4:30am - Baker hasn't fallen asleep, and neither have I. He's fussy and I've given him his binkie, but he keeps spitting it out. I listen in the dark as he squirms and fusses, hoping he'll succumb to the night and fall back asleep. He doesn't. *sigh* I get up and put his binkie back in his mouth, hoping it'll sooth him, but as I get up, I knock over a bottle of prenatal vitamins that were on my side table. Oh well. I leave them on the floor. He continues to spit his binkie out, and I continue to get up to fix it. This happens about 5 times. I can't keep getting up to put his binkie back in his mouth.
5:00am - He's still fussy, so I get up, take him out, change his diaper (which was just barely wet from when I fed him at 3:45), swaddle him again so his arms are free (sometimes he hates feeling constricted - can you blame him?) and decide against the binkie. I hold him close and tight and hum softly to him. His eyes start to droop. I feel hopeful that it's working. His eyes open again, but they're kind of squinty. He's fighting this. The battle is on. I hold him tighter and start to rock a little. I continue to hum softly. He starts to close his eyes. I feel his body start to go limp and his eyes start doing the rapid eye movement thing. YES! He's asleep! Victory! I quietly and gently place him back in his bassinet, holding my breath. I'm so tired.
5:30am - I stand by his bassinet, waiting for any signs of movement. I'm silent and try to keep my breathing as quiet as possible. When I think he's good and alseep, I turn to get into bed. Suddenly, I hear a loud rattle. Damn it! I kicked the bottle of vitamins that I left on the floor. I freeze, holding my breath again. Baby stirs, grunts, and then it's silent. Phew! I crawl into bed as quietly as I can. As my head hits the pillow, I hear him start to squirm. Oh no. He grunts, then gets fussy. This can't be happening. I wait. He starts to cry. I feel like crying & I wait some more. His soft cries turn into full blown crying. He's mad and tired. I'm exhausted and don't know what to do. I decide to let him cry it out.
5:37am - I check the clock. How long do you let them cry it out? The minutes are passing at a snail pace. Do I get up? I get teary. I hate hearing him cry. Just wait Shannon. Five minutes pass, but it feels like eternity.
5:45 - Still crying. Okay, I decide I'm going to get up. Suddenly, there is a pause in his crying. I wait. He wimpers, lets out one last cry, and then it's silent. I listen. I can hear him breathing. Is he sleeping? I wait a few more minutes and then shine my cell phone light on him. Success! He's finally asleep! I lay back down and try to fall back asleep as well.
6:45 - I wake up and hear him fussing again. I bring him back to bed with me and offer the boob. He doesn't want it and falls asleep in my arms. I lay him in bed with me and we fall asleep again.
7:20 - Baker wakes up, squirming. He's stretching and trying to wake up. I pat his tummy and try to help him get coherent enough to nurse. This time, he eats.
7:50 - Time to go downstairs. I put him in his bouncy/vibrating seat while I make myself breakfast. He falls asleep.
8:00 - I fall asleep on the couch
9:00 - I wake up, clean up the kitchen, and turn on the tv. I start to watch It's Complicated (LOVE the house and interior in that movie!)
9:45 - Little man wakes up, hungry. He eats and does a big ol' fart/poop as he's eating (which seems to be his favorite time to poop). When he finishes nursing, he's wide awake. We chat for a bit and I sing to him. He makes funny faces and acts like he wants to say something back. Funny baby. I change his diaper and naturally, as I'm wiping his bum, he does another big fart and poop comes flying out. Squirty baby poop. Ewww...luckily, I catch it in his diaper. Disaster averted. With a new dydie on, we play some more & then I put him in his swing.
10:30 - He falls asleep in his swing. I take him out and carry him up to his crib to nap. One of my girlfriends texts and asks if we'd like to go on a walk. The weather is beautiful today and I tell her we can meet up at noon. I'm excited about the fresh air and sunshine! While he's sleeping, I shower, make my bed, & get ready.
11:45 - I get little man ready for our outing. He's dressed appropriately and I think he might need to wear a beanie to keep his head warm. I place a snugly, soft beanie on his head and he freaks out. Like, really freaks out. I quickly take it off his head and frantically check inside the hat to see if something poked him. There is nothing in there. I look all over his head for signs of injury, which judging by his cry, must have happened. Still, there is nothing. I console him and he's fine. Note to self: No beanies.
1:30 - It's time for him to eat so we say goodbye to our friends. He nurses & falls back asleep after he burps. I put him in his bouncy seat and dust.
2:30 - Baby wakes up and I hold him up so he's facing me. I talk to him and he makes more funny faces. We take pictures to send to grandma. He loves the camera - can you tell?
3:15 - We're finally both cleaned up. I put him in his bouncy seat and start blogging. He loves his seat and is kicking his legs and moving his arms around. I think he's plotting his next poop sabotage.
3:30 - Baker falls asleep and I move him to his crib. I watch him for a minute, as he makes all sorts of funny faces in his sleep. I can't get enough of him. I go back to my bedroom and sort the laundry while I dance around to my "live life and love it" mix on Spotify. I really break out the moves when OutKast's Hey Ya comes on. Too bad Baker is asleep and has to miss this. Momma's got moves!
5:00 -Time to eat again. After he eats, we pack up and head to gammy's house. She is watching him while I run some errands. (Again, still paranoid momma and don't want to take him out to public places - covered or not).
7:45 -After a trip to Walmart & Kohls, I return home to find little guy just waking up. I nurse him and after he's done eating, he wakes up and does his cutest tricks for all of us to fawn over.
9:45 - We return home from our outing and he's hungry. Once again, I nurse, burp, and we play for a bit. Then it's time for jammies and a fresh dydie.
10:35 - Present time. We're about to go to bed, and I feel anxious about what the night will hold. I have a tentative plan of action, should things mimic last nights events, however if you're a mom, you know that most "plans" get thrown out the window. In the mean time, I've swaddled him up, gave him a new binkie (this one seems to stay in better than the other kind I was using), cuddled for a minute, and then I placed him in his bassinet. He fussed for a bit, so I picked him up and patted his back. It only tooks a few minutes before he fell back asleep. So far, he's stayed asleep....
*yawn* Wish us luck tonight! Good night!
P.S. This is where I want all you lurkers to come out of the woodwork and comment!! What works for you when you put your babies to bed? I try to make it as quiet and silent as possible, so he knows the difference between daytime napping and sleep time. Any thoughts would be appreciated! (As long as you don't tell me I'm a bad mom! Ha!)
15 comments:
I read Babywise, followed a lot of it, And my baby slept thru the night at 6 weeks. Also I have primary music on while she sleeps, still do to this day. Now I have added a humidifier too for white noise. Good Luck and see you around :)
Loved the poop tidbit. That totally happened to me! Perhaps it's part of the hazing process of becoming a mom.
As for bedtime, I actually didn't worry about it being too quiet, since I wanted her to be able to fall asleep anywhere, not just when the conditions were just right, especially because the woman who watched her a few days a week had three rowdy kids that she'd have to be able to sleep around. I believe that they will eventually understand the difference between day and night, so just having the same routine before bedtime would be a good cue that it's time to sleep. That works for her, but then again, every baby is different.
Sorry, I don't know if that's even helpful!! Good luck!
lol Oh Shann.... I feel for you! Reading this Blog made me smile cause it brought back many memories. Your a good, Mom! :)
- Erin Hiatt
you're doing great. those first few months are just tough. if all else fails and he is only sleeping on you, let him sleep on you. sleep is sleep!!!
start putting him down at the same time (like 8:30) in a few months and the schedule will come!
no matter what any book says, I don't think you can sleep train a newborn.
i love that you let him cry it out. that's the best.
I used a white noise machine for both my kids and it's worked great. I can make noise and they aren't startled by it. They still both use it to sleep at night. That and dark-out curtains have been heavenly for me.
Definitely not a bad mom! You are doing great! I have that same anxiety every night before bed. Sleep does wonders for a person. The lack of sleep... scary.
Keep up the good work. As for advice, I think choosing something that works for you and then being consistent with it works best. A routine helps them learn when it's time for certain activities. (I.e. bath, jammies, a song and soft taking about it being bedtime, or something like that. Sometimes crying it out is necessary, but they learn the drill quick. ) As long as you know they aren't hungry out messy, etc. ,I say let them cry for a bit. But practice it during the day if you can, and get on the phone or walk outside fit a minute while he cries so you don't go crazy! That's what I had to do with my first, anyway. You are such a good mom, Shan. Way to go!
A fan. I had read that babies don't like perfect silence because the womb is so loud! It doesn't matter where we are if he has a fan to listen to my baby falls asleep every time. And STAYS asleep. When the phone rings, doorbell, dogs barking, fire engines drive by (we live within a mile of a firehouse) he's out cold. My baby is 6 months so I'm just out of the newborn stage. And to help YOU sleep put the bassinet right outside your door or even allow him to sleep in his own room. My baby slept in his crib at two weeks old and we haven't looked back. Everyone gets better sleep! That way every little noise he makes doesn't keep you awake.
Hang in there. Those first few months are a trying period. My mom calls it the fourth trimester because everyone is figuring out life. :) I'm a huge fan of routine and the swaddle. At first they have their days/nights mixed up so I woke them up every three hours during the day to help them figure it out. I'm a huge fan of the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child because he just knows babies/kid sleep patterns so its nice to know what to expect. This book also is a wide spectrum of suggestions and techniques to cry it out to cosleeping. I have three kids (a set of 9mo twins) and all of them have followed the developmental stages outlines in this book. He is a genius I tell ya! Good luck! You are doing a great job.
I held Jaxon and night for the first two months. He slept on my chest. I could feel him breathe and that was peace of mind for me. I was a mess though. He slept really good and for several hours. I slept propped up cause I had a c-section too and could not lay flat. This worked for him and I. Then when I got a little braver I put him in his crib. You will figure out what works. It is so hard at first. And loseing all the sleep is the worst thing ever. Good luck.
haha lurkers unite! first off, you are doing SUCH an amazing job! nursing and taking care of a baby is so, so tough.
the key for me was with every tiny victory, my confidence got a little stronger. and with that confidence i felt free to explore different options and techniques. one of those was discovering the power of running water. my baby didn't like sound machines, but the second i turned on the faucet, he was calm and asleep in minutes. dancing to music also put him to sleep--and not just nursery stuff, but arcade fire and modest mouse (as my husband danced with him)
hope that helps and good luck!! you'll figure out what soothes him best in no time.
love your blog and transparency!! :) thank you!
You're a great mom! I never sleep in the same room with my kids, they keep me up all night, and usually their just making noises. This helps me sleep "in between" a little better. My friend suggested on my fourth to try a warm water bottle next to the baby so they feel like someone is right by them, and that seemed to work pretty good (she wanted to be held all night). It gets better with more kids because the later ones learn to deal with noise in the house. Also, self soothing is a wonderful thing, just hard to sleep through. Keep up the good work. If he's still bad in 3 or 4 months I have a few other tricks for ya.
If you want your baby to be able to sleep anywhere, then you have to have some noise. Try a fan or soft music, this white noise will help them sleep like a champ. Seriously, it works. I never wanted to be the mom with the sign on the front door, saying..no noise, the baby is sleeping. I want my little ones to be able to deal with a little noise.
I also use a white noise machine and did the routine of bath, story, eat, sleep. I swear by the woombie swaddler
It provides enough snug, but still let's their arms move, but not enough to startle them awake. Seriously. Review it. Worth every penny. I tried different ones and this was awesome and easy to get into. Also, my biggest piece of advice is to relax and figure out what works for you. Everyone will tell you what to do, but it is just everyone's opinion and it may work for them but not you. ;) hang in there. You are doing great!
I also would suggest that when you are ready, to move him out of your room. You then don't wake up with every peep and get into a more restful sleep, even if it is only for a 4 hour stretch. At least it was a restful 4 hours. :) j
I totally did the binkie thing...for like an hour straight just stick it back in praying they would go back to sleep. Sounds like it's time to start sleep training. I had no idea what I was doing, but I followed the Babywise technique and it. was. miraculous. My babies both started sleeping through the night at 3-4 months and I highly recommend it. It is so hard to let them cry it out. Torture.
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