Goodnight Sweetheart...

If you havent been following along on our sleep journey with Griffin, you can catch up here. It has been an interesting 6 months of sleep, I must say. There was little sleep in the beginning because of pumping, then late night nursing sessions. But Griff got the hang of it and started sleeping long stretches at 6 weeks and just improved from there. Then around 4 months old, Griffin started waking several times a night, and everything went down hill from there.

I have no real clue what happened, but I do have some theories or ideas. I think that Griffin's reflux started acting up, then he got his 4 month shots and felt horrid for a few days, then Mr.Pate and I did not stay consistent but instead we started changing everything up. Griffin got confused and we sent him mixed signals. We stopped swaddling really suddenly and probably before he was ready. He moved him from his crib to the rock n play. We started holding him more. And he got used to it. The fact that he is a gassy reflux baby made things more difficult. We didnt want to just leave him crying because what if it was his stomach issues?? And sometimes it definitely was. But we got in the habit of feeding him a couple of times a night again, and I think that made his stomach stuff worse at night.

So fast forward to now. Is he sleeping? Not usually but sometimes. Here is what I have learned through this process:

• Babies sleep is a mystery. Some say more sleep brings more sleep. Some say really keep them up and exhaust them then they will sleep. Fill their tummies up with cereal and they will sleep.... etc. etc. We did these things to no avail. What I have learned is every baby is different.
• Consistency is of UTMOST importance. A bedtime routine is key to him getting drowsy and putting himself to sleep. Griff usually puts himself to sleep great. 
• People are really opinionated on the CIO thing. I dont care which way you believe, but it does annoy me how much non-CIO people harp on the damage even 5 minutes of crying can cause. Do their babies never cry for 5 minutes?? Because there are lots of times throughout our day where Griffin may cry for 5 minutes straight even though I am there tending to him (diaper change anyone? giving an infant medicine?). I have read so many articles that harped on how I am killing brain cells by letting him cry... newsflash- babies cry. Not just when they are trying to sleep either. 
• All the books are saying the same thing. Basically they give you a plan and want you to stick with it. Consistency. Thats the point. 
• The "No Cry" approaches really dont give you a plan or an approach. They basically tell you to comfort baby then put them back down, then do it again and again. Eventually your child will learn to sleep. Well thanks for that... I really thought he would do this till age 30! ha!
• I can function on very little sleep. 
• One day I will sleep again. 
• My son is soooo precious and most of the time I am taking the wee hours of the morning to truly savor him right now. I smell his hair and kiss his sweet cheek and listen to his cute breathing and thank my God for being so generous. For blessing me when I deserve a curse instead. Amazing Grace. 

The Cry It Out thing

Well hardly anyone really chimed in on my last post about our sleep issues, and we are mostly still in the same boat. One friend suggested it could be Griffin's reflux waking him, so we took him to the doctor last week to discuss.

We decided to start putting rice cereal in two bottles a day to weigh his food down some, and give him some prune juice each day to help him be "regular" (which is an issue for reflux babies apparently). So we started this on Thursday of last week. We also decided to start swaddling again on Thursday.

Griffin only woke twice briefly Thursday night! Yay! And the same Friday night. Saturday night he woke a few more times but went back to sleep pretty quickly. But last night was a beast! He went to sleep at 7:30ish, and woke around 8:30ish. Then back to sleep till around 9:45. So I fed him at 9:45 and he went to sleep. He woke a gazillion more times, almost hourly. And towards the morning it was half-hourly.

It's like he can fall asleep but not stay asleep.

Am I naive to think it's not something letting him cry a whole bunch would fix? I just feel like he wants to sleep but can't and I want to help him.

Maybe letting him cry it out is the best thing for him. Maybe he just has to learn to put himself back to sleep.

But maybe it's his stomach issues waking him? Or he is just overtired after this crazy month if sleep problems?

I just don't know how I am supposed to know what to do. Seriously. And it sucks.

I don't think it's hunger bc in the last four days we have added rice cereal and still fed the same amount of feedings. Friday he didn't even finish all of his bottles at daycare.

Oh parenthood. I hate being the one who has to decide what is best for your kiddo. Seriously hate it.

That is all.

Sleep training- what did you do?

As I have mentioned before, Griffin has always been a good sleeper. When we brought him home from the hospital he automatically started going 4 or 5 hr stretches at night. By six weeks he was usually sleeping from 10-6! It was awesome. Then he got his first cold... About a month ago now. And he started randomly waking in the middle of the night some. We would give him his paci and back to sleep he would go.

The last month has been hot or miss. Some nights he sleeps without waking, some nights he wakes every hour. I keep making excuses or thinking it's a one time deal and will go back to how it was- but I probably need to face the music an realize something must be done.

So far we have tried taking away the swaddle, which seems to make it worse. I am still worried he will turn over in it so I think I am going To try to stick with no swaddle... He has to learn sometime right?

I have done a little crying it out, but I'll be honest I am not committed. It's harder than I thought it would be! And I find myself wondering what if he is hungry or sick or teething or in pain for some other reason? I don't want him laying there crying during that... Ugh!!!

Babies are a mystery! And I know each is different, but my question is- what did you do? Tell me what you did with your kids and if it worked. Please share!!! This momma needs.some.sleep!




But he is so darn cute! Haha!

- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

Sleep- it is for the birds

Griffin has been a good sleeper from day 1, of course day 1-14 were spent in the NICU where they really get you scheduled. But he started sleeping thru the night around six weeks! Amazing. I should never complain I know. Lately though, Griff has been waking several times a night! At first we thought it was because he was congested, but now I think we have a habit on our hands.

Sleep and babies is hard. They respond well to routine and consistency, but you have to merge that with your life. We have been sporadic about his bedtime lately. It's hard to always be home at 7:30! And he can now roll over, and I thought he was trying to while swaddled the other day. So I decided maybe we should drop the swaddle...

We tried that last Thursday night. FAIL. He woke a ton! I finally swaddled his arms in the wee hours of morning and he slept some. So we are back to swaddling fully for now.

Friday night he was miserable from his shots and had a fever. No sleep. Poor thing!

Saturday night he sleep soundly all night! Could have been a mix of being tired, medicine, got him down at the right time etc. Who knows??

So for now my sleep plan is to try hard to get him in be by 7:30-7:45, dreamfeed around 9:45-10, and swaddle. This is what has worked on the nights he has slept.

Oh sleep- it's so funny that when we are children we fight it, then as adults we long for it!

Isnt it ironic... Don't ya think?... A little too ironic, and yeah I really do think...

Book Review: Along the Infant Way

"Let the Children Come... Along the Infant Way" 

From what I can tell, this book is the more "Christian" version of Baby Wise. This book is a book/workbook for a small group study the Ezzo's taught at churches. The Baby Wise books were their newer, more secular version of the parenting strategies. They never explain the difference in their books, so this is all what I could figure out on the internet. Anyhow, my friend wanted me to read it and loaned me her copy. So here we are. I have never read Baby Wise, so I am not sure if they are the exact same or not. But from what I have heard, I am guessing they are similar.

Things I Liked About It:

• They stress flexibility over schedule. Yes they are about getting your child on a schedule, and I had always heard it was very rigid, but I was happy to read over and over again that your baby's schedule should never come before others comfort etc. So if you are on a plane, feed the baby to make it quite, or if your baby is in the nursery at church do not stress the workers out by making them strict to your strict schedule. They teach that there is a lot of flexibility and your baby can always get back on schedule. I wasn't expecting that. 
• They affirm constantly that you are the parent and know best for your baby. It is all about the parent assessing what is the best choice for the baby right now. Is the baby hungry even though it hasnt been a full 3 or 4 hours? You can choose to go off the routine and listen to the baby's cues. 
• They really spell out the typical routine to shoot for. 
• They spend a lot of time talking about feeding. I think I always thought of this as a sleep training, but they approach it as learning your baby's three-part life for now: feeding, wake time and nap time. They say the first thing to focus on is getting go feedings in and they give lots of tips if you are breast-feeding. 
• They give tips and routines for breast-feeding babies and formula babies. I think thats super helpful for all, because you never know how this will work out for you. 

Things I Didn't Like About It:

• They really make it sound like if you do this your child will sleep no matter what, like its fool proof. I think they do say several times that all babies are different etc, but they just make it sound so easy. I know several people that tried and tried (or are trying and trying) and their babies just are not sleeping like this. 
• They hate on baby wearing a lot. I am a fan of baby wearing. They are more so hating on the parenting approaches that wear baby all day long to keep them from crying, which I am not a fan of or obviously going to be able to do at work. But I think for me it will be way more convenient to wear my baby in a store than try to lug around a big car seat. 
• They hate on cloth diapering. This book was written in 2000, so I know cloth diapering has modernized alot since then and thats part of it. But they were just inaccurate in some of the stuff they said. 

So I know all parenting styles are controversial, and especially sleep training etc. But what do you think of the "Baby Wise" method? Or what do you recommend to a new mom-to-be??