My Babywised Babies sleep great!

(I didn't have much time to proof read and so please excuse the run on sentences, fragments and HORRIBLE punctuation!)

We follow the babywise book.  It's not a new method, but really sleep hasn't changed over the years.  The basic premise is eat, play, sleep; instead of eat to go to sleep, play and then eat again.  Basically, you are teaching your child to go to sleep on their own instead of needing to be rocked, held, or milk to go to sleep.  I have done this with Owen and now again with Jesse and I swear by this method because my babies sleep great!  Owen is almost 3 and still takes an afternoon nap that ranges from 2-3.5 hours!  Jesse is 12 weeks and has sleep through the night 7 times!! His bedtime is 6pm, I nurse again (dreamfeed) before I go to bed around 10-11pm) and he has slept till 6am and 7:30am!!!  Mommy loves her sleep so I am THRILLED!

We started at about 3 weeks old with both boys.  Before that we just nursed and held our babies as we all know those first few weeks are just survival.  Then at 3 weeks we moved our babies from the bassinet in our room to the crib in their own room.  When the baby is only a newborn sometimes the "play" was only a diaper change or a burp to wake them.  Here is what our newborn routine looked like during the day:

Baby is allowed to sleep as long as they would in the night and early mornings, when baby waked we would change his diaper and then nurse one side, burp, nurse the other side and burp.  Sometimes it would take up to 10 minutes to get that 2nd burp, but it is key to know there isn't any belly gas that would be uncomfortable for sleep.  Then we would enjoy a little awake time (keeping the lights bright and not muting sounds of Owen playing or tv etc.). When we saw the first sign of sleepiness it was off to the crib he went.  Some signs of sleepiness are rubbing eyes, droopy eyes, a yawn, redness around the eyes, and fussiness.  Jesse is great at rubbing his hands into his eyes while nuzzling his head into my shoulder when he is ready to sleep.  It is really important to put them to sleep when they are sleepy and before they are over tired.  I usually say the same thing when I put him into the crib:  "night night sweet boy.  Mommy loves you! Its time to go night night" and pat his belly.  I laid my babies on their back in a swaddle they can't get their arms out of.  We used some velcro ones early on and receiving blankets, but once they can get a hand out we would put them in the Woombie brand swaddle.  Yes, they are pricey, but worth every penny!  You can get them on the half off baby websites sometimes.

During the day, I closely watch the clock and if he is sleeping and it hits the 3 hour mark from the beginning of the last feeding I wake him up and we start the cycle over again.  Now, at nighttime I do NOT do this; I let them sleep as long as they can.  With Owen the nurses said I should wake him for the first month every 3 hours.  I think that he got trained to be on this schedule and it took longer for him to fully sleep through the night whereas I knew better with Jesse and we were able to establish his nighttime at night earlier on!

I just looked back and Owen's 4 month schedule was this and it is pretty close to Jesse's schedule now too except he is still about about 2.5 hours during the day and getting up earlier:
8am-Eat, play time (this is a special time of day, he is so sweet!!) then a 1 1/2 hour nap
11am-Eat, play time (usually some tummy time or in his swing) then a 1 hour nap
2pm-Eat, play time (run errands) then a 1 hour nap
5-6pm Eat, play a little then a 1 1/2 nap
8-9pm Eat, play about 30 minutes and ready for bed!
10:30 dream feed and back to bed

Ok, here is the hardest part.  Crying it out.  I think the earlier you do this the easier it is for the baby and parents.  There are different ways to do CIO (crying it out).  We found that at 3 weeks CIO only lasted 30 minutes top.  Our boys would scream crying for the first 10 minutes then it there would be a pause then some more intense crying before tapering off or just conking out asleep.  It is HARD.  I would hold Chris's hand and we would encourage each other to be strong because we knew it was better for them in the long run.  Thankfully, it usually takes only a couple of days/nights to get to shorter crying periods.  Now, Jesse is only 5 minutes tops.  There are exceptions.  Sometimes I know Jesse is over tired from holiday or visits from family and those times I will swaddle him, give him his paci and hold and pat him to sleep and usually I can easily transfer him to his bed.  There are different ways to go about crying it out and you should decide as a family what works for you.  We said 30 minutes top crying before comforting and calming him down and trying again.  You have to check for poopy diapers, burps and sometimes a growth spurt will throw it all off.

One other thing you have to know about and it is the 45 minute intruder.  This is how long a young babies sleep cycle is.  After 45 minutes it starts over and sometimes or even most times the baby will wake up crying.  I usually look at the clock and use my judgement to see if it is close to the 2 hour mark I will get him up and start the cycle over, if it isn't close to it then I wait it out.  Usually, after 5 minutes he is back asleep or quiet in his crib.

I really can't stress enough that you should just read the babywise book.  She describes in detail the reasons behind it all.  It is all about the parent making the decisions with the information you have and not about the baby's crying dictating their schedule.

Last thought because WOW this is getting LONG!  If you are nursing you really need to make sure the baby is nursing enough and getting the hind milk.  If you can feel yourself let down then you know baby is getting the nice creamy think calorie milk.  If you only nurse for a few minutes on each side then baby only gets the foremilk which is more watery and wont sustain baby till the next feeding.  Babies who only get the foremilk have to eat more frequently and thus turns into a cycle of snacking instead of eating full meals.  The other reason to move baby out of your room if you are nursing is that baby can smell you...wouldn't you want to wake up earlier if you could smell your wonderful food cooking all night?!  Jesse slept an extra hour longer at 3 weeks when we moved him to his own room at night.  4 hour cycles are amazing during the night with a newborn!

Please, ask any questions!

they know

I swear Owen knows if we are eating or trying to sleep.  For instance, how many times have I sat down to dinner and Owen wakes up 10 minutes early!  Seriously, in 10 minutes I can have my plate wiped clean and in the dishwasher. 

So this brings me about today.  I don't know if it was his extra long nap in the morning or the fact that I had given him juice a little bit before putting him down, but he took forever to settle down and fall asleep.  Of course, this happens on the ONE day I decide I am going to let myself take a nap.  So, I put Owen down and he was happily playing for a while and started to quiet down so I laid down in my bed.  Not even 10 minutes later he is loudly whining like he needs something.  I think maybe his foot is stuck in the rails or he finally pooped.  So, I check on him, no foot stuck, no poop.  I went ahead and nursed him as we are transitioning between a 3 hour to a 4 hour schedule and at this point it had been just over 3 hours and he didn't eat very well earlier.  So, back in the crib he goes.  I laid back down too.  15 minutes later he is crying out again.  This time I did the diaper check and foot check; patted him and left.  15 minutes later, he is crying out again. I peak from the doorway and he is on his side facing the wall with his arm in the air.  The arm is going from his side to straight up in the air and he is pumping it as fast as he can, up down up down in the dark it looked like a little blur. 

I think to myself....my nap isn't going to happen especially since I didn't eat very much for lunch and I am hungry.  So, I sit down with my snack and realize that I hear nothing.  The kid has fallen asleep as soon as I got up!

I swear they know...and do it on purpose!

SUCCESS!!! Swaddle is GONE!

It was time.

• the woombie was so tight when I was zipping it up
• Owen was rolling over while inside of it
• he was having to sleep on his side b/c he couldn't stretch out
• we decided not to purchase the MEGA sized woombie 
• he is almost 7 months
• though Owen did still smile every time I zipped him up and it was the cutest thing ever, though I wasn't wanting to admit he was growing up and putting another last behind us, but it was time and I know I have a whole lifetime of firsts in front of us!

Saturday morning, Chris headed to Charlotte to his cousin's house to help roof and Owen and I hunkered down for what I thought was going to be a LONG day of crying and a sleepy baby.  I had mentally prepared myself for three days and night of screaming crying as I was pulling the woombie cold turkey.



So here is the break down of our day:

• 9am: we wake up, eat breakfast, Owen gets a bath and it is time for nap #1
• 10:30:  Owen lays down for his nap wearing a t-shirt, cloth diaper and long sleeved footie pjs.
• 10:45:  Owen is doing his whining tired cry
• 11:00: Owen is screaming crying, I go in and rock him, calm him down and remind him this is our new way of sleeping.  I hand him his woombie and guide the tag into his mouth.
• 11:30: after some more whining, he is ASLEEP!!
• 12:15: up and ready to eat
• 1:30: back down for a nap and this time only 5 minutes of whining and 15 minutes of talking to himself and he is alseep!
• Since then he seems to be able to just talk himself to sleep!! Thank you Lord for an easy transition!  I have noticed that he doesn't seem to get into as deep of sleep, but I feel that this is part of his transition and we will get there, hey we are only on day 3 as I am typing this!  I was fully prepared to still be CIO!~

The moral of this story is:  wait till baby is ready!

yes he is clutching his woombie in his sleep, kinda broke my heart a little to deny him of his wonderful swaddle that made him so happy.

 

 

 

Day 2-6: swaddle/woombie weaning

Tuesday:  Owen woke up early and I had a hair appointment so I didn't try and unzip anymore so he could get a good nap...well he didn't.  Then he only got 20minutes while in the car and when we got home he NEEDED a nap so he was zipped up to the top and conked out immediately.

Wednesday: We missed his morning nap to run errands, so he needed it mostly zipped up for his afternoon nap.

Thursday:  We headed to a friends house, Owen slept great in his crib....zipped up to the neck!

Friday:  He had a dr appointment and shots.....good news his doctor recommended that it sounds like he still needs it and not to worry about weaning him yet.  Got home zipped him up while he was smiling and then took a GREAT nap!

so we gave up for now.....if only the woombies would go on babyhalf off again so I can get the big Houdini size, looks like we are going to need it!

Day 1: swaddle/woombie weaning

So, yesterday I tested a little to see how Owen would do having his woombie unzipped a little.  If it was only a little he wasn't able to get his hands out and was fine. 

So, today I unzipped a little more.  The first nap when I checked on him his hands were still in.  The second nap didn't happen.  His arms were out and he played for an hour before crying.  I soothed him and put him back down for what I was hoping at least a 45 minute nap.  This time I put his arms in and left it unzipped about 3 inches.  Well, seems like he got one arm out immediately and began to cry instantly. After letting him cry for a while I knew it was pointless.  It was time for him to get up and eat in 20 minutes.  So, I got him up and he ate great and then jumped in his jumperoo, but it wasn't my usual happy baby he was whiny and tired.   So I gave up and put him back to bed, zipping the woombie all the way up.  Happy little boy got some good zzz's. 

So, now he is down for the night and since Chris' band, Stuck, is practicing he is again zipped to the chin.  I don't think he is asleep, but at least he isn't crying.

I might be purchasing the big Houdini woombies in the near future...I wonder if they make them in the adult size? 

what to do?  Has anyone had this problem?  How long did it take to wean from the swaddle and what age was your baby??
 

Owen: sleeping and eating

So, I posted Owen's 4 month post several weeks after I wrote it, due to I am very lazy when it comes to uploading pictures and I feel a post about Owen needs pictures.  So, the schedule I had posted is not current.  We have entered a new phase and I am note sure what to do about his sleeping.

First off, Owen is 16 pounds and 1 oz at his 4 month appointment or 90th percentile; 25+ inches or 75th %.  So we are not worried about him gaining weight and growing seems my milk is doing its job.

We enjoyed several weeks of glorious sleep until one night a week ago.  Owen began waking at 3am needing to nurse. The past few nights he has gotten up around 1 or 2 and then again at 5 or 6.  My first thought was growth spurt, but I though these only lasted a few days.  We are going on a week or more right now.

We have started trying to do some cereal, but so far not much is getting in before Owen becomes aggravated and is done.  One good plus is that my milk supply has never been an issue (hope I am not jinxing myself).

Jess:  thanks for your concern, I always enjoy hearing from you.  If you reread I was feeding Owen 6 times a day.  Now we are back at 8 and from his growth that the doctor is charting it seems he is gaining appropriately. If you have any suggestions on getting him to sleep through the night again let me know!  I have found tips from other mom's are the best.  We are hoping this is just a phase and we will be back to sleeping through the night again. 

Thanks to everyone for their comments, I love reading them!!