Hi lovlies,
Let's see how separate threads work out for different topics.
Share all things sleep related here!
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Sleep has been good and bad. Last week was rough, this week was better except for last night. I nursed him at 6:15 PM, he was asleep by 6:30. Transferred him at 7 PM, he woke right away. Soothed him back down. Woke up again at 7:30, then 8. Woke up at 11:30 PM. Tried to nurse him but he cried and cried. Teething pain maybe? DH got vacuum out and put him in his bouncy seat. he fell back to sleep around 12 AM. Then it's a blur. I think he woke around 4 am and DH soothed him back to sleep. He woke again at 5 AM and I nursed him. Put him in pack n play and it took him a little while, but he fell back to sleep on his own. He was up for the day at 6:40 am.
I'm not really sure what to do. Maybe he's just teething? He seemed to do worse with a later bedtime.
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@mrskc: yeah - i feel like we are just in a weird transition time with sleep.
J overall does pretty well - i usually nurse him to sleep - i know, i know, not good, and he falls asleep after finishing the second side, I put him down, and he's good. the past few weeks he would usually wake once to eat around 2:30/3ish to eat, then go back to sleep until 7ish.
We are transitioning to crib -- some nights better than others... but when he wakes we sometimes just move him back to the Rock n Play.
Now he's sick - so our sleep is going to be all messed up for a while. I wondered what was going on the other night and i think it was the beginning of the sick....
I also think J is teething - he goes to town sucking on our fingers at night - that's his favorite thing. i bought him some teething rings that we can cool in the fridge and he sorta likes those....
i'm just sorta going with the flow - not forcing anything, although we do let him cry in the crib, he never cries for more than 10 min max - and hope that we get into some kind of routine at some point.
We also have moved up his bedtime from between 8 & 8:30 to 7:30ish.
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Sleep has been mostly bad!
Bedtime between 7-7:30 (in crib)
Wakings anywhere from 1 to 10+ per night.Up for day usually 7-7:30am, sometimes as early at 6:30, or as late as 8:30 (not usually late anymore!!)
We tried sleep training two nights ago and by fluke it was just too good.
We cut the paci too and she cried for 12 mins at bedtime, didn't wake until 3:50am, nursed and changed her, about half hour to go back down until morning.
Last night was h-e-l-l. She cried about an hour each waking and has napped poorly the last two days too (3x no more than half hour each) and so I am dreading tonight I won't lie.
My question is (need honesty, lol) if we have cut the paci for sleep, should we be cutting it daytime too? Or can I use it here and there (like right now when she is miserable, but too early for bedtime!!) I still will want (need!) to use it at church, but just not sure where the line is on using it now. I knew night 1 was a fluke, I have a feeling tonight will be tough too.
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i don't know if this goes in sleeping or feeding. anyone do dream feeds? LO goes to bed 7:30-8pm, wakes up 1x per night anywhere between 2-5am, then sleeps until 6:30-7:30am. i'm wondering if a dream feed might let mama STTN too, but i'm too scared to mess with her sleep!! anyone with advice?
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ooh. another question...anyone using blackout curtains/shades? i am torn on whether to get them or not. the sun starts setting when we do her bedtime routine and nursing session, but with 3 months left of longer and longer days, i'm wondering if i should just shell out the bucks to get custom ones (my windows are not standard).
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hey i'm gold! i just noticed this!
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@hellobeeboston: we're also trying to just go with the flow now...I'm not going to sleep train unless it gets really bad/he can't be soothed by nursing. I think/hope we're settling into a routine of two wakeups to nurse a night, and up for the day around 7am, which is fine with me. He goes down really easily now, which is great.
@Beebug: ack sorry night 2 was bad! I have heard that it sometimes gets worse before it gets better....as for the paci, no real advice...but it can't hurt to try to keep it for moments when you really need it like at church?
@SleepyMonkey: I would like to try a dream feed but I've heard they're easier with bottles and L won't take one! I also am wondering about black out curtains...right now he goes to bed easily, but at some point it will still be really bright at 6:30/7, and I can see it being an issue...but then again, he falls asleep for naps in the middle of the day when it's bright in his room, so maybe it won't be a problem?
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We have done two (ever, lol) dreamfeeds with bottle and it was SO cool. I literally put the bottle in her !mouth and she (slowly) downed it as she laid asleep in her crib! We need to get back to one waking per night for it to be worthwhile though, it ended up being an extra step for us with all the same fun wakings
@hilsy85: We ended up needing it end of day today. We tried napping her twice (no paci) wouldn't go with two big sessions of CIO. So end of bath/bedtime routine she had totally expired and was having a meltdown, so we just gave it to her, better for her....and us!! She fell asleep on her bottle and didn't wake when we laid her in her crib.....we will see what tonight brings!
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@SleepyMonkey: Awesome on the realization of gold!
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@hilsy85: that makes sense that a bottle would be easier for dreamfeed, you wouldn't even have to pick them up to do it...i am not sure about the blackout curtains either. ours would have to be custom so it would be expensive, and i'm not sure its going to cause a problem for L just yet. i was scouring the internet for some cheap option for blackout curtains and found 1) gro anywhere blackout portable curtains, which are just black cloth that you can suction cup to windows (ingenious, but only sold in the UK...boo) and 2) aluminium foil and painter's tape...i might just go with option #2 if i am desperate!
@Beebug: oh my goodness, 10+ wakings per night? my nephew was like this for awhile, he'd wake up every 1.5 hours and they decided to do CIO, extinction (i.e. no checks at all because it would just rile him up more) and after a week or so, he was sleeping 10 hours straight. i don't know if you are ready for that, but it did seem to work for them, and everyone (including baby) was happier for it. he was about 1-year old when they did it.
@hellobeeboston: hope your LO feels better soon. L's sleep hasn't been the same since she got sick
@mrskc: hope tonight is better for you guys. L is super inconsistent with sleep too...it is that phase they're going thru i guess.
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@Beebug: 10+ wake ups? That's rough. Sorry it's been so rough. I don't have any advice Re the paci. I guess just reserve it for when you really need it.
@SleepyMonkey: I've never tried a dream feed before. I think he would wake up too much. He usually only nurses one time at night, and I'm ok with that. What about black out curtains? We have black out curtains that we use for his naps. He's still sleeping in our room, but I'm hoping to transition him to his crib soon. I think the black out curtains will come in handy for his 7 pm bedtime since by June, it will be pretty bright at 7 pm.
So A took a 2 hour nap this afternoon. It's probably just one of those flukes, but I have slight hope that maybe he's going to start napping longer. DH was home early today. He put A down for a nap, and I went to take a nap too thinking I'd nap for about 30 minutes. I wake up almost 2 hours later and I couldn't believe he was still napping in his crib. DH said he woke up twice and went in and help one of his arms down and he fell right back to sleep. (We've been swaddling with one arm out). Hoping this will work tomorrow.
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@SleepyMonkey: ha I love option 2! We might try that as well
LO was up 2x again last night, but slept til 7:40! I am totally fine with that schedule! Well, actually...he also woke up at like 10:30 to eat so I guess that's really 3x...so maybe not so good, lol.
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Our daycare/babysitter lady told me that she has been putting NPR on for James while he naps -- he naps for like 4 hours a day when he is over at their house.... So I am trying it today - the second I turned NPR on he fell asleep!
ha - so funny. He's sounds asleep to Car Talk right now.
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@SleepyMonkey: @mrskc: The 10+ was happening 2-3x a week, since sleep training her worst night has been one waking and CIO, plus one waking to eat, the other two nights (only 3 nights total in!) have been one waking around 4am to eat and back down. UNREAL the difference, and I am so, so thrilled.
@hellobeeboston: What's NPR!?
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@hellobeeboston: that's awesome about NPR, maybe that's why my LO falls asleep so well in the car.
My LO has been fussier than normal when going to bed, and even waking up crying some nights which she has never done before. We thought maybe it was sleep regression, but then daycare called saying she had a fever. She ended up being sick all week with temps up to 104.7 and the pedi said she had an ear infection so I think that might be causing her sleep fussiness. She's on day 5 of antibiotics and seems to be doing better. Hopefully this fixes her night time fussiness!
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@hellobeeboston: LOL that is awesome! maybe i'll try that.
Olivia is 6 months Wednesday and sleep has somewhat improved but still sucks. She was STTN til almost 3 months, when she got sick and self swaddle-weaned. So who the heck knows WHAT threw her off - swaddle, sick, or regression? No looking back now, I guess!
The past 1-2 months she's been up almost every 1-2 hours screaming bloody murder. we raised one end of the crib last week and that eliminated the screaming, but not the wakeups. However, now she'll go back to sleep in the crib if you replace the pacifier where before, she'd scream and scream til I nursed her.
progress! but...still not great.
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@Beebug: National Public Radio -- all talk!
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@sorrycharlie: hmm did she have reflux before? I've heard that sometimes it can develop around 6 months...@LemonLong: aw poor babY! I hope she's feeling better!
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@sorrycharlie: I hope that your LO gets back to sleeping better soon!
DS's sleep schedule looks like this normally:
-8am-9am: wake up
-11am: Nap (1.5-2 hours)
-4:30pm-5pm: Nap (1 hour)
-8pm-10pm: Down for the night.Lately he has been fighting all of his naps. I think he is worried about missing something....Anyone know when we are looking at a wonder week?
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@MrsRcCar: apparently there's a 5-6 month growth spurt which Miss A is smack in the middle of!
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Ack, I think we're experiencing a perfect storm of a growth spurt, teething and transitioning down to two naps.
Miss A got up at 0715 this morning, went back to bed at around 1000, slept till 1200 and then didn't go back down for sleep until she catnapped from 1800 to 1830. She pretty much spent the 3.5 hours from 1430 to 1800 yelling at me and refusing to feed. I definitely don't think she's going to be a baby that copes with CIO, I stept outside to collect myself and pull in my washing and she got just so worked up. I hate this not napping thing, I get so frustrated and then feel like such a shitty mother for letting my baby cry and get into such a worked up state
Today was not a good day
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@hilsy85: I was worried about reflux so I took her into the pediatrician a couple weeks ago, and she said her exam was perfect and that the only explanation was teething. I asked about reflux because I'd also heard that it can start around 6 months, and she said that it usually tapers off then - I didn't want to argue, so I let it go. She hasn't been waking screaming anymore but has been waking somewhat often..baby steps, I guess? Haha!
@MrsRcCar: I downloaded the wonder week app! It's much cheaper than the book and tailors to your baby (you plug in their name and DOB). I wasn't sure how much I believed in wonder weeks til I read about what O "could" be doing and she's doing it all! Getting upset on the changing table (she used to LOVE it), wailing when I leave her, etc.
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@sorrycharlie: yeah I've heard both things...strange! I feel like there are always a million possible reasons.
Speaking of waking up screaming, LO has been waking up screaming at 9:30/10pm the last week or so. It seems to be gas, because once he passes it, he feels better. Any ideas on a) how to prevent this from being an issue, or b) heading it off before he wakes up screaming? We gave him gripe water last night and then I nursed him, and that seemed to help...
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@SleepyMonkey: Hooray for gold! Glad you found it! I looked up the Gro Anywhere blackout blinds, and they have them on amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gro-Anywhere-Blackout-New-Version/dp/B00BKZLWBU/ref=sr_1_1?s=baby&ie=UTF8&qid=1364217555&sr=1-1 - you can ship them to the US (and shipping isn't terrible if you go for standard shipping - we put together baskets of UK stuff from time to time and ship here).
@Hellobeeboston: That is hilarious about NPR! Sometimes it puts me to sleep too...
@Beebug: That's fantastic that CIO is working so well for you guys!
@Kemma: I hate days like that - it makes everything so incredibly difficult when they won't nap, or won't nap well! I find that a good day turns right into a bad day when a nap doesn't work out - even if he had a good one earlier in the day. So frustrating! Hopefully she'll have a good sleep tonight.
@Hilsy85: I hope things continue to improve for you! It's good that L goes back down easily after eating. With a fellow skinny baby, I think maybe they just need the food sometimes? I love his 5 month photos on FB - he is really a good looking guy!
J's sleep was really good before we went on vacation to Venice, and now we are battling baby jet lag. Oh well, I knew that would happen - it was such a fun trip though, so I don't feel too bad about it (yet!!).
Before he was sleeping from 8pm-7am straight through, and would put himself back to sleep if he woke up a little during the night. The past two nights (we got back on Saturday) he has gone down okay, a little earlier than usual, but wakes up around 3am or so hungry - that's when he'd normally be waking up 5 hours later, so understandable. I've fed him both times, and he's gone back to sleep eventually. He has woken up naturally around 7:15 or so both mornings, but he's not super hungry when he wakes up for the morning, like he normally would be. I'm hopeful that after a week or so of adjusting back, he'll be back on track with his sleep - we'll see!
We're also moving to a new apartment in a couple weeks, so I wonder if that will affect J's sleep at all. Has anyone done this yet? Any suggestions? His nursery will have all the same stuff in it, of course, but will feel different from his current one I'm sure.
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@hilsy85: I make sure I get a burp out of her before bed (usually I nurse her right before bed hoping to 'top her off') and that usually helps a little. I also found raising one end of the crib on pieces of wood helped a ton, not sure why - before, she was waking often and always burped or farted when we picked her up, and now she rarely wakes and if she does it's from hunger.
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E is doing pretty good with STTN (but we have been very lucky and she's always been a great sleeper.) We did have a couple nights where she was up every hour, and then 2 days later she had 2 bottom teeth to show for it. She is now sleeping again through the night (7:30-8 pm - 5 am.) We put the pacy back in her mouth at five andt hat gets her to 6 when we get her up for the day.
Naps on the other hand are so hit and miss. She naps great at daycare and is on a very good schedule there, but at home she is a horrible napper on the weekends. We can't get her to sleep for more than 45 min- 1 hour at a time in the afternoon. She is prett good about a 2-3 hour morning nap if she's sleeping on you, she refuses to nap in her crib. It's a battle for sure.
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@Beehive: how was the trip?? I bet it was amazing--how could it not be! I definitely don't mind feeding LO in the MOTN to fatten him up, but I just wish he would consolidate feedings a little bit!
@sorrycharlie: hm maybe I"ll try the raised crib--can't hurt!
@LuLu Mom: oh my goodness, go E!! That is awesome that she sleeps so well.
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@Hilsy85: The trip was amazing! J was so much better than I had hoped - he slept well on the flights, and he was really easygoing and good-natured the whole time. I feel like this was a really good age for travel - he's not very fussy anymore (apart from when he actually needs something, like food or a nap), and we were able to wear him in the carrier and wander around the canals and different neighborhoods all day. It was fun that Italy is so baby-crazy - everyone, men and women, loved interacting with him, and he would smile at all the people.
We stayed in the hotel for his first nap (either went down to breakfast and he slept in the stroller, or had room service and he slept in his travel crib), and he slept in the carrier for his second and third naps. We had big lunches out and put him in a Totseat (http://www.amazon.com/Trendykid-TS005-TrendyKid-Totseat-Chocolate/dp/B001QC77W0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1364238009&sr=8-1&keywords=totseat), which was brilliant - he would sit in that for at least one course, then we'd take turns holding him. And we would pick up a bunch of cakes and things and have those in the hotel room (we got a junior suite, so there was a separate area with a couch) instead of dinner, so J could go to bed at a decent hour.
Overall, I was really happy with how much we were able to do, and how closely the trip resembled our pre-baby vacations, a very pleasant surprise! I'm sure this will change once J is older and we need to do kid-friendly things on our vacations, but I'm sure at that point there will be other things that will be easier.
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Alright....a week into this CIO business, the last two night's C slept from bedtime until five am! She wakes here and there (1-2x) and talks for a bit, then falls back to sleep, but seriously, this has been awesome.
She is still crying 10-15 mins or so to fall asleep though......
Yesterday morning at 5am I really struggled with what to do, feed her then, and try to get her back to bed, or to let her CIO, I opted to give her the paci and she slept until 6:30, then we began our day, today I fed her and she slept (took a while to settle) until just before 8am.
I am not sure what's best on that front, I totally don't mind getting up, but now I'm wishing it was a little earlier, haha...frig I seem to complain no matter what, but this is SO much better of a problem rather than all the wakings.
I am going to let this continue to see if it either irons itself out, or if it continues, maybe do a dream feed? She can sleep the stretch, she just isn't (to either wake and talk/babble or eat) so we'll see I guess?
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@Beehive: Italy sounds amazing! It's on my list of places I must see!
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@Beebug: I think you are on a pretty good track! the fact that she is babbling and not crying is good! I will say that we tried a dreamfeed with E, but it didn't work for her. It ended up waking her up instead of helping her sleep. I know this isn't the case for most though but wanted to warn you!
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@LuLu Mom: I have dream fed her twice and there was so much else wrong with her sleep when I tried that I would say it definitely worked the one night, and the other it was just an added step for me, lol. So we will keep on the track we're on for now, and go from there, huge improvement.
I just find the CIO time is not getting "better" I find she is anticipating the walk to her crib and crying same amount (more in some cases) so I am struggling with that, but the sleep itself is just unreal better.
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@hilsy85: any luck with the bed-raising?
@Beebug: I think babbling is good! it means she's happy and not in pain/scared/etc. What is your bedtime routine like - do you put her down wide awake, or do lotion/book/song/etc or anything before hand? I've found that if I hold Olivia for a few minutes to get her cozy, she's easier to get to fall asleep on her own. If she's wired/wide awake before going in her crib, she'll roll around and play and lose her pacifier/get tangled in her blanket, flip the seahorse too far away to reach, etc. Then she gets upset, I have to go in and we start over..lol.
-----I'm totally stumped here! Olivia can obviously put herself to sleep - she does it pretty often for naps and bedtime. But she just cannot get the hang of how to get the pacifier back in her mouth. I've watched her on the monitor and she'll try for several minutes flipping it this way and that and just can't get it.
She'll wake every 2-3 hours all night now, and every other wake I'll nurse her, but in between it's just to replace the pacifier. So I know she can fall asleep with the pacifier, and I know she can go at least 5 hours before nursing, so how do I combine all of it? She now cries, "Mamaaa" when she is upset (only at night though) so it breaks my heart..I just can't do CIO. Esp when I know as soon as she has the binky back she'll knock out..how do I ignore her when she just can't do it yet on her own?
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@sorrycharlie: We definitely have a bedtime routine, and depending on her last afternoon nap totally dictates how tired she is as she goes into crib, the first few nights of CIO she wasn't even CIO'ing because she woke from her last nap around 4'ish, over 4:30/5ish (normal) and went down asleep/half asleep following bottle/burping! 6:15 we start bath and she gets some naked roll around time, bath time, snuggles, massage and dressed in her sleeper. Then bottle, and burps/snuggles, and down in crib no later then 7:30, but we try 7-7:15. Most of the time she is awake going down, but she really at that point in the night isn't down for anything other than up in our arms snuggled in walking around (definitely no us sitting, standing still, reading, etc, we usually sing to her a little, ha!)
As per Olivia and the paci, half the reason we're doing what we are doing is because we cut the paci, we were going in 1-10+ times per night putting it back in, so I have no advice as we ended up cutting it completely for sleep. I hope you can figure something out though, I was going to lose my sanity if we didn't do something and CIO seemed like the only option (for us) but I wish there would have been a better "middle"
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@LuLu Mom: I'm jealous. This is how my son used to sleep pre-4month sleep regression. I want to get back to this.
@Beehive: Your trips sounds amazing!
@Beebug: Wow! Sounds like CIO is working for you!
@sorrycharlie: Your situation sounds like ours right now. Last night he was up every 2.5-3 hours. Ugh. Each time we tried to give him the paci, which usually does work and he'll go back to sleep. Last night tho, I ended up nursing him 9 pm, 12 am, 3 am & 6 am. It just seemed the easiest to get him back to sleep. I don't know what to do. I don't like being dependent on the paci. He used to not take it, but the last few weeks, it's helped him fall asleep so we've been using it. I think once she gets better hand, eye coordination, she'll be able to put it back in her mouth. AJ I've noticed tries to get it back in his mouth, but just doesn't have great control of his hands to be able to do it. If you figure out a solution, let me know! I know I cannot do CIO.
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C is only now starting to be able to get the paci in (when we give it to her daytime). We stopped putting it in her mouth, we only give it to her hand and she has to figure out how to get it. It's good because it distracts her (and calms if she was crying) and keeps her occupied. She loooooves flipping it upside down now, it's so cute. People will comment about it and we just laugh and say she'll flip it back if we fix it, which she is all over. Kinda cool she can do it now, but still not getting it back in the crib, lol.
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So my DH is off work this week for spring break. A's naps have improved so much. He discovered if he goes in there when he starts stirring at around the 30 minute mark and holds his arm down, he'll fall right back to sleep. We've been able to get some 1+ hour naps out of him, which was a rarity before. We're hoping, with time, he'll figure out how to get himself to the next sleep cycle with out us going in there.
Oh and I watched DH put A down for a nap yesterday, so I can see what he does and copy it. He rocked him for all of 30 seconds. Did some sort of baby whisperer head rubbing thing and he was out! Laid him in the crib and he drifted off to sleep instantly. I couldn't decide if I wanted to slap him or kiss him for making it look so easy.
Nighttime sleep isn't improving. It seems we'll have a few good nights sprinkled in here and there. But he's waking every 2.5-3 hours. I know this kid can go 10+ hours with out eating, so I hate to nurse him every time. But the first few wake ups, he seemed like he drank a lot. He hasn't been very interested in nursing during the day, so I wonder if he's reverse cycling. Eating less during the day so he can play more and eat more at night to make up for it. I try to get him to eat more during the day, but it's not working very well.
And wow, sorry about the novel!
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@mrskc: I of course spoke too soon, last night she woke up at 4 babbling and laughing, we left her be and she fell back asleep after like 10 minutes. Luckily she didn't cry! I was watching her and she was popping her pacy in and out of her mouth, I guess it was funny
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@mrskc: hmm, yeah maybe it's because of eating less during the day? Or he's just going through some kind of developmental change? Every time I think I have sleep figured out it changes.
Last night was the first night LO was in his room by himself and I didn't sleep next to him. Pathetic it's taken me this long... but it went well! slept from 7:30-10:30 in crib, cried, transferred to RnP, up to eat at 1:30, then asleep till 7:45!
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