Our Sleep Training Journey :: Day 6

I think instead of Day 6 we should name last night, "Mommy fail". Again we are making baby-step progress, but I was not helping the situation one bit.

Here is the summary of our night:

7:55 - Natalie was in bed
8:10 - Asleep, with absolutely no crying

I put Claire to bed at 8:30, wrote yesterdays update and by 9:45 I could hardly keep my eyes open. Ryan noticed that I grabbed a blanket and put the recliner into recline mode. Since me falling asleep at this point is inevitable, he suggested that we should go to bed. He watched television in our room while I fell asleep in 3.2 seconds after my head hit the pillow. I had set my alarm for 11:00 pm, my first scheduled dreamfeed. Apparently, I was tired because Ryan said he did everything in his power to wake me up when the alarm went off and it just wasn't happening.

11:15 - Natalie woke up screaming, which woke me up and then I finally turned the alarm off (sorry Ryan!). She screamed for 4 minutes before settling back down. I was going to wait for 10 minutes of silence before entering her room to make sure she was actually asleep before dreamfeeding. I didn't set the alarm (obviously wasn't thinking there) and went back to sleep myself.

2:35 - Natalie cried, I woke up and realized that I had totally skipped her first dreamfeed. I really needed to feed her!
2:45- Dreamfed her for 7 minutes (instead of the scheduled 3) since I needed her to eat longer for my sake.  I also was feeling awful about skipping the first feeding and wanted to let her eat as much as she would have if we had done the 4 minute and 3 minute feedings.
2:52 - Put Natalie in bed, somewhat awake.  She rolled over and went right back to sleep.

6:15 - Dreamfeed for 4 minutes

7:45 - I woke Natalie up for the day.

The good news is that she went 7 hours between feedings.  This is a stretch that I didn't think she was capable of.  We also only had two dreamfeedings throughout the night.  However, I am a bit worried that I set us back with my longer feeding and sleeping through the first dreamfeed.

We are nearing in on a week since we began the sleep training, I sure hope that things really start to click this week!  We should be done with at least one dreamfeed in the next few days.

Our Sleep Training Journey :: Day 5

I would like to thank everyone who has been so supportive of our sleep training. It is a huge encouragement during this physical and emotional challenge. I am starting to feel fatigued from waking to the alarm clock to dreamfeed and waking when Natalie cries. Like so many of the nights, last night was a combination of success and set-back.

Here is how it went:

8:05 - Natalie was in bed, she didn't cry or complain one bit, but it took her 15 minutes to fall asleep

11:18 - She screamed for 3 minutes and was very angry

11:30 - Dreamfeed, she somewhat woke up when I got her out of bed. I wondered if I didn't let her sleep for a long enough time after the screaming

2-3:25 - She was angry, very unsettled. She was rolling around a lot and fussing quite a bit. There was lots and lots of up and down throughout the hour. However, since she kept settling herself down we didn't go in her room to do any checks.

3:35 - Dreamfeed: again, she woke up when I entered the room. I think I need to give her a longer time after fussing to feed her.

7:00 - She began to stir and since it has nearly been 11 hours since she initially went to sleep, I woke her up rather than doing another dreamfeed (we wanted her to take an earlier morning nap anyway).

She took two pretty good naps today, but again had a hard time going to sleep. Lots of playing in her bed (which is MUCH better than screaming).

I am encouraged that the feedings were stretched once again she went 4 hours twice and 3.5 hours once. I also count it as a success that there were technically only two dreamfeeds and one was before I even went to bed. However, she was quite unsettled awoke easily. The fussy time for 1.5 hours was perplexing since she had been doing better settling down. However, I read that they often have a setback sometime in the first week so I am hopeful that is now over with.

I know this system will work, it may take a little longer than I had anticipated. It will be so worth it when we sleep through the night!!

Natalie also has the signs of the start of the cold that has been plaguing her sister. I am hoping that this doesn't set us back too far, but I also know how to get us back on track.

Thank you for your continued prayers and encouragement. I am hoping to blog about more exciting things in the very near future ;-)

Our Sleep Training Journey :: Day 4

Day four felt very much like days two and three. I don't know how to feel about this. On one had I am VERY thankful that she hasn't had an awful night, but on the other-hand I was really hoping for some more progress. Typical me, I am having a hard time being patient.

Here is how our night went:

7:59 - Natalie was in her bed
8:06 - Asleep

10:20 - Fussy for two minutes

10:55 - Dreamfeed for 5 minutes

I set my alarm for 2:00, apparently I didn't want to get up and hit snooze until 2:45.

2:45 - Dreamfeed for 5 minutes

4:30 - Natalie was standing and screaming
4:35 - Asleep

5:45 - Dreamfeed for 4 minutes

8:15 - Woke up on her own

There were a few other times through the night that she fussed, but it wasn't long enough to even write down. So here we are again, she fussed more times than the previous night but the duration of each time was shorter. We did successfully push her feedings past three hours as she went 3.5 and 4 hours so I am encouraged in that regard. I am ready to not set my alarm any longer. I do know that the system works, and I will continue to dreamfeed until she is successfully weaned.

I think I will try to push her feedings again tonight in hopes that she gets used to not having a full tummy and is able to stay asleep.

Top 5 Saturday Laughs

Happy February!  I will call January the month of the sick children in our house.  Historically, January has been a bad health month in our family and this year was no different.  I was ready for it to leave and hopefully have healthy kids.  Claire woke up yesterday morning with a nasty head cold that made her miserable the last two days.  I am really hoping that Natalie will avoid it so her sleep training progress can continue.  I have been rather consumed with this (yes, I get neurotic over things and obsess just a little bit) so I know we had many more laughs than what I wrote down.  In my sleep deprived state, I just can't remember them all!  So I must apologize since they are a little weak.

5.  Claire finds this little game we play especially funny and it is one of my favorites.  She likes to wipe off my kisses and thinks she is the funniest thing when I make a big deal that she wiped it off.  I pretend to get all mad and hold her hands so she can't wipe them off.  Of course she always wipes them off and I get to give her more ;-)  This week, she wants me to wipe off her kisses which makes for twice the un-protested kisses!

4.  Natalie has started the "So Big" game.  She laughs so hard when you ask her how big she is.  She throws her arms in the air and screams when we exclaim, "So Big!"

3. I was putting our things in the car one afternoon after day care and Claire wanted to get in right away.  She began pushing on my butt and yelled, "Mom, move your big booty!"  I replied, "Claire, that's not very nice to talk to Mommy like that, how do you ask nice?"  Claire said, "Mom, move your big booty, please!"  I seriously cracked up.  Earlier in the day, my co-workers and I were discussing the Brazil Butt Lift exercise video. I guess it's time to invest!

2.  Natalie has started to pat my back when I pick her up.  She rests her head on my shoulder and pats my back.  It is so cute!!  I just love it!

1.  My favorite laugh of the week was told to me by our day care provider.  Claire and her friend Taylor were playing with dolls.  Taylor had a bottle to feed her baby, but Claire did not.  Taylor told Claire that her baby wasn't able to eat until after Taylor was done with the bottle.  Claire responded, "It's ok, I am feeding my baby with my booby"  I guess Taylor looked at our day care lady like this girl is crazy!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.  Make sure you check out the rest of the laughs hosted by Melissa at The Mommyhood Chronicles

Our Sleep Training Journey :: Day 3

I'm not really certain if we made progress on day three, but we did not go backwards.  I was certainly more tired today, but I am always tired by the end of a week.

Here is how our night went yesterday:

7:45 - Natalie in bed awake
8:02 - Asleep with hardly any crying, just the initial protest when I walked out of the room

10:40 - Dreamfeed, 7 minutes.  Natalie didn't wake up at all, put her back in bed with no response.

2:00 - Dreamfeed, 6 minutes.  Natalie woke up when I put her in bed, but rolled over and went right back to sleep.

4:35 - Woke up, stood and screamed in bed for a few minutes, continued to fuss on and off while laying down and rolling around
4:50 - Asleep

5:00 - Scheduled dreamfeed.  However, Claire woke up when her pull-up leaked and I went in to change her bedding.

5:12 - Natalie started screaming while wrapping up with Claire.  This was such a bummer since I was just about to head to her room to feed her!  She was fussing a little more than she had 45 minutes earlier, but not enough where we felt like we had to do our check-ins.  She was laying down for the most part.  Ryan and I agreed that it would probably just cause her to be more upset if we went in.
5:27 - She was laying still and quiet.  I decided to wait five minutes before I went to dreamfeed her.
5:32 - Headed to her room to dreamfeed.  Natalie cried as I was about to open her door.
5:37 - Dreamfeed while pseudo-awake

7:45 - Woke Natalie up

Natalie made progress by decreasing the number of times that she was awake.  In addition, she slept her longest consecutive stretch (8:00-4:30).  However when she was awake the fussing increased and it seemed to take her longer to settle down both times.  I am not sure if this is an improvement or more of a lateral move.  I am hoping to see very real progress over the weekend!

Please keep the sleep prayers coming!  I so thankful that I am seeing progress, but I know that our dreamfeeds are getting shorter.  We are getting closer to stopping them all together.  This makes me nervous, since she hasn't increased her daily calorie intake very much.  I don't want her waking out of hunger (or the habit of eating) and setting us back.

Our Sleep Training Journey :: Day 2

The second night went much like the first, but I would say it was ever so slightly improved.  With Sleep Easy, you are told to keep a sleep chart to help see the progress so I  was pleasantly surprised to see that Natalie was fully awake less times.  However, there were a couple times that she cried for a longer amount of time than the previous night.  These crying spells were not a constant cry though so I will again call that a victory.

Here is how our night went:

8:02 - Natalie was in bed
8:10 - Asleep

11:00 - Dreamfeed 7 minutes, she stayed asleep when I put her back in bed

11:20 - Woke up, found her pacifier and was back to sleep very quickly

I had set my alarm to wake her at 2:00 to dreamfeed, but Natalie had other plans:
1:58 - Woke up, stood up, then quickly laid down then continued to complain occasionally
2:11 - Asleep

2:23 - Dreamfeed 7 minutes

I turned my alarm off at the 5:00 scheduled dreamfeed and went back to sleep - oops
6:14 - Dreamfeed 6 minutes

7:45 - Woke Natalie up for the morning

She didn't take a morning nap again today, but laid there for over an hour.  She took a three hour afternoon nap.

For the first time in a long time, Natalie drank both her bottles in full today at daycare!  A welcomed sign to a pumping mama who doesn't like to dump milk :-)  I am hopeful that this means she is going to start taking more calories during the daylight hours, making night-time weaning much easier.

I also have noticed a huge difference in myself.  I am enjoying time with my kids much more.  I am less impatient and everyone is getting more sleep.  We are even putting Claire to bed earlier since quiet time begins at 8:00.  I am sure my family, friends and co-workers notice a difference since I'm not complaining about the lack of sleep and walking around like a zombie.

Thank you to everyone who is following our journey and all your prayers and encouragement.  It is appreciated more than you realize!

Our Sleep Training Journey :: Day 1

It wasn't as bad as I originally thought it would be. It almost felt a little too good to be true!  Here is how our night went:

7:45 - Nursed Natalie and tried to keep her awake
8:00 - In her crib awake, standing and screaming when I left the room
8:05 - Laid down
8:11 - Asleep
Since she has been able to put herself down initially, I was not terribly excited at this point and I just waited for her to wake up.

10:03 - Woke up, standing and screaming
10:07 - Laid down
10:08 - Asleep
This was a victory since she had yet to do this.  Granted, I was always very quick to get her and feed her in an attempt to keep her from fully waking up.  I didn't nurse her and she went right back to sleep!

11:08 - Go in room to get her up to dreamfeed, realized that Natalie had a messy diaper and had to be changed.  Dreamfeed for 10 minutes first since I didn't want her to fall asleep nursing after the diaper change
11:18 - Diaper change
11:20 - In her crib, standing and screaming when I left the room
11:20 and 30 seconds - Laid down
11:21 - Asleep

11:35 - Woke up, standing and screaming
11:39 - Laid down, she was still a little fussy (protesting cries rather than screams)
11:48 - Asleep

2:38 - Dreamfeed - wouldn't eat longer than 7 minutes
2:45 - In her crib and asleep

5:10 - Woke up, standing and screaming
5:12 - Laid down
5:35-6:00 - Restless, rolling around and fussing but not awake
6:02 - Asleep, I went in to dreamfeed
6:09 - In her crib and asleep

7:45 - Began to move around, I went in and woke her up

I am encouraged after night one since it seems to be working.  She is actually putting herself back to sleep!!  Not only that, but she did not get up from 11:48-5:10, that's the longest stretch she's had in a very long time.  I realize that this is just the beginning and we are far from the end, but I am hoping that she gets it soon!!

For her naps today, I asked her daycare provider to wait at least two hours before putting her down for the morning nap.  She did as I requested, but Natalie just laid there quietly for an hour and a half without sleeping.    She took nearly a three hour nap in the afternoon.  I really hope that she's not over-tired tonight.  Time will tell.

As I wrap up this post, Natalie is in bed.  She went down at 8:02, laid down almost immediately and then alternated between laying, sitting and standing with some crying.  She was asleep at 8:10.

I appreciate all the encouragement and prayers!! I can truly feel the strength from them.  I am no longer anxious over the process, I have a peace that this needs to be done for all of us.  I am praying that night two is an improvement.