Welp, using the wonderful methods of the Baby Whisperer we have been able to move Reagan (5.5 months old) from a 3-hour routine to a 4-hour routine and turned her 30 minute naps into 1.5-2 hour naps while also improving her night time sleeping and taught her how to self-soothe.
Here's what I've learned in the past 8 days:
1. To move from the 3 to 4 hour routine - start by trying to extend the morning nap (using Pick Up/Put Down or placing hand on baby's chest)
2. Following a schedule can be helpful - but don't be too strict on yourself or baby about the times... I needed to focus more on getting her to sleep longer during the day - at one or two instances I woke her from her nap, which, in my opinion was just plain silly
3. Daytime sleep really does help sleeping at night.
4. There is a progression when teaching self-soothing. I tried Pick Up/Put Down, which didn't work for Reagan. Then we progressed to placing a hand on her chest and shhing. This worked well to start helping her get longer. After the first four days, she started to cry when we left the room, so we had to just let her cry :-( But, I was okay with this because by that time I was starting to understand her cries better AND she started to cry again as we started to walk out of the room.
5. For a faster result - stay home - for your sanity - get out ;-)
Here's the complete log:
Day #1:Wake: 7am
Nap #1: Down at 8:20 and up at 9:30am
We went to a birthday party, so I fed her and took her out - she slept in the car for about 30 minutes (oh, well)
Nap #3: Down at 12:30pm; I don't remember when she got up - but I know there was plenty of patting and shhing
Nap #4: Sorry, I don't remember this one either
Night #1:Bedtime: 7pm
Wake #1: 9:30pm - I fed her
Wake #2: 12:30am - Kevin soothed her back to sleep (around 15 minutes)
Wake #3: 2:30am - Kevin tried soothing her for around 30 minutes - I fed her
She slept until morning (no 5am waking:-)
(Note: I went to bed and read the first night early - in bed and reading at 7:30pm and asleep at 8:30pm - I think this helped me a ton - even if Kevin did most of the heavy lifting this night :-)
Day#2:Wake: 7am
Nap#1: Down at 8:20am up at 9:30am - tried patting until 10am
Naps #2, 3 and 4: We went to church - so she didn't go back down for her second nap until 1:30pm
took three one-hour naps in the afternoon
Night #2: Bedtime: 7pm
Wake #1: 9:30pm - I fed her
Wake #2: 12:45am - Since Kevin had to get up at 6 am, I was on-call. It took me one hour to get her to go back to sleep. At around the 45 minute mark, she just started staring at me. I just left the room, I hear her talking to herself for a bit and she eventually went back to sleep.
Day #3:Wake 7am
Nap #1: Down at 8:30am - woke at 9:20am (I got her up, but she was fussy and I should have patted her back to sleep, Oops)
Nap #2: Down at 11:30am - woke at 12:05pm (I didn't go into her at all. She was talking to herself and whimpering a tired cry.) Fell back to sleep around 12:20 and slept until I woke her at 1:15
Nap#3: Down at 2:30 - but asleep (and needed some help with the shhing and the hand on her belly) at 2:45pm - woke at 3:40 (had to shh and hand on belly but didn't go back to sleep)
Nap#4: Down at 5:30 - woke at 6:05pm
Night #3:
She had a little bit of trouble going down at 7:15, but finally fell asleep by 7:45pm
10pm Dreamfeed
Wake#1: 5am - Can't really blame her - we were awake about 5 minutes before going, "Did she just sleep all night?" I had trouble getting her to go back to sleep, but finally had success after I fed her around 6:15am
Day #4:Wake 7:10am
Nap #1: Down at 8:45am - up at 9:30am (hand and pacifier back to sleep in less than 5 minutes) - up again at 9:55am (back to sleep in less than a minute with hand and pacifier)
Nap #2: Down at 11:55am - woke up at 12:30pm (wasn't able to successfully get her back to sleep)
Nap #3: Down at 2:45pm - up at 3:20 (Hand/pacifier back to calm, but did not go back to sleep - even though she was clearly tired)
Nap #4: Down at 5pm (super sleepy:-( I woke her (after great internal debate) at 6pm, fed her and put her right back to bed at 6:30
Night #4: Bedtime: 6:30pm
Wake #1: 9:50pm - Oh, well (not-so-dreamy feed)
Wake #2: 3:30am (shh, hand, pacifier back to sleep in 15 minutes for Daddy)
Wake #3: 4:45am - I fed her
Day #5:Wake 7am
Nap #1: Down at 8:45am - up at 9:30am - still tired, but wouldn't go back to sleep
Nap #2: Down at 12:15pm - woke up at 12:45, but I didn't go in to her - she was making a fussy-tired cry - fell back to sleep at 1:15pm and slept until she woke up SO HAPPY at 2:20pm :-) (this went against the "schedule, but whatever. She fell back to sleep and that IS the point.)
Nap #3: THE TRAIN CAME OFF THE TRACKS EVEN MORE!! Reagan and I were enlisted to complete a very, very important mission. We took one for the team - well, she took most of it and I was just the tiniest bit grumpy about it. Down at 5:45pm - YIKES - Up at 6:30pm
Night #5:Bedtime 7pm
Wake#1: 3:45am (Daddy hand for 10 minutes or so/then Mommy took over - once the crying stopped and the staring and talking took over - back to bed. She fell back to sleep at 4:15ish)
Wake #2: 4:45am - fed her --- hmm could this be a pattern?
Day #6: Wake 7:30am - (oops)
Nap #1: 9:30am - woke at 10am and went back to sleep on her own at 10:30am - slept until 11am
Nap #2: 12:45pm - woke at 1:30pm but went back to sleep on her own at some point... woke at 2:40pm
Nap #3: 4:30pm - woke up super fussy at 5pm and wouldn't go back to sleep - early
Night #6: Bedtime 6:30pm
Wake #1: 9pm - back to sleep in around 10 minutes after a bit of fussing - we didn't go into her
Wake #2: 2:45am (she went back to sleep after about 30 minutes of fussing - still didn't go in)
Wake #3: 5am - I fed her
Day #7: Wake 7:30am
Nap #1: 9:20-11:30am!!! HOORAY! She woke for about 30 minutes at 10am
Nap #2: 1:45pm-4pm! DOUBLE HOORAY!! She took sometime going down - but I don't think she woke!
Night #7:Bedtime 6:40pm
Wake #1: 9pm (we were at a friend's home and she was in her Pack N' Play)
10pm dreamfeed
Wake #2: 3am (went back to sleep after Dad flipper her over to her back and gave her pacifier)
Day #8:Wake 7am
Nap #1: 9-10:30am
Nap #2: 1-2:30pm
Nap #3: 4-5pm
Night #8:Bedtime 7pm
Wake #1: 9:30pm (we were at another friend's home, so whatcha gonna do?)
Wake #2: 11pm (went back to sleep on her own)
Wake #3: 3am (went back to sleep on her own)
Recent Comments