*SLEEP TRAINING
So far, Madison and I have stuck to our NY's resolution (probably the first time I've ever followed through with a NY resolution). Since January 1, she has done ALL her night time sleeping in her crib, and all naps (when we are home) in her crib. Now, don't get me wrong, it hasn't been easy. Oh, no, no, no...and we are still working on it and having good days and not as good days. I still have days and nights of extreme guilt, too. I'm hoping that goes away someday, but I'm not counting on it.
-Night Time Sleep
Until a few nights ago, she was sleeping for 8-10 hours straight once she fell asleep. She'd wake to be nursed, and go back down for another 1.5 - 2 hours before getting up for the day. However, it took her about 30-45 minutes of crying (and us checking in on her) before falling asleep at bed time. I knew she was fine and the end result was sleeping, but I just felt that 30-45 minutes of crying every night was TOO much (for me and for her). We were putting her down around 8:30pm. I finally determined that we were putting her down too late and she was over tired, leading to so much crying. She would basically fall asleep nursing and then of course would be ticked when I moved her (which makes sense) to her crib.
We had been trying to keep her up later so she could have wake time with Daddy once he got home from work...but, we knew we had to do what's best for Madison, so for the last couple weeks I've been working our way up earlier and our new goal is to start her last feeding around 7:30pm, so she can be in her crib by 7:45pm. It makes Josh sad to not see his baby girl some evenings, but it's what's best.
Such a Daddy's girl!
With the earlier bedtime, there is substantially less crying (probably closer to 10-20 minutes), BUT, of course that means an earlier wake time, and now we are working on adjusting her nap times. *sigh*
For the last 3 nights, she's been waking up after only 4-6 hours. I listen to her fuss for 5-10 minutes to see if she'll fall back asleep, but she hasn't been, so, I nurse and her she goes back down immediately with 5 minutes max. of fussing, and sleeps until morning. I'm not sure why there's been a shift? I'm wondering if she's having a growth spurt? We are feeding her cereal at night, but have been doing so all month. I had to skip one night earlier this week and that was the night she woke up earlier than usual. But, we haven't skipped cereal since. I am trying to really make sure she's nursing as long as she wants during the day, hoping to increase her daily calorie intake and get her back to sleeping a bit longer before waking up. It's so hard to know if she's starting to wake up to nurse from habit or from hunger or just to see me. I certainly do not want to deny her if she's hungry!!! Josh has been out of town this week, but he's back, so I think if she does it again tonight, I will have him check in on her (since she won't associate him with a feeding) before going in to nurse her. I know it's normal to feed her once during the night still, so I'm not upset with getting up, just more curious about why the shift.
She wakes up SO happy. I feel like she's telling me, "See, Mom. I'm ok. I won't hate you forever for making me learn to sleep on my own."
-Naps
Ugh. Naps. The good news, she usually only fusses for 5 minutes or less before falling asleep for her naps. The bad news...they are so inconsistent! Sometimes she sleeps for 30 minutes, making for a long crabby day, sometimes an hour and a half. I recently added dark (ugly) curtains to her room, and that has seem to help increase her napping time. Her room was pretty bright even with the blinds closed during the day.
*BEDTIME ROUTINE
Every night we have some quiet play, snuggling, naked time on her soft Winnie the Pooh blanket. We dim the lights. She gets lotioned up and changed into her pjs. (She gets a bath every other night to start her bedtime routine.)
*PACIFIER
No more pacifier for Madi. We never gave her one once we started sleep training. So, we don't plan on giving her one anymore. She was never really that into them anyways and doesn't seem to miss them.
*NURSING
I'm happy that Madison is still nursing. She eats 5 times a day, and has one serving of cereal in the evenings. I'm hoping that by 6 months, we'll get her to drop her middle of the night feeding...but, we'll see. You all know my chubby girl likes to eat! :)
I've started pumping and freezing my milk when I get a chance. We still haven't decided when we'll stop breastfeeding. That's a whole new topic to post on sometime.
Most of you know how scheduled I am, how I thrive on order and consistency. Miss Madison has definitely challenged me (which is a good thing). I have accepted to just be flexible, and that there are days that won't go as I had planned and that everything will be ok. To not get so caught up on her nursing and napping at the exact times I have planned for her.
If I feel myself getting anxious, I just remind myself to enjoy each and every moment with her, 'cause they are flying by and she's growing up SO quickly!
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