Sleep Training Night #1

We have reached that point.... that point where we are no longer fully functioning human beings, because we are THAT sleep deprived! Carter has never been a good sleeper, but he's been especially difficult the past few weeks. He woke up about 10 times last night... and that's a fairly average night lately. He's not hungry, as we've tried feeding him when he wakes up and he's just not interested. He has this little Fisher Price sea horse that plays music and its little belly lights up. We usually turn that on and he falls back asleep instantly. He just won't stay asleep, waking up anywhere from every 30 minutes to about an hour and a half.

When it comes to babies and sleep, there is much debate about what's best for baby. Like everything parenting related, there are extremes in both directions. Some parents co-sleep, and some have them in there own room from day one. Some parents allow baby to cry, while others jump to them as soon as they make a peep. I have read many articles, and spoken to many people on this subject and everybody has something different to say. I've been told that letting baby cry for too long causes brain damage, or attachment issues. While going to them every time they make a sound can apparently cause the child to have dependency issues as they get older. I know there are many more theories out there, but these are the ones that stick out in my mind right now.

We swore from day one that we would never let Carter cry it out, and we've stuck to that for 6 months. We've gone to him every time he cries to comfort him as we felt it was best for him. We expected as new parents that we wouldn't be getting a whole lot of sleep in the beginning, but didn't expect it to last this long. Don't get me wrong, we really don't expect Carter to sleep 12 hours a night but it would be super if he would wake up a little less than 10 times a night. What we are doing is obviously not working. NOBODY is getting ANY sleep!

We do not believe in putting him down, walking away and letting him scream for hours, but we can't continue to go to him every time he makes a sound. I spoke to a friend a few weeks ago about how sleep deprived we were and she gave me a book. Part of me hoped that this was likely a phase and he would get over it in a couple of weeks.... back to only waking a 4-5 times in a night so I hadn't looked at the book. I decided last night since I wasn't getting any sleep anyway that I would have a look at it....

The book is called "The Sleep Sense Program: Proven Strategies for Teaching Your Child to Sleep Through the Night" by Dana Obleman. The basic idea of the program sound like a milder form of crying it out. You are given the option to stay in the room or use the leave and check method. We have chosen the stay in the room method as we feel this is a little less cruel. The book states that you should have a nightly bedtime routine for your baby, and keep it the same every night. This can include a bath (if baby enjoys baths... not a good idea if they don't like it and will get worked up.... that would be slightly counterproductive!), reading them a story, cuddling, listening to music, bottle/breast feeding, etc. This is not exactly mind-blowing, original information, as most of this stuff is sort of common sense but it give us a sense of focus and direction in our sleep deprived fog.

We had planned on starting a little routine tonight starting with a bath, but little man was extremely agitated by 7pm so we decided to skip the routine for tonight and just put him to bed. Carter's usual bedtime has been around 9pm, where as the book suggests a 6 month old should be in bed by around 7-8pm. I know at least for myself my first thought was not to put him to bed earlier, but to keep him up later hoping he will sleep later in the morning. The book suggests that babies will likely wake up at around the same times each night regardless of what time they go to bed, and often they are tired way before they show the very obvious signs of fussiness and eye rubbing.

So...  we put him down for bed at 7. He cried for 10 minutes before falling asleep. During that time the book makes it clear that it's ok to comfort baby in these first few nights, but try to resist picking them up. I rubbed his little belly and stroked his face gently, which calmed him down significantly. The key however is not to provide these comfort measures to the point where baby falls asleep to them. He needs to learn to fall asleep on his own. We also took his "sleep props" away, which includes his pacifier and his little seahorse. The book suggests that your child gets used to these props, and cannot effectively fall asleep without them. They wake up in the middle of the night looking for these props and cry out for mommy and daddy to provide them... This makes perfect sense to me. In our case, Carter relies on us to turn his sea horse on each time he wakes up. It works like a switch, he falls asleep within 5 seconds most times! So far he has woken at 7:45pm and cried for 40 minutes. During that time I stood at his crib side, held his hand and talked to him. It was gut wrenching!!! I felt like an absolute MONSTER!! I just kept telling myself that we are doing this for all of us; he needs to sleep too!

So there it is... I've put myself out there, and know that I may be told that this is not the right thing to do. Every parent has their own beliefs and philosophies on parenting, and no two babies are exactly alike. I think we must be willing to adapt and do whats best for the whole family. If we don't feel this method is helping at all after a few nights we will try something different. I'm always open to suggestions from other parents that have been there. I have a friend who has been having sleeping issues with her child suggest a different book that worked for her family. It's called the Baby Whisperer, and I think I may have a look at it also. Like I said, I like to stay open minded so its good to see what other methods are out there.

It's now been 3 since he fell asleep last..... this has got to be a record these days!! I'll keep you updated as to how this whole sleep training thing goes.

And here's a couple of recent photos of our adorable little man. Despite the sleep deprivation I love him more than words could ever describe!!

Shopping

Eating the table at Applebees

Ok mom.... the food is supposed to go in my MOUTH!

- Amy

Woe is me

I've written, rewritten and deleted several posts before posting them over the past few weeks. It takes time to write a post, time that I have to squeeze in between Carter's feedings, diaper changes, playtime and my time with Ralph. I started this blog as a way for family and friends to keep up on whats going on in our lives. I also write about things that I have struggled with, etc. so that I may be able to help someone in a similar situation. I follow many other blogs because I can relate to the author and am interested in what's going on in their lives. Lately, I feel like I am talking to myself.... and why should I bother writing if nobody's reading it?! It's time I could be using for other things.

I also had a little rant on Facebook today. I take time everyday to go through people's status' and photos, and I try to comment as much as possible. Sometimes when I'm busy I will at least "like" the photo or status that way the person knows I at least acknowledged it. Obviously I don't expect people to comment on my stuff all the time. I just feel like "friends" that don't EVER comment are just being nosey. I asked people to delete me from Facebook if they don't care to listen to me talk about my life or look at my photos. The idea of Facebook is to connect with people.... if you can't be bothered with my life I won't bother with yours!! I realize people are busy.. and I realize I post a thousand photos of Carter a day so I can't expect people to comment on them all. I guess I'm just saying if you see me post photos and your first thought is "great, more photos of her kid", etc. etc. thennnn delete me! It's no skin off my nose! Haha! Having said that, if you care to know what's going on in my life continue reading. If I know people are reading I will keep writing. And thank you to those who have been following along :)

And now... an update:

I mentioned in my last post that I wasn't sure how much longer the pumping would last... well it lasted about a week after that post! I had Carter weighed on June 7th and he was only 12lb 8oz. He usually gains around 6oz a week and he had only gained 9oz in 3 and half weeks! Obviously something was up with the expressed milk. I started to notice it didn't have as thick a fat layer on top as it usually does when it's been in the fridge. It was also turning a greenish-blue hue!! Upon investigation I learned that the milk was this colour because it was mainly fore milk - very thin, and very little fat. I discovered that because I was only pumping 3 times a day I would have to pump for longer periods of time to get the fatty hind milk.... well that was it! I did not want to spend any more time attached to a pump, cleaning all the parts, sorting the bottles, etc. In the end I felt like I did what was best for all of us. I can spend more time with Carter this way, and I'm happy that he got breast milk for 3 months. In fact he's still getting a few ounces each day at this point. I have a freezer stash that should last a couple of weeks.

So, he's officially a formula fed baby. I had such anxiety over the thought of making this switch; I felt like I would be letting him down if I stopped. Now that we have finally switched it's not really bothering me as much as I thought it would. I really just put it in perspective... I was formula fed, Ralph was formula fed, and so are many, many babies and they turn out just fine!! After everything we've been through this is just not worth beating myself up over. He's a happy healthy little boy! I can't believe he's going to be 4 months next week! Time really does fly!

He's still an extremely fussy eater! He eats about 2-3 ounces every 2-3 hours! I'm taking him to see the doctor in the next week or so as he's not eating the recommended amount of formula per day. I wouldn't care so much about that, but his weight gain is still realllly slow! He's growing taller fast though; he is around 26 inches and 14 lbs. Because he's skinny he can wear most 3 month clothes, but if it has feet in it (sleepers, etc) then he is in 6 months or bigger.

He continues to throw up ALL THE TIME!! It's so distressing when he isn't eating enough to begin with, then he throws half of it up! I'm hoping he grows out of this soon. I feel so bad for him and it would be nice not to have to go through 5-6 outfits a day. Because of his eating habits there's no sign of him sleeping through the night anytime soon! He may do a 4-5 hour stretch if we are lucky.

Despite the feeding issues he is doing GREAT!! He continues to amaze me everyday! He still smiles all the time and finally laughed. I put him in his exercauser, and he just burst into laughter. It was the sweetest thing, I started to cry.... I know how sappy... Baby laughter is just the sweetest sound EVER! Then he went weeks without laughing, but when he did again we caught it on video:

He now laughs at the most random things. I was opening a chocolate bar yesterday and he was chuckling at the sound of it rustling. Then proceeded to cry.... haha!

He FINALLY likes tummy time! yay!

He also loves his toys now! I thought he was never going to take interest in them, but then suddenly one day he just reached out for one of them. His favourite toy is his toy phone, he loves to chew on the antenna :) He's also warming up to Sophie the Giraffe.

Oh oh oh, he rolled over!!..... once! haha. It was a few weeks ago from tummy to back, and he hasn't done it since. Oh well, at least we know he can do it, and he'll do it again when he wants to. He likes to roll onto his side when we lay him on his back, so I'm sure he will roll from back to tummy soon.

He is close to sitting up by himself. He likes to sit up leaning on the couch but can't quite hold himself up... yet..

Oh yes.. he has found his voice!! Of course he has been cooing and "talking" for weeks now but he is learning just how loud he can be. We were out and about a few days ago and he was screaming at the top of his lungs. He wasn't upset, I think he was just seeing how loud he could be. I'm sure the entire store could hear him! He babbles all day, its so sweet. He also loves to blow bubbles :)

We visited Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick a few weeks ago. It was amazing. I carried Carter in his Beco carrier again. He loved it and fell asleep instantly. I love carrying him, having him close to me. Ralph likes using the carrier too which is awesome!

We visited the Moncton Zoo again last month. Carter slept the entire time we were there the first time in April. It was nice that he was wide awake this time.

Ralph's grandparents are currently visiting family in the Halifax area. We went down to Halifax and stayed for a weekend. We went on the Harbour Hopper which is a city tour in a vehicle that can go on land and in the water. It brings you around the city then into the water down at the harbour. I highly recommend it if you have time. It takes about an hour.

Boondocks Restaurant - Gotta love those "cutted" steaks.

Sooo we have pretty much scrapped the diet for now! I just don't have time to be cooking meals from scratch every day when we are trying to pack up the house for moving! I've gained back the 5 pounds I lost, surprise surprise. I'm hoping once we move back to BC, there will be more people to keep an eye on Carter so I can cook more. I also have been slacking on the running. I haven't been in a few weeks now. I did use the Zombies, Run app once though and it was awesome! I highly recommend it! Again, once we are back home I'm hoping to get out more and hopefully start playing soccer again this fall.

Ever since my pregnancy my eyesight has been pretty bad. I had an eye exam a few weeks ago and was given a prescription for glasses. I am to wear them for reading, watching TV, driving, etc. Things are definitely much clearer now.

We are at T-minus 20 days until we move! We had a "yard" sale this past weekend. We ended up having it in our living room because there were thundershowers all day. We have sold everything that was in our living room so figured it made sense to have it in there. We made a few hundred dollars so it was worth the time. However, we still have a ton of stuff we need to get rid of. I think we are just going to end up bringing it all to the Salvation Army or something.

Thanks again to those that read my blog. Now that I know some people read it I will try to update more frequently.

- Amy

6 Weeks Old

Time is flying by!! Carter is already 6 weeks old, and I see so many changes in him. For the past week he has been smiling for real, not just while he's pooping or farting. I love his little grin!

Our poor little guy has a condition called torticollis. It means "twisted neck" where his head is tilted to one side. In Carter's case he favours leaning and looking to the left. I noticed that he favoured his left side within his first day of life, so he likely acquired this condition due to his position in utero. He started physiotherapy to correct it a couple of weeks ago. We are doing stretches at home everyday and are already seeing improvement. He voluntarily turns his head to the right now. Yay! Carter also has a flat area on the back of his head due to favouring the left side. Because he's so young he has a good chance that it will round out with time. If not, he'll just have to live with it.

My Struggles with Breastfeeding

During my pregnancy I read a lot about breast feeding. I knew I wanted to breast feed from the moment I found out I was pregnant. I had read how natural it was, so I assumed it would come naturally for me. Well it has been quite the opposite! Within an hour of Carter's birth I tried feeding him, but he would not latch on! It was super frustrating and disappointing. I tried a few more times later on with no luck. Eventually one of the nurses gave me a nipple shield to help him latch and it worked! Yay! Then it appeared that I wasn't producing any milk so the nurses had me supplement with formula. I'm upset that they made me feel like I was a failure and had to supplement. My understanding is that you produce colostrum in the first few days, then the milk comes in. I had no idea if I was producing anything though! Finally after a couple of days a lactation consultant came to see me. She had me start pumping right away. After a couple of times pumping I was getting small amounts of colostrum. I finally started to feel like my body was doing what it was supposed to do. I was determined to get rid of the formula so we started syringe feeding Carter the colostrum I had pumped. He only had formula for the few days we were in the hospital.

What also made breast feeding extremely frustrating in the beginning was the fact that Carter was so tired. He was jaundiced which can make babies very sleepy. I had to wake him for every single feeding and he would barely wake up! Try feeding a sleeping baby. Very frustrating!

I managed to get rid of the nipple shield within two weeks and Carter has been latching on well ever since. He is a very efficient eater. I was told by everyone that he should be eating for at least 10 minutes on each side for every feeding. Well he has never done that! I have enough milk to feed a small village, so he gulps and gulps and finishes on one side in 10 minutes and is full. He spits up a lot due to how fast he eats. I was worried he may have reflux or something, but he doesn't. His weight gain has been adequate, and he is no longer sleepy all the time. He is bright and alert, and is poopin' and peein' up a storm.

I wanted to quit after a week. I cried because I felt like I was starving him, and had to supplement with formula. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with formula, I was just bound and determined to exclusively breast feed. Well here we are 6 weeks later and still breast feeding. Carter is a bit of a fuss pot when it comes to feeding. Sometimes he will eat for 10 minutes straight no problem, but most of the time he eats for a minute, pulls off, fusses, spills milk everywhere then latches back on for another minute. It's hard work, but I'm glad I've persisted as I know it is best for both of us. So, to anybody having trouble in the beginning, it does get easier! Through my experience, and speaking to other moms I've learned that it does not come natural for a lot of people. I wish I had known this from the beginning. I just assumed everyone else was a natural and I was a failure.

Carter has gotten quite a few bottles of breast milk so far. He had his first one at 3 weeks. I had been told that I should wait at least 6 weeks to introduce a bottle as it may cause nipple confusion. Well I was so frustrated and tired that I figured I was going to switch to formula anyway, so if he didn't go back to the breast after the bottle I would just quite. However, he has had no nipple confusion whatsoever. Thank God! So my sweet husband can give me a break every couple of days and give little man a bottle of milk. This has been a key part in me continuing to breast feed.



On April 18 Carter turned 1 month old. I decided to take my own photos and here are some of them:

I love being a mommy!! Yes, I'm sleep deprived and covered in baby puke and pee, but he is so worth it! I feel so blessed to have this little boy in my life. He's amazing :)

Speaking of pee.... this child loves to pee on himself and everything around him. Haha! I had heard that little boys tend to do that when you open the diaper and air hits them, but wow. He doesn't do it as much anymore as we've learned how to change his diaper really fast.... I also cover his particulars with a wipe to minimize damage if he does pee. Oh joy!

Little man is currently sleeping in his swing. He loves it! It also has a removable bouncy chair that he is fond of. That bouncy chair is a lifesaver. I have managed to shower every single day by keeping the bathroom door open and putting him in the chair in the doorway. He likes the sound of the bathroom fan, it usually puts him to sleep. He's not too interested in any of his toys yet. He will hold them if we put them in his hands, but thats about it. We bought him Sophie the Giraffe, and are hoping eventually he takes interest because that thing was expensive!

He likes going for walks in the stroller and truck rides as long as we keep him moving. He usually sleeps the whole time we are out anywhere. He is unsure about tummy time right now, and will only tolerate it for about 5 minutes.

Carter sleeps in our room in the bassinet part of his playpen. The past few weeks most nights he will sleep for a four hour stretch, eat, then sleep for another three hours or so. We are hoping this continues.

Well, thats about it for now. I'll leave you with some more photos of our handsome little man:

- Amy