Baby Greenhouse Journal click |
Last night was like this.
Bed 7pm. Feed (with dsd, unusual as she is picky about bottles) and sleep straight away.
8pmish lost dummy & cried -went to re-plug
11pm ish Cried, tried dummy nothing doing, wanted a feed. For the 1st time in a few nights she DIDN'T need crying down at this time after the feed. She went straight off to sleep - good girl.
By 1.30am I'd been out of bed 3 times with either DD or DS DS was in our bed, then crying, in his own, teething gel, neurofen etc. DD needed a dummy.
2pm feed. went to sleep witout crying again
4am feed and went off without crying again. All good
5.45 feed and awake for the day, yawn.
A pretty good night as we didn't need to cry her down post feeds but I feel so very tired!
Wondering whether to ditch the dummy?????????
The dummy has crept in and out of use! It's been used all the time when he's been teething - sometime working and other times no as before. We can stop it's use at bedtime in just a couple of nights BUT during the night it's a lot harder. Lately we've been quickly popping it in when he wakes in the night to help him get closer to morning having that small feed.
TODAY is the night we are NOT going to give him a feed OR a dummy. That means CC in the middle of the night, meaning getting up to make sure I do it properly and fairly to him. It never goes as well unless I actually get up to do it
So far, 15 mins crying. I've given him a bit of water ina bottle - not very interested but will have helped his poor throat! He like his back being rubbed- it's hard to leave him, poor love - but this should work!!!! I don't really want to be giving him night feeds now he's goingg onto cows milk, nor waking in the night asa rule! every so often is ok - every night isn't really! It's time to get my 'sleep life' back.
I hope he doen't cry for too long now. I'm onto the 10 min slots now. Wish me luck.
A x
For the first time, Sam slept completely 'through the night' 
7.30 - 6.30
I slept terribly, and had to go for a nap when he did this morning ![:]](/smilies/laugh.gif){kind=small}
ah well!
A x
I decided yesterday eve that we could feed Sam just the first time he woke - whatever time that be, either 10 or 2 am or whenever, but after that 1st feed, no more feeds.
He woke at 11 for a small feed, and then he slept until 6.15 am I really would say that's SLEEPING THROUGH as I didn't have to leave my bed... omg I've just realised I slept that too!!!!!!!
Oh happy day.....
So I guess we can do that for a little while and then try to cut out the single night feed!
A x
only did so when dh went instead of me, and gave teething gel and teethas - so it was either a teething problem or it was because he thought if he cried long enough mummy gives in like she did last week on holiday .
Whilst I was up, I logged on and felt, well, kicked in the chest I suppose, with Girlie's news 
I could only think to myself 'How can it be true', and that is still how I feel - how can a little person be here one minute and gone the next? I can't comprehend how they must feel.
Needless to say, leaving Sam to cry once I'd read about Stirling was upseting. Was awake a long time last night. Hoping for a better one tonight, so I'm going to bed now I think. Hugging my family close
A x
. I took Sam on the train whilst they went in the car - we would not have all fitted in, and Sam would have been a whinge bag ALL the way so it was the best option and it worked well
We put Sam's travel cot into the 4th bedroom and the 1st night wasn't too bad- took a little longer than usual to go down, but only woke at 12 ish and then 5ish - tried to cry him down and it worked but it took ages, like, an hour or something from memory!
Gradually through the week, it got worse and worse, I started feeding him at night, and by thursday night he was sleeping in my bed with me 
Ah well, t'was holiday and I really didn't want to be awake for hours each night with my baby crying. It is REALLY hard doing it by myself. I know that I had my parents,but they weren't really sure how it all works and mum was always suggesting giving him water to which 'we've been there done that!' was the only answer
However coming home has made a big difference. Sam is happier in his cot, and slept 10.15 - 4.15, then cried for 30 mins or so and slept til after 7
all is well
A x
Day 8
He just didn't wake for a feed at 10ish - I went to bed and expected he'd wake be about 11, ut no, I went to sleep and woke at 5, realised Sam hadn't woke and was so excited I didn't sleep for the next 45 mins! DH got up to the loo, and looked at the book (where we write down what weve done) and shot me a huge grin
Sam did wake at 6 (just playing, no crying), and dh got up with him so I slept a bit then. When dh brought him in to see me, Sam lept upon me and stared at my boobs, and started snuggling in to them - 'oh dear old friends, how I have missed you!' - then proceeded to have a 4 boob feed
All is well, just in time for our holiday
Happy A x
Day 7
SAM SLEPT THROUGH!!!!!!!!!
I'm talking 10pm - 5.15, 7 1/4 hours all at once - a RECORD for Sam, and 6 1/4 hours for me, a record for me since his birth
He was then crying on and off for an hour before going back off til 7 but that is fine by me, I was just pleased we didn't have to arise for the day at 5.15
Oh happy day, oh happy day, la la la la
We've nearly done it, haven't we
Happy mummy and happy baby
A x
Day 6
Last night was my 1st go at doing the 'drop a feed' cc session in the middle of the night. He woke at 1.55 and I went in after 10 mins , then 10, 15 and 15, and by 3.00 he was asleep, so not bad. It isn't easy to decide to go in actually, as he will cry a bit for 30 secs or so, be silent for 30 secs, even minutes at a time, and then cry again. THere may come a time when we decide not to go in... I don't know though, he's so little. He coped quite well with it being mummy but no milk However it then took me til 4 to go to sleep, so I've had a grand total of 6 hours . Ah well, at least there is light at the end of the tunnel.
I am so pleased that although he is still only sleeping for a max of about 4 hours at once, he is getting more than one session of that length of sleep each night, instead of how it was - 1h, 2h, 1.5h, 3h, 1.5h and so on , it must be much better for his health.
My turn again tonight, then 2 nights off before my holiday
A x
Day 5
Last night he woke a little earlier in the night than he has been doing, and took just 30 mins of crying to go off. He then woke at 4,30 and took 17 mins So in 12 hours of night time, he had over 11 hours of sleep - an absolute record!!!!!! And I slept from 11 - 4.30, then I only had to get up for myself to wee I feel we have really turned a corner.
I was telling some of my baby pals today what dh does when he goes in. I said "he says mummy and daddy love you very much..... I'm sorry I'm going to cry...", I'd not realised how emotional I felt at getting back to actually getting some REAL sleep!!!!!!!!!!
Tonight will be a big hurdle to climb - it will be ME doing the night time cc visiting (me, the milk woman ) so he might cry for longer. But it has to be done
A x
Day 4 In the afternoon we put him down in his cot for a nap and it took a little longer - 10 mins, but it is unusual for him to sleep in there in the afternoon.
At bedtime he again went down a dream, just a few cries as I left the room He woke at 10.40 and I fed him, then he took 5 mins to go to sleep again - I didn't have to return to him once.
He woke then at 3.20 - He's had 4 1/2 hours of sleep in one go, without me being there, wow, AMAZING!!!! When he woke at that point, he cried for 1 hour 20 mins total. I am hoping for under an hour tonight.
I will have to take dh's place later in the week, as I'll be having to do it myself next week on holiday, if he's still waking. If that's the case, then If it's suddenly the milk woman coming and not giving milk I imagine he'll be a little annoyed!
A x
Day One
On Thursday morning, Sam did not fall asleep as usual for his am nap, and so I decided to start CC there and then. I put him in his cot, gave him his dummy (which he spat out) said it was time to sleep and I went out. I went in every 5 mins for 3 times, then every 10 mins. It took 34 minutes of crying, then he went to sleep!
At bed time I did the same and it took just 15 mins, and at his 10pm feed it took only a couple of mins! However when he woke at 11.20pm and I didn't go in to feed him, it took 55 mins to go off. I did feed him twice more and he feel asleep in the cot, not on me (hoooray) within minutes.
Day 2
It took only 15 mins of crying to get him to sleep at am naptime, 20 mins in the afternoon (as his pm nap is usually on the go, not in the cot), and just 10 mins at bed time. After speaking to our hv we'd decided to try and go all night without feeding Sam, so when he woke (not til 11.10!) only dh went in. Every 5 minsx3, then 10 mins, 15, etc.
It took 2 hours 35 minutes for Sam to go to sleep on Friday night, as I said below. We argued for about an hour of that, because it was really emotionally tough on both of us, and dh changed his mind about whether S was capable of jumping to no feeds for 12 hours after feeding every hours til now! It was true, but I wished he'd said that sooner, like at tea time when I asked him that very question! Ah well, we're still learning how to do this parenting thing
I fed S at 3.10 when he woke and he fell asleep crying for only 1 minute. He didn't get up for the day until 7.30am, a recent record
Day Three
When I put S down for his morning nap after his feed, he cried only 5-10 mins, and I didn't even need to go in to him again.
At bed time, Sam stopped crying as soon as I closed the bedroom door as I left.
We decided it would be for the best if we kept the late evening feed for now, and tried to get rid of the 2 and the 4/5 am feeds. So I did feed him at 11 when he woke, and once again he took no time at all to go off once in his cot.
He woke at 3.00, and the difference was that we got up out of bed (me after 30 mins) to support each other. We knew what was coming, and we did things to distact ourselves, so it was definately easier. He cried for 1 hour 40 mins, an improvement of 55 mins He then did not wake again until 6.40, but he was not starvin marvin, despite not eating since 11pm. And he was a bit better about eating his breakfast today.
Today has gone well too, but I'll update about that, and tonight, tomorrow. Hoping for another reduction in the time of crying tonight, especially with it being work for dh in the morning.
A x
Short version - decided to do cc, various reasons, I will write out later.
Basically, it's hard to say whether it's getting easier to do cc at the mo as last night he cried solid 2 1/2 hours and it was agony, and we argued in the meantime . But onto day 3.
A x
Just a bit of background- Sam started life off rather well really - was a normal newborn when it comes to sleep... he would only sleep attatched to mummy or daddy . But after a short while he did get better at sleeping in his cot instead, and by about 2 months old he was only waking to feed in the night (even though that was about 3 times or so), feeding, then happily going to sleep, albeit with a dummy usually.
By about 3 months old he'd got to a point where he would occasionally only wake once in the night (I mean, during MY night's sleep), which was great when it happened. Then we started to try and impose a 'bed time' about 8.30. From then on, night time feeds went up to about 3 again, even when we gave up on the bedtime idea, the night feeds stayed frequent. When we re-introduced a bed time later, it did help with preparing him for bed, but not with the night times.
It just got worse and worse, with Sam being really hard to settle after his feeds, even using the dummy, and even when he'd been put into his cot asleep. Very little really seemed to work. He'd also wake and not want to feed, but want to be on the breast to fall asleep, so he'd get frustrated, I suppose not really knowing what he wanted to do to get to sleep.
At 6 and a bit months we moved him into his own room, in the cot he'd always been in. The nighttimes really didn't get any worse, they just got harder to do because he was no longer next to us. The second night he was in there I used a 'sock method' to see how many times I had to go in to him. When ever he woke and I got out of bed, I picked up a sock off the pile and dropped it on the floor. In the morning there were 7 socks there - and that was just me, dh also went in, and it was just during OUR night time, we'd been in earlier that evening.
The No Cry Sleep Solution was quickly dug out and we began to try and do many of the things in there to help him sleep better. Some things improved by doing this, notably his morning nap has become very definate now. However we hit teething, and various problems with his skin, and it all went in the air - we were still getting up about 5 times, 3 times to feed
So it came to it after a truely AWFUL night - it had to be pick up put down or controlled crying! We were really at the end of what we could cope with. So we've begun. But I'm afraid you will have to wait until my next entry to see how it's going, as I simply HAVE to go now.
Well done for reading this far
A x