Currently, Rebecca is taking books off her little shelf... and picking them up and putting them back... incorrectly! I guess, at least she's putting them back!
I spent the morning yesterday getting out the next size of clothing for Rebecca. It's very odd... there's not a huge difference in the size of the sleepers (just a little more length in the legs), but the clothing is actually very large on her! She's starting to fill out some of the clothing in the 3-6m size range (though most still fits her well), so we decided we would get out the next stuff so it can be put to use as well. :-)
Justin has decided to keep a tiny tree frog as a pet... I'm not sure I like this idea yet. I may ask him to get rid of it. Nothing wrong with the creature, I just don't see us as having anywhere really to keep the thing, and it's existence seems a little boring in a container that is about a 1/2 gallon size, I think!
This afternoon we have knitting group, which Rebecca really enjoys. Of course, when it's a room full of grandmothers (aside from your own mother) how could you help but enjoy yourself?! They spoil her rotten, one day a week, hehe. :-) They even bring little toys, clothing, and books, for her on occasion! She spends the couple of hours chatting with them all, sitting on laps, and entertaining everyone, especially now that she is extremely mobile, because you never know where she's going to pop up next! :-)
And, last of all, I picked up a book I heard about from the library yesterday. (Oh, and Rebecca walked, holding my finger, from the car to the library, through the library, and all the way back to the car... you wouldn't believe the stares a kid that small gets when they walk, hehe!!) The book is called "The No-Cry Sleep Solution", and I have to say, it was quite reassuring! Now, it affirmed my suspicion, that Rebecca is definitely lacking in the sleep department. it said that a baby the age on the chart they give should at least come close to the number of hours given, and if they're not the baby is probably chronically over tired, which is why they don't generally tired! I'd been thinking for a while that she had to be lacking, and this book confirmed it for me-- she's about 3 hours off from their low end of the average sleep needs of a baby her age! So... I'm aiming for the "minimum" number of hours right now. We actually accomplished the night time sleep, for the most part, last night, so we'll see about day time sleep today! It also told me that all these people who tell me that by 9/10 months my baby needs to be sleeping through the night every night(!!), so I must be doing something wrong, are actually incorrect! According to the book, first of all, many babies actually need a mid-sleep feeding, even all the way up to two years old! WOW! It also said that 1-2 night time wakings, one of which requires a feeding, and one of which simply requires comfort in some other way, is perfectly normal for a baby up to age 2 (and sometimes beyond... and then it said that even a lot of parents of 2 year olds are up every night at least once with the child because they need something or other! The book states that a "through the night sleep" is actually about 5 hours... even though people try to tell you that it is 8-12! Apparently it is a social construction that babies should sleep for 8-12 hours straight, not a biological fact. I feel so much better knowing that!
So... we're working on a bedtime routine... again. I know, I'm always working on one, lol. But, it worked last night, so we're going to try it again. Rebecca is lacking about 3 hours of night time sleep, and 1 of day time sleep. I'm not going to worry about the day time sleep, we're working on the night time sleep. So, the way to increase the sleep at night, is to make her go to bed earlier. We've been working to move her bed time back for a couple of weeks now, and my goal is to eventually have her in bed between 7 and 7:30 pm. Right now the goal is 8... which we made, and she was quieter settling down than she has been in ages, but the book says that when you find the "right" time, the baby will generally be very peaceful lying down to sleep... so I think perhaps 7:30 is the "key" time for her. We'll get there eventually.
The routine that seemed to work really well last night was this:
6:30 supper
7:00 walk
7:30 run bath
7:35 read story (which she sat still for, amazingly!)
7:40 bath
7:45 massage
7:50 nurse
8:05 bed (she quit nursing and was trying to play so I put her in bed)
Eventually, I want to have supper at 6, and basically shift everything 1/2 an hour earlier, and see how it goes, but they say in the book to go by 15 min increments every 2-3 days, so I guess next week she'll be going down (most nights) at 7:30. We have two nights a week that we are going to be out past that time... which is why I really want to have her going down at 8, but I guess she really needs somewhere in the 7:30-8 range, so we'll have to work around that.
cameron is 16 months old and just started "sleeping through the night" which for him means 5-6 hours without needing anything. But he still asks for a drink of water in the night and wakes up early for breakfast- then he goes back to sleep. It's much easier on the mom to just ignore all the "why is he/she not sleeping through the night yet?" comments and try to only do what is right for that child. I personally still don't sleep through the night and I never have- I always need to get a sip of water or something, so I don't expect more of a baby than of myself! I also know that Cameron would not be sleeping as well as he is if I hadn't weaned him, they are so dependant while nursing still that I just consider it a given that babies will want mama during that stage in their lives!
ReplyDeleteHayley
Hayley, that is basically what I've told people-- Rebecca is still nursing, therefore she probably won't sleep through the night.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't realized that "through the night" meant 5 hours with a few on either side of that five, though! We have had a rough few months with sleeping (she got scared by firecrackers at the beginning of July during nap time, wouldn't go to sleep anywhere but in my arms for about a month, and then teething came), and I knew there was something lacking in her sleep, because she not only didn't nap through the day, but she was waking 4-5 times between 11pm and 7:30 am... and she only WENT to bed at 11pm! So, because 8 hours is nowhere NEAR enough sleep for any baby I've ever met (and the book agrees-- she should be getting a minimum of 11.5 hours in a 24 hour period according to their "low average"), we're working to increase night time sleep, which is actually working to increase the day time sleep as well! She's taken 2 hour naps two days in a row, and slept about 10 hours through the night as well! She's becoming an even happier "happy baby" too! It's quite nice to not have her fussing at me all the time because she's "hungry," but really she's just so tired that she doesn't realize how to fix the problem!
It took ages for Amelia to sleep through the night (I've probably already said this) and she nursed for a long time...I wish I never tried the crying it out method (it didn't work btw). I eventually just HAD to get her to sleep in her own bed some how we coslept and it was the worst thing I could've done, maybe it works for some but not for me. And I've experienced this because I didnt' co sleep much with Aaron and he is brilliant now! I've had to try many methods with Amelia but the one that worked for her age was harsh at first, but I never left her side...whats it called? I dunno, but it meant you slowly crept your way out of the room kind of thing...did that make sense? :S I found that when they get proper sleep they are happier too! Hope she continues doing this for you!! xx
ReplyDeleteBoth my boys have been quite good sleepers and would sleep for 5-6 hour periods from about 2 weeks old. However, around the 4 month mark they started waking a bit more often - growing bigger and getting more hungry! :) However, having a drop-side crib up next to my bed is just wonderful! It means that I don't even realise/know when Clement wakes up or has a feed. I just sort him out in my sleep! LOL So basically I only wake up when Benjamin (2.5yo) wakes up - usually itchy with his eczema. Lately though he's slept through the night - goes to bed before 8pm and sometimes wants a drink from his cup around midnight or a dry nappy - and then after that he can easily sleep till 6-7:30am. When this happens, I realise that I get a whole sleep that's totally unbroken, since I'm never aware of Clement needing me in the night. But the proof is there, since Clement is in my bed next to me ... so I must have brought him into my bed! LOL
ReplyDeleteEv, I think it's called the "Sleep Separation Technique" if I recall correctly, and that's largely how I'm pulling off getting her to go to sleep when she's done nursing. I put her in her bed, pat/rub her back until she calms down, and then I stay in the room by the playpen until she's asleep. She's been settling in about 15-20 mins that way since Monday, now (though last night was a MAJOR exception!!!). The routine helps her know what's coming, and she's becoming quieter every time I put her down (though we really need to conquer nap times still!).
ReplyDeleteRachel, I would love to have a crib or something like that (a by-my-side sleeper maybe?), but it just isn't practical in our room, because of space constraints. I have told Justin that when we have a bigger house, I want to have one that can be set at the level of the bed so we can have the baby "separate but with us", basically like Rebecca is now. We managed to find a little old fashioned 1/2 sized playpen on freecycle (shown in some pictures from a couple of months back), and it folds up really small and is really easy to open and close, so it gets put beside our bed for night time... and she ends up in our bed by about 1/2 way through the night every night, just like Clement does with you. Sometimes I don't remember it, sometimes I do, depends on how upset she was when she woke. I actually wonder if she has nightmares, because sometimes she'll wake up just screaming, and it is all I can do to calm her down, even nursing doesn't work right off. :-/
does that mean Rebecca is in 6-9 month clothing now?
ReplyDeleteRebecca is in 3-6 and 6-9 month clothing right now. The 6-9 month stuff is quite large on her, the 3-6 is (mostly) a perfect fit. A few of the smaller 3-6 items have been put away. However, she STILL fits some of the 0-3 stuff we've got for her! I'd say she's officially in 3-6 with the odd 6-9 month garment right now. The sleeves and legs on a lot of the 6-9 month stuff are too long, and if I put the pants on her she starts tripping over them! We're making use of dresses and skirts... and sleepers, in the bigger size.
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