I'm so incredibly proud of my boy! For the past 3 weeks, he has been in his crib for both of his daytime naps and all night to sleep. It has not been without difficulty, but he is now so good at sleeping independently! Perhaps, I should start from the beginning....
In my last post, I think that I told you that we were going to try crying it out. Yea, that made me feel so bad that it didn't last long at all. Nicholas found an article on the internet about a woman who wrote about her experience of weaning her baby from co-sleeping and making the transition to sleeping in the crib. Here is the link. In short, she explains that babies need to learn that sleep is not something that is scary or lonely. Therefore, when the baby cries, pick him up and snuggle until he falls asleep in your arms. Do the "limp wrist test" (pick up the babies arm and drop it, if it falls without resistance, he is likely in a good, deep sleep). Then put him down in the crib. Do this as many times as it takes and if he ends up back in the "family bed," then try again at a later date. This is very similar to the dreaded sleep training that we tried before, only with a little more snuggles and comfort for baby.
This went SO MUCH better than our sleep training before.
The first night was a little difficult, but after an hour or two, he got the hang of it and fell asleep. The second night was better, and by the third night, he was already a pro! Twice he slept through the night, however, he will usually wake up once at 3:45 or 4am or so. I'd feed him and he'd go right to sleep.
Friday, we took him in for his 4 month appointment, all it well! The nurse practitioner said that he doesn't need to eat at that time, so since then I've been just getting up to snuggle him and comfort him back to sleep rather than nursing.
Another new and exciting development, we started him on some solids! He has done 2 weeks of oatmeal and tonight, we started him on peas! We bought a bag of organic frozen green peas, steamed them, and put them in the magic bullet with some water. We made probably close to a month's worth of peas for him that is now taking up residence in my freezer.
Also in breaking news, I am 99% sure that I am going to stop breastfeeding at 6 months. I just don't think that I can do 12 months. Everyone says that it's the first 6 months where breastmilk is the most beneficial. I just think that I am done. Yes, it saves us a ton of money, however, my life revolves around my boobs. I'm just kinda over it. And this doesn't feel like a selfish decision because I stuck with it all of those times that I wanted to quit. Each time I was frustrated and wanted to give up, I kept going. Why? For my son. I think that my time doing this is done. I'd like to get back to some normalcy. I'd like to not worry about making sure I've got fresh pads in my bra, dealing with the pain of being full when we go somewhere that takes a while (weddings, road trips, bachelorette parties, etc.). Not having to worry about making sure that I pump at 3 hour intervals at work to make sure that I keep my supply up. Having a baby if a lot on your plate as it is, I would just like to take away some of that stress, especially when I'm dealing with the consequences of long term sleep deprivation. It's like I have pregnancy brain again. My doctor's recommendation, get more sleep. Thanks, doc.
Me and hubs at a friend/co-worker's wedding 2 weekends ago.
Bug eating some peas last night.
