9 posts tagged “sleep”

Someday, maybe, I'll get a chance to write about the current debate about my working future. But I just wanted to share this helpful tip from BabyCenter. O had three nights of great sleep and then, as if he knew I was going to work today, was up 4 (5?) times last night. So I was skimming my weekly Baby Bulletin and naturally clicked on the "How can I function at work without sleep?" link. This is the incredibly helpful advice:

"Before trying to find a way to function at work on insufficient sleep, you need to ask yourself whether you really need to be working in the first place."

cooking

Owen gave up on his afternoon nap after a couple failed attempts so I brought him, his bouncy chair and one of his new books into the kitchen to bake cookies. (I'm determined to make an early chef out of the boy.) I guess my "secret" cookie tips (use butter and shortening, and almond extract instead of vanilla) weren't terribly exciting, because I looked down to see this. Note that he fell asleep while reading. Clearly he has some of my genes too. :)

We arrived home late last night. All survived the cross-country trek, didn't even get stuck in the Denver blizzard(s), though I'm now sick (again). There must be something to those boob milk antibodies because this is my second cold and Owen is (so far) uninfected. I was breast-fed as a child, but my antibodies must have worn off long ago, because I get sick all the time.

i love my thumb!

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I know I just posted about Owen's thumbsucking last night but I wanted to add that he's now using it to sooth himself to sleep! Last night he woke up at 12.15 wet and hungry. After eating he pooped so he was wide awake when I put him back in his crib but he started sucking his thumb so I turned off the light and left. Sure enough, 15 minutes later he was snoring away!

Then this morning we went out for some quick errands. He was tired when I put him in his carseat and started crying. Since we weren't going far, I took a scenic loop through our neighborhood to put him to sleep. After a bit the crying stopped and I heard sucking noises. When we got to the pet food store, he was sound asleep with his thumb in his mouth. The picture is when we arrived home. He was hungry and wet, but with the thumb in his mouth all's good!

So at least we know he's able to put himself back to sleep, it's just the wetness and hungriness waking him up at night. And the more he insists on eating at night, the more he's going to be wet ... I keep thinking he can't really be hungry when he was going 9 hour stretches before, but when we pick him up he starts frantically trying to suck on our neck/shoulder/hands, etc. I've tried putting him back in the crib with a pacifier but it hasn't done the trick. He did "only" wake up twice last night, anyway.

thumb sucking

L is in Arizona for a cousin's wedding so Owen and I are home alone for the first time. The first night went ok. Owen's been in a pretty good mood lately. Yesterday we napped together for 2.5 hours! With a diaper change and feeding at the 1 hour mark, but that's still the longest nap he's taken since he started sleeping through the night. Unfortunately, it still didn't improve the night sleeping - he was up at 1.40, 3.40, 4 something and 6 - when he decided he was up for the day! I was looking forward to coffee with our moms' group this morning, since I've missed our regular Tuesday meetings for the last couple weeks, but Owen fell asleep while I was in the shower and I didn't dare wake him up. So then, instead of just going out for a relaxing lunch later, I had the bright idea to take Callie (the dog) to the groomer. I figured it would give her some excitement since it was supposed to thunderstorm this evening and I wouldn't be able to walk her. It went better than expected really, since I made it there and back without losing either the dog or the baby ... I put Owen in the bjorn and walked down to Barnes & Noble for a nutritious lunch of pumpkin cheesecake and an egg nog latte, and we walked around browsing. It was warm outside - 67 degrees! - but really windy, so I didn't want to have him out too long. He was awake the entire 45 minutes we were waiting for Callie, and then fell asleep literally a minute before we picked her back up. Fortunately he didn't wake up when I put him in the carseat (other than a brief whimper), and then he slept an hour and 15 minutes, waking up 45 minutes after his expected feeding time. As I mentioned below, his schedule has just been completely off since Thanksgiving. :(

I've been playing with him as much as possible since this is our last week alone together. He'd largely abandoned trying to suck his thumb in favor of sucking his index and middle fingers, but yesterday in yoga class he just popped his thumb in and laid there sucking for a good 20 minutes. Since then it's been in his mouth almost non-stop!

He really loves sitting up now, even though his balance isn't quite there. He also really likes his feet, and came very close to getting them into his mouth. And his new trick is to go from sitting to launching himself forward onto his stomach. Especially if there's a toy in front of him that he wants in his mouth.

• Our new elephant (above right) and lion chimes. While Owen still loves chatting with Coqui in his carseat, these make noise on their own, and hang lower so he can get a good grip on them. The elephant makes a crinkle sound as well, Owen's favorite.
• Lions, apparently, are his favorite animal. He already has a lion teething toy that he loves (it also crinkles). The lion rattle pictured above was his 3 month birthday (Tuesday) present. We were in Babies R Us and he smiled when we walked by it. I picked it up and he grabbed it and put it in his mouth, so I had no choice but to buy it. Must learn to say no before he hits toddler age. :)

• When Owen smiles up at me while nursing.
• How Owen gets really excited when I put on our new Baby Einstein Christmas cd.
• How he can go from screaming to laughing to asleep if I sing Jingle Bells long enough (with a little help from the bouncy chair).
  

a successful nap

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So today marks 3 weeks that Owen has been sleeping nights in his crib. He generally falls asleep after his last feeding so there was no reason not to start putting him down in his crib. Once we did, he started extending his sleeping too - working up to almost 9 hours last week. He'd go down around 9/9.30pm and sleep till 6, then again to 9.

The real accomplishment came two nights ago when I laid him in the crib at bed time and he woke up. He started sucking on his fingers so I tucked him in, turned off the light and left. I listened intently to the monitor and his sucking eventually turned to snoring. So he put himself to sleep for the first time!

But now I think he's getting ready for an earlier bedtime. Two nights ago he went to bed at 8.30, but got up at 4. Last night, after a 45 minute struggle to get him down for his 5pm nap (I gave up on the crib and resorted to the bouncy chair), he slept right through his 6pm feeding and barely opened his eyes when I woke him up to feed him at 8.30. After a diaper change and feeding, he was back to sleep around 9. But he woke up at 2.30, 4, 6, 7am... these were partly my fault because I was dozing off while feeding so he was only getting one side at a time and waking up a little later for more. But still, I don't know what to make of the 5.45p - 2.30a deal.

Those of you with older babies, when did you start putting them down earlier? I'm wondering if we should be transitioning to something like 7p - 7a. Any tips?

Then we're still having napping issues. The nanny I think we're going to hire is pretty strict about a 10a and 2p nap. But so far O's been having 3 naps a day, though they range from 30/45m to an hour. I think he could use fewer and longer naps, so I'm happy to let her try. And I have the hardest time getting him to fall asleep in his crib. I'll hold the nuk, rub his belly, sing and shush for up to 30m before he'll fall asleep. And if he's getting too angry, I give up and use the bouncy chair. I've been happy if I can get at least one of his three daily naps to be in his crib. Speaking of which, I hear him starting to wake up (he fell asleep after his 12.30 lunch and has been napping in the crib)...

At 12 weeks tomorrow, Owen has really started showing an interest in his toys and gadgets, even if it's just to put them in his mouth. Which is also where you'll often find his first two fingers, thumb, or both fists. He seems to be in the early stages of teething (or so random strangers tell me when we're out and he's slurping on my shoulder and/or the bjorn) -- he's drooling everywhere and sucks or chews on whatever he can get in his mouth. z (he just typed that!) He's also interested in the tv and computer -- especially when there are pictures of him to look at. He leans forward and reaches for things with his index finger and thumb. He loves to sit up, with a little help from the boppy. He "chats" with his toys and shrieks when he's excited. His favorite color is definitely red. He's been sleeping nights in his crib for two weeks now -- naps are still a work in progress. He's sleeping 6-8 hours a night, plus 3 more after a feeding. And he has the cutest fuzzy head.

Meanwhile, Jack, our oldest furbaby, has gone from trying to assert dominance over the baby to deciding he wants to BE the baby:

After Owen wakes up for his middle of the night feeding, I keep him in bed with us so I won't have to get up again for the first morning feeding. Sunday morning, I was switching places with him so I could roll over and noticed that the sheet was damp where he'd been lying. I thought, that's weird, maybe he was really sweaty but I felt his head and it didn't seem especially warm or damp. Hmm, I guess it was just drool then.

So he eats and we're drifting back to sleep, stomach to stomach, when I feel something warm and wet on my stomach. I start patting him and discover that his sleeper is soaked.

"Um, Daddy? Did you forget to put a new diaper on the baby?"

"No..."

I unsnap the bottom and discover that his diaper is around his knees, with one leg completely out. Meanwhile, Owen has also pooped and is giggling away, clearly very proud of himself. So, instead of sleeping in, we had our first morning bath.  We tried recreating the diaper position later and it's hard to get on like that on purpose, so we're guessing L just didn't fasten it tightly and Owen kicked out of it. He does kick quite agressively in his sleep.

i voted!

On another note, we all bjorned to the polls this morning to vote. It was fun to walk up (our polling place is the elementary school Owen will go to if we don't move west soon enough) and see the neighbors out and about. It's odd for me to be sitting at home on Election Day. Normally I'm working on a campaign. This year I haven't done a thing. But at least I won't take it personally when people lose ;-).