7 nights of sleep!

Well two weeks after I began the so called sleep training with Joshua. It's the 18th March and I've just had my 7th night of Joshua SLEEPING through the night! 

What a strange feeling to not feel exhausted at the start of a day! What a refreshing feeling to actually want to jump out of bed and start the day!

When I say sleeping through the night, I really do mean pretty much all night (6.30pm- 7pm all the way to 4.30am- 5am). All without any night feeds. I would of course now aim to get him going till 6.30am or 7am. However that will come, especially with clocks going forward at the end of the month!;D

For us we got there with minimal crying, and it worked text book. I know with some babies it can be more distressing and more crying is involved.  However if you feel your baby is just waking for comfort and they are eating solids I would really recommend giving this a go.  I am so glad we did!

Joshua slept through the night (Over 9hrs!).

As you are aware I started trying to "Sleep Train' my 7 month old baby boy just over a week ago.  The first night was the Monday 3rd March.

As you can see from previous entries, there was an immediate improvement after the first night.

I still thought I may be confusing baby by giving him milk on his first wake up, but not the rest, so from Sunday 9th, I cut out giving milk after bedtime completely.

Please Note: I am confident he's eating good three meals in the day time as well as snacks, he's also having 21 oz of formula, throughout the day, and also a breast feed first thing in the morning.

So, the first night of doing this, (Sunday 9th March) Joshua woke up at 11pm, he cried for small time, but settled back down without milk.  Unfortunately he woke Ollie up and at the time I didn't know how long he would take to settle, so Oliver and I swapped rooms.   Joshua then didn't wake until 4.30am, however I didn't need to go into him, as he just settled after whinging a little.  He then woke at 6.10am, so I brought him into bed for a breastfeed.

The second night, Monday 10th March, Joshua stirred around 11pm and 1am, he didn't cry for long periods, I did go in, to shh and pat, but he settled relatively quickly.  He then woke at 5.30am, and I took him for a breast feed.

So, last night, the third night, 11th March, Joshua did an amazing 6.45pm to 4.30am!  So I am pretty sure that can be classed as 'Sleeping through the night'!

So that would be 9 nights after initial start of sleep training, and Joshua has been transformed from waking every 2-3 hrs through the night and feeding, to not feeding in the night at all, and doing a stretch of 9hrs 45 Mins!  

I hope it continues, but I feel we are definitely on the right track :)

Sleep Training Night 5

Night 5

Hi, well, baby boy went to bed at 7pm, fine, he did for some reason wake up crying after about half an hour or so, but I settled him back down with some shhh and pats.

The next wake up was midnight, so that was quite a long stretch.  I didn't know whether to give him milk or not, but in the end I did give him a bottle of formula which he fully drank.

He next woke up at 4.30am.   I settled him down without milk, by doing the method of shhh'ing and patting, and then leaving for a few minutes.   However it got to 5.15am, and I thought, well perhaps he is feeling a bit hungry, and it IS the morning now, so I  breastfed him, not sure I should have really, but then by 5.30am he was settled back down in his cot, and slept till 6.30am.

So not sure if that was a very successful night or not.  He did do two reasonable long stretches.  Yes.  I mean its definitely better, than when he was waking up 2-3hrs and I was boob feeding him every time.

I just don't know if this is going to work, if I am still giving him the feed at 11pm ish when he first wakes.  

We shall see.....

Sleep training has begun! Night 1

My baby boy is now 7 months, and he is still waking frequently throughout the night.  He was exclusively breastfed for 5 months, and afterwards I introduced a bottle of formula here and there, but the majority of the feeds were breast.

During the last week, I have stopped feeding him myself during the day-time and have moved onto formula.  I am keeping one breastfeed per day, which is working out to be early morning, or afternoon, or both.

He is having at least three 7oz bottles of formula throughout the day-time, plus he is having three meals a day, plus snacks and pudding.    In  my honest opinion I do not feel that he can be hungry during the night time, especially as he also is having a bottle of formula upon his first waking at 11pm approximately.  

Up until recently I have just been feeding him every time he wakes up, usually, 11pm, maybe 2am, 4am, 6am etc...  It is noteworthy that before I introduced the extra formula my boy was also waking about 9.30pm (after going to bed at 7pm).

I'm going back to work in just under two months, and I really want to get Joshua's night waking sorted so that he sleeps through.  I actually don't believe for one minute he is actually hungry.  I think he's waking out of habit as this is what he has always done!

So, here we go embarking on "Sleep Training".   

So, what method am I using?  I dont want to use CIA, which I believe is where you do literally just let the baby cry on his own until he falls asleep.  However I am going to do a version of Controlled Crying, where I comfort him when he cries, by patting, stroking, shhh'ing, (but not picking up) and then leave for 3 mins/5 mins/10 Mins.   

There are many people that that do not agree with sleep training, and will just respond to their babies needs by feeding/cuddling to sleep whenever they wake.  This is essentially what I have been doing for the last 7 months. However its come to a point now, where I genuinely feel it's time to help Joshua learn  that night time is for sleeping.   I feel that my home will be happier and healthy once we are ALL getting a good nights rest.

Night 1 - Monday 3rd March 2013

I gave Joshua a bottle of formula at about 6.30pm and he settled straight down to sleep (put awake in cot, and he settles extremely well at bedtime, always has).

He woke up at 11pm, and at the moment I am still giving him some formula at this time, just to make sure he is full up for the rest of the night.  He did drink most of the 7oz bottle.

Baby went back to sleep in his cot pretty much straight away, after the bottle and nappy change.

Off I went back to sleep in my bed.  Then, Joshua woke up and cried for me about 2am.  So, this time, I didn't want to settle him with Milk and I want him to settle himself.  So I went in, comforted him with a pat and a shhh....and then left for a few minutes, then went back to comfort.  He was upset and was crying and it was getting very loud, which made me feel really anxious.  However I knew I had to see this through!  He'd only had 7oz of formula 3hrs ago!

Unfortunately, Oliver woke up, and it really was too noisy for him to sleep (as they share a room) so I told Oliver to go in my bed, which is where he stayed for the rest of the night.... so hopefully I am not solving one sleep problem and making another!!!

Tonight I am going to get a little ready bed in my room, so he can go in there if Joshua cries loudly and wakes him up.

Anyway, so by 3am Joshua had gone back to sleep.  Yes, an hour of going back and fourth comforting him, but he did indeed go back to sleep.  Hoorah.   However, only till 4.40am, he started crying again, and I thought, ohhhh noo not again, but he stopped all on his own and was quiet again until 5.30am, which I decided it was reasonable to give him a feed then, so I took him into my bed and breastfed him, and we kind of dosed till 6.10am, when Oliver woke up.  We all stayed in bed together until 7am.

So, what will tonight bring?  I have just popped Joshua upstairs in the cot and he is fussy and stirring a bit but will hopefully settle in a moment.

Sleep training Night 3

Well, not a bad night!  Joshua went to bed perfectly at 7pm.   His first waking was a little earlier than usual, at 9.40pm.  I decided to give him his top up milk at that time, but he was so sleepy actually, didn't take a full bottle of formula.  He went straight back to sleep in his cot afterwards.

Interestingly, Joshua woke up several times during the night, around 12.30am, 2am, 4.30am, however each time he woke up, I just left it for a few minutes and he self settled himself!  There was no prolonged crying episodes like the first night we tried this between 2am and 3am!

When he woke up at 4.30am, I was considering feeding him, but he settled back down on his own quickly.  He woke up babbling at 5.30am, and by this time he'd been almost 8 hours with out a feed, so I brought him into bed and breast fed him, and guess what we both fell asleep until about 6.30am.

Now, I feel really bad about this, as I don't want him to now want to come into my bed in the night :(   So, I am considering to either sit up and feed him, and make sure I put him back in the cot, or give him a bottle of formula at this time instead.

Oh and the great news is, Oliver, my 5 year old didn't hear him at all in the night and was able to sleep soundly in his own bed all night :)

Having gone 8 hrs without a feed, I am convinced that my baby boy is NOT hungry in the night!

Sleep Training Night 2

Night 2  - 4th March 2014

As usual Joshua settled to bed after a bottle of formula, at 7pm.

He first woke up at 11.30pm, I gave him some more milk (formula), and he settled back down very quickly, not waking Oliver up.

He was definitely back asleep by midnight, more like 11.45pm.

So, I went back to sleep, and the next time I heard from him, it was 4.35am! Still very early, but that was great as it was longer than last night!

I was debating should I, or should I not feed him then, but as it was almost 5am, and he'd been 5hrs without a milk feed, I thought I'd better.  So he had a breast feed.  I then popped him back in cot and he fussed, and did wake Oliver up, who was sent into the little sponge bed in my room!

Joshua fussed for another 40 mins or so, but then he fell asleep by 5.30am, however he was awake again at 6.30am, which at that time I thought it was reasonable to get up with him!

So, so far so good, let's bring on tonight!