Baby Dan sleeping with his legs up in the air.
Showing posts with label Sleep. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sleep. Show all posts
Tuesday, 16 August 2011
Friday, 12 August 2011
Saturday, 6 August 2011
Wednesday, 3 August 2011
Nappy Nap Time
Being a stay-at-home-mum gives you the opportunity to really observe on the changes that is happening with the little one. However, it can be stressful decoding what he wants, and even more, with decoding gone wrong and is returned with glass breaking shrieks and screams and tears.
So far, passing six months, it has gotten easier and easier to understand what Baby Dan wants. The struggle has always been to differentiate his sleep, eat or awake needs. Born a very alert and inquisitive baby, it has been difficult to help baby Dan sleep. Now that we have finally gotten him to sleep at night, we are still finding a way or a schedule suited for him to get the amount of nap that he needs.
Tips that I found useful:
1. Observation helps, I have to use my trusty baby log to help me log his sleep and eat activities to understand when he starts getting tired.
2. Rule of thumb for a baby younger than 7 months is that they need a nap every 90 minutes or so to recharge. Any longer they are awake, they start getting agitated.
3. Understand the appoximate total amount of sleep and nap a baby needs, ie for the first three months, they need at least 15 hours, now that baby Dan is older, it is about 14-15 hours a day including naps.
4. Having a schedule helps too, but just have it as a guide after observing. Also understand that as the baby grows, the schedule might need a little tweaking here and there.
5. The longest nap usually is the first one, and decreases later in the day.
6. Baby naps best in the place he sleeps at night. However, before 4 months or if not possible, help sooth him to nap until he finds a way to self sooth.
We have gone from swaddling too nursing until he falls asleep, to going off road with the stroller to nursing and then rockin in his carseat, to bouncing him around in his carrier. Since he was a very colicky baby, he always liked being placed in an upright position. And now we are trying the crying out for naps whenever we are home.
Currently, at six months, baby Dan's schedule has consolidated to something like this. With first nap lasting around 2 hours, followed by a 1 hour and then half an hour nap.
6.30am Rise and shine
8.00am Feed
8.45am Nap
11.00am Wake/Feed
1.30pm Nap
2.30pm Wake
4.00pm Feed
4.30pm Nap
5.00pm Wake
5.30pm Bedtime routine
6.30pm Feed/In bed
Sleep by 7.30pm
He still wakes up twice for night feeds - which we need to start eliminating.
And find a method to get him nap/sleep when we are out. As he seems to be too interested in the people, the lights, and everything that is happening. The only way now is when I am carrying him in his carrier.
Of course there are good and bad days. I think a huge amount of patience is needed to take care of a baby. Or am I just too much a perfectionist to make it right?
Sites which I frequent for reads on sleep advice or reference:
The Baby Sleep Site - http://www.babysleepsite.com
Baby Center - http://www.babycenter.com
Baby Whisperer - http://www.babywhispererforums.com
Slumbersounds - http://www.slumbersounds.com
So far, passing six months, it has gotten easier and easier to understand what Baby Dan wants. The struggle has always been to differentiate his sleep, eat or awake needs. Born a very alert and inquisitive baby, it has been difficult to help baby Dan sleep. Now that we have finally gotten him to sleep at night, we are still finding a way or a schedule suited for him to get the amount of nap that he needs.
Tips that I found useful:
1. Observation helps, I have to use my trusty baby log to help me log his sleep and eat activities to understand when he starts getting tired.
2. Rule of thumb for a baby younger than 7 months is that they need a nap every 90 minutes or so to recharge. Any longer they are awake, they start getting agitated.
3. Understand the appoximate total amount of sleep and nap a baby needs, ie for the first three months, they need at least 15 hours, now that baby Dan is older, it is about 14-15 hours a day including naps.
4. Having a schedule helps too, but just have it as a guide after observing. Also understand that as the baby grows, the schedule might need a little tweaking here and there.
5. The longest nap usually is the first one, and decreases later in the day.
6. Baby naps best in the place he sleeps at night. However, before 4 months or if not possible, help sooth him to nap until he finds a way to self sooth.
We have gone from swaddling too nursing until he falls asleep, to going off road with the stroller to nursing and then rockin in his carseat, to bouncing him around in his carrier. Since he was a very colicky baby, he always liked being placed in an upright position. And now we are trying the crying out for naps whenever we are home.
Currently, at six months, baby Dan's schedule has consolidated to something like this. With first nap lasting around 2 hours, followed by a 1 hour and then half an hour nap.
6.30am Rise and shine
8.00am Feed
8.45am Nap
11.00am Wake/Feed
1.30pm Nap
2.30pm Wake
4.00pm Feed
4.30pm Nap
5.00pm Wake
5.30pm Bedtime routine
6.30pm Feed/In bed
Sleep by 7.30pm
He still wakes up twice for night feeds - which we need to start eliminating.
And find a method to get him nap/sleep when we are out. As he seems to be too interested in the people, the lights, and everything that is happening. The only way now is when I am carrying him in his carrier.
Of course there are good and bad days. I think a huge amount of patience is needed to take care of a baby. Or am I just too much a perfectionist to make it right?
Sites which I frequent for reads on sleep advice or reference:
The Baby Sleep Site - http://www.babysleepsite.com
Baby Center - http://www.babycenter.com
Baby Whisperer - http://www.babywhispererforums.com
Slumbersounds - http://www.slumbersounds.com
Wednesday, 27 July 2011
Tuesday, 26 July 2011
Cry-It-Out
Looking back the past six months, what I dread the most about babies is the crying. I never knew before that it would be so tough.
At five months, we decided that it was time to start to put Baby Dan on sleep training, as he could only fall asleep on the breast. After painstakingly trying different methods, at the last resort, we decided that the only way to go was the cry-it-out method.
From the name, cry-it-out, you would probably be able to guess, it means to let the baby to cry. However, it does not mean letting the baby cry if he has a problem. This method means to allow the baby to cry under controlled conditions, knowing that he is fed, changed, not too cold or not too hot and do not have any prevailing illness or anything that is bothering him, ie teething.
After checking with the doctor that he is healthy, we started the first night:
5.30pm Bath
6.00pm Massage
6.30pm Feed
7.00pm Put down to the crib awake
As expected, the first night started off with a terrifying shriek and non-stop crying and screaming. We were supposed to enter the room and say good night at every 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes intervals and leave the room. After close to an hour, he finally fell asleep. We agreed to start the programme and see how it goes for 3-5 days, if all goes well, we should see a decrease in cry-time.
After 3 days, the crying decreased to 30 minutes and by the end of the fifth day, it was a record time of 15 minutes.
It was excruciating, going through the whole experience with Mi, hearing your own baby scream his lungs out. However, I think it was for the best and I am quite glad we went through it and it went well.
To date, Baby Dan sleeps much longer during naps and at night he gets the idea that mum and dad will not be there to pick him up he will just cry a little for maybe 5 minutes or less and fall asleep.
Disclaimer: Never try this before the baby hits 4 months. As a newborn, he needs all the comfort and support that you can give, there is no such thing as spoiling a newborn.
Disclaimer: Never try this before the baby hits 4 months. As a newborn, he needs all the comfort and support that you can give, there is no such thing as spoiling a newborn.
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
Nailed on the Cross
Tuesday, 19 April 2011
Sleeping Through the Night
Last night has been the third night that baby Dan has slept through the night. He slept from 8pm to 3am without a stir last night, which was great for us and a great milestone achievement knowing that some parents have problem getting their babies to sleep at night. Fingers crossed this will not be shortlived. It's funny how our bodies work, Dan started to sleep thriugh the night after he hit the 5kg mark as what experts noted. Now we are hoping he will start to learn how to self soothe himself to sleep and nap. As he's still nursing to sleep and has to be rocked or cry to nap.
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