1 Night Down

I am going to vent to the blog more often!  Thank you to all of my friends that posted on here and on my facebook with suggestions for helping little man sleep.  Actually for helping me sleep.  I left work yesterday feeling confident in my ability to teach Deuce how to sleep comfortably in his crib, on his own.  I was actually excited for the night so I could see what would happen.  I made a few changes to the nighttime routine and honestly, I'm not sure how it worked because I slept all night long.  Yep, I have no idea if the child cried for 5 hours straight (I highly doubt it) because I was asleep from 11:30pm until 7am.  I know you're saying that was only 1 night...don't get to excited, but I feel better about my ability to sleep without worrying so much.  If he did scream all night long, he was sleeping comfortably when I woke up this morning and he was alive and well when I went to get him this morning.  So in my mind...success on try 1 was achieved.

So the changes I made: 

I swaddled him again.  I am convinced that he gets cold at night.  I have a big people's boppy that I slept with when I was pregnant. (Highly recommended for anyone that is currently pregnant and sleeping without one.)  When I put Deuce in our bed, I lay him in the boppy and pull the covers over him.  He will sleep for hours like this, even if nobody else is in the bed with him.  I swear it's because he is warm and cuddled up.  But I don't have anything in his crib because they say not to put anything in there so they don't suffocate or succumb to SIDS.  So after swaddling him last night, I laid his Zoobie over him and put Mashaka's head by his head.  The blanket is light enough that I didn't feel like it would suffocate him but it would keep him warm enough.

I also put a sippy cup of water in his crib after a suggestion from Carrie.  He doesn't quite know how to use it yet but I figured if he woke up and found it in his crib maybe he would play with it for awhile and figure it out.  I also put his baseball bat in his crib.  He LOVES his baseball bat.  He holds it with a really strong grip and hits everything in sight.  He crawls with it in his hand and he pulls up on everything with it in his hand.  Then he beats on whatever is in front of him.  He's like a miniature caveman with that thing.  I thought well if he wakes up, he can pick up his bat and just start beating away in his crib and maybe that will occupy him until he falls back asleep.

I also bought a new formula for him to use at night.  He gets 8 ounces of formula around 8:30 every night.  Both Ed & I had noticed that when he was waking up at night he would let out an enormous amount of gas with each loud cry.  Now that should have been obvious to you Rachel, you are probably thinking, but let me just tell you...this child lets out an enormous amount of gas ALL DAY!  And laughs when he does it.  (He gets it honest, I must say.  Sorry honey, TMI, I know.)  I mean he poots like a grown man.  Ed tells me not to say he poots because the way it comes out of his tail it is a full blown FART!  It never bothers him during the day so I wasn't sure if that was the issue at night but I decided to get a formula for fussiness & gas for him to use at night just in case.  So we used that last night.  I also added cereal to his bottle last night.  I know it's a "no-no" to add it to his bottle but whatever.  I am desperate.  He usually has cereal in the morning and at lunch because it tends to make him blow out his diaper.  I mean the child has extremely healthy bowels with the way he "farts" and fills up his diaper 3-4 times a day. (Sorry if that's TMI again.)  So I never gave him cereal at night because I didn't want him to wake up from a dirty diaper, regardless of whether or not it would make his belly full.  But last night I gave him cereal with his new formula in his last bottle.  I topped him off with some Mylicon for the gas and some Ibuprofen for the sore gums.

Finally, for myself:  I went to bed without the monitor.  I just didn't turn it on.  I did wake up once during the night and turned it on to take a peak and he was sound asleep.  I have no clue what time this was I just know he was asleep.  Ed made sure I turned it back off and the next thing I knew it was 7am.  I got up and turned the monitor on and he was asleep on his knees and forearms.  I got up, showered got ready for work, packed his bottles & bag and he was still asleep.  When he finally woke up he stood up in his crib and kind of yelled.  Not really a cry but more like a "Hey, I am still in here" sort of yell.  I went in and got him and was very exuberant with him so he would know I was happy to see him and thankful for the sleep he allowed me.  He just smiled and kissed me when I picked him up.  Okay, more like sucked the makeup off my cheek, but close enough.  So he was in his crib from 9:45pm to 7:45am.  YEA!!!!!!!!!!

1 night down....

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