In this last month Claire has been just a ball of energy and she now knows how to hold on and pull herself up! I of course started taping after she did it 4xs and only caught her last one, but it is still pretty awesome.
Speaking of new things, last night we started sleep training and we are following this book that Kristen & Eva recommended - The Sleepeasy Solution. If you do not want to buy the book this blog was actually really in depth A Little Bit of Rain. We decided to give this a shot because even though Claire enjoys naps and sleeping in general lately she has really hated her crib. We started her in her crib at 1 week old so I am not sure if this is just a developmental hurtle that she really just wants to sleep anywhere but there. We needed to get that resolved. As much as we enjoy co-sleeping I want it to be en exception not the rule.
If you are interested this is how it went for us:
Ryan had to work last night, covering LBSU vs Irvine so I was going at this alone for the night. I chilled a bottle of wine, got out the chocolate chip cookie mix, and got the dvr ready for what in my mind was going to be hours and hours on end of my baby crying because she hated her crib. In all honesty it was not nearly as bad as I had made it out to be. It is awful to hear your child cry but I knew she wasn't hungry, she had a brand new diaper and even some new pjs on.
8:35pm we read a few books and then changed her diaper and her pjs [this will be the routine that we do nightly]
8:49pm I nursed her and tried to get her to eat a lot so that she would have no hunger issues and we just relaxed together on our nursing chair.
9:07pm I put her down and she seemed ok, so I left. I put the cookies in the over and poured myself a huge mason jar of wine
9:09pm the crying started. This 'solution' says to give her 5 minutes to see if she self soothes and then go in and check on her
9:14pm I go in, you do not touch the baby you just talk to them and let them know they are ok that you are there and that they just need to go to sleep. this was really sad, she is just staring at me like why aren't you picking me up like usual :( but after 30 seconds you are supposed to leave the room. Now you wait 10 minutes to see if they self soothe. she did not.
9:25pm went in again and did that again, she stopped crying as soon as she saw me so I just talked with her a little bit and then headed back out of the room.
9:26pm starts crying again, this time I am supposed to wait 15 minutes so I took out the cookies and finished watching The Bachelor - I am not so impressed with Juan btw.
9:41pm went in and did the same routine, she seems ok just wishes she was in our bed I think
9:42pm crying
9:57pm no sound so I did not go in
10:02pm started to cry again so I restarted the clock but by 10:04pm she was out! I went in to check on her and she had slef soothed with her fingers and was holding on to her owl blanket friend.
10:07pm I went to sleep :)
She still woke up to nurse at 12:20, 2:35, 4:37, and 6:35 so that is step two. I do not need her to night ween yet I just want her to be able to enjoy her crib like she used to. After each nurse session she only cried for a min or two and then was sleeping. I will chat with daycare about her nap schedule but I am feeling good.
xoxo
Nikol
Dear Claire,
Happy 5 months you little love! I cannot believe you big you are getting. You are so inquisitive and so interested I love to watch your eyes widen when you are excited about something. Yesterday you face timed with Elmo! I think you really loved it :)
love,
your mama
Of course it is.
Because there is nothing in this world more rewarding.