Monday, October 22, 2007
Is it time to be a mean mommy?
Anna is about to turn 4 months old and, as everyone can tell from the most recent pictures, is a hefty, chubby baby. The issue is that she is still getting up 3 times during the night to nurse. When should I cut her off and let her cry it out? I'm not ready for that yet, but now that I am back at work, her schedule is pretty exhausting. Marc experienced it last night and woke up this morning telling me that he now understands why on some mornings I am irritible! She usually goes to be between 6:30 and 7:00 pm. Then, she up for her first feeding around 11 or midnight. Then she's up again around 3 or 4 am. And again around 5 or 6 am, but this time she's usually woken up by a big stinkin' poopy. Then she'll fall back asleep until 7:30 or so. So, in other words, she usually gets about 13 hours of sleep during the night and wants to feed every 4 1/2 hours. On the plus side, she actually falls to sleep on her own!!! This is very exciting to me, as I rocked and sang Nate to sleep for over 2 years. Not going to make that same mistake again. For all those experienced parents out there, what would you do???? I would love to cut out the middle feeding, but perhaps she is genuinely hungry?
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7 comments:
Suhs,
I would continue doing exactly what you're doing--despite the daily fatigue. Anna is a gorgeous baby and healthy as can be. Besides which, she's only four months old! Give her some more time.
She might also be like big brother Nate and keep crying, and crying and crying.
Mom
I agree with Mom...I think you're doing fine! Hang in there!
Dad
We cut out the middle of the night feedings with Heather when she was 7 or 8 months old. I know it is no fun, but I think it might be a little early to cut it out. You could try to give her a bottle of water to see if it's hunger or just a comfort thing. But that may just irritate her and make your nightly visit longer.
Do you have the Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child book? I remember that was a great book that really really really helped us.
I do have the healthy sleep habits book. Out of desperation with Nate we bought it a few years ago. And with Anna, I am definitely not making the same mistakes. She's a great sleeper and falls asleep on her own about 90% of the time. It is such a great feeling to drop your baby in her crib and then let her drift off to sleep on her own. She's already a better sleeper than Nate, tho she's waking up so many times at night. Its funny because I remember when she was 2 months old, she would sometimes sleep through the night or just wake up once to feed. One step forward, two steps back....
I am sure if we didn't have twins that I would have rocked the baby to sleep the first time around, too. They are just so cute and snuggly and are so hard to put down when they are drowsy.
I don't remember what that book said about middle of the night feedings. I just remember being amazed that when we put the kids to bed earlier in the evening, they slept later in the morning. We thought that putting them to bed at 9:30pm would mean they'd sleep later. Who knew?
You're such a great mama. :)
Parenting is so complicated! Thank goodness for things like blogs now... you can ask friends and family for help, and people like me can read the responses and learn for future ideas! Good luck, Sarah! You'll make the right choices, I know it, because you're already a great mom. :)
To get Emma to sleep through the night, I gave her a bottle of formula/water (she wouldn't breastfeed). First day was more formula, then changed the mix more toward water each day. After a couple days, she only drank for a minute, then went back to sleep. On last day, we let her cry (our doctor suggested). It only lasted 15 mins and she slept through the night ever since. I think each baby is different, but it's worth a try to see if it'll work. Emma loves to sleep so she started at 3 mths. In the meantime, cherish the precious cuddling moments!
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