CIO

Crying It Out. Alot of people don't believe in this nowadays. The ones that do don't want to be public about it. A lot of new moms on the bulletin boards are highly against it. You feel like a monster if you do this to your baby. And,if you do, I'm told, only do it for 5 minutes (I think they say this so it doesn't sound as bad). But, if they're still crying after 5 minutes and you go in there, wouldn't that reinforce the behavior for them to extend their crying knowing you'll be coming back every 5 minutes?

Before I had a baby, I thought to myself, "sure, I would let them cry it out if they didn't go to sleep". Since I've had a baby, the tune has changed. I go to him for every little fuss he makes. When he wakes up and struggles and fusses from his naps after 15 mins or 30 mins, go in there and pop the pacifier back into his mouth. Sometimes by then, it's getting close to eating, so I would pick him up.

Last night he woke up at 11:30, 1:30 (pacifier), 2:30, 4:30 (pacifier), 5! He didn't stay up from 1:30 to 2:30 this time (been like that for the last couple of nights, but why is he waking up so much? I can't keep doing this. He can't keep doing this, I know it's not good for him. I want him to be a good sleeper, not like me. And, with Jay having a new job with longer hours, I'm going to go crazy if he's awake all the time and fussy. I'm sure I know what the problem is..too much going in there to comfort him and too much pacifier. Also, I think he can last longer between feedings. I need to realize that he'll tell me if he is hungry.

I decided this morning that for his morning nap I would keep him up for a 1/2 more than normal before putting him down and let him Cry It Out if he wakes up. Ok, I sorta did this. After 1/2 hour he started to fuss, went in there tried to comfort him and put his pacer back in. Left the room. Didn't work (of course)and he fussed for about 10 mins and cried for about 5 mins. I didn't go in. I held myself back. It was torture! I had to go into the kitchen and wash his bottles to try and distract myself. When I was done, what did I hear? Silence! He fell back to sleep by himself without his pacifier! Now I just need to convince myself that I'm strong enough to not just rush in and let him cry for a bit. I just don't want him crying for an hour! I hope that never happens. Even 30 minutes would be bad. And I know logically that every time I go in there to comfort him, I would be reinforcing the crying. Emotionally, it's heartbreaking..always wondering if he's ok. I just have to be strong now for all the other naps. Gotta stay focused and reassure myself that it's ok...training a dog is so much easier.

Who Says Babies Smell Good?

Babies seem to smell like new cars...really good in the beginning. You just want to keep sniffing them. But, then there comes a point when they just don't smell as good as they used to. Besides from the poopy diapers (that's a given), I didn't know that babies could also stink like Cheese. Well..my baby does. He can smell Cheesy at times. Thank goodness he gets a bath every night! No one told me that when milk dribbles down his chin and gets caught in his neck folds, he starts smelling like stinky cheese! You know how hard it is to get underneath his chin and into those folds? Babies really don't have much of a neck. Now that his hands are starting to open up, I've also noticed like stinky lint in the folds of his hands. How long has that been there?!? Where does he pick up this lint? Mixed in with some milk that he's wiped his face with his hand...ick! Course this milk is coming from my body, so I'm making him stinky.

The family also went for Wes' 2 month old appointment today. He weighed in at a little over 10lbs and was 21 inches long. Everything was good, except his Cradle Cap, or as we call it "Cradle Crap" (The correct word was a tongue twister - I kept calling it that and it stuck with us. He also got his immuization shots. Poor baby! 2 shots in one leg and one in the other. He did good though. He cried, but wasn't inconsolible. I was able to hold his hand and pop a pacifer in afterwards. I didn't want to traumatize him any more by putting him in his car carrier (which he hates getting into), so I carried him to the garage while Jay took the carrier. So far, he's has slept a long time..2 hours after we got home. Then I fed him at 1:30, and now he's still down and it's 4:00! I probably wake him up at 4:30, if he doesn't wake up by then. I know he needs the sleep cuz they say Sleep begets Sleep. But if he keeps sleeping, there will be no set bedtime! Better sign off so I can prepare when he wakes!

It Works! (Most of the Time)

So, I swaddled him correctly in the MIracle Blanket in his crib, popped in his "pacer", turned on the womb sound and walked away. It so far has worked...most of the time. Only the early morning nap, it didn't work. I had to resort to using the Moby Carrier Wrap, then taking the dog and baby for a walk. But overall, I'm pleased. Using this technique of 3 out of 4 naps, isn't bad. It seems he get's tired after about an hour to hour and half after he wakes up. That's a lot of naps! Today, he's been sleeping about a hour each, which might be better than his usual many 1/2- one hour naps and one big 2 hour nap. Maybe this will help him sleep better during the night. Ugh..last night after his 7:30 bedtime, he woke up at 9:30, 12:30, 2:30, 4, 5:30. At 4, I put his pacifier in and he slept til 5:30. I can't wait to break the 2:30 feed. At 2:30, If he doesn't bust thru his swaddle tonight, I think I'll try the pacifier. Usually I feed him when he fusses. But at 5:30 this morning, I knew he was HUNGRY..he had that angry cry. So, I knew for sure to feed him. I wonder now about the other times...

I also found out that Jay was doing this technique for a while when I was out! He just never bothered to tell me. Here I was worried about how he would do with Wes, worried that he wouldn't be able to settle him down the way that I do it....well, I was wrong! oops! The baby's waking up. Gotta go!

My Husband, The Baby Whisperer

I can't believe this. After all the time it took to do my routine and try to soothe a crying baby to nap, my husband does it in a snap.

Here I am holding in the baby in the chair as he struggles and cries until his eyes finally close, then carefully put him in the crib, so that I don't jolt him awake. Then I wait for his eyes to stop fluttering, then completely close. I then leave the room.

My husband, on the other hand, swaddles him up really good in the crib, pops the pacifer in, partly closes the door, then walks away while the baby's eyes are still open.

What happens? The baby falls asleep! Course with both our methods, we usually have to go in shortly afterwards and pop the pacifier back in when he cries. But, after that, he usually goes down hopefully for at least an hour. I might have to stay with him a little afterwards cuz he's fussy, but with Jay, he puts a drop of the gas medicine so it gives Wes a little more to suck on as is not as fussy.

Also, with Jay's method, he's more self-soothing himself, which is what I wanted! I just never really thought of doing it this way cuz I guess I'm too much of a softy! Before I had Wes, I was all for crying it out. Now that I have him, I couldn't do it. I thought for sure if I did it the way Jay does it, he would be crying it out. Yes, he cried when I tried to put him down for a nap, but I was always with him. I didn't want him to feel like I was abandoning him. We tried it one time way before, and it seemed to not work. I felt afterwards that I broke my trust with the baby and that was why Wes was always fighting to go down for naps. From then on, I felt I had to "help" him get to sleep. In the back of my mind, I wondered if I was really conditioning him to always get to sleep with my help.

Jay said to me it's our own preception on how we think the baby is thinking and feeling. He's right. I'm the type of person who has a really hard time taking naps and needs someone or something to help me wind down to go to sleep. When the baby starts to look tired, but his eyes are still open, I'm assuming that he's going to need a lot of help winding down. Jay, on the other hand, can easily go to sleep. His perception is more basic. Baby will go down if swaddled properly and pacifier is in mouth. Don't worry if his eyes are open, he's not crying. When he's crying, then go in.

I said to Jay today, "why couldn't you show this to me on Thursday?!?" (he's going back to work tomorrow) I want to test it out some more with him there just to make sure it works, for him to oversee that I'm doing a proper swaddle, and for him to hold me back when I want to rush into the room.

I hate it when things throw me for a loop. On one hand, I'm happy that it is working and that he will be able to self-soothe himself. On the other hand, I'm nervous that I won't do things right tomorrow and the whole thing explodes in my face. In situations like this, my confidence goes out the window and I get stressed out. I just need to stay strong and keep telling myself I can do this. Wish me luck!

Sleeping Thru the Night

No, I wish this was the case. He's still waking up about every 3 and half hours to eat at night after bedtime at 8...11:30, 2:30, 5:30. When will it go to every 4 or 5 hours?!? Today, Wes is 2 months old! I went to my work to show him off to my co-workers. Generally he did pretty good. Everyone thought he was a good baby. I even went out to lunch with him for the first time...and he slept through it all! I had hoped with all this stimulation that it might help him be more sleepy and sleep longer. Nope. He seems to have a more fitful sleep. So far, he's been harder to bring down and wakes up often. That seems to have backfired. So this is what I have learned so far. Will tanking him up with milk more often lead to longer sleep during the night? Nope. Will keeping him up longer (which also makes him fussy) lead to longer sleep? Nope. I have got to realize that I still need to sacrifice my time. Poor thing doesn't know I'm pushing him for my own selfish reasons. I need to realize that he's just not developmently ready yet. I just worry that when he won't really need to eat, he will wake up anyways cuz it's more on the clock than hunger. And, I so want him to sleep thru the night when I go back to work in 2 months! I can only hope.