Hellobee Boards

@Adira: duh! I usually play on my phone, like right now. I miss having a lunch break to read.

So I tried the dream feed last night... Liam was still up around 1ish but I got him back to sleep with a pacifier then he was up again around 3:45 and hungry. I gave him a 5 oz bottle of pumped milk which he finished almost all of. He stayed mostly asleep the whole time. I don't know this is sort of what happened the last time I tried a dream feed... For those of you who dream feed or wake up your LOs - does it take awhile for them to sleep longer?

Maybe I could try waking him up to nurse just before I go to bed... That seems like it would be easier than dealing with a bottle and all that...

@Adira: hmm well maybe Liam just isn't ready to go that long between feeds - he seems to wake up after 5-6 hours hungry. I will maybe give it a try waking him up to nurse tonight and see if it makes any difference. I would just LOVE to get a longer stretch of sleep!

@Adira: yes I will try that - Maybe I will cluster feed each hour when I get home tonight and then wake him up too.

@Smurfette: I need to read that book. I need more sleep and I don't think Isaac would do well with CIO. I will have to start something after the holidays.

I think my guy is a creature of habbit. The last couple days with so many people around he hasn't been eating or napping normaly. Now today everyone went to work and DH took his nephew fishing and he is back at his regular routine. Poor guy has been so tired with so much going on.

Yesterday was great though, I was so tired that after one feeding I gave Isaac to DH and he played with him until his next feeding while I relaxed. This is what I miss most with DH working out of town.

@ALV91711: I hope it works for you! I was skeptical that we would have any success because I was convinced the girls would be waking up starving. They seemed so hungry at all their night wakings! But as it turns out it was even quicker to drop feeds than the book suggested it would take - they were actually just eating out of habit. We had been dreamfeeding at 11pm and decided when we started to sleep train to just drop that feeding and see what happened. As it turned out, they didn't wake up hungry on that very first night until the time they ordinarily would have had their second nighttime feeding!

We just came back from our belated 4 month appointment - the girls checked out great! 25 and 25.5 inches, and 13.5 and 14 lbs. They were 19 inches each at birth, and weighed 6 lbs 13 oz and 6 lbs 5 oz, so they are growing at about the same rate.

@twobee: What a great checkup! Glad to hear that both your girls are growing really well! That must be so nice to have confirmed! I'm always paranoid about Xander's growth - I can't imagine how much more paranoid I'd be if I had TWO babies to worry about!

Wow looks like a lot of LOs are rolling over!! I guess baby J has not got the memo yet still in not rolling club.
@twobee: Glad to hear the girls are doing great and you have sleep trained them!!
I always feel like a pedi visit is like a report card of how good parents we are and there is this expectation of baby is at least 50% of whatever measure. My DH is competitive and I try to rein him its ok as long as baby is growing well.
So last night was pretty rough with baby J and I ended up working from home today I was so tired to do the commute. Hopefully can catch some sleep over weekend.
@Adira: I am going to try your routine to wake him up at 9pm to feed. Usually I just let him be if hez sleeping but then he wakes up at 1am or whatever time he pleases! This has got to stop.
We are still using the boppy napper to sleep and he is growing out of it (his feet are already hanging out). Any suggestions for a longer co-sleeper for next few weeks while we work on transition to crib? I don't like the plastic/hard sided ones as its not comfortable for me and DH. We can barely fit in bed with him right now but at least its pillow and doesn't hit me. I guess I could attach a small pillow so his feet/legs can rest but I am not diy kind and have no idea how to go about one.

@Mrs. High Heels: I am so jealous!! Did you do anything different??

Wow lots of rollers and some great sleepers here! @mrs. High heels: congrats on the 11 hour stretch!!!

Pete is still a non-roller but I am really hoping he does it this week because my husband is on vacation and that means he would probably get to see it!

So, we arrived to my family's lakehouse yesterday evening to begin a 9 day vacation here. We were going to read up on different sleep training methods all week, choose our plan of action, and then start when we get home. However, Pete was so fussy last night; he was crying and fighting sleep even as we tried to nurse and rock him to sleep. We tried everything and he was still so upset! He had been like that for the past three nights and it seemed to be getting worse each night. I was torn because I didn't want to have him CIO, but at the same time, I didn't want to reinforce bad sleep associations and have him cry for hours anyway. So, we ended up putting him in his crib and doing a modified Ferber method- checking on him every 3-5 minutes, unless he was calming down. He cried for about 32 minutes, but his cries never escalated to full blown panic cries. They maxed out at about a 7/10 and were less than that for most of the time. It was still fairly torturous though, i cant lie. At 10:22pm he fell asleep in his crib on his own and woke up at 11:30pm. This time, he only cried for 6 minutes before falling asleep and then he slept until 5:45am! I fed him at 5:45am and changed his diaper, then he fell asleep on his own within 5 minutes with no crying at all (a little whimpering)!

I never thought we'd be doing this method, especially on a vacation, but it just seemed like the only way last night. I hope the next few nights go as smoothly and that we don't have to start from scratch when we get home. I'd really love for him to be a more independent sleeper and a more well-rested baby. I really hope we are doing the right thing.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know our experience with night #1 of impromptu CIO without extinction. Ill let you know how the rest of the week goes and if its a success or a flop.

BTW I don't have my computer here and only choppy wi-fi, so please pardon any errors as I'm typing on my phone!

@Smurfette: no, but I think we might be getting past the 4-month sleep regression. He's also mostly over his cold, and his teeth don't seem to be bothering him as much... so I will just attribute that long stretch to him "growing". Last night, he didn't sleep as long, but he still managed to sleep from 8-4 am, which was what he had been doing for a couple weeks already before the regression hit us.

@aprk: 6 hours sounds pretty good to me! I hope he keeps it up.

@QueensBee: That's awesome you had such good success!! I had to really prepare myself for sleep training as a first time mom, but once I did it I was a believer.

@Smurfette: It sounds like she is getting into the habit of naturally waking up every 3 hours. When she wakes, do you go to her immediately each time, or do you wait 5-10 min before going to her? What swaddle are you using?

@Smurfette: I'm sorry! I don't have any advice as L only does that when I put him to bed at a time other than his bed time (too early or too late). It does sound like she is just in the habit. Do you try soothing her with a paci or rocking etc rather than boob?

@QueensBee: Sounds like it worked! Yay! I am terrified of sleep issues with our upcoming trip to NY. He is doing so well, I don't want him thrown off! Yikes!

So Bees.... it has been a monumentous 3 days. It is like he learned EVERYTHING all of a sudden. He had been sleeping A LOT for the first few days of this week and I now think he was having a brain growth spurt if that is possible. This week he learned to roll back to tummy, yesterday he laughed for the first time and while bathing him last night, he learned to grab his toes!! OMG! What a big boy!

@Mrs. High Heels: We are using Halo Swaddle Sack. I usually go right in there. She can't self soothe and can't put herself to sleep unless in the car. I tried giving her a pacifier last night and that made her mad. I took her off the boob after 10 mins and then bounced/rocked her to sleep. She still has a stuffy nose so I am not sure if that is a factor. Just not sure how to break her of the habit of waking up.

@travellingbee: she won't take a pacifier it just pisses her off. I let her cry more lady night and not let her fall asleep with the boob. So exciting about your developments. I thought R laughed last night but I think it was just her talking

@silver1: Did you end up waking J to eat at 9:00? How'd it go?

@Mrs. High Heels: Wow! 11 hours! That would be AMAZING! I'm lucky if Xander sleeps 7!

@QueensBee: Glad to hear the CIO you did ended up working for you! Hopefully every day gets easier and easier for you both!

@Smurfette: Is it possible she's going through a growth spurt and actually is hungry? Or do you think she's just waking up by habit? I think I read somewhere that if they get into the habit of waking up, something you can do is just wake THEM up earlier to help break the habit, but I'm not really sure how it works, or if it would even work for R.

@travellingbee: Oh my gosh!!! Milestone after milestone! I'm so jealous!! And congratulations!!

So Xander rolled front to back today! I was trying to take some pictures of him doing tummy time and he just flipped over! But when I put him back on his tummy, he just cried and wouldn't roll. So I don't know what's up with him.

@Adira: yay rolling!!!!

@Adira: I don't think it is a growth spurt. She might be hungry cause she is eating at night not eating as much during the day. Today has been better eating wise.

That is awesome Xander rolled. I keep showing Reagan how to do it. She is rolling on her side a lot so maybe soon.

So this morning, I swaddled her and get her asleep and she slep for 50 mins in the crib. She has never done that before!!

And this afternoon DH was tickling her after changing her diaper and we both think we heard a laugh!!!

@Adira: I don't think it is a growth spurt. She might be hungry cause she is eating at night not eating as much during the day. Today has been better eating wise.

He is so cute!! Getting big too!! That is awesome Xander rolled. I keep showing Reagan how to do it. She is rolling on her side a lot so maybe soon.

So this morning, I swaddled her and get her asleep and she slep for 50 mins in the crib. She has never done that before!!

And this afternoon DH was tickling her after changing her diaper and we both think we heard a laugh!!!

@ALV91711: R is too! She woke up and then 30 mins later took another 30 min nap only I couldn't put her down that time. But at least I got one. It was nice to do chores without Having to keep checking on her playing.

@Mrs. High Heels: she is almost 16 weeks. I am hoping this is the 4 month regression early. I can't imagine going through this again. She must be reverse cycling, cause isn't eating as much at all during the day. Today is better so far than last weekend.

@Smurfette: Lurking April mama delurking to say that if you are worried R is waking because she is getting free from the swaddle have you tried something with a zip? We use these for naps. http://ergopouch.com.au/portfolio-view/ergococoon/ They're great because she can't get her hands free but can still suck on them through the fabric if she wants to. It looks like they are an Aussie thing but you could probably find something similar