i am so happy to report after weeks of trying to get her to go to sleep on her own and after days and nights of crying it out up to one hour and a half, we have made big progress!!! jaelyn isn't crying at all when we put her down for her naps during the day. and then the other night, she cried for only 3o minutes, the next night only 25 minutes and then last night and tonight...
jaelyn is seven months old today. here is an update of what she is doing these days.
sleeping:
we are continuing to put jaelyn on a more strict schedule and it is going very well. she is crying it out for shorter periods of time and sleeping so much better. our goal is to have her sleeping from 7 pm until 7 am. we are getting so close to that.
she naps two to three times a day. her first nap is at 9:00 am, her second nap is at 1:00 pm and then sometimes she will takes a third nap around 4:00. she has been sleeping for about 2 hours in the morning and about 1 hour in the afternoon.
she is no longer taking the soothie pacifier, i switched her to the cute and colorful playtex ortho pro. i was dying to use the really cute ribbons to attach her pacifiers and the soothies don't work on our little paci leashes.
eating:
jaelyn is eating cereal once a day at dinner time. she loves oatmeal cereal the best. i just added a second meal at lunchtime. i am going to make jaelyn's baby food. i choose to start with sweet potatoes. today we introduced them, she seemed to really like them. she goobled up the first couple bites and couldn't get enough and then she wasn't really interested in eating too much more. she may have been full.
she is nursing about 6 times a day, although with her on a 12 hours sleep schedule, that only leaves 12 hours of awake time. some days it is hard to get in 6 nursings a day. sometimes it is only 4.
she also started taking a sippy cup with a little water in it. she is doing pretty well with it.
she takes bottles of breastmilk or formula when she is not with mommy.
developmental milestones:
jaelyn is working on sitting up. she can do it with assistance. i honestly haven't been eager to practice or push her to do it. i rather like it that she still can lay on the floor to play. but it is time to get this one completed.
she can roll over both ways and she rolls to get herself places or to reach toys. she has started to scoot herself backwards too. she moves pretty fast.
she is always grabbing and reaching for whatever she can. loves to get her toes and put them in her mouth. of course, everything that is in her hand goes in her mouth.
she can "say"/ make these sounds: ahhhh, ahh gooo, babababa, ggghhhh, kkkkhhh, dadada, and mamama
over the weekend, i decided it was time to get jaelyn to sleep on her own {again}. i reviewed some parts of one of my favorite books, healthy sleep habits, happy child by marc weissbluth and set my mind on the priority at hand! i am determined to get jaelyn on a better sleep schedule.
over two weeks ago, crying it out didn't seem to work so we gave it a break and i am trying it again. being woken up several times during the night isn't working either. honestly, a lot of my giving in and bringing her to bed or rocking her back to sleep was for me. i mean it was for her because she needed to sleep but it was for me too. i am having a hard time of letting go of my little newborn baby. she isn't a newborn any longer. she is almost seven months old and she is old enough to be on a much better schedule and have much better sleep habits! i just love holding her and snuggling her but it is time to do this during the day and let her sleep soundly during the night.
jaelyn is very determined too. she cries a lot and for a long time and it breaks my heart. she will cry for up to an hour sometimes longer. of course, we always make sure that she is ok while she is crying it out. so we are working on letting her put herself to sleep so that if she wakes up during the night (or nap) she can learn to put herself to sleep. getting her on a good sleep schedule will allow her to sleep better and longer. it is so hard to hear her cry, she is such a good baby and rarely cries during the day, but she is making up for it at night. here are the sleep logs for the last few nights. you can tell by sunday night and monday, i mean business and became intentional and consistent...
saturday:
8:00 pm ~ nursed and put down to bed asleep
9:00 pm ~ awake already, went to her gave pacifier, refused it so rocked her to sleep
9:30 pm ~ put her back down asleep
11:15 pm ~ woke up just as i was going to bed, frustrated, i decided that i was going to have to change to work on getting her back into a good sleep schedule.
sunday:
12:30 am ~ after letting her cry it out and going to her once she fell asleep
5:00 am ~ wakes up to nurse ( a little early, but ok then) goes back to sleep until
8:30 am ~ wakes up for the day/nurses
10:30 am ~ falls asleep in car on the way to church, wakes up when we are taking her into the nursery.
11:15 am ~ awake in nursery/takes a bottle
1:00 pm ~ quick nap in car on the way to lunch
2:00 pm ~ falls asleep in car on the way home, stays asleep after being put in her crib until
3:30 pm ~ wakes up/nurses
6:00 pm ~ eats cereal
7:30 pm ~ nurses and falls asleep, put in crib
9:00 pm ~ wakes up and cries it out, daddy goes in every 20 min. to soothe her ( i am determined to start this week out with the goal of getting her on a good schedule!)
10:30 pm ~ finally falls asleep and stays asleep until the next morning!!!!
monday:
6:55 am ~ wakes up (with some help from siblings getting ready for school) and is such a happy baby!!! /nurses
8:45 am ~ rocks with mommy and then put down for a nap awake, cries for 20 min. falls asleep
10:00 am ~ wakes up/nurses
12:00 pm ~ eats cereal
12:45 pm - 1:00 pm ~ rocks with mommy and then put down for a nap awake, cries for less than 5 min. and falls asleep
1:45 pm ~ wakes up crying, try to let her fall back to sleep for 20 minutes - does not
2:05 pm ~ removed from crib (poor baby has a poopie diaper and is hungry) nurses
4:15 pm ~ rocks with mommy, then put down for a nap awake, cries for 45 minutes.
5:00 pm ~ removed from crib with no nap/nurses
6:00 pm ~ eats cereal
7:00 pm ~ nurses for night feeding, has quiet time and rocks with mommy
7:45 pm ~ put down in crib sleepy but not all the way asleep
8:15 pm ~ wakes up screaming, daddy gives paci and leaves,
8:35 pm ~ still crying, daddy gives paci again and leaves, begins to cry with short spells of silence
9:30 pm ~ finally falls asleep
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