1. I'm happy I followed the advice of keeping my house bright and loud during the days and quiet and calm during the evenings so Matthew could get his days and nights straight. I read that babies have a hard time getting used to day and night, and everything said to try this tactic. I started it in the hospital after he was born. I opened the windows, had the lights on full blast, and tv on during the day and the night was quiet and dark. Because of this, Matthew is very drowsy at night (at least until after his 4:00 feeding!).
2. Having him nap in the crib before I put him in the crib for an entire night. The first nights he slept in the crib where flawless. He went down easily, fussed a bit while he put himself to sleep, and slept for his 6.5 hours! I fully expected the first night to be up and down every few hours getting him to fall back asleep. I actually think he slept better in his crib rather than in the rocker next to our bed.
3. Trying not to push the pacifier. I really don't want him to be hooked on the paci. It is great to soothe him, but I'm trying not to push it at bed time to calm him down. He's been doing a great job of soothing himself to sleep without it and I hope to keep it that way.
4. Putting him to sleep drowsy, but not asleep. Hoping this pays off in the long run!
Now if only I could get him interested in going BACK to sleep after he eats at 3:30 or 4:00 in the morning that would be phenomenal!
Check, going to hopefully check soon, check and check! My goal was to start the crib this week but she hardly napped yesterday and today we were gone most of the day. So maybe tomorrow we nap in the crib. The paci is just to soothe I don't need a 2 year old running around with one! We have our moments of being wide awake after the 3 am feeding but knock on wood they are only about once a week. Sounds like things are going great for you guys!
ReplyDeleteI do #1, but this girl can sleep through anything! She wakes to eat, so I am not overly concerned about her sleep patterns right now, but I sure hope she gets things figured out like Matthew soon (for my and my husband's sake)! We haven't started the crib yet! Maybe soon! We haven't used pacifiers at all and I am going to try to keep it that way. Who knows, though?
ReplyDeleteGreat job so far!