Sleep is a precious thing. Boy do I know that. Abbigail has been a fairly decent sleeper. On a good week, she can sleep a stretch of 4-5 hours during the night. However, there have been more bad weeks than good weeks lately and I am looking for some advice. I found a blog online that basically said to feed her every 3 hours during the day and right after you feed her keep her up for a hour and a half then let her sleep for a hour and a half. She said to repeat this throughout the whole day, then after the 10 o'clock feeding to put her right to bed instead of keeping her up. {and she should sleep through the night eventually} It makes sense, keep her up more during the day so she will sleep more at night. The only thing is, it has been IMPOSSIBLE lately to keep Abbi awake if she doesn't want to be awake. She can honestly fall asleep in any position. So now I turn to you professional moms out there. What is the sleeping secret?? How have you guys entertained your new babies during the day, so they sleep more at night? I'm kinda desperate so any advice is warmly welcomed!
I used Babywise with my kids. It is exactly what you have described and it totally works! By 8 weeks both of my kids were sleeping through the night (8 continuous hours of sleep). It is tough to keep them up when they are really little. I would undress them. Tickle their feet and backs. Make them dance. Give them tummy time. ANYTHING to keep them awake.
ReplyDeleteBecause they were on a good eating/sleeping schedule they were both really happy content babies too. One of the keys (and it's hard) is to wake them up to feed them at the 3 hour mark. This goes against your natural instincts to NEVER wake them up, but it is key to making sure they are not getting their long stretch of sleep during the day. Good luck. She is beautiful
One thing that helped Elliott distinguish night from day was going on walks. When I spent time with her outside it not only keeps her awake, but the sunshine naturally balances the melatonin in your body making for better sleep at night. Good luck!! It can be rough!
ReplyDeleteI tried that...and found that they basically sleep when they want. My babies all slept through the night at about 2 months. But I had to train them. I would feed them at a regular schedule all day...and then about 10, 10:30 at night and when they would wake up and cry at 2 or so, I would put the pacifier in, but not feed them (even if it meant pumping for me) and I would hold them off for as long as they possibly would...sometimes only until 4 or 5, but the stretch got longer and longer, and then they would only occasionally wake up in the middle of the night, but be pacified with the binkie. My children also found that using Gripe Water at night, and also a bath just before bed using lavendar helps relax them for sleep. Some friends use a little rice cereal to supplement right before bed to help them stay fuller longer...but that is usually at about 2 - 4 months at least.
ReplyDeleteOh, also...if she is a good enough sleeper during the day that she doesn't need to be wrapped, or swaddled...then only do the swaddling thing at night. If you don't swaddle...you should start! They sleep so much better at night if they are wrapped up tight. And a slight fan or white noise at night in their room is good too! If she is not sleeping in her own room yet...now is a good time to start, because then you won't hear every moan or groan or her waking up, unless she is really crying, and sometimes babies soothe themselves back to sleep if they are alone and not bothered.
ReplyDeleteAshley! I totally know what you are going through. It can be so rough sometimes!! Its a good thing they are so dang cute- it helps when they wake you up in the night (its hard to get mad at such a cute face)! I read the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child....and it is awesome! Boston's babysitter used it for her little girl, and I used it with Bost- it is really helpful. You don't even have to read the whole thing- just the part about the age they are at (it is broken down by stages). I have heard a lot of negative side effects happen with the use of Babywise (no offense at all to the person above!), so maybe look into that one a little more. Babies are hard because they are constantly changing, so you just kind of have to adapt. You are such a cute little mommy- I can't wait to meet Abbi in person!! She is just a doll, and we are so happy for you guys. Good luck with the sleep training!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat we did is let Kenneth do his own thing most of the day. Babies know when they are hungry and when they are tired. If you don't have to put Abbi on a schedule it will be easier in the long run because until they're older the schedule is constantly changing. Babies also go through growth spurts a lot during the first couple months, which can cause them to sleep even more. I do recommend swaddling we did it from the beginning and around 4 months old we switched him to not using it and he's a champ with sleeping through the night. He was like Abbi sleeping for a few hours at a time at night and I loved it, but there were times that it didn't happen and I found that it was usually because of something I ate that gave him an upset tummy. Go with what feels right with you first and for most, you can read all the books you want and get advice from all us moms, but you're Abbi's mom and you have been given the guidance from Heavenly Father to know what's best for her. That's my best advice is seek his help, it has helped me in so many situations with Kenneth. Also remember she's still new at this whole being out in the world and doesn't know what night and day means. We made sure to make lots of noise during the day and be quite at night. Kenneth has been pretty consistent about sleeping from 7:30-8 pm to 7-7:30 am each day for a while now but every once in a while will still wake up because he's hungry and that is the main reason babies wake up. ;)
ReplyDeleteParker is JUST starting to sleep through the night and he is 2 months. . . every baby is different because he sleeps alot through the day and still sleeps at night. I am a every 3 hour feeder. I also do baths every night (just started being good about it) with both him and B so they know its time to start settling down....so my routine is bath, play for a bit. I feed b a snack and put her down, and than I feed Parker around 11 or 11:30 and he sleeps until 7, 8 even 9:30 sometimes. When he was newborn i would feed him on demand. Just the last week or two if we wakes up. I give him his paci and let him fall back to sleep. Sometimes he needs rocked just for a bit until he falls asleep (5 minutes max). But i give him his paci and let him realize he needs to go back to sleep. Now he knows 11 or 1130 is last feeding and he is sleeping through the night. i am also ALL ABOUT swaddling. Parker will fight it bad sometimes, but i swaddle him and than even put another blanket around him so he is SUPER tight. You will figure it out. You just need to decide what you want to try and do it over and over for at least 2 weeks. Than if it doesnt work, than you may want to try something else. Dont give up after 2 or 3 days! You will figure it out. Mommy's know best! :)
ReplyDeleteMy little guy didn't start to sleep through the night until about 2 months, but with him it was all about swaddling and he would go for an 8 hour stretch. It was heaven.
ReplyDeleteGood luck momma!
Alexis
swaney e
Here's my two cents..I use a similiar schedule, which I think is the key to getting a happy baby and mommy is a schedule. Everything three hours I feed Madi. I've choosen the 7, 10, 4, 1...rotation. So she eats at 7 am, we usually then snooze until the other two kiddos get up at about 8, then we have play time until 10 when she eats again and then takes a nap usually 2 hours. We then play and give the other 2 lunch around noon, run an errand (only if it's quick and I can be back no later than 1:30) Madi then eats at 1 and goes down for another nap, this one also abot 2 hours. The current bonus, this nap is when the other two take their's as well, so I get some me time. :) Then when they all wake up we either just keep playing or run any other errrands I need to do. She eats again at 4, but I don't let her take a nap right away. She usually needs a "power" nap around 5:30 for a half hour to an hour, this nap is usually taken in the bouncer, the swing or on the floor. All other naps I make sure to put them in bed. Then she eats at 7, I keep her up until she eats again at 10 and then put her down for the night. She then will sleep about 6 hours, and we just start all over. Now it's so hard to get a baby to set a schedule until they are about 2 months old anyways, or atleast that's how all 3 of my kids have been. It's also important to stick to the schedul until it's established. Which can be hard to do. I'm a swaddler as well, I learned that un swaddled my kids would whack themselves in their sleep and wake up. So after I have the schedule established, I start weaning them off of the 4am feeding. This way I'm not hurting and it makes it easier for them to adjust. Then they sleep from 10-7, and I will slowly start to bring bedtime earlier and earlier, until its around 8. Oh and Dr. Weipert (our peditrician) said to only let babies sleep 2 hours at a time during the day (until a schedule is established) and that all you need is to wake them up for atleast 10 minutes, so they don't get any of their deep sleep during the day. We use a wet wash cloth to wake up our stubborn babies (Emmy and Madi). They grow out of the sleep all day long phase soon though. Good luck.
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