So Daylight Savings time was this weekend. I'm not big on trying to manipulate Nicolette's schedule (and haven't had much, if any success at doing so in the past), but I did want to do whatever I could to prepare us both for the time change. I reached out to a group of my mama friends and one of them referred me to the isis website. I listened to a webinar about preparing for Daylight Savings and it was extremely helpful. Here are a few of the tips that helped me out:
1. Extend bedtime. Gradually keep your baby awake an hour past her normal bedtime. They suggest starting 10 days prior to the time change and work in 10-15 minute increments. We started about a week prior (before viewing the webinar). Nicolette was normally falling asleep between 7:30-7:45 but due to some late/long naps she started falling asleep at 8:15/8:30. Then I listened to the webinar and was like, "ok, we'll go with this and use it to our advantage". I started intentionally pushing our bedtime routine back until 8:30/9:00 leading up until DST.
2. Extend morning darkness/quiet time. Now I had only thought to worry about trying to keep Nicolette up later at night in order to prepare her for falling back. The webinar also encouraged extending morning darkness and/or quiet time which TOTALLY makes sense when you think about it. The last thing you want is your baby who usually wakes up at 7:30am to wake up demanding attention at 6 or 6:30. And I can personally attest to the fact that just because your baby goes to bed an hour (or more late) does not mean that she will sleep in an hour or more late…unfortunately it's usually the opposite. If Nicolette goes to bed past her bedtime, she's usually up super early in the morning…makes no sense to me but whatever. Anyway, so last week we started keeping the nursery dark and quiet after she woke up until 8:30 and then moved forward with nursing, breakfast, etc. (I say "we" but who am I kidding? Managing Nicolette's sleep is definitely part of my full time job as stay at home mommy. The Italian refuses to acknowledge schedules of any sort, so this was my call)
3. Sleep pressure. The webinar also talked about babies needing to have enough "sleep pressure" built up in order to settle down and go to sleep. I can say 100% for a fact that Nicolette HAS to have enough sleep pressure built up in order to sleep. I can put her to bed at the exact same time every night, but if she has napped 3 hours in the afternoon instead of 2 then she will be awake in her crib for an extra hour. I've noticed that Nicolette needs to be awake 5 1/2 - 6 hours after her afternoon nap in order to fall asleep at night.
So by Saturday night, Nicolette fell asleep at 9pm. We were all set for the time change and it went well, except for the fact that she woke up at 11:45, 1:00 and 3:30 (#sadface). I was sure that she was going to be up between 5 and 6 because she usually does wake up super early if she wakes up throughout the night (which makes no sense to me). I was dead wrong…she slept in until almost 8am, was happy as a clam all day, went down at noon for a 2 hour nap and was asleep around 7:45 tonight with no fussing so I'm counting this as a daylight savings transition success! Yay Nicolette!
Showing posts with label Sleep. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sleep. Show all posts
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Night, night!
So my last post was a bit of a downer and for good reason...my baby was crying and it was making me miserable. Well, that lasted all of 3 nights (don't get me wrong, they were 3 miserable nights).
Last week Nicolette magically started going to bed with no tears. Now, I lay my sweet baby down and she doesn't start crying as I approach the crib or wiggle and roll onto all fours as soon as I set her down or pop up to standing and reach out and cry. Instead, my sweet girl stays on her back and looks at me as I snuggle her little blankie around her. As I tuck her in she smiles at me and I get to stroke her sweet face say good night and tell her how much I love her and how I'll be right here when she wakes up.
For those of you who have never struggled through bedtimes with little ones you will never fully understand the sweet relief that this brings to me. I feel like a new person and my night time anxiety is so much better. I do not believe that Crying it Out was what solved our problems. I 100% believe that Nicolette's bedtime anxiety and former night wakings were due to her developmental milestones. Once Nicolette became a pro at crawling and standing that the night wakings nearly stopped but we still struggled with going to bed. Now that Nicolette has pretty much mastered walking, the fight to go night-night has seemingly ended. I believe that her little brain has just been working overtime at night trying to figure this mobility thing out and now that she's moved from walking to running (yes, she started trying to run this week, not well but she's trying) she figures that there probably isn't too much more to worry about so this sleeping thing might not be so bad.
Regardless of what the cause was I'm so happy to be where we are now. I don't dread bedtime anymore and don't have the horrible anxiety before, during and after bedtime that I used to have. We're all sleeping better and are still blessed beyond belief!
Last week Nicolette magically started going to bed with no tears. Now, I lay my sweet baby down and she doesn't start crying as I approach the crib or wiggle and roll onto all fours as soon as I set her down or pop up to standing and reach out and cry. Instead, my sweet girl stays on her back and looks at me as I snuggle her little blankie around her. As I tuck her in she smiles at me and I get to stroke her sweet face say good night and tell her how much I love her and how I'll be right here when she wakes up.
For those of you who have never struggled through bedtimes with little ones you will never fully understand the sweet relief that this brings to me. I feel like a new person and my night time anxiety is so much better. I do not believe that Crying it Out was what solved our problems. I 100% believe that Nicolette's bedtime anxiety and former night wakings were due to her developmental milestones. Once Nicolette became a pro at crawling and standing that the night wakings nearly stopped but we still struggled with going to bed. Now that Nicolette has pretty much mastered walking, the fight to go night-night has seemingly ended. I believe that her little brain has just been working overtime at night trying to figure this mobility thing out and now that she's moved from walking to running (yes, she started trying to run this week, not well but she's trying) she figures that there probably isn't too much more to worry about so this sleeping thing might not be so bad.
Regardless of what the cause was I'm so happy to be where we are now. I don't dread bedtime anymore and don't have the horrible anxiety before, during and after bedtime that I used to have. We're all sleeping better and are still blessed beyond belief!
Sunday, July 14, 2013
I'm a little sad...
Those who know me know that I was emphatic about not letting Nicolette CIO (Cry it Out) to fall asleep. For the first 6 months of her life we enjoyed a beautiful co-sleeping relationship and she never once cried as she fell asleep in my arms. I will never regret that time and am convinced that it helped to maintain our breastfeeding relationship.
When Nicolette was around 6 1/2 to 7 months old it became obvious that it was time to move to the crib. She was starting to wiggle and toss and turn more and more during the night and was waking up (I think) because she was uncomfortable and unable to move freely while snuggled in my arms. For 2 1/2 months we STRUGGLED to transition to the crib through chronic and incessant night wakings. Finally at around 9 months old, Nicolette seemed to have gotten the hang of sleeping in her crib. I was able to rock her until drowsy and put her in the crib. She'd fuss a little but I could rub her back or even lay down on the floor next to her and hold her hand and she'd settle down and fall asleep with little drama.
Around 11 months old she suddenly stopped letting me put her down. We'd nurse and rock and she'd get drowsy but start squirming, fussing and eventually crying. If I continued to hold her and rock her she'd work up into a full blown cry. I' put her in the crib and immediate crying, popping up to all fours or standing. I try patting her back, rubbing her, laying her back down, laying down on the floor next to the crib...no matter what I do, the crying just escalates and escalates. Pick her back up and rock her, more wiggling, squirming and crying.
Against everything that my gut tells me, I lay her in her crib, kiss her and tell her that I love her and that it's time to go night-night and I walk out of the room. She stands up, reaches for me out of the crib and cries. She usually continues to cry from anywhere to 1-10 minutes while she crawls around and changes positions a few times and is then fast asleep. I HATE IT!!!! I hate thinking that she is sad when she goes to sleep.
Those who know Nicolette know that she almost NEVER cries. Honestly, I'm not exaggerating. She's just a very easygoing, good natured baby. She doesn't fuss or whine when she's hungry, hardly ever cries when she bumps or bangs herself...nothing. And we don't have this same issue with naps. She'll even play in her crib before or after naps most of the time. So to have to hear her cry at bedtime EVERY night is pure torture for me. I'm out of ideas and don't know what else to do but let her cry. If I stay in the room she continues to stand up and reach for me and gets more and more worked up until she can't fall asleep. If I hold her she wiggles and squirms and cries and continues to get worked up. I honestly don't know what is "the right thing" to do.
So point being...never say never. I'm now a CIO mom and I hate it.
If you have any other tips to share please let me know. I'm out of ideas and am sad about this every night.
When Nicolette was around 6 1/2 to 7 months old it became obvious that it was time to move to the crib. She was starting to wiggle and toss and turn more and more during the night and was waking up (I think) because she was uncomfortable and unable to move freely while snuggled in my arms. For 2 1/2 months we STRUGGLED to transition to the crib through chronic and incessant night wakings. Finally at around 9 months old, Nicolette seemed to have gotten the hang of sleeping in her crib. I was able to rock her until drowsy and put her in the crib. She'd fuss a little but I could rub her back or even lay down on the floor next to her and hold her hand and she'd settle down and fall asleep with little drama.
Around 11 months old she suddenly stopped letting me put her down. We'd nurse and rock and she'd get drowsy but start squirming, fussing and eventually crying. If I continued to hold her and rock her she'd work up into a full blown cry. I' put her in the crib and immediate crying, popping up to all fours or standing. I try patting her back, rubbing her, laying her back down, laying down on the floor next to the crib...no matter what I do, the crying just escalates and escalates. Pick her back up and rock her, more wiggling, squirming and crying.
Against everything that my gut tells me, I lay her in her crib, kiss her and tell her that I love her and that it's time to go night-night and I walk out of the room. She stands up, reaches for me out of the crib and cries. She usually continues to cry from anywhere to 1-10 minutes while she crawls around and changes positions a few times and is then fast asleep. I HATE IT!!!! I hate thinking that she is sad when she goes to sleep.
Those who know Nicolette know that she almost NEVER cries. Honestly, I'm not exaggerating. She's just a very easygoing, good natured baby. She doesn't fuss or whine when she's hungry, hardly ever cries when she bumps or bangs herself...nothing. And we don't have this same issue with naps. She'll even play in her crib before or after naps most of the time. So to have to hear her cry at bedtime EVERY night is pure torture for me. I'm out of ideas and don't know what else to do but let her cry. If I stay in the room she continues to stand up and reach for me and gets more and more worked up until she can't fall asleep. If I hold her she wiggles and squirms and cries and continues to get worked up. I honestly don't know what is "the right thing" to do.
So point being...never say never. I'm now a CIO mom and I hate it.
If you have any other tips to share please let me know. I'm out of ideas and am sad about this every night.
**********************************************************************
For an update see my subsequent blog post here. Nicolette started sleeping well and going to sleep on her own with NO problem as soon as she mastered the art of walking. I honestly believe that she suffered from Developmental Milestone Night Waking. Her poor little brain and body were just consumed with the thought of becoming fully mobile to sleep. Once she mastered that, she was able to sleep peacefully!
Monday, February 25, 2013
Night waking...
Ok, so I know I've been a totally absentee "blogger". To be perfectly honest, we've been struggling with sleep in the Randazzo house and I will only allow myself on the computer if/when Nicolette is asleep.
I don't know what happened to my Sleeping Beauty. Up until Nicolette was 5 months old she would fall asleep, whenever, wherever and stay asleep for what seemed like forever! Then things suddenly changed...I would put her down in her crib at bedtime and she would stay asleep for maybe an hour or hour and a half and then she would pop up. I'd see her little head popped up at the monitor and her trying to push onto all fours to crawl around while crying. So I'd go back upstairs try to comfort her in the crib (did not work at putting her back to sleep ONE SINGLE TIME over the past 2 months) and I'd end up picking her up, rocking and/or nursing her back to sleep and we'd repeat this cycle over and over either until morning or until I gave up and brought her to bed with me. (More often than not the latter of the two is how it honestly ended). I had maybe two nights total over the last 2 1/2 months where she would sleep 5-7 hours without waking.
In the midst of all of this of course I was internet researching and I decided that it must be developmental. A lot of babies have milestone related night waking. They get so excited about a new "trick" (i.e. pushing up to all fours, crawling, babbling, etc) that they wake up in the night hours to "practice". The way she immediately popped up onto all fours I was sure she was waking up to practice pre-crawling and crawling. Well, milestone related night waking surely cannot last 2 1/2 months NON-STOP right???
Once or twice (against my every gut feeling) I decided to try to do some "sleep training". I'd stand by the crib and pat Nicolette's back when she would cry and try to calm her down. This was not successful, not one single time. I'd wait and try to soothe her but she quickly works herself up into an absolute frenzy...gasping for air sobbing, shrieking frenzy. I could not deal! There was one night where I slept on the floor of the nursery and out of sheer exhaustion I did let her cry herself to sleep. Two days later she had a little tooth popping through and I felt horrible that my baby was in pain that night and I didn't just bring her to bed with us like my gut was telling me to :(
So we're back to co-sleeping but now I'm wondering if there's a bigger issue. Nicolette earned her nickname "Tootie" early on for good reason...my girl has gas and can rip some big ones. It doesn't seem to bother her at all during the day (never has) she's happy, smiley, content....just toots and keeps doing whatever she's doing. This past week I started sitting in the nursery with her more while she's sleeping and I've noticed that she usually toots shortly after waking up and crying so I wonder this whole time, has gas been causing her to wake up???? She'll usually scream/cry, wake up, roll around, toot, then be wide awake crying for a while. It breaks my heart because I can see that she's in pain, I'll try to bicycle her legs to release the gas and she tightens up stiff as a board making it impossible to move her little legs. When she's in bed with us she still wakes up, toots and whimpers a little bit but since I'm right here and able to comfort her within seconds she's much quicker to settle down and then doesn't suck in all that extra air from crying and the gas doesn't seem to be as bad as when she's on her own in the crib.
I of course examined her diet to see if there's a culprit...I've switched from Baby Led Weaning to Purees and back and also done a combo and it doesn't seem to change the gas situation so that made me begin to question MY diet.
I have several friends whose babies have dairy and/or soy sensitivities and they've either had to A) give up breastfeeding or B) totally eliminate dairy and soy from their diets to make breastfeeding work.
When Nicolette was a teeny, tiny baby she didn't show any of the classic signs of a dairy/soy sensitivity (i.e. arching back while eating, constant crying, lots of spitting up, vomiting, etc.) In fact, Nicolette hardly ever spit up, has never vomited and really doesn't cry during the day time at all. Up until she was 5 months old, night time wasn't really an issue either...then again we were co-sleeping all the time and she would wake several times, fuss a bit and I would easily feed her and she'd be back asleep before ever completely waking up. Recently I've been reading that night waking can be a sign in older babies of a dairy/soy intolerance. I don't know if this is what's causing our night waking and gas issues but I'm definitely willing to give it a shot so today was the first day that I consciously went dairy and soy free.
Now this is no easy task for this cheese loving girl. But at least the dairy is pretty easily identifiable and therefore easier to cut out. Soy on the other hand is tricky...it is in almost EVERYTHING in some shape or form. I had the hardest time finding soup today that had no dairy or soy. You'd think that simple tomato soup would have a short ingredient list...not so. You really have to read labels so closely and you'll be surprised that it seems like 90% of packaged foods do contain some form of soy. I've read that it can take anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks for your body to cycle out all of the dairy and soy that's built up so we'll test this out for a month or so and see how it goes. If you have any yummy soy/dairy free recipes to share with me please do so! Edamame was my go to snack/meal and I will miss it so!!!!
Sweet dreams!
I don't know what happened to my Sleeping Beauty. Up until Nicolette was 5 months old she would fall asleep, whenever, wherever and stay asleep for what seemed like forever! Then things suddenly changed...I would put her down in her crib at bedtime and she would stay asleep for maybe an hour or hour and a half and then she would pop up. I'd see her little head popped up at the monitor and her trying to push onto all fours to crawl around while crying. So I'd go back upstairs try to comfort her in the crib (did not work at putting her back to sleep ONE SINGLE TIME over the past 2 months) and I'd end up picking her up, rocking and/or nursing her back to sleep and we'd repeat this cycle over and over either until morning or until I gave up and brought her to bed with me. (More often than not the latter of the two is how it honestly ended). I had maybe two nights total over the last 2 1/2 months where she would sleep 5-7 hours without waking.
In the midst of all of this of course I was internet researching and I decided that it must be developmental. A lot of babies have milestone related night waking. They get so excited about a new "trick" (i.e. pushing up to all fours, crawling, babbling, etc) that they wake up in the night hours to "practice". The way she immediately popped up onto all fours I was sure she was waking up to practice pre-crawling and crawling. Well, milestone related night waking surely cannot last 2 1/2 months NON-STOP right???
Once or twice (against my every gut feeling) I decided to try to do some "sleep training". I'd stand by the crib and pat Nicolette's back when she would cry and try to calm her down. This was not successful, not one single time. I'd wait and try to soothe her but she quickly works herself up into an absolute frenzy...gasping for air sobbing, shrieking frenzy. I could not deal! There was one night where I slept on the floor of the nursery and out of sheer exhaustion I did let her cry herself to sleep. Two days later she had a little tooth popping through and I felt horrible that my baby was in pain that night and I didn't just bring her to bed with us like my gut was telling me to :(
So we're back to co-sleeping but now I'm wondering if there's a bigger issue. Nicolette earned her nickname "Tootie" early on for good reason...my girl has gas and can rip some big ones. It doesn't seem to bother her at all during the day (never has) she's happy, smiley, content....just toots and keeps doing whatever she's doing. This past week I started sitting in the nursery with her more while she's sleeping and I've noticed that she usually toots shortly after waking up and crying so I wonder this whole time, has gas been causing her to wake up???? She'll usually scream/cry, wake up, roll around, toot, then be wide awake crying for a while. It breaks my heart because I can see that she's in pain, I'll try to bicycle her legs to release the gas and she tightens up stiff as a board making it impossible to move her little legs. When she's in bed with us she still wakes up, toots and whimpers a little bit but since I'm right here and able to comfort her within seconds she's much quicker to settle down and then doesn't suck in all that extra air from crying and the gas doesn't seem to be as bad as when she's on her own in the crib.
I of course examined her diet to see if there's a culprit...I've switched from Baby Led Weaning to Purees and back and also done a combo and it doesn't seem to change the gas situation so that made me begin to question MY diet.
I have several friends whose babies have dairy and/or soy sensitivities and they've either had to A) give up breastfeeding or B) totally eliminate dairy and soy from their diets to make breastfeeding work.
When Nicolette was a teeny, tiny baby she didn't show any of the classic signs of a dairy/soy sensitivity (i.e. arching back while eating, constant crying, lots of spitting up, vomiting, etc.) In fact, Nicolette hardly ever spit up, has never vomited and really doesn't cry during the day time at all. Up until she was 5 months old, night time wasn't really an issue either...then again we were co-sleeping all the time and she would wake several times, fuss a bit and I would easily feed her and she'd be back asleep before ever completely waking up. Recently I've been reading that night waking can be a sign in older babies of a dairy/soy intolerance. I don't know if this is what's causing our night waking and gas issues but I'm definitely willing to give it a shot so today was the first day that I consciously went dairy and soy free.
Now this is no easy task for this cheese loving girl. But at least the dairy is pretty easily identifiable and therefore easier to cut out. Soy on the other hand is tricky...it is in almost EVERYTHING in some shape or form. I had the hardest time finding soup today that had no dairy or soy. You'd think that simple tomato soup would have a short ingredient list...not so. You really have to read labels so closely and you'll be surprised that it seems like 90% of packaged foods do contain some form of soy. I've read that it can take anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks for your body to cycle out all of the dairy and soy that's built up so we'll test this out for a month or so and see how it goes. If you have any yummy soy/dairy free recipes to share with me please do so! Edamame was my go to snack/meal and I will miss it so!!!!
Sweet dreams!
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