Sleeping Through the Night

So I'm still having problems figuring out how to make my little boy happy when he's screaming (we have our good days and bad), but we have a chiropractor appointment on Wednesday. We'll see what the chiropractor says. We ended up going with the one my husband and I see, because he doesn't know how much an adjustment will help. He's realistic about what my son's problem might be. He said that sometime an adjustment or two will change babies completely, but sometimes patients come back with little results, which is when he suggests they explore other things like GI issues. So we'll see what he says!

In more exciting news, Tobin has decided to sleep through the night!! Sleeping through the night at this age means sleeping 6 hours straight. On Friday night he slept solid from 8:30pm until 3:30am - 7 hours (though I had an AWFUL night tossing and turning for no good reason)! And last night he fell asleep at 11:30pm, and I woke up with a shock at 6:50am - his hands were freezing and I ended up shaking him a little from side to side until he startled, though still sleeping just so I could be sure he was ok!! I think he would have kept on sleeping had I left him, but he didn't actually nurse until almost 7:30am! I'll also take this time to share that this was all in his own crib, which is siderailed to our bed.

Eeek! I'm not used to babies sleeping so well! And he's been a "good" sleeper from the start, though I will sing praises of cosleeping for that - it's made a huge difference being able to just pull him over to me, and fall back asleep with him nursing. So the 2-3 times during the night he has woken up to nurse have been barely noticable.

What I've learned so far...

1. Toby is up for about 1-2 hours in the morning
2. If Toby is perfectly content and suddenly bursts out crying, check the diaper!
3. Toby will nurse and pull, nurse and pull when he has gas
4. Toby's favorite nursing position is tummy to tummy, laying on me.
5. Toby's "witching hour" seems to be just that, but if I catch it early and spend the evening with Toby in my arms nursing or sleeping (as opposed to wearing him, setting him down, or having Greg hold him while I try to get stuff done), it's nowhere near as bad
6. Toby currently gets nursed to sleep around 9pm, with Greg or I going in as needed until our bedtime.

New Goal: Explore Bedtime Routine:

• I will read "No Cry Sleep Solution" (Thanks Zita!)
• Greg and I need to talk about where our focus currently is in the evening, and how to better work Tobin's sleep habits into it!
• Tara's current routine is 7pm (or shortly therafter, or around 6:45 if bath night)) - final visit to potty, brush teeth, pajamas, story, lights out, prayer, and count to 10 snuggle. Obviously Toby has much different needs, but it's something to keep in mind while exploring what works for him.
• KEY WORD IS EXPLORE!! I will keep in mind that this is time for me to learn more about my son's sleep needs, and explore ways to fit it in with our pre-existing routines, and compromise between Tara, Greg, and my own sleep needs. No pressure to establish a routine right away though. I will recognize that it may take some trial and error :)

Yesterday he was super fussy in the morning, but happiest when he was held upright against me and carried around. He was nursed right before he was placed in the carseat, and was fine the entire trip out to Christy's.

While there, he happiest when he nursed, though at the end of the visit, Christy was semi-reclined with him laying on her chest-to-chest, and she patted his back and he was quiet and content.

I wore him on my back while crafting, and he was fast asleep until the end (I took him out once to nurse, he had one big burp, and then went back on my back and asleep again). He cried, however, the entire ride home - 1 hour from 8:10 until 9:10. :(

I was on the phone last night, and he was happiest (for at least half an hour) laying beside me on the bed, on his back. He preferred that to nursing or being held against me!

Last night he fussed to sleep, but fell asleep on me nursing chest-to-chest. Once asleep (at midnight after nursing for 15 minutes and sleeping for 15 minutes) I was able to move him to his crib, and there he stayed until I *believe* 4am, when I moved him to my left side to nurse.

We slept until about 7am, then I nursed him again (and promptly we both passed out) until 10am, when I got up. He slept in bed until about 10:45.

***

This morning he woke up, I nursed him, and he stayed awake until about 12:30, and now is fast asleep in his swing.

***

Trends that I'm noticing...

• when he's really fussy, he prefers to nurse with me semi-reclined (or laying down) and on my chest
• when he wakes up in the morining, he's happy for about an hour, and then needs to nap again

So I was all geared up to journal, and totally failed yesterday *lol* It just got too busy! But overall impressions:

• Toby was happiest being held upright, facing in or out and bouncing
• Toby was happiest in the colic hold
• Toby was happy in his bouncer while I danced around the kitchen and made supper
• After initial fussing, Toby was happy in the wrap on my back

• Toby was miserable during the day, but seemed to be relieved by nursing, diaper changes or the ideas above
• Toby was miserable in the evening from about 8pm on, so I took a shower with him and he totally calmed down. We stayed in there for about half an hour.

Bedtime last night started around 9:00pm, after our shower. I nursed him in the livingroom, he passed out and I put him to bed in his crib, in our room. About 20 minutes later he started to fuss and Greg went in. Greg got him back to sleep in his arms and I came in around 10:15pm, ready for bed. I nursed him back to sleep in our bed, and moved him back to his crib.

He woke up once around 3am and wasn't immediately calmed at breast (which he normally is), so I picked him up, patted his back a little, and tried the other side (left side, crib is to my right). He nursed back to sleep until about 7am. He nursed again on my right side and fell back asleep for another hour, and then we got up.

He was fussy this morning, so diaper was changed twice (wasn't changed during the night, so had a fresh diaper in AM, and then again shortly after), nursed but fussy at breast. Was happiest being burped (I got a good belch from him), didn't like sitting in my lap facing out. I nursed him again and he fell asleep at the breast, and is now asleep in the bouncy chair beside me...

Meet My Colicky Baby!

I'm starting this blog to try to track my son's sleeping and crying habits. My daughter was colicky has a baby and looking back we realize she probably had some reflux issues as well.

This time around, I'm tracking. I'm tracking sleep-times, wake times, happy times, and sad times.

Last night it was pointed out to me that Toby is calmer after a feeding when he's upright against me and I'm patting his back (even post burps) versus laying down, or even semi-reclining. I've noticed that he prefers to nurse laying on me versus cradle or football (he HATES football, infact), which might mean reflux again, even though he almost NEVER actually spits up.

Reading for the day: http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/reflux.html