So I really need to post more and not worry about if this is a nice looking entry with lots to say. So I was telling my friend Melanie about how well Eli is sleeping and she told me it was journal worthy and I didn't journal it. So here it is. I've been working on getting Elijah to sleep through the night (8 hours) as the pediatrician said that a baby can sleep 8 hours through the night by 8 weeks. She said that if you get them sleeping 5 hours by 5 weeks, 6 hours by 6 weeks and so on that they can be sleeping 8 hours by 8 weeks. It sounded good to me and since he was already doing 4 hours when he was 1 week old I figured it could happen. She said that when you are doing this that the baby will probably eat every 2-3 hours during the day. At 4 weeks old Eli had a bad tummy and the next day he was better and we went to San Antonio but he has altered his "normal" schedule a little the night before with his bad tummy. The first night in San Antonio he put himself on a 5 hour a night pattern. I was thrilled and he kept it up and was eating every 2-3 hours. When my mom was here I didn't want to mess with it and keep her up if he cried but he was consistently sleeping 5 hours each night.
When she left I thought I'd try putting him to bed 30 minutes earlier and see how that went. He woke up at the same time the first night putting him at 5.5 hours and the next night slept 30 minutes later which was 6 hours. Last week his eating changed a bit (eating less at each feeding for a while then increasing again). He had a really bad night with some gas last Wednesday and so he kept fussing but was happy with if I put his binky in his mouth so I did that every 10 minutes for an hour then a few more times and then I realized he has slept 7.5 hours. I felt so guilty so I got him up and fed him and put him back to bed.
The following night he whined 2 or 3 times total and I put his binky in his mouth and he slept for 8 hours before I was in so much pain I had to wake him to feed him. The next night he had just had shots and ate like crap during his last 2 feedings so I was sure the dream was over, but he slept for 7 hours before I woke him up to make sure he had some Tylenol in him and fed him (who wants a hungry baby in pain screaming at night right?) Since then he has consistently gone 7-8 hours between feedings at night. Sometimes he has really bad gas and I have to rock him back to sleep but he is doing so well. He eats about every 2 hours during the day but I am so glad to have good sleep at night. I have such a sweet boy.
Now all I need is some advice about adding formula to his eating. I don't want to stop nursing but I do want him to bottle feed formula periodically so that if I need to be gone for more than 2 hours (ie a date with my husband) I know he'll take a bottle. Advice?
4 comments:
Substitute the bottle one feeding a day for a little while. Try formula but if he doesn't like it, pump and give him that milk until he is fine with the bottle. Good luck with that.
I always try to introduce a bottle (of pumped milk) during the first month and keep it up at least once a week. Both my boys took bottles really well until about month 3 when I got tired of feeding a bottle and then pumping right afterwards. Once you introduce cereal at month 4, feedings start stretching out anyway. It is very frustrating to be tied to feeding your baby every 3 hours. Our dates are always 2 hours or less right now!
I had a lot of trouble breastfeeding, so I pumped the first couple months, so I agree with the pumping idea to get him to take a bottle. Congratulations on the sleeping regime. I hope it continues to work well for you. they go in phases so they can all of a sudden throw you for a loop :).
Jill, Eli is adorable. I'm so happy for all the little mother-things you are experiencing and enjoying! Love
Post a Comment