Post "crying it out" sleeping method, the morning after...
PP did woke up at around 4.30am. that's a mere 3 hours after we left her crying and sobbing herself to sleep. I followed through with the advices from Dr Spock and others on this.
Generally they all advised the same when babies wake up at night but lets use Dr Miriam Stoppard's guide here.
Only whimper: don't go to her
True crying: go and see her. just talk and pat her. I guess stroking her will work too (however, whenever i do this, she cries even louder. this is when i have to use Dr Spock's advice on avoid letting the baby see you! She get's even more aggregated. Wait it out before checking in on her)
If doesn't work: pick her up, soothe her a bit and put her back in cot
If still crying: go back every to see her every 5 mins to calm baby but try without lifting her up from cot.
..i always ended up picking her up. fail.
So remember Mummylicious, i said to myself. Let her fall asleep by her own but IF, if you have to pick her up. No eye contacts. (i read somewhere that eye contacts trigger baby to wake up and wants to play) No playing. Rock her a bit and let her sleep.
So PP cried. not whimper. cried her heart out. i hid under the blanket. but only after 1 minute. she went back to sleep. Of course i went to check on her after that. She was really asleep. adjusted her kicked off blanket. She really went back to sleep. Heh. That wasn't so bad.
Then she woke up again around 7AM. Immediately went full volume cries. This time i said i has been nearly 6 hours since she slept. If she continues longer than before, I'll pick her up cause maybe she IS hungry (the main culprit why i kept picking her up before. feed her feed her feed her). But 5 seconds into her all out crying, it turned into a whimper, and she fell back asleep. Dang...I should have done this long ago.
Finally she woke up again at 10.30AM. I went to her and picked her up. Kissed her good morning and promptly lead her to bed for breakfast feeding and both Mummylicious and PP fell asleep again after that only to wake up at 1.30PM for lunch.
Until tonight, my heart is mending with temporary pins.
Useful links
Dr Spock "Waking in the night"
BabyCenter "Baby sleep training, night weaning"
Kid'sHealth "Sleep and your 8-12 months old"
PP did woke up at around 4.30am. that's a mere 3 hours after we left her crying and sobbing herself to sleep. I followed through with the advices from Dr Spock and others on this.
"your baby thinks "let's see what happens if I start crying out in the middle of the night," and as soon as he realizes that his cries bring you running, he intelligently continues this routine." Dr Lara Jana advise to parents through Dr SpockParents response towards the babies cries is what decides her or his future wakefulness in middle of the night. I have been encouraging PP the habit that whenever she wakes up in the middle of the night, she will be rocked and feed until she falls asleep again. If not on the rocking chair, its by my side on our bed and i wake up with shoulder cramps and ill-rested feeling. Let me go aaahh over this article
"But babies this age don't necessarily wake up because they're hungry." said BabyCenter article
"If your baby's at least 4 to 6 months old, you can probably begin taking steps to wean him from feeding during the night. Of course, even if your baby doesn't need to eat in the middle of the night, he may still wake up wanting to. Babies who are used to eating several times a night tend to wake up out of habit, and it can take time to change this routine." BabyCenter on night weaningNot only i had to toughen up putting her to sleep earlier. i had to toughen up when she wakes up crying in the middle of the night! This is gonna be a difficult week. My heart can't take it!
Generally they all advised the same when babies wake up at night but lets use Dr Miriam Stoppard's guide here.
Only whimper: don't go to her
True crying: go and see her. just talk and pat her. I guess stroking her will work too (however, whenever i do this, she cries even louder. this is when i have to use Dr Spock's advice on avoid letting the baby see you! She get's even more aggregated. Wait it out before checking in on her)
If doesn't work: pick her up, soothe her a bit and put her back in cot
If still crying: go back every to see her every 5 mins to calm baby but try without lifting her up from cot.
..i always ended up picking her up. fail.
So remember Mummylicious, i said to myself. Let her fall asleep by her own but IF, if you have to pick her up. No eye contacts. (i read somewhere that eye contacts trigger baby to wake up and wants to play) No playing. Rock her a bit and let her sleep.
So PP cried. not whimper. cried her heart out. i hid under the blanket. but only after 1 minute. she went back to sleep. Of course i went to check on her after that. She was really asleep. adjusted her kicked off blanket. She really went back to sleep. Heh. That wasn't so bad.
Then she woke up again around 7AM. Immediately went full volume cries. This time i said i has been nearly 6 hours since she slept. If she continues longer than before, I'll pick her up cause maybe she IS hungry (the main culprit why i kept picking her up before. feed her feed her feed her). But 5 seconds into her all out crying, it turned into a whimper, and she fell back asleep. Dang...I should have done this long ago.
Finally she woke up again at 10.30AM. I went to her and picked her up. Kissed her good morning and promptly lead her to bed for breakfast feeding and both Mummylicious and PP fell asleep again after that only to wake up at 1.30PM for lunch.
Until tonight, my heart is mending with temporary pins.
Useful links
Dr Spock "Waking in the night"
BabyCenter "Baby sleep training, night weaning"
Kid'sHealth "Sleep and your 8-12 months old"
3 comments:
Hey Dayang,
Firstly, this is a really good blog with loads of first-hand experience in mommyhood.
just wondering, when was it advised to do this "cry it out" method and weaning of the night feeds? cause you mentioned something about 4-5 months.
my baby is 1 month old and he wakes up every 2 hours for a feed! which leaves my breasts SORE and SAVAGED. :p
congrats on your baby!
from what i've read, it is advised when baby is around 4-5 months. some doctors advise after 6months. but before 8-10 months. of course, this depends on the parents. over time, you will know when your baby just want to suckle instead of real feeding. or waking up at 3 am to plaayyy!! <--thats my reason for trying this!
i did with baby PP at 6 months because i felt she was ready. plus, she was sleeping throughout the night at 2 months without my help anyway. only at 5 months plus she started waking up in the middle of the night again. which brought us to this method.
i soooo understand your sore and savaged breasts! haha been there. hours of BF then 2 hours sleep. another hour of BF. stay strong.
you are still a long time away from trying this method, anytime before 4 months, baby need to be feed often, they dont care night or day yet.or just want to be loved and cuddled.
try rocking, singing lullabies? thats what i did before. and are you swaddling your baby? Baby PP slept for a longer stretch when swaddled.
you have to remember this method is very emotional for both mother and baby. so its always as last resort. cause once you start, you can't stop or it will confused your baby more :(
try this site too.
http://www.babysleepsite.com/sleep-training/cry-it-out-age/
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