Cole's finally getting back to his old sleep habits! He's going into his crib and falling asleep pretty quickly, is napping MUCH better, and isn't getting up nearly as often! Last night we were at a party, left at about his normal bedtime, and he fell asleep in the car. We got home, changed him to his pjs, he nursed, and went to sleep. He woke up at about 11:30 to go to the potty, we tried nursing, but he was pretty sleepy. I'm hoping that as his bladder gets bigger he'll be able to cut this wake up time out, too, we'll see. At about 3:45 he woke, nursed, had some trouble going back to sleep until I realized he needed to go to the potty again, and I got back to sleep at about 4:15. NOT BAD compared to a few weeks ago! And instead of waking up at 5:30, 6:30, etc, he slept from 4:15 until he was up for the day at about 7:15! 11 hours of sleep!!! And he went down for a nap at about 9, and is still asleep at 10:45! I was able to make and have breakfast, do dishes, and I have a 3rd load of laundry in!!
And since it's so nice and sunny out today, instead of waiting until tomorrow or the next day to wash diapers, I decided to wash almost all of them except a few for today! These dipes have been missing the sun the past few months, so happy to get them all nice and white again! Pre-wash rinse is done, time to go turn the dial and add the Rockin' Green!
What a great weekend, and a great start to the week :)
Monday, April 18, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
time to SLEEP.. 8 months, 2 weeks, 4 days
Cole seemed to sleep pretty well for a while. He'd nurse, I'd put him down on his back in his crib, he'd get his thumb in his mouth, and he'd fall asleep! He'd wake a few times a night, but if he was dry, he'd follow the same pattern - nurse, lay down, thumb, sleep. Total up time for me of maybe 10-15 min usually! During growth spurts he'd wake up maybe every 3 hours instead of 4-5, but I could deal with that for a few days each month, and he'd still fall back to sleep pretty well.
Fast forward to more recently, the past month or so has been... difficult. It's very likely because of teething, but it also seemed to start around the time that he decided he wanted to sleep curled in a ball on his tummy. I feel like he's a newborn all over again. He falls asleep while nursing, and when I try to put him down, he flips himself to his tummy, and instead of finding his thumb, starts crawling and climbing to be picked back up. We've had a quite a few nights up from about 3:30 - 4:30 lately, and I've ended up bringing him into bed with us some nights just to get some sleep because sometimes he'll fall asleep this way when he won't in his crib.
Today I've finally decided to try the "No Cry Sleep Solution", a plan that is supposed to help to teach baby how to fall asleep, as the title shows, without "crying-it-out".. I don't believe in letting a baby cry it out, I feel that crying is their only communication and if I ignore his cries now, it's teaching him that I won't be there when he truly needs me. I know that it works for lots of people, but I just can't do it. Hopefully in a few weeks I'll be able to post a happy update with improvements!
Our schedule lately has been something like:
8:00-9:30ish - get ready for bed, read a book, nurse, lay down in crib, crying, screaming, rock, lay down, crying, nurse, lay down, crying, nurse, falls asleep
10:30-11:00 - potty, nurse, lay down, falls asleep
1:00 - 1:30 - nurse, falls asleep
3:30-4:30ish - potty, nurse, lay down, cry, rock, lay down, crying, nurse, lay down, crying, nurse, falls asleep or cries more and ends up in our bed to fall asleep....
7:00 - up. potty, nurse sometimes, downstairs to play while Mama makes coffee
I'm hoping to cut the amount of time up between sleep back to the 10-15 min, hoping Cole will be able to soothe himself to sleep when I put him down, and I'm hoping to eventually cut out some of the nighttime wakings... lets all cross our fingers!
Fast forward to more recently, the past month or so has been... difficult. It's very likely because of teething, but it also seemed to start around the time that he decided he wanted to sleep curled in a ball on his tummy. I feel like he's a newborn all over again. He falls asleep while nursing, and when I try to put him down, he flips himself to his tummy, and instead of finding his thumb, starts crawling and climbing to be picked back up. We've had a quite a few nights up from about 3:30 - 4:30 lately, and I've ended up bringing him into bed with us some nights just to get some sleep because sometimes he'll fall asleep this way when he won't in his crib.
Today I've finally decided to try the "No Cry Sleep Solution", a plan that is supposed to help to teach baby how to fall asleep, as the title shows, without "crying-it-out".. I don't believe in letting a baby cry it out, I feel that crying is their only communication and if I ignore his cries now, it's teaching him that I won't be there when he truly needs me. I know that it works for lots of people, but I just can't do it. Hopefully in a few weeks I'll be able to post a happy update with improvements!
Our schedule lately has been something like:
8:00-9:30ish - get ready for bed, read a book, nurse, lay down in crib, crying, screaming, rock, lay down, crying, nurse, lay down, crying, nurse, falls asleep
10:30-11:00 - potty, nurse, lay down, falls asleep
1:00 - 1:30 - nurse, falls asleep
3:30-4:30ish - potty, nurse, lay down, cry, rock, lay down, crying, nurse, lay down, crying, nurse, falls asleep or cries more and ends up in our bed to fall asleep....
7:00 - up. potty, nurse sometimes, downstairs to play while Mama makes coffee
I'm hoping to cut the amount of time up between sleep back to the 10-15 min, hoping Cole will be able to soothe himself to sleep when I put him down, and I'm hoping to eventually cut out some of the nighttime wakings... lets all cross our fingers!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
my favorite things.. 8 months, 2 weeks, 2 days
After 8+ months, I've found that some things that I thought would be great turned out not to be, while other things I didn't imagine needing I now believe are awesome, and wanted to share..
When Cole was little, I found that a little travelling vibrating chair was a GREAT help - he could sit in it when I was showering, or cooking dinner. And since it was small and light, I could pick it up and bring it upstairs, or wherever I was going, which I wouldn't have been able to do with a full swing..
People usually only talk about the boppy as a help to holding baby while nursing, but I didn't really use it while holding him. Instead, I used it as a kind of seat for baby. I leaned him in it, I put him in it for tummy time to help keep his head up until he was a bit bigger, and put it behind him when he was learning to sit up!
I really love his Safety 1st nail clippers - they have a little light on the end that shines while you clip, which really makes it easier to see tiny little baby nails!
Some other Safety 1st products that are really great now that we're babyproofing - the Magnetic Locks, which work really well for cabinets and drawers. And I love the Swivel Outlet Covers. You take your regular outlet cover off and replace it with one of these instead of putting the little plug caps in. Since my little guy likes to pull keys off of my Mac keyboard and loves to play with wires and outlets, this is essential to me. If he pulls a wire out, instead of the outlet being open, it swivels shut, and there are no small pieces that he can pull out to eat!
Nuby makes some great things for feeding - my faves are the No Spill Flip N' Sip cup, it has a straw instead of a sippy spout - MUCH easier for him, and for most breastfed babies - all they have to do is suck, no tipping! Another fave is the infant spoon. very soft on babies gums, no metal, and it'll even change color if food is too hot!
I didn't think we'd buy a mesh feeder, because Cole is fine with eating even big pieces of food - he'll hold a piece of a waffle and just keep chewing, or even asparagus! But with teeth coming in I found a new use for all of the frozen purees that I made - I cut them just a little smaller than the 1 oz cubes and put them in the mesh feeder, and he loved chewing on the frozen purees!
Great for eating out - the Tiny Diner placemat! It's a soft silicone (I think) - all safe for baby, no lead, PVC, phthalates or latex. Not only does it help grip the food to make it easier for Cole to pick up, it catches food in the little scoop to keep more off the floor, and Cole loves chewing on it when he isn't eating! Reuseable, so it isn't going in landfills like a lot of the stick on placemats that parents use, and easy to wash :)
Earth Mama Angel Baby - lots of great natural products for Mama and for baby, but I especially love the Angel Baby Bottom Balm. It smells just a little minty, and it's great for any rashes or burns or scrapes. I don't know if this is due to luck, cloth diapering, or the Bottom Balm, but Cole has NEVER had a rash!
I've loved his gDiapers since day 1, and while the main complaint of gCloth is not enough absorbancy, it works great for us, especially since we're ECing - even if he does wet his dipe, it's usually so little that the cloth is barely damp! Right around 6 months, before we started ECing, we did notice that he was starting to wet thru the dipe and that it wasn't absorbant enough all the time, but lots of people use prefolds or double the gCloth and they say that works for them.
I love the Baby Bjorn Potty Chair and Toilet Inserts. They both have a really high splash guard, great for little boys - but you still have to hold the boy parts down to make sure not to spill out! The insert is even good for going out so you don't have to hang baby over a public toilet! We just attach it to our diaper bag with a caribiner since it doesn't fit in the bag.
We went for the more expensive Exersaucer, mostly because the bouncers had lower weight limits, and because the Exersaucer that we bought could be opened to use as an activity table once baby was walking - and we've already opened it since he's been pulling himself up, and he loves it!
When Cole was little, I found that a little travelling vibrating chair was a GREAT help - he could sit in it when I was showering, or cooking dinner. And since it was small and light, I could pick it up and bring it upstairs, or wherever I was going, which I wouldn't have been able to do with a full swing.. People usually only talk about the boppy as a help to holding baby while nursing, but I didn't really use it while holding him. Instead, I used it as a kind of seat for baby. I leaned him in it, I put him in it for tummy time to help keep his head up until he was a bit bigger, and put it behind him when he was learning to sit up!
I really love his Safety 1st nail clippers - they have a little light on the end that shines while you clip, which really makes it easier to see tiny little baby nails!Some other Safety 1st products that are really great now that we're babyproofing - the Magnetic Locks, which work really well for cabinets and drawers. And I love the Swivel Outlet Covers. You take your regular outlet cover off and replace it with one of these instead of putting the little plug caps in. Since my little guy likes to pull keys off of my Mac keyboard and loves to play with wires and outlets, this is essential to me. If he pulls a wire out, instead of the outlet being open, it swivels shut, and there are no small pieces that he can pull out to eat!
Nuby makes some great things for feeding - my faves are the No Spill Flip N' Sip cup, it has a straw instead of a sippy spout - MUCH easier for him, and for most breastfed babies - all they have to do is suck, no tipping! Another fave is the infant spoon. very soft on babies gums, no metal, and it'll even change color if food is too hot!
I didn't think we'd buy a mesh feeder, because Cole is fine with eating even big pieces of food - he'll hold a piece of a waffle and just keep chewing, or even asparagus! But with teeth coming in I found a new use for all of the frozen purees that I made - I cut them just a little smaller than the 1 oz cubes and put them in the mesh feeder, and he loved chewing on the frozen purees!
Great for eating out - the Tiny Diner placemat! It's a soft silicone (I think) - all safe for baby, no lead, PVC, phthalates or latex. Not only does it help grip the food to make it easier for Cole to pick up, it catches food in the little scoop to keep more off the floor, and Cole loves chewing on it when he isn't eating! Reuseable, so it isn't going in landfills like a lot of the stick on placemats that parents use, and easy to wash :)
Earth Mama Angel Baby - lots of great natural products for Mama and for baby, but I especially love the Angel Baby Bottom Balm. It smells just a little minty, and it's great for any rashes or burns or scrapes. I don't know if this is due to luck, cloth diapering, or the Bottom Balm, but Cole has NEVER had a rash! I've loved his gDiapers since day 1, and while the main complaint of gCloth is not enough absorbancy, it works great for us, especially since we're ECing - even if he does wet his dipe, it's usually so little that the cloth is barely damp! Right around 6 months, before we started ECing, we did notice that he was starting to wet thru the dipe and that it wasn't absorbant enough all the time, but lots of people use prefolds or double the gCloth and they say that works for them.
I love the Baby Bjorn Potty Chair and Toilet Inserts. They both have a really high splash guard, great for little boys - but you still have to hold the boy parts down to make sure not to spill out! The insert is even good for going out so you don't have to hang baby over a public toilet! We just attach it to our diaper bag with a caribiner since it doesn't fit in the bag.
We went for the more expensive Exersaucer, mostly because the bouncers had lower weight limits, and because the Exersaucer that we bought could be opened to use as an activity table once baby was walking - and we've already opened it since he's been pulling himself up, and he loves it!
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