She also had her 2nd set of shots but recovered quickly. A quick boob and a nap and she was right as rain.
I spoke to the pediatrician about sleeping. She suggested we put her down drowsy but awake and walk away. She also suggested an earlier bedtime. The walk away part is what we haven't been doing consistently. We normally do some rocking and try to put her in asleep and of course she wakes right up as soon as we lay her in the crib. Well, last night we tried it -- walking away and putting her down earlier.
She cried 10 minutes and fell asleep! All this time we've been doing it wrong. We've been keeping her awake with all of that rocking and shushing. She did wake up a lot but fell asleep within 10 minute most times. When I had to go in and check on her, I turned on her seahorse
(another Fisher-Price co-mother) and she sorted herself out. She had one 5 hour stretch and 2 hour stretches after that.What I've learned: It is definitely possible for her to self soothe and putting her to bed earlier will not make her rise earlier.
Also, now that she can eat cereal, I asked the pediatrician about rice cereal before bed. Does it work as far as helping babies sleep the entire night. She said no. It's been proven ineffective. Hmpf! Any moms out there say different? Did it work for you?
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Hm...it's been a while, but if the doc was right about sleeping, might she also be right about the cereal too?
I breastfeed and supplement with formula. The formula she uses is enfamil a.r it has a rice starch made right in it. Saying that to say being a thicker formula even when given at night she would wake up after 4hours...but when I breastfeed her at night and we cosleep she slept almost 7hrs on one bedtime feeding...I think it varies by baby....my 3 older kids were ff period and I started cereal with them at 5months...only one of them seemed to sleep longer. Almost 6hrs but never longer. The other two woke up like clockwork every 3hrs. Keep us posted on what works.
Will do. She's doing some good napping today I hope that doesn't mean she'll sleep less tonight.
I started supplementing with formula around 4 months (because I went to work). Then, we did sleep training just after 5 months. And it was THE BEST decision we ever made. The Pup was so much happier when he learned to sleep through the night, and put himself to sleep--it was like he stopped being cranky during the day. I read Weisbluth's 'Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child,' and it helped me formulate a real plan (which ended up being what he called 'rapid extinction.') I started when I knew he was waking up because he was bored, not because he was hungry (like, I'd go in there to feed him, and he'd eat for 2-3 minutes and go back to sleep. Yuck!) SO MUCH EASIER NOW.
Seriously, it's going to get better. We turned a major corner at 4 months that just got better and better until 5 months--when he started sleeping completely through the night. These days (at 10 months), he does to bed at 6:30/7, wakes up at 6/6:30 to eat, then sleeps another hour or so. It's amazing.
GOOD LUCK! Trust your mommy gut.
Cereal doesn't help. Your doctor is right. We waited until 7 months to start our daughter on anything at all, and she slept just like a baby should, you know? They're wired to wake up and eat because they have tiny bellies that need refilled often. You're doing your thing, mama, just keep at it. Followed you over from someone's wordless wednesday link up. Have a great Christmas
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