I'm pretty sure that the inventor of caffeine was a woman with a newborn baby. Since I had to stop nursing (due to getting sick) caffeine has been my saving grace. Sidenote: I don't know how nursing mothers go without caffeine - they are heroic! I used to be a scheduled sleeper from 10pm to 5am on weekdays and weekends I caught up on those extra hours missed during the week. Needless to say when Baby P was born the crazy hours of sleep did a number on me. Getting up at all hours of the night sent me right into zombie parenting. That is until I met The Sleep Lady...
The Sleep Lady aka Kim West believes in setting a routine from the beginning and slowly adapting your child to her "Sleep Lady Shuffle". I was given Kim's book The Sleep Lady's Good Night, Sleep Tight by my cousin Susie at my baby shower. It sat on the shelf until about a week ago when I thought about Payton sleeping through the night and how in the world was I going to get her ready for such a big transaction. Enter the Sleep Lady.
Kim's steps are so easy that you don't feel overwhelmed and you think "Hey, I can do this!". First she gives you her eight rules of infant slumber:
1. Create a flexible feeding and sleeping routine.
2. Encourage soothing techniques other than feeding.
3. Offer a pacifier for soothing and sucking.
4. Feed your baby when he/she wakes from a nap.
5. Put your baby down drowsy but awake at least once a day.
6. Introduce a bottle at least once a day. (This is for nursing moms)
7. Create a sleep-friendly environment.
8. Carefully think through bedsharing/cosleeping or roomsharing.
She gives you much more detail in the book about each step and how to complete them successfully. The best part is some apply more than others I you are probably already doing some without knowing it. Easy Peasy!
Since Payton is now almost six weeks we are at the distinguishing day from night part of establishing a routine. Once again we were already doing a lot of this process on our own, but an expert giving me a little more instruction was very reassuring.
Here is the process we are working on for this month 5-8 weeks and next month 9-12 weeks:
1. Keeping her awake from 8-10pm
2. Putting her to bed when she is drowsy but awake and getting her there by soothing her, not feeding her
3. Her sleeping from 10pm-2am (feeding) and then sleeping until 6am or 11pm-3am and then until 7am.
4. Slowly starting to establish a night time routine
This is our routine: bottle, bath, pj's, diaper, lotion, story, rocking
5. Her sleeping through the night and not needing the middle of the night feeding - using diapers one size too big or Pamper's Baby Dry Diapers really helped
6. Moving her bedtime up by an hour
7. Waking up at a consistent time 7am or 7:30am (sometime before 8am)
8. Napping around 9am if getting up at 7am
Of course The Sleep Lady gives you more detailed instruction in her book, but this is a simple breakdown of what she has to offer. The steps are so easy and it is nice to have goals to work toward instead of feeling that we are stumbling in the dark.
Current Progress:
1. Payton is sleeping most nights from 10pm-4am getting up for a feeding and then sleeping until 7:30-8am
2. Keeping her awake from 8-10pm is a bit tricky at times. Sometimes she is ready for bed at 8:30 (and we go ahead and put her down) or she wants to take little cat naps. Of course other night she is wide awake and ready to play.
3. I'm slowly getting adjusted to the drowsy but awake. It is hard to watch her open her eyes wide and whine a little until she drifts to sleep.
4. I am starting to feel less like a walking zombie because Pay is waking up at a more consistent time.
Fingers crossed that we can transition smoothly into 10 hours of solid sleep.
*This is my own opinion of the book. I was not paid to talk about this book on my blog.
The Sleep Lady aka Kim West believes in setting a routine from the beginning and slowly adapting your child to her "Sleep Lady Shuffle". I was given Kim's book The Sleep Lady's Good Night, Sleep Tight by my cousin Susie at my baby shower. It sat on the shelf until about a week ago when I thought about Payton sleeping through the night and how in the world was I going to get her ready for such a big transaction. Enter the Sleep Lady.
Kim's steps are so easy that you don't feel overwhelmed and you think "Hey, I can do this!". First she gives you her eight rules of infant slumber:
1. Create a flexible feeding and sleeping routine.
2. Encourage soothing techniques other than feeding.
3. Offer a pacifier for soothing and sucking.
4. Feed your baby when he/she wakes from a nap.
5. Put your baby down drowsy but awake at least once a day.
6. Introduce a bottle at least once a day. (This is for nursing moms)
7. Create a sleep-friendly environment.
8. Carefully think through bedsharing/cosleeping or roomsharing.
She gives you much more detail in the book about each step and how to complete them successfully. The best part is some apply more than others I you are probably already doing some without knowing it. Easy Peasy!
Since Payton is now almost six weeks we are at the distinguishing day from night part of establishing a routine. Once again we were already doing a lot of this process on our own, but an expert giving me a little more instruction was very reassuring.
Here is the process we are working on for this month 5-8 weeks and next month 9-12 weeks:
1. Keeping her awake from 8-10pm
2. Putting her to bed when she is drowsy but awake and getting her there by soothing her, not feeding her
3. Her sleeping from 10pm-2am (feeding) and then sleeping until 6am or 11pm-3am and then until 7am.
4. Slowly starting to establish a night time routine
This is our routine: bottle, bath, pj's, diaper, lotion, story, rocking
5. Her sleeping through the night and not needing the middle of the night feeding - using diapers one size too big or Pamper's Baby Dry Diapers really helped
6. Moving her bedtime up by an hour
7. Waking up at a consistent time 7am or 7:30am (sometime before 8am)
8. Napping around 9am if getting up at 7am
Of course The Sleep Lady gives you more detailed instruction in her book, but this is a simple breakdown of what she has to offer. The steps are so easy and it is nice to have goals to work toward instead of feeling that we are stumbling in the dark.
Current Progress:
1. Payton is sleeping most nights from 10pm-4am getting up for a feeding and then sleeping until 7:30-8am
2. Keeping her awake from 8-10pm is a bit tricky at times. Sometimes she is ready for bed at 8:30 (and we go ahead and put her down) or she wants to take little cat naps. Of course other night she is wide awake and ready to play.
3. I'm slowly getting adjusted to the drowsy but awake. It is hard to watch her open her eyes wide and whine a little until she drifts to sleep.
4. I am starting to feel less like a walking zombie because Pay is waking up at a more consistent time.
Fingers crossed that we can transition smoothly into 10 hours of solid sleep.
*This is my own opinion of the book. I was not paid to talk about this book on my blog.
0 comments:
Post a Comment