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.

Does a Colic Episode Make Your Baby Sleep Better?

Last night my baby had his evening colic episode for 45 minutes and then fed and went right to sleep.  Tonight he fussed for several hours, but only had the intense crying for about 5 minutes, but it took me and extra hour to put him to sleep in the end I was still rocking and soothing for hours.  It is now 9:09 and all is quiet..like nothing ever happened, unfortunately it the only down time in my day-do I use it to catch up on things or go to sleep since this is probably his longest stretch of sleep for the night about 4 hours and then after that he will be up every 2 hours then 1 hour until about 7:00 which he usually smiles and wants to play, but then gets fussy because he didn't get enough sleep and the rocking begins.  I've been getting really frustrated and second guessing everything I do.  Yes, I'm keeping him from crying and soothing him, but what habits am I forming.  I 'm  driving myself crazy with the books, and the advice on the internet.  What is right?  There is no right way, but what can I sustain.  I said I would wait out at least 3 months...you can't spoil a newborn right.   So to stay Zen...I have to go back to my original plan.  Take care of my baby and give him what ever he needs until the colic is done and then see if he is mature enough to handle things on his own.  I have to trust that I know what he needs and doing what is best for both of us.