Helping my 6 1/2 month old with independence

My husband finally gave in and let me get a gym membership at a really expensive place. There were many reasons we decided to get the membership, but the most important reason was getting Micah used to other people. This gym has childcare, and it is the only one in town that will watch babies Micah's age.

He's very shy, and always wants to be with me. He also doesn't trust "new" people to hold him. This could be good, but it also has been bad because we want our friends & family to be able to play with him!

It has definitely been difficult for me to leave him when he is frightened, but I know it is for the best! Other kids have siblings, or they go to daycare, and they aren't so stressed when their parents hand them off. 

It has been a week, and yesterday we made HUGE progress. He didn't cry the entire time!! He played and was very content. The people that have been watching him were so happy for both of us, and it was nice! 

We have a wedding this weekend, and my hope is that Micah allows our family to hold him! So we will see.

Oh, and he's finally sleeping through the night, and so am I!!! 😄👍🏻

Perseverance & consistency! That's the key.

Sleeping through the night @ 6 months? Yea, right!

I have a six month old who has yet to sleep through the night, but I can see there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

We went to our six month wellness checkup, and our doctor told us that I don't need to feed him at night because he is a healthy baby. At this point it is more of a habit than anything else. Also, she suggested we just let him cry. She thinks it is better to do that now, then to have a toddler who cannot sleep, which is true. Another thing she said was to go longer between feedings, and to feed him solids three times a day. Finally, she suggested trying new foods every week!

Okay, now back to sleep…for naps, I have been putting him down awake, and letting him soothe himself. It has been going pretty well, I would say. He doesn't cry for very long in the afternoon (five-10 minutes tops). Don't get me wrong though, it isn't easy for me to let my little baby cry.
We have made his bedtime later, and that seems to have helped A LOT. He went from waking up 6-8 times, to waking up 2-3 times. This, in my opinion is great! However, a six-month-old should be sleeping longer stretches, and he isn't.

We used to go to him every time he cried to soothe him, now he can get his pacifier on his own, and put it into his mouth so when he wakes up we just let him figure it out. Last night wasn't the best because he had a really hard time going to sleep. It took him 30 minutes, and then Conrad figured out that he was really hot and he took him out of his swaddle, and switched him to a sleep sack. Then he still cried a little, switching all four pacifiers in and out of his mouth. Finally, he went to sleep, then woke up again at 12:30, and soothed himself back to sleep. Then again at 1:20, and Conrad went to him because I was afraid he would want to nurse. Conrad put the pacifiers within his reach, and he fussed for a little while before going back to sleep. He woke up again at two something, and soothed himself to sleep. At 4, he woke up and I nursed him so that I could get some more sleep. Finally, he woke up for the day at 6:30 a.m.
I think what messed him up was he took a longer afternoon nap than usual…and his last nap of the day lasted until 5:30, which I think is too late. Another thing that could have effected it was I tried to push his bedtime to 8:30 instead of 8. I don't know which of those hindered his night the most, but I will try to adjust his schedule today.
The other nights this week have been better than that, because I was keeping his schedule consistent. I know that I am going to have to just let him be, and eventually he will figure it out. I don't want him to be one, and still struggle with nighttime sleep. Also, I don't want to have to nurse him at night when he is one! I would like to start weaning him before he reaches one-year-old.
Anyway, he is much better than he was a month ago! We have friends whose babies still struggle at nighttime and they are a little older than he is, so it makes me feel a little better! I am sure things will come up all the time that make him sleep better or worse, and I am going to just have to ADAPT.
I just figure if I am not feeling right about something, I shouldn't do it. I think mothers have an instinct. However, I don't want him to be a spoiled brat who cannot be alone either! I want him to be more independent.

I will let you know how this goes. I hope your baby is getting some good nighttime sleep. Do you have any suggestions? If so, I'm all ears!

Crib sleep & weaning swaddle, 4+ months

How insane it is. Micah was sleeping seven to eight hours consistently for a month, then I have the brilliant idea to try to move him to the crib. I. AM. EXHAUSTED. My husband doesn't think that he is bad, and I would have to agree with him, but it takes me a long time to get back to sleep once I have to go into his room to put the pacifier back in his mouth. 
At this point, Micah goes to sleep at 7:30. I do a dream feed at 10:00. Then he wakes up on his own around 12:30-1 because he notices that his pacifier is not in his mouth. He cries, we respond immediately so that we can get some sleep. Then he is up again around 2, with the same issue. He goes right to sleep after the pacifier is back in, and he is up again at around 3-4 to eat. Then our day starts around 6:30-7. 
This, of course, wasn't the case when he was right next to me in his co-sleeper bassinet. I only had to nurse him once, and although he probably woke up for me to put the pacifier in his mouth all I had to do was reach over. 
I have created a little baby who is dependent on the pacifier.
Does this sound familiar? 
He doesn't use it much during the day anymore, but it is the key to getting him to relax enough to sleep. Micah has always been a good little sucker. Hehe. 
It sounds to me like we need to figure out how to break him of the pacifier, if we want to get better rest. With that said, it is recommended to have an infant sleep with a pacifier until they are nine months old, to help decrease the chance of SIDS. 
Like I've said before, conflicting things, conflicting things! 
What to do? 
He is also starting to try to roll over from back to front. He does this while in his swaddle, so I have had to start trying to wean him from swaddling. It is a difficult thing. One that takes time and a lot of effort and patience. 
Do you want to know another cycle that is happening? When he is awake in the crib, trying to go to sleep he decides to take the pacifier out of his mouth with his free hand. Then he will cry for us to put the pacifier back in his mouth! This is a vicious cycle because we are trying to wean him from the swaddle, but it is hard when he won't stop taking the pacifier out and crying because he has done so!
I don't think I should try and wean him from the pacifier and the swaddle simultaneously... I have a feeling we would go weeks with even less sleep! However, I just have to be consistent about leaving one arm out of his swaddle for naps. Then maybe he will get used to this, and then I can leave one arm out at night…then we can gradually move to two arms out. 
Who would have thought there is so much to think about, worry about, and stress about, with a little tiny baby!?
My good friend, Ashley, said it took her A LOT of time and patience, but eventually her girls were swaddle-free! 
I know it will take Micah quite some time, too! 
Until next time...

Moving to the crib at night...

OH my gosh…I am so exhausted after a week of trying to get Micah Avery to sleep soundly in his crib at night. I guess he always woke up a little at night because he wanted his pacifier, but it is a much different story when you have to get up and go to the other room and give it to him. It is not very fun having your sleep interrupted every hour for three hours straight in the middle of the night. 
Oh, and I am also nursing him once during the night, which isn't bad, but it is another time I need to get up and go into his room. Some babies could go 12-13 hours without nursing, but not Micah. Micah can go eight, but not this week. This week he has decided to go from 5-7 hours. What did I expect? That he would transition well to his crib the first night? Maybe. 

He is an easy baby, so I thought that this would be an easy thing to do. 

On top of all the aforementioned, he cannot really soothe himself with his own fingers because he is swaddled. I feel like if he didn't have to still be swaddled, he may comfort himself by sucking on his fingers, but then he wouldn't sleep well at all without being swaddled. Has anyone had this problem? 

Anyway, for about three weeks prior to him sleeping in the crib at night, I started putting him down in his crib for every nap. This has been working pretty well actually. Some days he needs me to help him fall asleep, while other days he falls asleep all on his own. 

He is waking up more often in his crib. I have been trying to research why…is it because he is cold in that room? Teething? Do different noises wake him? Who knows. 

Why can he sleep for about five hours straight, and then suddenly decide he needs his pacifier? 

These are all things I try to ask myself. I will keep trying because I know it will be better for us all if he learns to sleep well in his room. I do miss having him right next to me at night though. 

I decided to try and get him to sleep well in his crib before he hit the four month mark next week. I can't believe that the time has gone by so quickly. 

Anyway, if you are crib training right now…or have just started putting your little one in the crib at night…DON'T GIVE UP! You aren't the only one who has a stubborn little cutie, and I feel for you. :)

Crib training & sleep

Have you co-slept with your baby, and had a hard time figuring out when to transition to the crib in the nursery? My husband and I have been realizing that Micah has been more and more aware lately (at 11 weeks), and it is probably time to start trying. Since we FINALLY received the crib a couple of weeks ago, I have been laying Micah in it while awake every morning when I'm getting things ready for the day. I just started last week trying to put him down in his crib for naps. As I type, I'm rocking eagerly back and forth in the nursery rocking chair, just waiting for him to wake up. Of course, I put him down while he is sleepy, but awake because he has learned to fall asleep on his own in his co-sleeper, so I want him to get used to it in his crib, as well (it makes for easy nights). I am happy to say he has been asleep for 35 minutes now!

I don't swaddle him for naps, and I know I am supposed to, according to research, but I don't want him to only be able to sleep with a swaddle. Plus, we are mostly on the go at least half of the week, so he sleeps in car seats a lot of times. I am sorry to inform you that we don't have set nap schedules, which is completely fine with me. And this has been fine because he has been pretty easy to put down at night (knock on wood) and that is what I care most about. For example, our friends were over a lot last week, and I have been able to feed Micah, burp him, put him down awake, and attend to our guests right after...it takes me about 15 minutes! I watch him on the monitor the entire time I'm away from him though! :)

I am nervous about having him sleep five miles away from me (a slight exaggeration ;) ), but I know that it is for the best...for all of us! 

So I will continue putting him down in his room for naps at least once a day to get him comfortable with it. 

Anyway, Micah is starting to wake up because it is close to his feeding time, so I will talk to you soon!