Tyler: Week 23

November 24-November 30, 2010 (22w-22w6d old)

Baby Wise:

Ding Ding Ding.... the parents have figured it out!  What a great week!  It's like we have a completely different baby.

We're trying out a 3 hr cycle.  It starts with feeding him, then activity, then a nap.  Since he's been taking 45 min naps on average, we try to put him down for a nap about an hour before he's due to nurse again.  If he seems tired before then, we go ahead and let him go to sleep.  We also put him down still awake so he can develop the skills to self soothe.

We decided to try out a small amount of crying it out.  I'm not big on crying it out, even though it can be quite effective, it can be quite torturous for me to listen to.  I figured I could handle 5 mins.  Our plan was to put him down in his crib, rub his head a little, tell him we love him and then walk out.  We would give him 5 mins and then go in and soothe him if needed.  We would then give him another 5 mins and if he was still crying after that, I would allow myself to pick him up.  I knew it may require much more than this, but this was a baby step for me and was an amount I could handle. 

Knowing you can go soothe them at a certain time makes it so much easier to handle when they're crying so hard.  I would look at the clock and say, ok, I can go in at such and such time.  I would also watch on the video monitor  so I could see he was just fine.  I found listening on the lowest volume was very helpful as it's his loudness that pulls at me the hardest.

When he wakes from his nap, we try to give him a few mins before we go pick him up to make sure he's up for good.  Some times he goes back to sleep within a few mins.

So this is how it played out:

Day 1:

• Nap 1:  Put in crib, rubbed head and walked out.  He cried and escalated to screaming bloody murder pretty quick.  It was so hard to hear.  After 5 mins, rubbed his head and his eyes rolled back in his head and he was out.  Shocked to say the least, I was expecting much more of a fight than this!  He slept 38 mins.

• Nap 2:  Cried 5 mins and then out on his own.  Yeah!  He slept 52 mins.

• Bed Time:  Put him in his crib and walked away with him awake.  He fell asleep without even crying.  OMGosh, seriously???  He slept 3.5 hrs.

Day 2:

• Nap 1:  Soothed 1x at 5m and then out.  Slept 49 mins.

• Nap 2:  Had to put paci back in 1x and then out.  Slept 47 mins.

• Nap 3:  Cried 2 mins and then out.  Slept 46 mins.

• All other naps were traveling in the car, so they don't count.

• Bed Time:  Layed in crib and went right to sleep.  Slept 4 hrs.

Day 3:

• Nap 1:  Cried and then out in 2 mins.  Slept 46 mins.

• Nap 2:  No crying and out in 2 mins.  Slept 45 mins.

• Nap 3:  Cried and then out in 4 mins.  Slept 30 mins.

• Nap 4:  Cried while I was in the room, fell asleep as soon as I left.  Slept 59 mins.

• Nap 5:  Slept in our arms for 1.5 hrs, so this one doesn't count.

• Bed Time:  Cried and then out in 2 mins.  Slept 2 hrs, needed paci put in, then slept another 2 hrs.

Day 4:

• Nap 1:  Went right to sleep.  Slept 39 mins.

• Nap 2:  Cried few mins and then out.  Woke up a few times but went right back to sleep on his own.  Slept for 2 hrs!!!!

• Nap 3:  Slept at boob for 50 mins, so this one doesn't count.

• Nap 4:  He was fussy so I put him in his crib and he went right out.  Wow!  Slept 45 mins.

• Nap 5:  We took away another sleep prop and that was his white noise.  Unfortunately this device turns off in 45 mins and it was causing him to wake right up.  He layed there quietly looking around and drifted off.  He slept 1.25 hrs.

I won't bore you with the rest of the week, but it continued on the same path and just continued to improve each day that we stuck to the plan.

Gosh, if only we knew what a difference it would make to rearrange the order to eat-activity-sleep and to let him cry it out for a short amount of time.  We now have a new baby that nurses every ~3 hrs instead of 1-2 hrs, who takes several naps a day instead of 2 (without props), who is so happy and not near as fussy in the evenings.

I found that fussy does not always mean hunger, surprised how many times it meant tiredness.  I think this is why he's been so fussy in the evening, I was mistaking his tiredness for hunger and was feeding him instead of putting him down for a nap.  Things aren't perfect, but we've made great strides this week!

Tyler Update:

• This was Tyler's first Thanksgiving.  He didn't get to partake in the feast this year since he's not eating solids yet, but he had some turkey fortified milk later in the evening.  Here's a few pics from Thanksgiving.

Video:  Tyler the Rocketeer

• He loves Christmas trees.  His Grammy put up his very own tree and he spent 15 minutes checking out every inch of it.

• He experienced his first shower.  I think he's neutral on it, he neither loved nor hated it.  I think he prefers baths as he gets to be submerged in the water and doesn't get sprinkled in the face.

• He's really grabbing hair and face pretty aggressively and he uses his nails.  I think he's just being affectionate and doesn't realize it hurts.  He's hearing his first "No, no, no!!!" as he hangs onto my hair with a death grip.  So much for shorter hair, it's not helping.  I tried a pony tail but he just grabs the back of my hair under the pony tail which is worse.  He's got quite the strong grip!  I think it's from all those weeks of having a constant clenched fist.

• He loves new toys and checks them out thoroughly.  I took him to Babies R Us and stood him on the shelf that held all the exersaucer type toys and he checked out every single toy around the entire piece and then moved onto the next one.

• He loves his exersaucer so much that his Grammy got him one for her house.

• His favorite toy on this exersaucer is Mr. Sunshine, he tastes good.  He pulls back on it so hard that it sometimes comes out.  One day this week he pulled and let go and it catapulted across the room and hit the cat!

• He loves my iPhone.  He can hold it, push buttons and navigate the screen.  He always pooches his lips when he's concentrating.

• He loves my mouse and keyboard!  He pretends to type and moves the mouse.

Video:  Tyler typing

• We had to take his video monitor out of his crib because he would wake up and pick the camera up.  He would look right into the camera and it seemed as though he was saying "I know you're watching me, come get me!".

• He's sooooo happy when he wakes up in the morning.

Video:  Tyler waking up

• He's not so happy when he's hungry.  He has the funniest new cry, he gurgles and blows raspberries while he cries.

Video:  Tyler's new cry

• He loves being sung to.  He just lights up and it's so soothing to him.

• He's so stinkin' funny when it comes time to nurse.  As soon as he sees the boob, he gets so excited, laughs, grins and says "Mmm Mmm Mmm...".

• He's becoming more and more distracted during BFing, to the point of not finishing eating.  He's just so afraid he's going to miss something.

• He loves starring at his black and white art cards I have taped to his swing.  One day he pulled one off and thoroughly examined it.

• He mimicked me for the 1st time.  I was changing him, looked at him and made 3 smacking noises.  He mimicked me perfectly with 3 smacking noises.  It was so cool!  I couldn't get him to do it again.

• He's really scooting across the floor by rolling and inch worming (lifts his butt, pushes forward, repeat).  Kerry found him on his hands and knees once.  Someone is getting a playzone for Christmas!

• He weighs 15.5 lbs!