Yay for Sleep!

First I wanted to share this cute picture of my little man :)



I'm happy to report that Caden is still doing GREAT with sleeping at night. Every day this week he has woken up once to eat. He has been waking at pretty random times (anywhere from 12:30-3am), but then goes back to sleep until we are off to the sitters. He's also been eating really good and taking naps like a good boy :)

Not sure if I mentioned in any previous post, but Caden and I are taking a trip to Myrtle Beach to visit my parents on October 1st. I bought a Moby wrap to help with traveling and I SO wish I would have bought this when Caden was born. It really supports the baby well and it's so comfortable. Daddy even seem to like it too ;)






I think Ryan put the wrap on better and tighter. I tied the darn thing several times before putting Caden in. Ryan does it once and he does it perfect! Of course!

We must be on to something..

I can officially say that Caden slept through the night last night. He fell asleep in his own room again just before 8pm. He did not wake up until 4am. I fed him then and again around 6:30am. For the first time I am actually awake before Caden. He is still sleeping and it's just after 7:30am. WTG Caden! Thanks for letting Mommy sleep.

I also forgot to mention that he has gone back to sleep without even a whimper, so we have not had to even attempt the CIO method.

The only adjustment with him sleeping through the night (which is temporary) - is holy engorgement. I wanted to pump so bad, but if I do that my supply will not adjust to his new sleeping pattern.

Yay for sleep!

He slept!!

I feel like a new person today! Caden did AWESOME last night, but I'll have to start with Thursday night first.

Caden has been fighting naps while at Tammy's during the week. I'm not sure why, but he just will not sleep well for her. On Tuesday and Wednesday he slept maybe a total of 1-2 hours each day while I was at work. Thursday was a better day for him and he did take two good naps. He fell asleep in his OWN room around 8pm for the night and woke up around 11:30pm. I fed him in the rocking chair and we must have fallen asleep because I ended up going back upstairs around 12:30am. His feedings never take an hour, so I knew I had fallen asleep (BTW - I really hate when I fall asleep in that chair. I rock myself to sleep I guess). I woke up at 2am to hear this blood curdling scream over the monitor. Not a 'where is my Mommy' or 'I want to eat' cry - it was a 'something is definitely wrong' cry. I go flying down the stairs (I'm surprised I didn't miss a step and fall) to find him laying horizontal in the crib all stuffed up. It's like he needed to blow his nose and couldn't. Well, obviously he can't blow his own nose yet. So, I had to be the mean Mommy and use the booger squeezer on him. I felt so bad for him and he was so upset. I ended up taking him upstairs for the rest of the night. He woke up every 2 hours after that.

Needless to say I was one tired Mommy yesterday. I also wasn't feeling the greatest either. Ryan stayed up with Caden when he got home from work, so I could take a little nap. It was much needed and deserved. Thank you honey!

On Friday we followed our normal routine, which really starts around 6pm. Caden gets his cereal and veggie. He ate everything I made for him once again. Bath time is at 7pm and his last feeding is at 7:30pm. He was asleep by 8:15pm in his OWN room and he did not wake up until 12:30am. I fed him and he was back to sleep by 1am. This time I didn't fall asleep in the rocking chair. Can you believe that my little munchkin did not wake up again until just before 5am! I woke up at 4am on my own and wanted to get out of bed and a do a little happy dance. I did bring him upstairs with me to feed him at 5am because I figured he would wake up again around 6am for the day. He actually slept upstairs with me until 7:15am. It was a great night. I felt so rested today and Caden was the happiest baby. He didn't even cry at bath time tonight like he usually does. In fact, he never cried once today. I hope this is the start of a new beginning.

He spent most of the day at his grandma's house, so Ryan and I could run some errands. Good thing because we were gone for 5 hours today. We went out to lunch, grocery shopping, shoe shopping and we went to BRU. I could spend a fortune in that store. The lady at DSW told us that they are opening a new baby store called Bye Bye Baby over by Target on Hall Rd. Yay! I love baby stores.

Check out this video of Caden. He discovered he can scream today. So cute, but can pierce your ears if you are sitting to close to him. I love you peanut :)

Caden loves carrots!

Today was hard going back to work after a nice long weekend. I missed my baby boy so much! Although I love the age he is at now he is still growing up too fast. Apparently he had some trouble at Tammy's today... he wouldn't take a bottle. Poor munchkin was starving, but wouldn't eat. He wanted Mommy to feed him. Tammy fed him cereal to get something in his stomach and in the afternoon he finally took a 4 oz bottle of BM. Nine hours and only 4 oz and some cereal. He nursed for a while when I got him home and then took a nice nap.

We tried carrots today after his nap and he LOVED them! He kept opening his mouth for more, which he never does. He could really care less about solids. I was probably more excited them him. We played for a while after he ate before we started bath time. He actually did rather well in the tub today. Usually he cries when his head gets washed and it's all downhill from there. Today he was splashing away. He soaked me along with everything else. It's amazing what a mess a 4 1/2 month old can make.

Caden went down without a fuss for bed tonight. He only slept about 2 hours total today, which isn't good. Hopefully it's a better night. Oh - last night wasn't that bad. It think he only woke up 2 or 3 times. All I know is that I didn't feel like a truck hit me when I woke up in the morning and that's always a plus.

Sleep totals from 09-02-08

TNS = 7 hours

NOW = 3

LSS = 3 hours

TDS = 2 hours

T24 = 9 hours = NOT GOOD!

Weekend Update

Saturday and Sunday night were NOT good at all. Caden woke up 5 times each night. To be honest, I was so tired I do not really remember what time he woke up but I remember counting how many times. Thankfully I was able to take a couple naps this weekend, which was much needed.

I am switching from BFing to formula for his last feeding and then just letting him nurse for "comfort" until he falls asleep. I'm hoping maybe the formula will keep him full longer since it's thicker than breast milk.

I have made a decision that I will not move Caden to his room until he sleeps through the night. There is no point and it is just easier for me to tend to him when he is in my room. If it starts a pattern with him wanting to sleep in our room when he gets older, we'll deal with it then. With Ryan working midnights, it really doesn't matter anyway.

Caden did have an GREAT day on Sunday. We went over to a friends house for a BBQ for about 5 hours and Caden was an angel. He loved being outside. He was as content as can be. He took two naps with no fuss and ate pretty well too. I was so proud of him for being such a good boy :)

Sleep Study Night One

Although Caden did not sleep in his room all night last night it was still a better night. He went to bed at 8:30pm and did not wake up until 12:45am! That is just over 4 hours, which was great! I only got about 3 hours because I didn't go to bed right away, but it was a start.

I ended up bringing him to my room because the hand held monitor light was yellow, which meant the batteries were dying. Of course, the night I decide to keep him in his room I have no extra batteries. I nursed him and he was sleeping again by 1am. He woke up at 3:15am and again at 5:45am. Both times I think he was just restless and wanted to nurse again. He did wake up at 6:30am to eat and we stayed up.

He took 3 really good naps today, which allowed me to clean house and do laundry. I even took a 2 hour nap with him.

I have new batteries, so we will try again tonight.

Sleep Journal 8/29

TNS = total (hours) nighttime sleep - 9 hours and 15 minutes
NOW = Number of night wakings - 3
LSS = Longest stretch of (uninterrupted) sleep - 4 hours and 15 minutes
TDS = total (hours) daytime sleep - 4 hour and 15 minutes
T24 = total (hours) sleep in a 24 hour period - 13 1/2 hours

Information a-holic

I think I am an information junkie. Why do I feel the need to research everything? Well, not everything, but anything baby related. I've been this way since I found out I was pregnant and it hasn't stopped. My most recent adventure in research is all about getting Caden to sleep through the night. I cannot just wait for this happen any longer. I'm a zombie. By the afternoon I can barely focus or see straight. My eyes cross and I cannot concentrate on anything. That doesn't go well with my job.

In my opinion, there is no reason Caden should be getting up as much as he does during the night. He gets cereal twice a day, plenty of naps, a strict bedtime routine with bedtime nursing and formula to top him off. I really believe he finds comfort in nursing throughout the night. I want him to feel comfort, but we need to find a new comfy for him.
Back to my research. I've been looking into different CIO methods and different viewpoints. I know some people are against CIO and others say it works like a charm. Every parent has something that works for them, and that's great. I have no judgement. I would say that I lean towards attachment-parenting, but not 100%. I guess I am just somewhere in the middle.
I've come across 3 different methods and I'm falling towards the Ferber method. However, knowing myself I'll end up doing the no-cry method:

Ferber - Ferber believes you should follow a strict bedtime routine (as they all do) and when it is time for bed, you put your baby in his crib whether they are awake or half asleep. If your baby fusses/cries whatever,don't go in right away. Hold off at least 5 minutes or so before going back into this room. He strongly believes in not picking up your child, but rather pat them and shhh them softly. When your baby fusses again, wait longer than 5 minutes before going back in again. Each time you have to go in the room you are supposed to make the wait time in longer intervals.

No-cry method: This method is very similar to the Ferber method, but I believe they recommend soothing your baby so they are 1/2 asleep. The main difference is when your baby cries you immediately pick your baby up and soothe them and put them back in their crib. You keep doing this all night until they fall back asleep. (Sounds so vary exhausting).
Weissbluth: Then you have the Weissbluth method. He believes in the extinction method where at bedtime you put your child in the crib, leave the room and do not go back.

I can say that the Weissbluth/extinction method is not for us. I do believe that a baby needs the comfort of their parents as a sense of security and I could not deny that to Caden.

Once again, another trial begins tonight.

I almost forgot - I am going to be keeping a sleep journal for Caden. Feel free to ignore as I post them.

TNS = total (hours) nighttime sleep
NOW = Number of night wakings
LSS = Longest stretch of (uninterrupted) sleep
TDS = total (hours) daytime sleepT24 = total (hours) sleep in a 24 hour period

I'll start with tonight and update tomorrow.