doing is batting and grabbing things. Instead of just lying on his activity mat, he now hits and grabs the toys that dangle from it. He can also hold his rattle for several minutes and shake it himself! It is so fun to watch him playing with these things and interacting more. Jacob also loves smiling, "talking," squealing, and lately he has even started to laugh! The first day he did it was so fun, and it almost made me cry- the sound was so sweet and cute. Finally, Jacob is getting better at sitting up in his bumbo chair and is getting close to rolling over from his back to his stomach. All of these developments have been so fun to watch, and it is crazy how much he is developing in just these past few weeks.

Jacob has been doing well with eating but sleeping continues to be a challenge. I have started doing whatever it takes to get him to sleep- usually resorting to feeding him or putting him in his swing to get him to pass out. His naps are very unpredictable, and he often sleeps best when being held. Nights are also all over the place. Some nights he wakes up only once or twice, and other times he wakes up 3-4 times. These nights I end up putting him in the swing to sleep so that he won't wake up again. Although his sleeping has not improved, I have somehow managed to get a decent amount of sleep each night, and this past week really helped me catch up a bit. I have been on Spring Break, so it has helped not having an alarm wake me up and being able to sleep until Jacob finally gets up for the day. At the end of the month I plan to start sleep training with him to hopefully get him to sleep straight through the whole night and take good naps consistently. I know it will probably be a challenge at first, but I am eager to get to the point when his sleep is more predictable and we can all get some good rest.

Finally, I thought I would share some of the things that Jacob likes and dislikes, now that his little personality is starting to come through. Jacob seems to love taking baths, playing on his activity mat in the morning, playing with his blankets, listening to Mommy sing songs, playing with Daddy, looking at lights, practicing standing up (when we hold him, of course), hearing us clap our hands, and playing with his toys. Jacob does not like waiting for things (to be picked up, be fed, etc.), having his nose cleaned out, riding in the carseat in Daddy's car, tummy time flat on the floor (he prefers the boppy so he can see things easily), not being able to fit things in his mouth, and sitting in the carseat when we're out at restaurants. It is so fun to see his personality developing! I can't wait to see what this next month brings as he continues to grow and change!