Monday, December 15, 2008
Sleep training update: All's well. She goes down easily at 7:00p, eats around 3:00a or 4:00a for 8 minutes, gets a fresh diaper, and sleeps again until 7:00a. She even had a successful sleepover with Aunt Stephanie last week. Next week we'll start eliminating that middle of the night feeding and then she'll be trained!
Maybe I'll have to make this blog about losing baby weight now that we're almost done with the sleeping thing. Except that'll be depressing and I don't have a book like "20 pounds in 12 weeks" to make it happen. We'll see what happens once the baby moves out. I'm so not looking forward to that. But Nathaniel's really excited about getting our room back and not smacking our shins on the cradle all night long. I look like I've been beaten with a stick.
Posted by rundlemcmahon
at 11:06 AM EST
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Sleeping is going well. Well, for Sonja, not for me. I keep staying up too late and then not getting enough sleep because I have to get up so early. And my computer's broken so I can't get to my pictures and movies or post any new ones! That's very sad. I'm so tired. Won't someone please sleep train me?
Sonja will be 8 weeks old tomorrow. I think I'm going to wait until she's 10 weeks old to try to eliminate her last feeding. I'm also going to start pumping in between feedings (I swear. Tomorrow. Saturday at the latest.) to make sure my milk supply keeps up and so that Nathaniel and I can have date again someday. So, that's the plan. Sonja continues to be a little angel and I love having her next to me all night.
Posted by rundlemcmahon
at 8:42 PM EST
Monday, December 1, 2008
Last night was good. I can do this for another 6 weeks. Sonja is easy to comfort and goes back to sleep after eating or waking up in search of a binkie.
Tonight she went right off to sleep after a stressful feeding. She had barely begun when the dogs started barking and I had to let them inside before they woke up the neighborhood. Then the phone rang and I had to get up to get it because we moved it up where Maddie can't reach (usually a good thing). Then Maddie lost her mind and started climbing up me and around me and on top of me and actually kneed little Sonja in the face at one point. Poor baby. Maddie didn't have to deal with this when she was an infant. She and I just went into the bedroom, dimmed the lights, put on her Sleepytime mix, and nursed while I sang to her and pet her head. Poor second children.
Posted by rundlemcmahon
at 10:35 PM EST
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Plan B
Friday night was such a disaster that I couldn't bring myself to blog about it. The baby woke up a few times and cried, like babies are known to do. But I felt so bad about it and couldn't deal. I fed her a little after 12:00a and then again, a little bit, at 5:45a. Which is totally fine and okay-- sleep training can take a step backward and moms can be flexible. But I felt so bad that she was having trouble sleeping that I couldn't deal. I switched places with Nathaniel so he could take a turn rocking the cradle and soothing Sonja. He let her cry for 5 minutes and I really couldn't take it. But she soothed herself to sleep at about 4 minutes, 30 seconds and so I guess he was right.
But we're instituting a new policy, and by "we" I mean Sonja and I. I don't want her to move out of our room until she's 3 months old, so why can't she wake up and eat during the night? I'm right there, next to her cradle, full of milk. So, bedtime at 7:00p, eating between 12:00a and 2:00a, then some soothing if she wakes up before 6:30a. Sonja is excited about this new plan and it worke like a charm last night. She's happy and fat and cuddly this morning, sleeping in my lap and nuzzling my neck. She puts her two long arms around me and pushes her soft head into my shoulder and I can smell her lovely (red?) hair. I just want to be a good mom to her.....
Posted by rundlemcmahon
at 10:28 AM EST
Friday, November 28, 2008
Thursday night: 2:11a 6 min
5:30a easily comforted back to sleep with a binkie
Sleeping until 6:45a! I actually had to get her up and rouse her with a diaper changing before feeding her this morning. It's been a week and I think we're doing very well. She spent only 5 minutes of the sleep training crying, and that was because she had thrown up on herself and I didn't know it. Otherwise, she seems to like being sleep trained and she is so happy and smiley in the morning!
I was too busy with Maddie, but I've been reading online message boards about sleep training this week and they are horrific. The consensus is that sleep training is all "CIO" (Cry It Out) and very damaging to the baby. I can't imagine letting either of my daughters cry for more than 5 minutes by themselves, but I also think that they need some time to learn to sooth themselves when they're alone. So. I don't know. This works for our family and Sonja is a happy, no-cry-it-out baby and Maddie is a happy toddler who goes to bed happily and gets enough sleep in her life. It's very important to me that my children feel safe and loved and that their needs will be recognized and responded to by their mom. But it's also very important to me that they get enough sleep. And that they are part of a family, not the center of the family. And that they can enjoy their own company, calm themselves down, become independent little people. So which of these things is the most important to instill in an infant? In a toddler? I don't know. But I'm going to stop Googling "sleep training", for the love of God.
Posted by rundlemcmahon
at 7:38 AM EST
Updated: Friday, November 28, 2008 9:07 AM EST
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