A Different Kind of Soccer Mom?

Is it bad that I'm cheering for my son as he sleeps in his crib and I watch on the video monitor? Well at 4 months old he's too young to play sports, so I'm sort of rooting for him on the sidelines in another way.  Insane I know, what did they do before there were any monitors? 

Anyways the reason for this insanity is today my son broke the 45 minute nap mark. You go  Baby!  This is a major milestone for him considering just 2 weeks ago he couldn't go to sleep on his own and I had to carry him in a sling for naps.  Everytime he woke up usually at 20 min and 45 min, I would have walk and jiggle to get him back to sleep until he had a full nap.

  Now he's sleeping in his crib, but naps have been tough.  45 minutes was not enough for him and he would wake up fussy and we would start the process all over again..all day long.  Eat, Play, Sleep, Eat, Play, Sleep.   I stopped swaddling once we started sleep training and he was able to go to sleep.  They say developmentally its good to stop swaddling around 4 months so they get to use thier arms and legs.  But he still has some of his startle reflex, his overactive legs wake him up at each sleep cycle, but at night he is able to resettle, but not in the day.  So I started swaddling just his legs today.  Seems to have worked. Longer naps mean more rest for him, less fussiness, and some downtime for me to finally get some work done.  Will this trend continue?  I hope.  We'll see...as you know with babies each day is different.

The Short Napper

It's been more than a week of sleep training and we have the overnight sleep worked out.  He goes down between 5-6pm after a bath and a feeding and sleeps until 6 or 7 am with a 3 or 4 am feeding.  What a miracle! But naps that's a different story.  

How long should naps last?

All the books say if it's under 1 hour its not really nap you should leave them in the crib and see if they will fall asleep again.  Sleeping on his tummy my baby slept for 1 to 3 hours, but now that he has learned how to flip over-naps only last 30-45 minutes. It's like clockwork at the 45 minute mark...his eyes open and he can't go back to sleep.  It's not a problem, except that his window of awake time is so short.  About an hour or hour and 10 minutes and then he starts to yawn, get tired and fussy.  So back into the crib he goes.  I miss him.

How many naps should a baby take?

At 4 months, babies should nap 3-4 hours total. So ideally 2 naps of 1 1/2 to 2 hours and then late afternoon nap at

for about 45 minutes. Right now my baby is taking like 5 naps because they are so short. But I don't let him last nap go past 4:45 so it doesn't interfere with his night sleep. It's been hard because now that I'm sleep training him in the crib he's not as portable and all day long

I'm monitoring his naps, but it's complete shift from when I had to carry him all day. He is now able to self-soothe. I know all this scheduling and monitoring will allow my baby to well-rested, happy and healthy.

Putting Your Baby to Sleep

Whoever came up with the expression "sleep like a baby" was obviously not a mom.  Who wants to sleep like a baby? Wake up every 2- 3 hours hungry-doesn't sound like fun to me and not fun for all the moms that have to put thier babies to sleep.  I love my baby, he is alert, playful, and smart, but sleeping is not his strong suit. 

 For the last 3 months I have been rocking, jiggling, bouncing to get my baby to take naps and go to sleep for the night.  Since newborns need like 16-18 hours of sleep a day-1/2 of those  hours are naps so that's a lot of putting to sleep.  If you've read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy  Child you know about the "window" that most babies need to be put back to sleep after 2 hours of wakefulness and for many babies, like mine the window is even shorter-more like an hour.  Wake, feed, play, yawn, back to sleep.  I guess you could say I've become a "sleep enforcer". After about 3 weeks-my sweet baby became very fussy and wouldn't fall asleep, not in the swing, the car, the stroller, and when I rocked him to sleep and put him in his crib he would wake up.  Over and over I tried...I'm sorry but putting your baby down drowsy, but awake didn't work for me.

   I realized the only way to keep him rested and happy was to protect his sleep.  At first I spent my days holding him on the couch, but I was going stir crazy, so I started wearing him in sling and he loved it. I didn't mind it at first that's part of being a new mom-holding and soothing your newborn, but now my back is killing me. Every mom has different techniques for getting thier baby to go to sleep and most importantly stay asleep.

Here are a few:

• The sling-they love the motion and being curled up in a ball.  (I tried a few, some were uncomfortable or hard to use or I felt like my baby would fall out. I love the Sling-ezee because it has a shoulder pad, its very comfortable and has a rail to keep baby secure.)
  
• My friend swears by an exercise ball.  Hold your baby sit on it and bounce.  Less working than jiggling around the house and strengthens your abs.
• The Amby Baby Bed-it's like a hammock. ( I just started using it today and he fell asleep after about 20 minutes of rocking, which is probably the same time I would have had to walk around the neighborhood with him in a sling to get him to fall asleep.  I only use it for naps because he will sleep in his crib and pack and play at night.  I plan to start sleep training my son soon so this will just hopefully give me a chance to put him down for naps. I'll write a full review later and let you know if it really works.

Getting My Zen Back!

So today was one of those days where something different happened, but I'm not sure what it means yet.  My bb is now 10 weeks.  Today he grabbed a toy for the first time and has found his hands to suck.  Two milestones, but this evening instead of crying himself to sleep after his colic episode or conking out after last feeding around 8:30.  He was calm and alert after feeding.  Now what do I do?  I was so used to soothing him for hours then just putting him down at night.  Tonight I actually sat with him and read him Goodnight Moon.  Imagine that, but he was still awake.  Then I started the putting to sleep process.  Rocking, swaddling.  At first I left his arms out, but as he started to fall asleep he started flinching...so maybe he's not ready for that yet. so back they go.  He also had a 3 hour nap right before going to sleep so I'm not sure how that will affect his sleep patterns tonight.  His first sleep is usually the longest so I better get to bed.  Today was also the day I got my Zen back.  For the last few weeks I have been second guessing everything that I have been doing.  I'm exhausted from carrying my baby in a sling all day and rocking him and waking up  every hour after 2 am. The books have been driving me crazy.  If I use a pacifier will I be putting it back in all night long.  He will only nap in a sling-so does that mean I will be carrying him everyday for months?  All the things that soothe him, I was focusing on the effects down the road instead of just mothering.  I don't know I may have to fix a few habits later, but for now they are the only things that calm my high need baby. Hanging out with two fellow new moms for lunch watching thier babies cry and watching them soothe their babies with what know best made me realize you have to do what works for you. By 10 weeks you know your baby and what he needs and what his cries mean most of the time so time to follow my gut rather than a book.