It's 8:26 on Friday night. Dylan is asleep in his crib. Dad is in Cabo. (boo.) I'm sitting on the couch blogging with a beer.
For the past few nights Dylan has gone down without any crying at all. The only definite change I've made is swaddling in a Halo Sleepsack. I've done this occasionally over time, but recently have been swaddling one arm out or sometimes not at all (or using A&A blankets). I'll get to my Happiest Baby on the Block Guide to Great Sleep post soon, but Dr. Karp says to swaddle for at least this long and since there doesn't seem to be a good reason not to, I'm using it consistently.
And Dylan is sleeping for 10 hours straight, sometimes more (with one to two dream feeds depending on when he goes down).
I really think the dream feeds are key in Dylan's great sleep. I've always done them because I've always had to feed him every two hours to keep up his weight gain. He's only eating 20 ounces even with the two dream feeds and he didn't seem to make up the deficit without them. So now that he's actually capable of sleeping through the night, he's also used to the dream feeds and they keep him full long enough to make it to a reasonable time for me to get up.
So how am I actually putting him down?
After he's really sleepy (I've been taking him on a walk around the block in the Ergo around bedtime - maybe a bad sleep prop? But I kind of like it and we're not doing nightly baths yet so I don't have too many elements in our routine.) and swaddled, I put him in the crib. I've been using the sleep sheep as well as the mobile on with no sound. I offer him his paci which he either refuses or plays with (chewing) or very rarely takes it and sucks on it normally and I jiggle him with my hand on his chest. He really responds well to the jiggling. Dr. Karp would say that this activates his calming reflex. Then I stop jiggling but keep the weight of my hand on him for a little longer. Then I move around the the head of the crib to be close by if he's not happy yet. But most times, even if his eyes are still open, he just chills out and falls asleep.
Then I watch the monitor like a hawk (LOVE! the Motorola Video Monitor) and keep my spray bottle close by to keep the dog from running to the front door and barking at a passing dog. The front door is like 10 steps from the crib.
Update: Tuesday night.
Tonight it took over an hour and a glad for Dylan to go down! He was definitely in the over-tired stage but just would not close his eyes! He didn't cry for all of that time and dad was home so it was okay.
In generl things are definitely still better, but it's definitely complicated!
This was earlier tonight. Close your eyes child! I know you're tired!
Sounds like you've got a good routine! I just dropped the ball on reading books and my Happiest Baby on the Block is still in the wrapping. N was an awesome sleeper from 11 weeks until 5.5 months (just in time for my marathon peak weeks) and then teething started kicking in and all heel broke loose. . We definitely got N in the habit of being rocked to sleep though so if he's awake in his crib, 90% of the time he goes ballistic until someone picks him up and rocks him (which we do). Whoopsy? I'm not going to stress too much though because apparently I was a terrible sleeper as a baby and I love sleep now. He'll get there eventually.
ReplyDeleteI swear we're raising very similar boys here! I also loved the Karp books and I'm still working through the sleep book. D is still swaddled (14 weeks) and even though he pulls his arms out by morning, he still goes down much better being swaddled. I can put him down awake for naps but at night we do rock him to sleep, though most of the time if he wakes up he will put himself back to sleep which is good. I have a very similar routine to yours and a very similar sleeper :) We usually go on a run around 5 (he'll cat nap since I don't want a full-on nap) and then a "boob snack" at 6 or 6:30, outside from 6:45-7:15, then bath, boob, swaddle, bed :)
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear Dylan is sleeping so well. That was/is our biggest issue, so I count myself/ourselves pretty lucky. Thankfully we've now gotten to the stage where my guy will go down much easier most nights (except recently, but I think a wonder week is coming up). Around 5-6 months was the worst for me (I blogged about it), but I finally had a couple of nights where it got better, then got worse and eventually better. So when things did go from better to worse again, I was able to remind myself that it will get better. *phew* That was a lot to say that sleep is getting better and I believe it will continue to do so. :)
ReplyDeleteEnjoy what works for you and your little one!
He's so sweet! Love the new pictures!
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