so for the past three weeks or so, my life has revolved around babies and sleeping. the desire for more sleep grew into an obsession when i got sick and had to feed a baby every two hours all night and couldn't sleep and had to work at 6 a.m. for like a week. it was horrible. the baby cried at night, all the time and wouldn't go to sleep and wouldn't stay asleep. he was getting a new tooth (he's got his first four now, so that should be pausing for a few months) but mostly he had BAD sleep habits.

Here's what I've learned:

1. babies do best getting up early and going to bed early. (opps.)
2. babies do best with two long naps, not a bunch of short ones (oops.)
3. babies do best not napping after 4 p.m. (oops.)
4. babies do best on a set schedule and routine that stays the same every day, including weekends. (double oops)


so they daytime changes we've made have helped a lot, even without addressing the night stuff at all. ben gets up at 8, nap at 10:15, up at 11:15, nurse and lunch, nap at 2 p.m. up at 4 p.m. and nurse, dinner at 6 p.m., bath at 7 p.m, nurse, and bed at 8 p.m. (so far we haven't hit earlier than 9 yet, but hey, 9 is a HUGE improvement over where we were before.

as far as actually during the night:
1. try to get him to fall asleep on his own, without sucking on anything. its OK to feed him, but try to lay him down drowsy but awake.
2. rather than nurse sitting up, i lay down and he has to support himself. so when he's too tired to hold his head up, then he just lets go and goes to sleep on his own.
3. comfort him without feeding him if he's eaten recently. hold, touch, use key words (ours are "shhh, go sleepy") and give him his lovey. (its a stuffed penguin that he's not really attaching to very well, but hopefully it just takes time) and cuddle if need be. this may sound extensive, but really, its a lot easier than feeding him. usually i can pat his back and rest my hand on him and he'll go back to sleep. he's also learning self-soothing skills of sucking on his own hands and arm.

all without letting him cry it out.

thank god for "the no-cry sleep solution" by elizabeth pantley. she's my new hero. she says that it will take at LEAST 30 days to get him to sleep through the night, but its worth it. no crying. more sleeping. zzzzzzzzzzzzz.


he's also decided that baby food is for, well, babies. and he's a big boy (really) and wants what mama and papa are eating. sadly, he's no longer a vegan baby, he's had a little bit of tuna (-) and some eggs (+) and he really really likes watermelon. and cheerios. not so much anything he has to eat from a spoon. if he could talk, he'd say "i can do it myself"

actually, today he made a really valiant effort to say "kitty-cat" he was pointing and lunging at abby, so i know it has meaning. it kinda came out gey-gat. it was pretty clear what he meant though. we were both impressed, but couldn't get him to do it again.

guess that's all the cute baby news for now. i'm sad that its so hard for me to be able to write, but at least i'm NEVER bored. there's always a million things going on, and our families sure are getting to see a lot of the baby. its very nice. and i'm excieted for his first birthday party already. it seems like its coming up so fast now :-)