04/20/2011 21 weeks
So there has been a lot of improvement in the past few days. After several failed attempts with crying it out I did two things. One I picked up Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth and I called Jackson’s pediatrician to get her take on what I should do. I was hesitant to call his pediatrician because not sleeping didn’t seem like a problem worthy of a call. I spoke with a friend who goes to the same pediatrician that I do and she said she calls them all the time and that not sleeping is definitely worthy of a call. Also I was almost in tears every time I had to put Jack down for a nap. I decided it was time to call.
Dr. P who told me to let him cry for 30 minutes and to not go in the room. Since every time I went in the room he only screamed louder. We tried this on Saturday and it worked well but Sunday we were at my parents and trying was not an option because it upset my dad too much. I felt like I was fighting a losing battle and even though I managed to get my mom on board after going over with her what Dr. P had said and what I had read in the book. She won’t let him cry but she will let him fuss which is a start.
I’ve read about ½ of the sleep book, though I’ve read the whole section on babies Jackson’s age and really like that Dr. W provides you with a schedule to use for the baby which really seems to work. The schedule is based on a babies natural sleep rhythms and advises putting a baby to bed during a “sleep cycle”. Since Monday we have been following it loosely and it seems to be working. Lots more napping and lots more happy baby and happy mommy. The book recommends putting him to bed earlier which does seem to suit Jackson but he has been waking up at about 430 – 5 and I’ve been getting up and feeding him and then putting him right back to bed. The early waking started before the early bedtime so I don’t think they are related. This is another book that I love and just like Happiest Baby, I would give this book as a gift. I picked up my copy from the library but I have every intention of buying a copy because I can imagine referencing this book for years and sleepless nights to come.
Now that we’ve gotten some control over the nap Jack has started to eat his rice cereal. This was another battle that I talked about with Dr. P, she suggested putting the cereal in his bottle which was an epic fail. I gave Jackson the cereal loaded bottle and he screamed immediately. I tried it again but he continued to scream. I think that his bottle, especially the last one of the day brings him such comfort that he couldn’t handle it being messed with. So I ditched the cereal bottle immediately, all that screaming was not worth a second attempt. Dr. P also suggested mixing a teaspoon of banana baby food into a bowl of rice cereal. We tried this and it seems to work. John fed him this afternoon and he ate a lot of the cereal and seemed to like it. It felt like he had finally gotten the hang of it.
In other big Jackson news he got a tooth about 5 days ago. It appeared out of nowhere. I’m not sure if the lack of sleep and the added fussiness had anything to do with the tooth. But there it is his first pearly white. He also rolled over from his back to his belly on 04/15/11. Now that he can do this he rolls all over the place all the time. When placed on the floor he rolls himself from back, to belly to back again. When I put him in his crib he rolls on to his belly and usually ends up sleeping there. At this point I leave him be. I don’t want to disturb him and the books say if he can roll that the chance of SIDS is decreased and that there is no point in moving him because he will just roll back.
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