Well I had said that I wanted Lauren weaned by April 1st and that didn't happen. It was my own fault though as I don't think I was really ready to give it up. As it turns out the last time she had breast milk was Saturday afternoon. If I had known that would be the last time I might have paid more attention. We were on the island for a baby shower for my cousin and it was just easier to feed her that way. Then she did great and took her formula for dinner and a bit before bed and she didn't need any more as she only takes her formula now. I am happy and yet kind of sad at the same time. I know I was done with breastfeeding and everything but I guess I am sad that she doesn't need me any more. I did have a bit of problems with engorgement but I just pumped off an ounce or so and was fine. Now I am still producing a bit but it isn't bad. I have been using the Lily pad breast pads and they work great for helping the production go down and as well for Lauren not smelling the milk as bad.
As for sleep, this is going well now. I had been thinking about paying a sleep consultant but just couldn't justify the money. I also had been told that they want your child to have a white noise machine and I didn't want that. I hate white noise while sleeping and didn't want to teach Lauren to have that all the time. As it turns out my developmental baby group got a sleep consultant to come in to talk to us. I thought that it would just be a general talk but it wasn't. She sat down with us and went over each persons needs and set up a personalised plan for me. It turned out it was great timing with Tony home for the long weekend. She also doesn't agree with white noise at all as it doesn't allow them to get into a deep sleep. She is also trained in child behavior as she said most aren't. We started Thursday night. The plan was that the first 2 nights would all be Tony. He had to put her to bed and to go to her every time she woke up. This was for 2 reasons, 1 so she didn't smell milk and want it and 2 because mothers tend to parent more with emotions and give in easier. It was very weird for me to not get up at all during the night. I thought I would be awake and upset with her crying but as it turns out my body knew I needed sleep and I slept through it all. Apparently she woke up at 12. The plan is to wait 10 minutes then go in to her for 2 and repeat till she falls asleep. Out for 10 In for 2. The main trick is to NOT PICK HER UP. This is hard when she is crying so hard. If you pick her up and rock her that is teaching her another trick rather than eating to sleep. The first night it took 2.5 hours for her to go back to sleep and then slept for 2 hours and then was up for another hour. She was then up for the day at 6:30. The second night I didn't sleep as well and was watching Tony go in. She slept till 1 and then was only up for an hour and a half but she was way more angry. She was on her tummy and then up on all fours. She doesn't crawl and this was the first time she was up on all fours for any length of time. We were glad we have a video monitor as we thought she was going to learn to crawl that night she was so mad. She then went back to sleep till 6 and that only took 20 minutes to get her back to sleep till 8:30. The 3rd night it was my turn. She woke up at 2 and when I went in it seemed to make things worse but I did my 2 minutes and left. Then for the second time in Tony went and she fell asleep within seconds of him going in. She then woke again at 5 and Tony went again and she was fine. The 4th night was the best, she woke up at 6 and I went in once and then Tony the second time and she was asleep till 8:30. Last night was a bit different though. It is normal to go through a regression on night 5 and she did. She was up almost all night with me going in and out. I think part of it was that Tony wasn't going in. He wasn't home cause he had to work a night shift. It did make me feel better that I could get her back to sleep on my own though. So far so good though. She has made it to 6am now and last night was a regression night. A few things the woman told me though was that all the sleep people that say they can have your kid sleeping through the night in a week is wrong. It takes about 3 to be consistent. Also dream feeding a baby to get a little more sleep in doesn't do anything. they are waking up because from 12-5 they are in a light sleep cycle and they need to suck to go back to sleep. It has nothing to do with being hungry. This made a lot of sense. So now we will just wait the 3 weeks and stick to not picking her up and see what happens. I have already noticed a difference though!
As for the more. We still have our house up for sale but have now dropped the price. We aren't looking for what is out there till ours sells so it is just wait and see. Someone has to buy it sometime don't they?
Lauren is getting older
3 comments:
Hi Paige, Im Naomi's friend (we met at her toy sale in the hospital) We are doing the sleep training thingy too, she gave me some tips and it's going well (I too cannot afford that much money since i was laid off while on mat leave) First night Sydney cried a lot but then it got much better. We too made lots of mistakes, like picking her up and making her fall asleep on the bed. We though got the sound machine (i love the sound of rain myself but hate the fan and other kind of white noises) and Sydney has been sleeping like 500% better. And last two nights she slept through the night !!
I think I might just print out your post. Micah still feeds once or twice a night, mainly because Corey and I just want to get back to sleep asap. He does alright if he's sleeping in bed with us, but I expect that's a big no-no from a sleep consultant's perspective . . . lol. Good to know it can take up to 3 weeks though.
Nicole, I agree with the feeding to go back to sleep. I used to be up and back to bed in less than 10 minutes cause I was breastfeeding. Apparently at this age though they are mostly doing it for the suck feeling to fall back to sleep. I am already noticing such a difference. THe 3 weeks is to be consistant. She should sleep through most nights but have one or two that she will wake up. sleeping in your bed is a big no no. They don't mind having them in your room if you need to but not in your bed. It really does work and if in only a few nights we are seeing the differnce it is so much nicer!
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