Monday, January 24, 2011

Update - Sleeping and Eating

First of all, thank you for all the helpful comments on my sleep-seeking posts. And I LOVE hearing from lurkers!

I read the "Healthy Sleep Habits.." book when I was pregnant and then the babies came and... well? I pretty much forgot most of it. Especially because they were doing so well in month two. And in those early days, who had time to read! Hell, even now, who has time to read? :)

As for the naps, I am all for them. Really I am. I admit I did attempt to keep Sweet Potato awake in the middle of the day for a few days when his brother was awake to keep the pattern that had already started going but I have stopped doing that. My mom and I also questioned whether we should wake him one day at 4:30 PM so he would be ready for the nighttime routine but yesterday I let him sleep from 1 PM to 4:45 PM.

And he slept eight hours last night! (His brother woke up once around 4 AM.)

But back to the book. I dug it out Friday night and Saturday morning started implementing some of the techniques. The Dynamo fell asleep in his bouncy seat around 9 AM and I left him there but when Sweet Potato started getting sleepy about 10:30, I took him up to his crib. He fussed for a bit and then slept until 12:45 PM. That's the longest daytime nap in a crib yet. In the afternoon, each baby slept in his crib for about 45 minutes but not at the same time. (They sleep in the same room.) Yesterday I couldn't get them in the cribs without some serious fussing and couldn't get Sweet Potato to nap at all in the morning. When he fell asleep in the swing at 1 PM, I let him stay there as long as he wanted.

Last night I put them both down drowsy just before 8 PM. The Dynamo screamed. In the past when I've picked him up red-faced and screaming, he stopped so I knew that's what he wanted. He was bathed, fed and dry. It went on for ten agonizing minutes. And then it stopped. I was in shock. I hope I can be as strong tonight.

Regarding the feedings, cereal is still not a favorite of either baby but I *think* they're getting used to it. Sweet Potato had what I thought was a good amount of cereal last night, then an hour or so later had a 6 oz bottle and then at 10:30 had another 6 oz bottle. And this kid is usually not a big eater. Maybe food begets food? He slept eight hours and then took only 3 1/2 oz this morning.

Oh and we are on the Target brand formula! The Enfamil ran out late last week. I haven't noticed a change at all. We started the cereal with Enfamil and they were eating that for about ten days before I switched to Target brand. I only wish I had switched sooner.

Thanks for the tips and keep them coming! Stay tuned for more sleep adventures.

1 comment:

  1. I'm so glad that the formula is working well and sleep is trying to follow ;)
    And I see another book I will add to my list to read. I figure if I can not start ttc for at least a year then I will read and make my own "manual" that I can refer to after baby comes. (or more likely never read again, but it'll make me feel productive while waiting to try.)

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.