A few days after Thanksgiving Abby turned four months. At her checkup, her doctor suggested that we start some serious sleep training. Up to that point, she slept in her car seat for most of her naps, in a swing for the first stretch or two at night, and in our bed for the rest.
Can we say survival mode? I think so.
Up to that point, the goal was to get her regular rest. But now, it was time to get her in bed and sleeping on her own. We are still in this process. It is a daily battle but we are making some improvements.
At night, she is in her bed at least 95% of the night. Over the last four days we have gone from four+ feedings a night to two. Feeding times are not to be confused with waking times. We are still muscling through two or more waking times to avoid feeding. But even that has improved. We are slowly going from screaming, to crying, to squealing.
I have successfully stretched out her day-time feedings from 2.5-3 hours to 3.5-4 hours. That has been great. And for three days we were on a predictable schedule that I didn’t have to write down. I feel like my mind is like mush and I can’t ever remember what I did when—even when I am staring at my watch I forget what I am doing.
The doctor suggested that we try adding rice cereal into her diet. But my gut feeling tells me her night waking is not because she is hungry but just because she doesn’t know how to sleep. Besides that, I’m not ready to complicate my life with keeping track of rice cereal, too.
Another challenge with Abby is that when she was about 2 and 1/2 months old, she suddenly became sensitive to dairy in my diet. Blood in her diapers made it so I had no choice in the matter. If she was just fussy, I’d deal with a fussy baby but this was a little more intense. So for eight weeks I was 99.9% dairy-free and 100% miserable. No milk. No butter. No cream. No cheese. No butter. (Oh yeah, I said that already…no butter).
So any baked goods were out of the question and I had to read labels on everything. My saving graces were humus and dark chocolate chips with peanut butter. Fortunately, we found some dairy-free buttery spread but it wasn’t until week 8 that I discovered all the vegan products at the Whole Foods bakery.
On Thanksgiving the doctor game me the green light to eat whatever I wanted for my pleasure and sanity. So I did. And it was glorious! But nothing happened with Abby. So I kept going, waiting for the dreaded diaper to show up. And it never did. So butter I kept eating.
Thank. Good. Ness.
And as for Abby’s stats? Oh sheesh. Did I mention my mind is mush? That’s why the doctor’s office keeps records.
A few things to note about Abby at this age:
-She is generally very happy as long as she’s got someone talking to her.
-She gives the biggest open-mouthed smiles.
-Not much of a giggler—you have to work hard for that.
-Actually enjoys tummy time for short periods.
-Not so much a fan of car rides.
-Coos a lot!