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| Mathias' first Halloween was a success! |
So, I have presented you with the long-awaited Halloween picture! Look at that chubby little dragon, all ready to go forage for some treasure. At the end of the night, he actually slayed Matt with his own sword. Just kidding, although we both did get a few good whacks to the head! But what else can be expected of a feral, rampaging baby dragon in dire need of a nap?
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| Our big boy was in excellent spirits the day after he was a dragon |
Now, on to the seriousness and the real reason behind this update: our sleep. As many of you already know, Mathias has slept in bed with me and my husband since the first night we brought him home. Our plan had been for him to sleep in the bassinet beside the bed, then eventually his crib in the nursery. However, that first night, despite being in a fleece sleeper and swaddled in two blankets, Mathias got cold. So, we brought him into bed with us and tucked him under our covers. For the first several months, I would get up and take him into the nursery for the night feedings, partially in fear of waking up Matt and mostly because I hadn't quite figured out how to nurse lying down. Once the latter was mastered, neither of us left the bed until morning.
While this was very convenient, it was also a mistake to a certain degree: Mathias became accustomed to nursing throughout the night, and up until a week ago, had somehow managed to INCREASE his nightly feedings to every hour and a half or so. That made for one tired and grumpy mommy, I'll admit. One morning, after a particularly rough night, I asked Matt to get up with Mathias when he rose for the day at about 7 AM. Matt obliged, of course, as I hadn't asked him to do so in several months. However, when I got up, he not-so-gently mentioned that Mathias' wonky sleep schedule was my fault, and that perhaps he would sleep better in his crib.
Now, I'm very attached to Mathias being in bed with me. Matt is not home three nights a week, and having that little warm body in bed next to me is very comforting--not to mention how sweet it is to wake up to a smiling baby face in the morning. However, I sort of saw his point. Mathias had been inadvertently conditioned to wake every few hours and nurse, without any real need to do so. To add to it, I couldn't sleep train him in bed at this point, because he would just crawl off the side if not attended to. Cue the weeping mother; this meant no more co-sleeping, at least for the duration of the so-called "sleep training".
Mathias needed to start sleeping in his crib.
I put together a quick schedule that day after browsing several results from a google search of "10 month old sleep schedules". Here is the schedule I've come up with:
7AM -- Wake up, nursing session
7:30 AM-- Breakfast
9:00 AM-- Snack
10:00 AM-- Nursing session followed by nap
12:00 PM-- Lunch
2:00 PM-- Snack
3:00 PM-- Nursing session followed by nap
5:30 PM-- Dinner
6:30 PM-- Bathtime
7:00 PM-- Bedtime
The actual time of sleep, so far, isn't until 8 or later. Seven is when the bedtime ritual begins (minus the bath): brush teeth, go to nursery, read a book. After the book is read, I turn on the night light, turn off the light and lay Mathias down in his crib. I then sit next to the crib and sing a lullaby to him while he a) cries (the first three nights) and I stroke his head / rub his back to comfort him, or b) stares off into space (the past two nights).
These past two nights, after about 10 minutes or so of space staring, he stands up and grabs at my hair. I then move a couple feet away into the rocker, close enough to reach out to him, but far enough that he can't reach me. He then whines at me for about 15 minutes, alternating between half-crying and babbling (almost like he's telling me off), at which point I cave and stand beside his crib, snuggling his head against my stomach. At his point, I've been able to lay him back down and he falls asleep within five minutes while I again stroke his head.
I have always been against the "cry it out" method. To me, this is not that method. I ensure that Mathias is fed, hydrated, and has a clean diaper. I am right there to comfort him with words and touch, and if it at any point he seems too worked up, I will not hesitate to pick him up out of the crib. However, so far, this seems to be working. He falls asleep more quickly each night, with less effort on my part, and stays asleep several hours longer than he did while cosleeping. For example, he wakes up once at 2 AM now, as opposed to going to bed around 9, waking at 10:30, at midnight, at 2, and at 5.
It has only been 5 days so far (counting tonight), so I'm hoping to see even more improvement (especially in how long it takes for him to fall asleep) over the next couple weeks. My main goal is to get him comfortable enough in his crib that he doesn't feel the need to cry if I am not right next to it, patting him through the slats.
And my main goal for myself is to stop caving at the 2 AM feeding and bringing him back into bed with me, of course. Baby steps for both of us.
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| Mathias playing with a toy in my lap while I'm playing a video game |
