[Emster]

Hi folks--Hope everyone's doing okay. I've gotta question. Little Reid is almost 7 weeks old and we have tackled swaddling him and putting him in his crib to sleep, which he does fairly nicely and without fuss. However, we are getting about2-2 1/2 hours of sleep at a time thru the night between feeding. During the day I feed him every 2 1/2 to 3 hours. I suppose as long as he's not screaming, that is pretty good.

I go back to work in ONE WEEK I have been reading the Baby Whisperer and I know some of you like her advice and some aren't so keen on it. I wonder if any of you have tried the "tanking up" and "dream feed" to help baby sleep 4-5 hours at a time. I have not tried it yet, but I am a sleep deprived mommy. Even though I get several rounds of 1 1/2 to two hours of sleep through the night, I feel like I'm getting nothing, and I worry I will be the walking dead when I go back to work.

Other info you should know to help with advice--Reid is about 13 lbs (not missing many meals by the looks of him!), and doesn't have much as far as colic or reflux. Just problems burping--I swear he is burp resistant.

All you mommies and daddies who have achieved sleep, please advise!

[Darci]

My baby is 8 months old and I still do the dream feed just before I go to bed.

So, I put her down at 7:30, and around 10:30 or 11:00 I pop a bottle in her mouth. Then she wakes up around 4:30 and I give her a bottle and she goes back to sleep (I never pick her up to give her a bottle). Then she is up for the day around 6:00.

Trinity does have some medical issues, so we don't expect her to sleep fully through the night yet, but getting 5 hours in a row sure is a LOT better than 1 hr at a time.

[SchmennaLeigh]

Nick didn't fall into his own longer sleep pattern until right around 7 weeks. (Just before I went back to work! HA! Thank you, Nick!) Tricks we learned about sleeping included swaddling, like you have done, and putting him in the sling and walking back and forth until he fell asleep soundly enough to be moved into his crib. Once he started the six hours of sleep at a time, I would do as the previous poster said and wake him back up around 10 or 11, feed him and get back back to sleep quickly. This helped. A lot.

Brighter days (or sleepier nights!) ARE ahead!

[squeek]

Tanking up?

Our son who is now 3 months--2 weeks just recently (and I mean within the last week) began sleeping through the night. By my standards that's roughly between 10-6, not to bad

He takes between 5-6 ounces throughout the day with cereal added to his bottle in the morning and at night. He too is about 13 pounds.

What we found helpful was not turning on the monitor. We knew he wouldn't starve and if something were wrong he'd scream. It worked because we don't hear him, he wakes up with clean diaper and at 6 when my husband gets up for work he actually has to wake Zack to eat (so I can sleep a bit longer).

[court5505]

I know that not everyone agrees with the Baby Wise book, but there were some parts that worked for us. Our routine originally went in this order-eat, sleep, play, eat, sleep, play, and so on. After reading the book, we changed to-eat, play, sleep, eat, play, sleep, etc. As soon as we did that, DD started sleeping through the night and that was at 7 weeks! She's been sleeping through the night ever since. Maybe we just lucked out and were blessed with a good sleeper, but I will give the book the benefit of the doubt and definitely try it with my next one!

[maxkinzie]

Hi~
The biggest help for us was a swing, battery operated so it would go all night. It was absolutely priceless when she had a cold, the motion seemed to help her stay clearer. When she was too big for it she was, thankfully, ready to transition to her crib.

I'd never heard of dream-feeding, I don't think. So this is done while they're laying in their crib, or wherever? I thought having a bottle while laying flat was a bad thing as far as ear infections go? I could be wrong, just wondering...

max

[BlessedBe]

Hang in there!!!

Once DS came home from NICU, I woke him for 'round the clock, every three hour feedings (since he didn't get to eat the first two weeks of his life) even though he wanted to sleep for longer periods of time.

Then, when I stopped the night feedings I just made sure he got in all his recommended ounces of formula before bedtime. He has been a great sleeper - only waking for a pacifier or pat on the butt.

Since I had to go back to work, we put him down earlier and sometimes we do a dream feed as well. But, we always pick him up and hold him to do this - we've never fed him while lying down and/or not holding him. We simply pick him up, feed him while he's sleeping and hold him for about 20 mins (since he has reflux) then lay him back down for the rest of the night.

You may also try a white noise machine (or a non-radio station on the radio), making sure the room isn't too warm, and I know this may sound crazy - but try the next size up diaper at night to hold more so he'll feel dry longer (NICU taught us that!).

Take care - I'm thinking of you!!!

[Emster]

Thanks guys for all your tips! How funny, but let me tell you what happened last night after I posted this.

I got to talking with a friend who has a little one a month and a half older than Reid. We are both using the Avent bottles with the nipples that adjust for age. I moved up to the 1month size which has 2 holes instead of one. She told me she is just now using the 1 month nipple with Garrett but it seems he's getting too much too fast. Hmmm... so I got out the newborn nipples again for the evening feed. He ate at 8:30, was put to bed at 9:30 and slept til 2:30 He then went til 5:30 and I bet he could have gone a little longer. I wonder if he had tummy aches because I was force feeding him Or it may just be a fluke. All I know is that he burped more easily and I got well-rested last night.

Mackinzie--I always heard that about feeding babies flat on their backs too, which is why I was hesitant to do the dream feed as it was described in the book.

I am praying that this continues and we can get back to a more normal existence!

Reid is getting so big! He's going to be baptized tomorrow!!

Have a great weekend everyone!

[BlessedBe]

Em, how'd the sleeping go last night?

Also, how was the baptisim service?

[AwaitingBeloved]

Em, that was so creative to figure out.

DD has been sleeping through the night since she was born.. the first two nights I'd say she woke up twice, maybe even a couple nights after that, until we got home.

This doesn't mean *we* were sleeping through. NoNo No! Neurotic new parents that we are, we stayed up watching her chest rise and fall to make sure she was breathing. Still do at times.

She does demand more right before bedtime. She'll take an extra two ounces at her last feed. Usually between 8 and 9. She'll go down shortly after and not wake up until 6 or 7 am.

Now.. she does make noises during the night. The first few nights I thought this meant she was up and hungry. But then I read in a book that babes sleep fitfully and not to touch them unless they are crying. I will hear her when she drops her pacifier out and it wakes her up and if it bothers her (i.e. she's breathing hard and moving her head frantically around to look for it) I plug it right back in. But, I don't get her up to eat unless she starts to talk. Usually when she starts her grunting/cooing I know it's the calm before the storm. When I hear her cooing and she's excited and happy, I know it's a prelude to the angry hungry cry, so when she's happy looking at the ceiling, I go get her bottle ready, put it in the bottle warmer, change her diaper and talk to her, and then the bottle is usually warm enough and she's cranked up enough to eat good, too.

We've been lucky. She's been a great sleeper.

She doesn't burp easy, either. She's just starting to spit up. Maybe once a day or every other day. I think she may have been spitting up all along, but swallowing it back down after gagging on it. She's not gagging much anymore yet she's spitting up once in awhile.

It sounds like you might be on to something though with the nipples. Great detective work your friend did!

Good luck!

[intladoptionblog]

Kids can be so different with sleep patterns. Our oldest, Sam, now three, has never been an easy sleeper. He didn't sleep through the night until almost two and is still in our bed. Cj, just one in April, loves her bed and loves to sleep. It took me a while to figure this out. Both were with us at 13 weeks of age and the first couple of nights with Cj I think I drove her nuts trying to ease her off to sleep when all she wanted was her own bed, alone.
She now makes it very clear when she's ready...usually between 8 and 8:30... and actually sighs contentedly when she hits the crib.
Sam, though, still fights it and needs books, attention and big cuddles before dropping off.
At least one of ours is easy!

[Emster]

Blessed--
We got two nights of sleep in a row! So we know he can do it if he wants...then last night we were back to the 2 1/2 to three hours again. Don't really know why, but we'll see if sleep comes more often.

The baptism went for the most part without a hitch. Far more people came than I anticipated--family and friends--everyone is so excited to have little Reid in our family they can't stay away! TOur priest did a nice job with it all, keeping everyone included and informing everyone about the specifics and "whys" of the ceremony, as about half of those in attendance are not Catholic.

We learned a lesson for all you who are planning a baptism or christening, however.

You know those sweet, cute satiny baptism outfits you pay a fortune for at Sears? Reid had a really sweet one. Well, apparently they make your little baby hot as the sun and are really made out of wool or something. It was a cool rainy day and that poor little baby just sweltered in that little outfit and was miserable all through church. We had to strip him down to a onesie for the reception. Had a given it a thought, I would have bought a nice white cotton outfit adn left it at that. Tell your friends...

[StorkWatcher]

Em - so glad to hear the little guy is doing well. We had A baptized in December, and the only gown i could find that I loved was short sleeved, so we put a long sleeved white onesie on underneath (you can't tell in the pics) and took it off right after Mass and put a white outfit on. Yup, the matching shoes/bib/hat/gown look beautiful hanging in the closet and will make a great heirloom (hopefully for #2 someday) , too bad A didn't wear it for more than an hour!

On to sleep - glad you got 2 night. I found once we hit that point, we had several more nights like that every few days, so here's hoping it's a pattern that gets better this week!