Sleep Training: Phase Two, Day Two

(Above: do you think she likes her new "baby crack mobile"? Poor Sleep.Sheep sure is taking a beating.)

Last night went pretty well.

Before I went to bed, I nervously prepared a bottle with only three ounces of thawed breast milk (I'm digging into my stash and freezing the fresh stuff because otherwise the frozen will expire and have to be discarded). I was so worried I'd be depriving my child and putting her back to bed hungry, even though, as I said in my last post, I promised myself that I wouldn't leave her crying from hunger in her crib. (Even just writing what I wouldn't do gives me the chills!)

She slept from 8:15 to 4:15 last night. Actually, I think she woke up a couple of times before that, the first time at 12:30 am, which I decided was ridiculously early and refused to take seriously. Anyway, at those earlier times I just gave her the pacifier and we both went back to sleep. So four thirty was when she was up for real. I took her in the living room to feed her in the glider because trying to feed her in bed and constantly falling asleep is more annoying than helpful. She chomped down and sucked determinedly and I was sure the three ounces wouldn't be enough.

After a while she showed signs of slowing down and the bottle felt suspiciously light, so I figured it must be nearly empty. When I pulled it from her mouth, though, there was still an ounce left. I put it down momentarily to burp her. When I tried to resume feeding her... she took a few sleepy, halfhearted sucks... and then, nothing.

So I gave her the pacifier and put her back in the crib, hoping she wouldn't be up again in an hour.

She went right to sleep.

Of course, she coughed on and off for the next hour, and each time she did, she lost the pacifier and cried for it to be replaced. Normally it falls out once she's asleep and she's fine, but I think the coughing was keeping her from sleeping very well. But given she has this miserable productive cough, I didn't want her to feel even more like she was being punished, so each time she lost it, I hopped out of bed and put it back in her mouth. Luckily, I guess, we share a room. Eventually she stopped coughing and went all the way to sleep. That hour was rough for me -- not great sleep -- but at least she stayed in her crib, and she did her very best to sleep!

She woke up at 6:30 am. The book says she should be in her crib until a few minutes before 7... but giving the pacifier wasn't helping her to be patient! Then I remember her new-to-her baby mobile. My friend Catherine likens this mobile to baby crack. It's that good! It beats the pants off her old, wind-up, lasts-only-90-seconds-per-wind one. This one has stripes and moving parts and everything (and is battery powered) and she loves it.

So I turned on the mobile and lo and behold, she stayed contentedly in her crib until 7 am, when I got up (grateful for the extra half hour of sleep!).

After nursing and a few minutes on the play mat on the floor, she was ready to sleep again (after being out of the crib about 45 minutes, plus the 30 minutes awake in the crib).

The book says she should consolidate to a one hour nap in the morning and a two hour nap in the afternoon, but my girl still sleeps more like a newborn -- a 2-3 hour nap in the morning and afternoon and at least an hour evening nap. I can't say that I mind all the time to myself, even though I love our time together! It means that the time we do spend together, she's smiling and alert and active. I'm not quite sure I will know how to entertain her when she stays up for longer! Right now when she cries on her playmat, it means that she's tired, not that she's tired of the playmat per se.

So the book says that if she decreases how much she ate by herself, I should only offer that lesser amount tonight (versus decreasing by a half an ounce every third night if she was finishing the whole thing). But to only offer my little baby two ounces??? I'm not sure if I can pull that off. Not because of her, because of me. So we shall see. I may offer two and a half ounces to split the difference. Or perhaps I'll put two in one bottle and prepare another with one ounce, just to have at the ready (it seems ridiculous to only put a half ounce in a bottle -- to hard to get every last drop out).

It's good to be able to blog about this minutiae -- gives me the courage to continue this crazy sleep training.