sleep sleep, what is that even ?

When I had Crew I knew that sleep was going to be minimal. I knew that at first he was going to need to be fed every 2-3 hours during the night. What I didn't know was that it would last up until 6 months old and longer! 

 Of course, I read a lot online about certain sleep training methods. "If you just let the baby cry for 3 hours straight you never have to feed him or her at night again!" Yeah not happening. Don't judge me but I DID try out the Ferber method. Crew sadly did cry it out, a lot! For more than 10 minutes haha. First time parents here so we are just doing what we think is best. Do I feel guilt for trying the Cry It Out Method? Sure! I feel horrible, HORRIBLE, when I can't save my baby from tears. Do I feel like I was abusive or wrong in doing it? No. 

So April 20th, we decided to try Crying it Out. We were sick of rocking him to sleep and him waking up when he hit the bed. He was 6 months old and 16 pounds so we figured it would go great! For Damon and I, it was like death. Seriously death. We started it the same night we decided to have him sleep in his own room (sniffle, sniffle). He cried for 30 minutes. The longest he cried during this process was 35 minutes. We tried it for about a week straight. Did we go in and soothe him a time or too? Yes. Did that mess everything up? Who knows, but I didn't care. 

He is the happiest in the morning!

Damon and I both noticed that he was not sleeping as good as he was before! It was seriously doing nothing good. Maybe we were doing it wrong! He wasn't sleeping through the night, he was waking up after 30 minutes which he hadn't done since he was a newborn. It was all just a mess. We attempted to take away the binkie but nothing improved still. Before this whole thing he was seriously the HAPPIEST baby ever. Since doing this he was pretty grumpy and fussy. A lot of people say oh it takes like 2-3 days if you let them cry until they fall asleep. Nope! Not us. We let Crew do that a lot! For every nap (he usually took 3 a day) and at night. Still nothing on day 6.

April 27th, I went visiting teaching. The lady we visit taught has a boy a little younger than Crew so we were all chatting about sleep training and whatnot. My partner told me that with her little girl she is fine to go to bed as long as she comforts her without seeing her. She like stands outside her door and talks to her. I hadn't tried that so I figured I would try that once we got home for his second nap.

It worked! I did our usual routine and instead of leaving and hearing him cry and cry, I stood behind his crib where he can't see me and sang him a song. Then once he would look away, I would escape. He fell asleep on his own without a peep! I've been doing that ever since and its worked like a charm. There are some times where I replace the binkie but I would WAY rather do that than listen to him cry. I'm writing this post on April 30th, so its only been three days, but I've also put him to bed 12 times in those three days so I'm very hopeful!

As of night times, it's pretty much the same. He wakes up every 3-4 hours. Which he's always done. Its only twice when I'm sleeping so it's really not bad. I feel like breastfeeding babies don't sleep through the night as easy as formula babies. I am willing to wake up for him. 

In the last couple days he's totally acted himself. Super happy and chill. Maybe Crying it Out would have eventually worked for him, maybe we'll have to do it in the future. But as of now, we are going to try and avoid it like the plague. <3

04.30.17

6 MONTHS OLD

Oh my heart.

My baby is 6 MONTHS OLD as of tomorrow at 2:43pm. I am not ready for this! I felt like as long as he was under 6 months, he was still practically a newborn, now he will be closer to one than zero!

He is honestly the best baby. He is so patient with his mom. We go out and about pretty often and he just goes with it. He only gets upset when he's hungry [thank goodness for that]. He weighs about 15.5 lbs! Last week we went in cause he's had diarrhea [I think?] and a pretty nasty cough. It was just a cold but we got to see how much he weighs. For some reason we don't own a scale.

Anyways, he is such a happy, smart little guy. He knows when we are joking with him, he knows when we are excited, and he knows when it is time to go to sleep. Every time he is laid down and swaddled, he is not the happiest. We're probably just too late putting him to bed. I've been trying to get him to fall asleep in the bassinet but its not happening. I even let him cry in there for 10 minutes today. Yeah, I gave in. (: The rocking to sleep continues.

He STILL wakes up every 3-4 hour to eat and poop. Lately, he's had this weird digestion thing going on where he strains so much while pooping so he has to be awake to go. He seems to need like 4/5 big pushes for anything to happen. Then it all looks super liquidy to me so I'm guessing it's diarrhea. It makes him fussy at night which has not been the most fun for Damon and I. We're hoping it passes soon.

During the day he eats when he wakes up, unless its been a super short nap. He naps for either 45 minutes or like 2 hours if I feed him when he wakes up after the first 45 minutes. Sometimes he won't go back down after I feed him. He naps usually after he's been awake for 2 hours. His bed time is usually 6:30pm. Tonight we are going to a Mariners game so it will be interesting! I'm sure we won't stay too long. It starts at 7pm.

Evenings are HARD on me. I want to do whats best for him but I also want to enjoy things that happen in the evening. We have a lot of family dinners that usually start at 5pm and go until later, I can usually just lay him down on a bed and he'll sleep. Or he'll sleep great in someone's arms. However, when it comes to baseball games, I'm not sure how well he will do. Who knows how he will do when he gets a little older and doesn't fall asleep in our arms. Then we may have to start turning in earlier.

He is so ticklish, I LOVE IT. He loves to play, so much. He loves to look at the pages when I read him books and for some reason he gets super calm when I sing to him. Sometimes I'll be weird and sing and dance in front of him and he thinks its HILARIOUS. I'm sure he's just making fun of me.

At 6 months he can:
-hold his head up great
-roll over from his tummy to back [still working on back to tummy]
-turn pages in hard books
-play very well with toys, he loves to play with his binkie and the noisy wipes
-laugh every time we play peek-a-boo
-play well in his little jumperoo my mom got him
-stand with his back against the couch without anyone's help

04.17.17