So Stella is now 15 pounds, 5 months old, and certainly not needing that 11pm, 2am, and 5am feedings before she wakes at 7am. About a month ago, she slept for 10 hours straight for about 2 weeks, and we thought we were golden, and then now, not so much.
So after consulting a myriad of baby sleep books from the library and friends (because I'm into research, that's what I do), we finally settled on a plan we thought would be ok - a "dream feed" when I go to bed (nursing in their sleep to fill up their tummies one last time) and then nothing until 6am.
2:20 am. Stella wakes up happily babbling.
2:30am. Stella starts to get frustrated that I have come in yet.
2:35am. Stella starts to cry and I go in.
2:40am. Stella continues to cry because I don't feed her.
2:42am. Aimee starts crying and cannot handle it anymore.
2:43am. Steve goes in to try his hand at comforting.
2:45am. Steve starts singing a lullaby and Stella IMMEDIATELY quiets. Amazing. She starts doing cute things like grabbing her feet and putting them to her mouth. Steve beings to laugh and starts to play with her.
2:47am. Steve realizes that he had better not play with her. Oops.
2:50am. Stella starts crying again.
2:53am. Steve turns on lullaby music and Stella stops crying.
2:59am. One more burst of tears.
3:00am. Stella is asleep.
3am - 4:30am - Steve and Aimee lie in bed wondering if they have scarred their daughter... feel guilty... try to sleep themselves... feel more guilty... then feel ok that maybe this won't have to happen too many nights in a row.
Woosh. What a night folks.
2 comments:
You're doing great! Hang in there. Don't you find that parenting is finding a balance between helping and letting go? I find the letting go to be harder than the helping...
I agree with Heather, well said, LaFo. ;) Hannah used to get those late night bursts of energy...she wasn't hungry, just wanted to say, "hi." So, I would go in, keep lights low (just a night light) & talk to her quietly & play "quiet" games & then sing "hush little baby" until she went to sleep again. I didn't pick her up...it's bed time, so I would just talk to her while she laid in her crib (usually I hung lifelessly over the side of her crib while talking, but whatev). Sometimes she'd have shat up her back & I had to pick her up...I have a feeling it was all part of her plan...xoxoxo
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