Sleep Training a Success!

Miles seems to have gotten with the program. The last 2 nights, he has slept 10 and 11 hours respectively. Naps have gotten easy with the new routine. He is perfectly comfortable in his own crib and (mostly) happily drifts off to sleep. I can hear him sucking his hand through the monitor, and the occasional revving of the whining engine, but that is certainly nothing to complain about. I am so proud of our little sleeping man!!

Growing boy!!!

We had our 4 month visit for Miles this morning and he is looking great. The doctor said he was on track and looking wonderful. He also said that Miles was the most special, most handsome, most wonderful little boy he has EVER seen. Ok, he didn't actually say that, but I know it was what he was thinking (says the doting Mom). Here's how he's growing:

• -14 lbs 6 ozs: He's gained about 3 1/2 pounds since the last visit and is still just under 50th percentile for weight.
• -25.5 inches. He's grown 2.25 inches since the last visit and is about 75th percentile. His head is also in the 75th percentile. So he continues to be tall and skinny, relatively speaking.

He also got his 4 month shots this morning. I can officially report he was much stronger than Mom throughout the process. He didn't even cry with the first shot, though, of course, he did with numbers 2, 3, and 4. After it was done, we picked him up and he calmed down. When we got home, I put him down for his morning nap, and he fell asleep quickly. He woke up 45 minutes later and couldn't have greeted me with a bigger grin. I love our growing little man.

Proud Mommy!!!

Ok, so I am clearly obsessed with sleeping, but it seems to be paying off. Last night, Miles slept from 8 - 4 am. At 4 we fed him and he went back to sleep easily. He woke up around 6:30 and I listened to him coo in his crib for about 30 - 45 minutes and then he fell asleep again. We all woke up around 8 this morning. Pretty good night as far as nights go.

This morning's nap, I put him down with the normal routine. He "chatted" to his music for the 5 minutes that it plays, and then made whiny / car revving noises for about 15 minutes. I picked him up and explained that it was sleeping time and that nothing was happening in the house while he was asleep so wouldn't miss anything. After that and a couple more whiny sounds, he fell asleep. (About 20 minutes total, no wailing, and only 1 pick up!!)

After 45 minutes - you literally can set your clock to it - he woke with a cry. I then heard the sound of him sucking his hand over the monitor, and then he went back to sleep. This is the first nap since our regimented training began that he has slept more than 45 minutes!! I am so proud of our little man - he is getting this sleeping skill down great!!

Sleep Update

More or less, things have been going well. After yesterday's achievements, we went to bed convinced that we had figured out how to help Miles nap better. An hour later, Miles woke up screaming. We still haven't figured out why Miles woke up at 12:30 pm - and stayed awake until about 2 - but we're just hoping he doesn't do it again today. After that, he slept until 6:30, but those feedings were more reminiscent of his newborn days than now.

Today was pretty good. I put Miles down for his first nap with only having to pick him up 4 times. He woke up 45 minutes later, but with 3 more pick ups, he slept for a little bit longer. Right as I was putting him down, Erin (one of my bridesmaids and new CA resident) came down from Oakland to help me with Miles for the day. We spent the better part of the day chatting and it was great to catch up.

We kind of missed his second nap as I was at my Dr. appointment. Miles fell asleep in Erin's lap, and we transferred him into the car easily. By the time we got home, he felt that his cat nap was enough and he was not going to go back to bed. Drat.

For his last nap, he started to fall asleep in the stroller 1 block from him. Once I got home, I put him down immediately. He ended up staying in his crib for an hour before he fell asleep again. I could hear him a bit whiny in his room, but he wasn't crying. I checked on him, and his eyes were closed and just making "I want to be asleep" noises. The problem was that every time he would be on the verge of sleeping, the neighbor's construction band saw would go outside his window. Poor Miles, he just wanted to sleep, but kept being interrupted!

Bedtime was easy as always.

One interesting thing of note is the ease with which he fell asleep today outside of his crib. At the doctor's office, he was quietly sitting in Erin's lap and fell asleep. In his stroller, he quietly drifted off without crying like he used to. I am not sure if our training has anything to do with the above, but today it just seemed like he was "better" at falling asleep than he has been.

Or is that just wishful thinking?

Nightly Routine - Bath Time

Miles has become much more agreeable about Bath Time. He is completely content to sit and soak...and sometimes waiting patiently while Mom and Dad snap some quick candids. We now give him "the soak" every other night as part of his bed time routine. He gets a good cleaning, a little massage, dress for bed, story time, his anti-gas medicine, some dinner and then he is shuttled off to bed.

Today's Nap Update

So, we have continued with the baby whisperer's approach to sleeping with great success today! If you read below, yesterday, I needed to pick Miles up 42 times before he fell asleep. Today's first nap, Tim only had to pick him up 7 times and he slept for about 45 minutes. When he woke up, it was clear he was still tired, but he wasn't wailing. So I picked him up 3 times and he slept for another 20 minutes. For the afternoon nap, Tim picked him up 7 times and he is asleep again! There is a lot less crying, I think he is getting more accustomed to the routine. This has been our best day of sleeping since we unswaddled his arms.

So far so good!!!

UPDATE: For his last nap of the day, we went through the routine, and he is now asleep - no pick ups needed!!! I guess my "spirited" little man just needed me to figure out how best to teach him. He really is a great little learner if the methods are right. What a great napping day!!!

Sleeping - I mean Struggling

Old picture but I love it...

Sleeping has been a struggle since Miles rolled over. I have been trying to let him cry and keep going in to check on him, but he can cry, and cry, and cry all the way through a nap until his next feeding. He's been sleeping less than 2 hours per day and finally falling asleep exhausted during his last feeding (not good from a training perspective either). He is also back to waking up in the middle of the night crying - I think it's the arms out of the swaddle that is pissing him off. We haven't gotten a full night of sleep since he rolled over.

Anyway, frantically, I started pulling books off the shelf that Jeannie (sister-in-law) gave me and reading them for tips. The most recent one is "Secrets of the Baby Whisperer" by Tracey Hogg. Her philosophy is that a child is a person and you need to respect them as such. You also need to understand their temperament (I think Miles is combination "textbook" and "spirited") and listen to their cries to learn what they mean. You shouldn't respond too quickly, or you can miss what the baby is trying to say with their cries. She is adamant that you don't treat all cries with hugs, a boob, or a pacifier. That makes for bad training later on.

I've been saying since Miles was born that "he won't let us put him down". According to her, that is all too common, and you need to teach the baby independence. As such, once you put the baby down and he cries, pick him up (don't let him cry it out) and sooth him until his needs are met and he has stopped crying. At which point, you put him down again. And repeat. She is adamant that you don't over-coddle the baby (which we have been guilty off). Once their needs are met, put them down again. She talks about going through this process with one baby over 100 times the first go, 40 times the second, and 8 times the third. I guess the theory is the baby learns that it isn't scary or upsetting to be put down. They learn if they cry that they will be comforted, but also that they will be put down again and that is okay.

Miles didn't sleep at all this morning. Literally. After he was up for about 6 hours, we put him in the crib and tried to let him cry it out with me checking on him every 10 minutes. He was SO EXHAUSTED and he fell asleep about 20 minutes into it, but woke up screaming 45 minutes later. I knew he was still exhausted but he couldn't sleep. So desperate for anything and not feeling strong enough to let him cry it out some more, I tried the baby whisperer thing and kept picking him up and putting him down. He only took a moment to sooth, and I put him down again. It took about an hour, and picking him up 42 times, but he finally fell asleep and stayed asleep. He actually slept an hour through his feeding so I finally woke him up.

I put him to bed again the same way, according to our "routine", awake but tired. Without crying once, he fell asleep - there was actually a little sweet cooing. He has always been good about falling asleep at bedtime and we'll see how he gets through the night, but his afternoons nap was such a success, I thought I would share it.

Parenting is hard.