1. Josiah goes to bed at 7:30 p.m. after eating, putting on PJ's, and reading a story
2. We will initially let Josiah cry for 2 minutes before going in to check on him, and then every 10 minutes afterwards.
3. When we go in to check on him we will NOT pick him up, but instead re-position him and then pat him for 2 minutes before leaving the room
4. He will only eat once in the middle of the night and we will push him to at least 6 hours from when he last ate before he went to bed
5. Josiah will go down for a nap 1-1.5 hours after eating during the day
Since starting sleep training we have noticed that he will sleep till 3 a.m. before getting up to eat. He has also been sleeping till 6:45 or 7 a.m. which is GREAT! This gives me a chance to get up and at least shower before he gets up to eat. And he's gone from crying for 1 hour to maybe 10 minutes before putting himself to sleep. Josiah is also napping SO MUCH BETTER! He takes 3-4 naps a day, all of them ranging from 30 minutes to 2 hours. Also, who knew that Josiah was a tummy sleeper? It scares the living day lights out of me to wake up and find him on his tummy but he's sleeping so much better that way! I always lay him down on his back first but since he's rolling now he immediately switches to his tummy. The other morning I woke up and found him with his arm stuck between the mattress and the crib but he was sound asleep and didn't seem to mind. Still, I get up and check on him often at night and do my best to move him without waking him up when he does get himself into a strange position in the crib. Sometimes he turns completely sideways so that he's kicking his feet on one side of the crib and banging his head on the other.
All in all, I am SO GLAD that I did sleep training. We ALL are getting more sleep and Josiah is becoming a much happier baby. His reflux is doing much better now that he is on medication and he's back to eating cereal. He loves his barley! In the next few weeks we will slowly increase his feedings to 3 times a day and also start adding in vegetables. Anyone know where I can learn how to make homemade baby food?
i'm glad to hear sleep training is going so well! i swear by it, at least in our home. it's hard at the time, and i spent a ton of time questioning myself, but in the end it was so worth it!
ReplyDeleteas for baby food, it could not be easier. just pick your veggies (fresh or frozen), cook them for the shortest amount of time needed to make them soft (bake rather than boil when possible, but i did boil things like green beans and peas), then just pop them in the food processor/blender. add enough water to make it the consistency you want, then just freeze in an ice cube tray. thaw as you need it (2-3 cubes = 1 jar). i did a bunch all at once on one day, and it lasted the whole time atticus was on baby food.
bananas and avocados are basically ready-made and raw, so they're REALLY easy and healthy. and you can even do dried fruits like prunes and raisins if you soak them for a couple hours in a bowl of water before you stick them in the food processor.
hope this helps!