Brooklyn did the right thing and slept for 9 hours last night before needing a snack. This has never happened in her entire life. Her record before was 7 hours, and that was months ago.
For the past three + months, our little girl has been waking up twice a night to eat, and then she decided to make life harder and occasionally bump that up to three times a night. In desperation, I changed her feeding routine at bedtime a few days ago.
During Brooklyn's whole long 5 and 1/2 months of life, I have breastfed her, and included two ounces of formula at bed time. Unnecessary? Probably, but it made me feel like she was going into the night getting enough to eat. And when I have tried to omit formula at night, she has made me pay for it by waking up every few hours throughout the night.
So a few nights ago, I fed her 4 ounces of formula, rather than her normal two, and I breastfed her like always. Then, I prepped Doug for a hard night, letting him know that I wouldn't get her when she woke up around 11-12. I'd essentially skip her first feeding. We've lucked out for the past few days, with me only feeding her twice, and then last night's little miracle happened and she lasted until 4 am.
The other nice thing is that Brooklyn hasn't fussed much at that 11ish hour--she, fully capable of crying for a good long time, has instead cried for only a minute or two before falling back asleep. Oh, my happy, grateful heart, and oh, my spoiled, overfed baby. Now I need to find diapers that will contain the enormous amount of pee this new schedule produces. I welcome suggestions!
Some day, she will sleep all through the night, and that will get its own post too:).
8 comments:
Bless you-- I am having flashes of exhaustion just reading your post! Good luck! Ever read, "Happy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby?"
Pampers Swaddlers or Baby Dry. Works like a charm for Baby V. She sleeps through the full night, from about 9-8. Diapers usually hold well, or well enough that there isn't a mess. If I use Huggies on my kids, they got diaper rash, and even the Huggies training pants don't hold very well for J.
Ahh! I have sworn by "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" throughout parenthood, but because Brooklyn hadn't proven she could last longer than 7 hours, I felt more hesitant to try it. I'm getting closer... And thanks for the suggestions, Laura.
We tried Pampers overnights with Kings and while they held his pee, he would shoot poop out the back. Let me tell you- AWESOME. Huggies fit him great- and the overnights hold everything in. He wears that thing from when I put him in it after his bath to when I change him in the morning. I only change him at night if 1- he has a diaper rash or 2-he poops. The elastic around the waist on the huggies is great for his shape. The swaddlers worked great for us when he was smaller, but again he shot poo out the backs once he got into size 3, and the cruisers caused major diaper rash- like blistered bum rash. It was horrible.
I had terrible luck finding a cream that worked for Kings. We tried everything people swore by- and eventually found A&D- which is like a miracle drug for Kings skin. We haven't had a diaper rash since we started using it like 3-4 months ago. He gets some hiney irritation depending on what his butt is expelling (peaches aren't his friend), but a light coating of A&D clears it right up within a couple of hours. And the stuff doesn't smell.
Oh man, can I just say amen to the sleeping. Grant still doesn't sleep through the night, and I posted something on facebook about him not napping (which was because he is sick) and people basically started hinting around that I must be doing something wrong with his schedule. Um, Moms should know that when you are sleep deprived, you don't need people judging your mom schedule. Anyway, we are sleep training and have been for a while, but I think part of our issue is that he is a bottomless pit and never seems to be full. He has done better lately, but it sure is hard.
BexxT, the BEST diaper rash cream is Boudreaux's Butt Paste--the ONLY thing we have had that works, and works for us the first time! :) And, it's fun to go to Walmart for "Butt Paste." ;)
Oh, and Little Old Me...once when I was in a discussion about sleep schedules, I was told that my daughter will have permanent brain damage because I let her fuss for five minutes sometimes, and that she will not trust me as an adult b/c of the trauma of it all. Seriously. I feel you.
I can't handle how cute Brooklyn is in that picture. She's beautiful!!
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