Brought to you by the letter S and the number 4 (which would be the number of hours of sleep I got last night).
So. Yesterday I got a box of rice cereal. And a pack of baby spoons. And a cute bib with a lovely little elephant on it. Love the elephants.
And then I decided that I didn't really feel like forcing the little guy to eat cereal from a spoon because he just has absolutely no interest in it. And judging by the way he wiggles and coos and smiles and jealously guards his nursing territory, he does have a very decided interest in continuing to breastfeed.
He usually does have a bottle in the evening though (Joe and the kids really like to feed him too) and so I put a teeny bit of the rice cereal in the bottle, just to see if there was any truth to the cereal = sleep theory.
There isn't.
At least there wasn't last night. If anything, he got up MORE (ALL CAPS!) than he ever has in his entire livelong life and that includes the first night he came home.
So. What to do, what to do?
When he woke up last night, he was more angry than hungry. In fact, I only fed him one of the 4 times he woke up. One time I held him and rocked him. Twice I gave him his pacifier. Each time I waited (to no effect) about 10 minutes to see if he would settle down on his own.
Right now he is taking his nap. He sleeps in longer stretches for his nap than at night! The differences are:
- at night he sleeps in his crib and I wrap his blanket around him because he tends to wave his arms around and wake himself up as I put him down. He sleeps on his back. There is a white-noise machine in his room.
- during the day he takes his nap in my bed because it's quieter and has less little brothers parading back and forth. There is a fan on. I just lay down with him and nurse him until he falls asleep, then I tuck his blanket around him and leave him there. He usually sleeps halfway on his side (I put a beanbag by his tummy to keep him from flipping onto his face).
I know he can sleep through the night because he's done it before. What on earth can I do to help him sleep longer now?
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1 comment:
The subject is a bit controversial, but I implemented a book called "On Becoming Babywise" and have had lots of success. It is a sleep training book and how to get your baby on a schedule with naps and eating. My baby was sleeping 6 hour stretches at night at a month and 9-10 hours at night by month 5. At 9 months he sleeps about 10 hours at night but takes 3 naps during the day. I had lots of friends recommend the book when I was pregnant and it made sense to me. There is my thought in a shorter than Reader's Digest version.
But it doesn't make sense to everyone. Other commenters please don't hate on my opinion because it is just that. My opinion.
Hope you find something that works for you.
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