 |
|
|
|
| First Time Moms |
| Public online group |
|
|
| |
|
|
My baby made 3 months Sunday. He is not quite sleeping through the night yet but he wakes up twice. Our routine is between 6-7 I give him his bath. He usually has a bottle around 5 or so, so after the bath he is not sleepy. I put his jammies on and then he falls asleep in my arms usually while I'm combing his hair. He will fall asleep around between 7-8 and wake up between 12-2. Then I change him, feed him and he goes back down but will wake up again between 4-5. Is this a good sleeping patter for him so far? Is it too soon to get him to sleep throughout the night?
I don't think I'll ever be able to get an actual good nights sleep again b/c I'm always tired, but I want Jacob to be well rested. |
| Posted by Eva on 10/30/2007 01:36 PM
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| My daughter started sleeping through the night at 6 weeks. It really just depends on the child. Some of them never sleep through the night. It sounds like you have a good routine going though. During the day my daughter would take a bottle every 3 to 4 hours. Closer to 3 hours if she was going through a growth spirt. Can your baby's father help with one of the over night feedings to give you a break? Don't hesitate to send him to g-ma's so you can get a good nights sleep. It's hard to be away from them, but it's worth it. |
| posted by Cinda on 10/30/2007 02:12 PM
|
|
|
|
|
| oh yes! Me and my husband have a system where I take the first feeding and he takes the second since its closer to the time I have to get up for work and the first feeding is closer to the time my husband gets home. Jacob actually went to him g-ma's about 2 weekends ago, but as soon as he comes back I'm tired again! LOL. I'm just used to the days when I can sleep all day which was the norm before Jacob!!! |
| posted by Eva on 10/30/2007 02:53 PM
|
|
|
|
|
| I know what you mean. I miss those days too! |
| posted by Cinda on 10/30/2007 03:25 PM
|
|
|
|
|
Congrats on your son's three month b-day. Thought I'd toss in my two cents. I hope I don't become too unpopular after my reply!
First, some background info: my baby was sleeping wonderfully through the night at two and three months. My husband and I put her down sometime between 8 and 9, swaddled as snug as a bug.
Once four months hit, as Emeril would say, "BAM!" Uninterrupted sleep was a thing of the past.
Desperate, I began reading books by experts (how my mother despises them!) and found a solution with Dr. Ferber's method. I bought his "Solve your Child's Sleep Problems," at least I think that's what it is called. (I realize I might get some grimaces, raised eyebrows, eye-rolls, etc... at this point in my reply. I'm cool with that, though.)
But I digress.
As I was saying, Ferber's method of teaching my daughter how to sleep has been nothing short of amazing. However, he recommends using his sleep strategies once babies are a little older -- like four months and on. I'm figuring it has something do with maturity (obviously). Maybe it has something to do with baby's weight?
In case you might be interested, here's the scoop -- and no, I'm not his publicist or anything!: Ferber explains that babies, like adults, go through sleep cycles. I thought it was interesting how you explained that your son wakes up after four or so hours of sleep, as that is how sleep cycles work. (Deep periods of sleep, followed by more conscious wake hours, followed by deeper periods of sleep.) The trick is not to necessarily "get your child to sleep through the night," as he/she won't. Babies, just like adults, have periods when they will be awake or semi-conscious. Rather, the trick is to teach them to put themselves "back to sleep."
The way that is done is to break any and all associations that your baby has to the process of falling asleep. In other words, if you have to rock him to sleep and then put him down, you need to stop that. Why, pray tell? Well, because when your baby then comes out of his deep sleep cycle, he looks around, sees that he's not in your arms as he has last remembered, and therefore cries out to you to help him go back to sleep. And so you rock him again, until he falls asleep, etc, etc, etc...
I would do the same thing. Paci in mouth, arms and legs nestled tightly in the swaddle, I prided myself on how Marissa fell so easily asleep in my arms. But stay asleep? No such luck.
Thus, Ferber suggests that you put your baby down awake in his crib so that he can fall asleep on his own. Of course he is going to cry, so Ferber suggests using a progressive approach to checking on him. He claims that by a week, your child will be able to put himself back to sleep. All I know is that with consistency and patience, it took my four month old about 3 days.
What's the progressive approach? The first day, put your baby down for sleep. When he inevitable starts crying, wait three minutes and then return to his room. Stay in for a minute or two. Do not pick your baby up. The point of being in there is for your baby to see that you are there. Then leave again. It's okay if he starts to cry again; your purpose of checking in is not to put your child to sleep. Again, rather it is to teach him how to put himself back to sleep.
You repeat this (time intervals gradually increase; ie, day one you go 3, then 5, then 7 then 10 minutes; day two will go 5, then 7, then 10, then 12) for however many days you need to. Ferber gives time allotments for seven days. However, he encourages you to pick time intervals with which you are comfortable. You just need to be consistent.
Although this "program" worked for me, as it has for others I'm sure, some people do not like it. According to some, "crying it out" is cruel and fosters mistrust. All I know is that I started at a time when my baby was aware that I was meeting her needs. She goes to sleep both during the day and at night without needing a check in, and she wakes to share her cute smiles with me. No stink eye here.
The only thing you gotta watch out for is for hunger. And there you must use your judgment because nobody knows your baby better than you. For example, there were a few days where Marissa woke at 2:00 am, after falling asleep at 7:00. We were at the point of checking in after 10 mins the first time, 12 the second, 15 the third... Well, I decided to see if she was hungry after the third check in (I put my finger next to her mouth and her toothless gums nearly pried it off!). So she got a bottle. And drank it she did.
Again, this worked for me but might not be of interest to you. There are lots of sleep training programs out there (The No Cry Sleep Solution, The Baby Whisperer...). I just think that as long as you're consistent with what you're doing, you're doing the right thing for your baby.
Whew. What a mouthful! |
| posted by Tara on 10/30/2007 03:52 PM
|
|
|
|
|
Wow, let me tell you this is something I have been struggling with. It sounds like you have a good sleeper there and with consistency you may have the joy of a full nights sleep. I am the night time blues lady. I posted a similar situation as you. I have a 5 month old who used to sleep through the night and now adays will wake about 3-4 times a night. I think the reason is tething and also that I let go with the routine. Keep up your routine and you will have success. otherwise you may end up like me, having the nightttime blues. Remember, a baby is a baby and it's normal for them to wake up at night, inevitable. Keep doing what you are doing. It sounds like you are on the right track.
Good luck to you! |
| posted by caitlin on 10/30/2007 07:05 PM
|
|
|
|
|
Eva,
Sleep training has to do with getting your baby on a schedule. Once you have this accomplished and depending you your baby's weight will depend on when he will sleep longer at night. Sleeping through the night means sleeping for 5 hours. |
| posted by Lois on 10/30/2007 08:28 PM
|
|
|
|
|
You've already received some good insight and advice here...but, I thought I'd add a little from what our experience was with our son.
He's now 13mo. (never thought he'd get there) and I've almost forgotten those sleepless nights!
Well, first of all...our pediatrician told us that if he was sleeping for any 5 hour stretch during the night hours, then that was "sleeping through the night" for him. I told him it wasn't enough for us! He just laughed and told us to go to bed earlier. :0)
Second, my husband took the midnight-2am feeding..and started calling our son his "Craig Fergeson buddy" (latenight tvhost). This helped me tons!
But as soon as 3mo. hit, we started to really think about patterns, since he was cognitively beginning to form small habits. We started puting him in the crib at night and weaning him from that 2am bottle slowly...oh so slowly...started giving him the pacifier instead...it was a slow process and took much observance on our part.
It sounds like you are doing a fantastic job! Just be watchful of your son and stick to a pattern...we picked the EASY pattern..."Eat, Activity, Sleep, You"...it worked well for us and now after a year, he lives on this schedule still and is flexible enough to allow us time as a couple and me time to myself as well.
Hope this helps! And he'll get there...sooner than you hope, believe me. My cradling to sleep days are gone already. So, try to enjoy it if you can. :0)
|
| posted by Kelly on 10/30/2007 09:44 PM
|
|
|
|
|
Thanks so much for the responses. It feels good to know that 1) your not alone in this and 2) there is hope.
Another thing I realized is Jacob is teething so when the pain kicks in he's so miserable during the day. We brought the humprey's for him so hopefully this will comfort him.
Again, thanks for all the responses. |
| posted by Eva on 10/31/2007 07:56 PM
|
|
|
|
|
I didn't sleep train at all. I just followed my baby's cues. Primarily I was concerned with the supply and demand of my breastmilk, so I woke whenever he did to feed him. However, since weaning I had to do a little work (allowing him to learn how to soothe himself back to sleep) to create a new sleep pattern and now my son sleeps through most nights.
I guess I am old fashioned, but we all do what works best for our own babies, I guess. |
| posted by Jade on 10/31/2007 09:42 PM
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
| |  |
| |
|
|
|
