Daddy: The Sleep Whisperer

While on our mega trip last fall in the US, Blaise napped in our bed.  When we got home he of course didn't want to go back to napping in his crib.  I kept putting off the transition for many good (and some not-so-good) reasons:  holidays, illness, various other changes, etc.  I mentioned that he started only taking one nap a day?  Jan has him back to two naps a day IN HIS CRIB!!  He was even sleeping for really long stretches (2+ hours) in the morning for a few days in a row, but this could have been due to his recent bronchitis diagnosis :(  All in all sleep poses a constant challenge for us, but with Daddy, "The Sleep Whisperer," all can be conquered!

Christmas Eve

Jan and I have hosted all the Christmas Eves which we have spent in Germany.  It is always great fun pulling out the table decorations and planning the menu.  A fun twist this year was that instead of Jan's family being in the majority of our guests, mine was!  My cousin Kim's sister, Lisa, came over this year to visit and spend the holidays in Germany.  So, of the 9 guests we had at our table Christmas Eve, 4 of them were my family - 2 cousins (plus Kim's boyfriend, Bill) and my parents.  We also had some friends and Jan's step-brother, Oli.  It was a fun round of people.

Before the dinner festivities began, we went to Mass at 3:30 at St. Ignaz because they were having a children's Mass.  I found it very condusive to children since it was in the afternoon - no tired and hungry babies to cry through church!  It was very nice and included a little nativity play, the music was also wonderful - they had an orchestra and the closing song was Silent Night, for which they turned off the lights - very dramatic.

I have been holding out telling you guys something:

Blaise started sleeping through the night about the second week in December.  He didn't every night, but even the nights he didn't, usually just a pop of the pacifier back in his mouth would do the trick.  About December 22nd our sleep-hell started up again, and it was back with new found fury.  Fortunately, since the 26th he seems to have fallen back into the sleeping through the night phase - I was really starting to get worried!  We had a few nights where he was awake for 2.5 hours in the middle of the night - but we at least cuddled and he wasn't screaming.  We had raclette for dinner, and even though Jan missed about the first hour and we could hear a screaming baby in the background, it turned out alright.  Anyway, here's to being back on track! :)

Blaise proved to be a master at opening presents.  It was pretty fun that he was so "old" for his first Christmas - he was able to really enjoy it.

The German Christmas Eve tradition is having dinner after church, then the children are distracted while the presents are put under the tree.  The "Christkind" brings the presents and when she leaves she rings a bell letting everyone know that she has been there.  The formerly distracted children then are allowed in the living room to check out their loot.  The translation of Christkind is Christ Child, so you'd think that Jesus would be the one bringing the gifts, but actually it is always a picture of a young girl angel, as in the link above.  If you figure this out let me know, I still find it a mystery.  The Christkind comes to the Catholic (southern) part of Germany - and I suppose the Weihnachtsman (Santa Claus) visits the others?  We'll have to figure out what story to tell Blaise, though I would think a child growing up with two different holiday traditions will figure out the real truth sooner than later.  I don't think I will be able to convince him for too long that a girl angel comes to deliver presents on the 24th in Germany, but Santa Claus takes the US route on the 25th.  Either way, it will surely be good fun in the next few years.

Playing the "Water in a Cup" game with Lisa

Shyly beginning to unwrap presents

Checking out the tree

'This one's for me too?'

Gettin' into it!

Really getting into it!

Oooooooooooooo, a new car!

Bill, Kim and Jörg clearly mesmorized by the Baby

Grandma Rose

Playing with his loot

Playing with his nativity with Lisa

With our friends, Kathy and Christian during dinner

We got some good pictures, but I am already looking forward to next year and some improved photography skills.  I really like using natural light verus a flash, but it is really hard during the evening, so some of our pictures are underexposed.  I actually lightened them up with Picasa, but I couldn't get the edited photo to upload here, any idea why? 

Sleep Snuggler

The sleep saga continues...

A few weeks ago I went to a La Leche (breastfeeding) meeting and they were aghast at the fact that I nurse sitting up at night. I tried nursing lying down when Blaise was just home from the hospital, but I could never get it to work comfortably for both of us. At night when he wakes up, I pick him up and go into the next room and sit on the couch. In the early months, I needed around 60 minutes to get him nursed on both sides, burped and changed. Now I need approximately 10 minutes, so it isn't such an ordeal. Anyway, I was willing to try nursing lying down again, thinking this would make my night more restful. They were proponents of co-sleeping, which I am not actually opposed to, but I don't want Blaise to get into the habit of sleeping in our bed and then NOT sleeping in his. But, I did try it for one of the feedings at night and it seemed to work well and then the next time he was hungry, I just rolled him over. Here's the breakdown:

Our routine looks something like this:

Go to Sleep: Somewhere between 6 and 7 in crib

Wake up for first feeding: Somewhere between 9:30-10:20, back to crib

Wake up for second feeding: Somewhere between 1-2:something
After this feeding Blaise is SUPER cuddly! I put him back into bed and he reaches up for me. Yes, I am a major sucker. I pick him up and cuddle. We even started lying in bed after nursing or on the couch and cuddling until the next feeding. I know this is a bad habit, but I LOVE IT! He is so sweet, he plays with my hair and gives me hugs! Major Mommy Joy! I blame the La Leche people for suggesting co-sleeping :)

Wake for third feeding sometime after 5am and go back to sleep in crib until 6-6:30.

Okay, so after a few nights of the sleep snuggling, I decided as much as I was loving the cuddles, both of us weren't getting the best sleep. I also didn't want him to become accustomed to always having me there in the middle of the night. We're back to only sleeping in crib, but after nursing lying down. I miss the snuggles, but I'm enjoying the better sleep!

It is also worth mentioning that Blaise had an almost 6 hour stretch last night - from 9:40ish to 3:20! I went to bed at 10, so I really capitalized on that one! I don't really feel much different though, not that I feel bad, I think my body has actually adjusted quite well.

Also, I have gotten the question more than once about letting him fuss at night before I go get him. I do let him fuss, but only to a certain extent. Once he starts crying (he makes this "Mommy, come get me now" sound after awhile), I go get him. I mentioned before that he scratches a lot and he does this while nursing and at night. So, I don't really want to leave him there to scratch his eyes out. I have some pictures, he really did a number on his ear about a week ago and his forehead also hasn't made it through unscathed either. I mentioned it to the doctor and he wasn't concerned. I think it's something like a tick - I've read about babies pulling their hair out while nursing - at least it isn't that bad.

No Rice

I think I at least proved my point (to myself).

We stopped stuffing the rice cereal flakes into B's nighttime bottle. I don't know where the 6 hours came from, but it didn't last. We're back to 3, 3.5 or (sometimes) 4 hour stretches. We stopped the rice thing. We gave it three nights I think, let me know if you think we stopped too prematurely, but I never really thought he was waking up due to hunger anyway. We have keep working on him putting himself to sleep - that is going to be the key to longer nights.

Not much more to report in the sleep department. Some days are good, some are not so good. When you have somewhere to go in the afternoon, your (read: my) 1.5 hour sleeper turns into an almost 2.5 hour sleeper, when you are exhausted yourself he turns into a .5 hour sleeper. Oh man...

He definitely has the cute thing going for him though :)

Just to prove the "cute" point... :)

2 for 2

A second nap, people!!

This just goes to show that well rested babies do sleep better!

Don't worry, I won't let all this successful napping go to my head...tomorrow is another day.

(keep your fingers crossed)

6 hours

You didn't see this coming, did you?

Blaise had a 6 hour slept stretch last night. This has only happened once or twice and I can't even tell you when it was - but it was A LONG time ago - like February or something.

Here's what we did:

We have been giving him a bottle at night after I nurse him for about 2 weeks or so now. I have been struggling to make sure I have enough milk supply, but late in the day is always pretty weak, plus we'd had some pretty hot days and I wanted to make sure he was getting enough fluids. In Germany (I say this because I don't know how it works in the States), there are three types of formula: PRE, 1 and 2 ("follow-up" formula (Folgemilch). You give a newborn baby the "PRE", a baby between newborn and 6 months "1" and six months + get the "2" (a "follow-up" to nursing). I made a big project of deciding which formula to choose. I chose the brand based on an eco-consumer reports type magazine. I then chose the "PRE" formula, because it was the closest to breastmilk and didn't have added starch.

Last night I caved. We did what I avoided when he was younger, but decided he was old enough now. I actually wouldn't recommend this, because I think if you have a good sleeper it isn't necessary (or if you have more patience than me to try and train your less-than-good sleeper). We doctored his bottle and added all natural rice flake powder. Maybe you are wondering why I was against this? Well, when he was under 6 months, he was exclusively breastfed so it wasn't an option anyway. I guess I just wanted him to learn to sleep without having to stuff him like a turkey. What changed my mind (this is important for my ego to point out) wasn't the sleep I was missing out on, but the sleep he was missing out on.

Having said this, I should also mention that he woke up about 90-120 minutes after putting him down and was CRAZY! We really thought something was wrong. We finally got him to bed after about an hour and another nursing. We think maybe he had some poopsies (gas) that was bothering him, but who knows. Then he slept for 6 hours. Also, this was only the first night, so anything could happen tonight.

We have also continued working on the putting him down drowsy, which I think is also contributing to Blaise sleeping a bit better. (I say "a bit" because we've still been having the unexpected napping issues, more on that in a minute). I have to admit that Jan is better with this than I am. He is much more patient in general and I think that makes him more successful. I've had a few successes, but more frustration.

Which brings me to our napping issues. As I mentioned before Blaise used to nap twice a day. Recently he wasn't taking his morning nap anymore, and sometimes only sleeping 40 minutes (like yesterday!!!). I am blogging to you now from a Blaise nap zone!!!! I got him to take a nap, 2.5 hours after waking, and he fell asleep on his own!!! How do you like that for a success? :) :)

One day at a time.

Thanks to Jen and Kelly for their sleeping tips - those new mommies out there might want to check out what they said in this post.

Follow-up

Hello Sleepy Friends,

Last night wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Not that it was stellar or anything. B got up sometime after 10 and was up for an hour. Jan finally got him back to bed. The next time he wanted to nurse, I just brought him into bed and nursed in bed and left him there. He conked. We were up for the day at 6:45, which really isn't bad, it's almost sleeping in. Only one nap today, but it was a long one - 2 hours and 20 minutes! I'll take what I can get. We had an appointment this morning, so his morning nap ended at 12:10, kinda late, normally I'm ready to put him down for an afternoon nap between 12 and 1. So, I'm not complaining today.

I'm open to any tips though, thanks to Jen for her comments already.

Worst (Sleeping) Day Ever (I think)

Wow. Where to start?

I walk around all day thinking, oh I should blog about this, or I should blog about that. I even write some posts in my head. Obsessed, much? Anyway, one post I have been writing and re-writing in my head is about sleep (or lack thereof...), and today just lends itself as a good backdrop to my sleep post.

I guess it all started yesterday when Blaise took a late morning nap, a subsequent late afternoon nap, getting up after 2hours and 20minutes of respite at FOUR O'CLOCK! Okay, so I don't know what the rest of your baby schedules look like, but my poor sleeper gets put to bed between 6 and 6:30. So, ya, napping until 4pm not such a great thing. Why didn't I wake him up you ask? Well, I kinda did, finally, at 4pm. But, again, he's not the best sleeper, so I hate to rob him of it when he's in his groove, ya know? Back to my story, he went to bed later than usual of course, but not *too* late, it was about 7:45 I think. His first sleep phase was okay, he was up at 10:something and then stayed up for 2 hours. He has a BIG BIG BIG problem of scratching. Some days are better than others, but it tends to wake him up when he gets into a fit. The rest of the night went okay. One 4 hour stretch and then up around 6am.

I can only assume the chaos of yesterday led to today's major sleep deprivation and frustration. Or maybe he's finally teething, or maybe he's growing, or maybe it's just too hot, or maybe, or maybe, or maybe, or maybe...

AGH!

Today was a sleep nightmare. Until recently, we had Blaise on a pretty good 2 nap schedule - a morning and an afternoon nap. Each ranging from 35-90+ minutes. Ever since last Sunday we've been having some unexpected and unwanted napping issues. It took me 40 minutes to get him to sleep this morning, and as I expected he slept a whopping 35ish minutes. After being pushed around the city in his buggy with Willi late morning, I thought FOR SURE I'd get him to nap relatively easily in the afternoon. Wrong. He didn't nap again. At all. Once we hit 3pm, I gave up. I had tried everything: bouncing, singing, nursing, cuddling, leaving him alone, rubbing his back, rubbing his belly. Everything. Nothing worked. He was tired, but would. not. sleep.

Fine.

We went shopping. I bought a Baby Gift for Jen who will be holding her little bundle of joy in less than 12 hours. I bought some super cute hats for Blaise, a light fall hat, and a big fluffy winter hat. They were on sale. I love sales. Did you hear me, Mom? I already bought some hats for Blaise. I promise to post pictures of the hat cuteness.

In the meantime, here is a picture of his current hat that we are addicted to. It's great for early Saturday morning walks with Daddy. We've stretched it to the limits and it's pretty much too small. :( We love it, though. It was a present from my cousin, Anne, and it definitely got a lot of use! (as I am sure you blog followers have noticed!)

He's so cute

Let's not get totally off topic here. I come home from our shopping spree and get him ready for bed. Not an easy task because he is (obviously) overtired. I change his diaper, make him a bottle, nurse him and he falls asleep. I wasn't too overjoyed though, I knew it wasn't going to last. He was up 30 minutes later. I tried to give him the bottle. He drank a little. He cried. He was tired. I gave up, Jan was only minutes away. I handed him over when Jan hit the door. He tried everything, even a 45 minute buggy ride. Nope. I nursed him again and now he's been asleep just over 2 hours. I'm not too optimistic for the rest of the night.

If you are keeping track he was up for a total of 13 hours, with two 30 minute "naps." Seriously, what baby does this? Okay, besides Baby Michelle...

If you're still with me, kudos to you. That was just the backdrop.

We've been having sleep issues for months. Blaise really isn't the worst sleeper ever, I've read *much* worse stories, but I have serious sleep envy when I hear "my 6 week old sleeps through the night." Boo. I'm really not asking for the moon, one or two night feedings would be an improvement.

He is usually up 3 times, sometimes 2. Sleeps 3 hour spurts, sometimes 4. He was making progess until about 2 months old and has regressed and never moved forward from there. Having said all this (and it has been a lot) things actually have gotten better recently (except for the previous 36 hours). I found this website: http://www.picknicksbrain.com/ which I have found really helpful. I even bought 2 emails and got Nick's advice about our situation. Her major piece of advice: put him down drowsy but not asleep. We're working on it. It's getting better. I think we are seeing some results (if I look at the big picture). I nurse him every time he gets up, that will be the next step, trying to get him back to sleep without nursing. Good luck.

All of this makes me feel like a sub-par Mommy. My tired baby was awake for 12 of 13 hours. Nightmare. Red eyes. Clingy, tired baby. I'm not fishing for 'you did your best, don't worry, you're a good Mommy' comments, I am just saying it like it is. It makes me feel like a sub-par Mommy.

Tomorrow is another day. Wish me luck. Good Night.