Naps

So now that we have the sleeping-at-night thing down we're moving on to getting the naps under control. Right now Jackson must sleep in my arms during the day to get any sort of nap. I know, shoot me. But I love the snuggling and feel like it will only be a short while before he's too big to cuddle with me (or just doesn't want to anymore). I'm also going back to work on July 19th, which means no more napping in mommy's arms. He'll be with Ryan for 2 1/2 weeks until school starts and then with Grandma part-time and our friend Haley the other part. I'm pretty sure that they don't have the time/desire to sit while Jackson naps for an hour-and-a-half three times per day. Which leads me to our current situation. Jackson likes to nap and he naps frequently. My problem is getting him to stay asleep when I put him down in his crib. Right now I'll have him nap for an hour with me and then put him in his crib for the rest of the time. Problem is he wakes up after 15 minutes of being in the crib. Every time. I know he needs sleep so I usually end up giving in and returning him to my arms. I'm worried about what's going to happen when I go back to work though. Will he sleep at all? Any suggestions for getting him to sleep in his crib?

Sleep Success! (well for now at least)

Success! Jackson has now slept 7 1/2 hours straight for almost a week now!! (picture me jumping for joy) I don't know what changed but I have a feeling it had something to do with him getting older as well as my ability to establish a consistent routine now that I'm home full-time. Here's the routine we currently have established:

• He eats a small dinner of cereal and a veggie around 5pm.
• Next comes a warm bath using Burt's Bees and Johnson&Johnson's nighttime products. We let him splash around to his heart's content- he absolutely loves his baths!
• Then we give him a nice massage with Johnson&Johnson nighttime lotion and dress him in pj's.
• We play, snuggle, and read books until his first signs of sleepiness (fussing, rubbing eyes), usually around 6-6:30pm.
• Finally, he gets swaddled up in his Woombie (LOVE this swaddle) and I rock him to sleep while singing "Hush Little Baby."
• He usually sleeps soundly until I wake him up for his "dream feed" at 11pm. If he does by chance wake up and can't fall back asleep I turn on his Sleep Sheep to ocean sounds and he's out like a light.
• He now sleeps from 11pm to 6:30am without an extra feeding! Yeah!!

Like I said, this is our current routine. I'm always making minor adjustments based on his mood and needs that day. Things I've found that have really helped are:

• putting him to bed early. Many people think keeping a baby up late will make them sleep longer. Actually they get more wired and have a lot more difficulty getting down to sleep. Putting Jacksonto bed as soon as he starts showing signs of tiredness has made all the difference! He now goes to bed without a fight and sleeps much, much longer.
• establish a bedtime routine early on and stick to it! Jackson uses this routine as a cue that bedtime has come and it's time to go to sleep.
• Use white noise all night to help your  baby fall back to sleep on their own. White noise reminds babies of  being in the womb and it comforts them. We have a Conair one that plays multiple sounds and connects to our Ipod.
• I feed Jackson again right before I go to bed to help keep him asleep longer. He basically nurses in his sleep and I slip him right back into bed. This didn't work for a long time for us so keep at it for a little while before giving up!
• Finally, the number one thing I had to do was move Jackson into his crib. He co-slept with me for 4 1/2 months ad during that time he was up every 1-2 hours to eat, simply because it was there and available. It was much easier to nurse him in bed, but not easier to be up all night! Moving him into his crib was the best thing I did and finally got him to sleep longer at night. To get my cuddling/co-sleeping fix I now take an afternoon nap with him. :)

What worked for you when you were trying to help your baby sleep through the night? What advice would you give to a mama who is having difficulty with this? I love hearing other people's tips and tricks so feel free to comment!

Sleep Update

Things have gotten better. Not perfect, but better. I've given up on the formula, the crying-it-out, and the multitudes of other tricks each sleep book I've read has suggested. I'm doing what works for us right now and so far it's working. He's still being swaddled and yes, I am aware that eventually he'll have to sleep without one. We've upgraded to the "Woombie," which is basically a straight-jacket for babies (although it's more comfortable than that). He was breaking out of his velcro swaddles throughou the night which was causing him to wake up constantly. His first time in the Woombie was last night and he didn't break out once. Success! Basically our night looks like this- down for bed between 6:30-7:00pm, dream feed at 9:30pm, up at 3:00am to eat, and up for the day at 6:00am. Like I said, not perfect but very doable. The one take away I've learned from this is that I need to accept Jackson for who he is and not who I want him to be. Yes, I want 8 hours of continuous sleep at night, but he's just not ready for that yet. I'm tired of comparing him to other babies who are sleeping and feeling like a failure as a mother because he's not. Guess what? Someday he will sleep through the night and all of this will be a distant memory. Until then I'll drink my three cups of coffee every morning and enjoy Jackson for the individual he is.

Sleep. . . Continued

So we are working on the sleeping issues and for a little while things started to get better, but then we took two steps back last night. I'm reading Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and The No-Cry Nap Solution to try and get things under control. The first night Jackson slept from 6:30pm to 6:30am with only one wake-up and all I did was pop the paci back in his mouth and he fell back asleep. (I do "dream feed" him around 9:30pm to fill his tummy though) Success! Or so I thought. The second night he slept from 6:30pm to 2:00am and I popped the paci back in but he woke up crying again at 3:00am. This time I just went ahead and nursed him for a 1/2 hour. And he STILL wokeup at 4am. I was done with getting out of bed so I just took him into our bed, where he proceeded to kick and claw me for the next two hours in his sleep. Fabulous. So after an extremely cranky day, he was off to bed at 5:30pm. Went to sleep with no issues and is still asleep at 7:30pm. I'm going to take the advice of my friend Sara and try giving him a bottle of formula for his dream feed tonight and see if it will hold him longer.

SOOO Tired

I'm exhausted and it's not getting any better. I've read (or am reading) just about every baby sleep book there is on the market and now I'm more confused than ever. And extremely jealous of those mamas whose babies sleep peacefully through the night. Somehow the thought never crossed my mind that Jackson wouldn't be sleeping through the night by now. Or at least more than a two hour stretch. Things were so good while I was on maternity leave that I kind of figured it would only get better (i.e. he would go from 5 hours at a stretch to 6-7). Nope, not this baby. We're still up every 45 minutes to 2 hours around the clock. He naps for an hour max at a time during the day and is up constantly during the night. Unfortunately all of the books I'm reading offer a different explanation for why he won't sleep. What am I supposed to do? Does a four month old still need to eat at night? Will I cause him psychological harm if I let him cry it out (as one Harvard study states)? All I know is that I need some sleep. Pronto.

Sleep

My lack of sleep has a new name- reversed sleep cycles. What I once thought was simply Jackson "forgetting" how to sleep through the night is actually his cunning plan to nurse as much as possible while avoiding bottles at all costs. During the day while he's with my mom or Jamie he eats just enough to get him through the day and as soon as I arrive he pounces, literally. He is definitely my boob man, nursing the entire night, usually every hour-and-a-half to two hours. Happiness for him and sleepiness for me. I guess that's one of the drawbacks of nursing, but I still refuse to give it up. I worked long and hard to make breastfeeding work and I'm willing to deal with this obstacle too. The unfortunate part is that I think it's definitely leading to some full-scale depression on my part. Hardcore sleep deprivation interferes with basically every aspect of your life, especially your mood. I have become incredibly negative as of late but I've noticed that when I receive the unexpected gift of a nap here and there all of a sudden my mood dramatically improves as do my coping skills. So I've come to the conclusion that more sleep=happiness for all those involved. My one purpose in life this summer is to get Jackson on a schedule and get him to sleep as much as possible at night. I can not go through the next school year on as little sleep as I've been getting. So I've checked out literally every book on infant sleep there is at the library and I plan on rolling up my sleeves and digging in as soon as this week's over. Wish me luck!