Tuesday, April 15, 2008

What's New:

I feel like such a bad mother again. Now that Caleb is on day shift, Ben will have two days a week that I consider very long (7:00am-5:30pm) where he will be at “playschool”. The other days of the week, he will actually have very short days (if he goes at all) because either Caleb or I will be off! Even knowing that, I felt TERRIBLE Monday when I realized that Ben was the first baby there in the morning AND the last baby to be picked up. I am just hoping that he is not the only little baby there when I pick him up today after work. He was perfectly content and LOVES his teachers, but it is still gut wrenching every now and then…..actually, I am coming to find that Mondays are the hardest days to leave him there.

Regardless of my hormonal swings, Ben is doing very well at “playschool” so I have no complaints. Trust me….I’ll post complaints if I have any!

In other news, Ben is still not sleeping through the night. I gave him the benefit of the doubt last week because I tried Fenugreek again to try and increase my supply. This made him so gassy; I couldn’t even take the supplements for the full 3 days. Last night, we tried a little formula after I fed him. We got 4 hours out of that.

PLEASE start sleeping, Ben! I’m really TIRED! =0)

Tips for other moms who’s babies may not be sleeping through the night. These didn’t work for us, but others swear by them….and even though these haven’t worked for us, they have added an hour or two!

* The Miracle Blanket- It’s a swaddle that my friends swear by. They told me that if it doesn’t work, they would refund my money. The only reason I haven’t bought it is because Ben is almost 4 months, so I don’t know how much more we will be swaddling him. Friends have said that their babies started sleeping through the night as early as 11 days.

* Right before bed, put a diaper on your baby that is one size bigger than what they normally wear. (Thanks, Mom, for this tip. It actually helps. The bigger diaper absorbs so much more, so I know Ben’s not waking up because it’s full.

Any other advice people have would be helpful. I’m still holding out for the magical 4 month mark to see if he starts sleeping. Then, if that doesn’t work, maybe when we start rice cereal?

He’s such a happy baby that it is hard to really be bothered by his lack of long stretches. He at least eats really fast when he does get up and then goes right back down on his own in the crib. So, all in all, we’re getting closer.

One lady at “playschool”, who’s child is still not sleeping through the night at 5 ½ months, told me that he doesn’t sleep because he loves me. All those other babies who sleep must not love their mommies because they don’t wake up to spend time with them in the middle of the night. I know there is NO truth to this, but it makes me feel better!

1 comment:

andiewade said...

lucas did 7 hours the other night, but then the next night he was up every 3 hours... sometimes it's 4, sometimes it's 5... i never know what to expect!

well, when rachel was 4 months old she was still waking up for one feeding at night. i read from a few different places that, nutritionally, babies don't need to eat at night at that point. so i decided to cut her off. i completely ignored her. i actually bought earplugs for chuck and me :). it took maybe 5 days of hearing her wake up and cry for about 45 minutes, but after that she started doing 12 hours and we've never looked back! i understand a lot of people aren't comfortable with the let-them-cry method (i'm not ready to try it on lucas yet b/c he's still so little), but i'm a big advocate (and with rachel's personality it was the only thing that worked!)

good luck! i'm tired right along with you :)