I was given a link to a course to get your baby to sleep at night. The course sounds like, from what I can gather online without actually paying the $30 bucks, a “cry it out” method with a few other features, and while it may come to that, I’m not ready. Plus, Elliot is still only 5 weeks old. I forget that sometimes since he is big.
However, I did see something on swaddling that made me start trying it again. Elliot does this thing that Logan and I call his “Falling out of the Uterus” Dreams, where he’ll reach out his extremities while asleep and suddenly startle when they reach just a little bit farther than he was expecting. Apparently, one of the reasons to swaddle is to prevent babies from startling themselves awake when they have these dreams. The only thing is, once again, Elliot hates the swaddle… However, he seems alright with it if we put him in it when he is deep asleep. So we are trying that again.
I am also trying to get him to eat more during his night feedings. He usually eats from one breast and then goes back to sleep, and I am often lazy and will feed him piglet style and then go back to sleep myself. The only problem is that we seem to be waking up every hour and a half for more late night snacks. So, if I could just get him to fill up his tank a little more, maybe he would sleep longer. The only problem is that he is hard to wake up after he has finished one side. Plus, it seems stupid to wake the sleeping baby in order to get MORE sleep. So far this has been a bust (ha!), but hopefully it will get better. The GERD medicine seems to be helping at night at least, so he ought to be able to eat a bigger meal without getting too uncomfortable. And maybe he is still too little. Maybe in a few more weeks he will start sleeping a little longer on his own.
All of this is in preparation for the fast approaching W Day (Mommy goes back to work day). I am feeling some pressure as this needs to come together. I have to go back to work and I have to go soon so as not to get behind in my program. So far we have the bottle feeding taught and I am attempting to build up my frozen milk stores. Now if mommy could just get a better night’s sleep, she might be ready.
Elliot in a receiving blanket that his Great Granny Dyer made.
I know that the AAP advises against alot of things, but one thing I learned with Caleb is that if it worked when my brothers and I were little, it’ll work with my kids. Try sleeping Elliot on his stomach. Ask your mom, I’m sure she slept you like that. If you really don’t want to try that, buy these bumper things and lay him on his side inside that so he can’t roll over and wake himself up. I’ll try to find some online and send you a link, or failing that send a picture of ours. Another thing you can try is keeping his room a little warmer than you would normally like or dress him in warm pjs for the night. My kids always wake more frequently when they’re too cold.
Babies do sleep better on their stomachs. Plus, when kids slept on their stomachs they developed stronger neck muscle sooner. However, I’m not willing to take the chance on SIDS. There has been a rather remarkable decline in SIDS cases since parents have been encouraged to keep babies on their backs for sleep (like 50% decrease incidence). The swaddling does seem to help with keeping him from startling himself awake. So that’s good. It’s just challenging to get him in it.