Making Progress

Tonight begins night 4 of our new routine.  that is...me not rushing in to tend to him whenever he wakes up in the middle of the night.  We are trying to break him of his habit of waking at midnight and again at 4 am, 5 am, etc...  We are trying to cut out the middle of the night feedings and replace them with a single "dream feed" at midnight.  So far so good.

The first few nights were rough...he fussed a lot, he cried a bit, and it was hard for me to not run in, scoop him up, and apologize profusely.  But I knew I had to look long term...and this was the only way to do it.  Last night was not that bad.  He woke up at 10, but quickly put himself back to sleep.  Then I gave him the dream feed at 1130 or so (since I knew he hadn't eaten much at his last feeding).  At 4 am, he woke up, and I let him hang out for 10 minutes.  Once I went in there I gave him his binkie and a few pats, and he fell back asleep.  But then he woke up at 530.  I knew then that he was hungry (since he was so used to eating in the middle of the night).  Even so I let him hang out for a while, checking on him periodically.  At around 610, I finally made him a bottle and he drank it all.  Then he passed out again.  I know it will take some time for us to stretch that early morning feeding until his wakeup, but baby steps. 

Also, I noticed a big change in him today.  When it was time for his first nap, I waited until I thought he was tired, then gave him the binkie and put him in the crib.  He fell asleep!  On his own!  And stayed asleep for a bit longer than normal.   He was also more calm during the day, and didn't demand as much of my attention.  For example, we had dinner at Joe's parents' house and he lied on a blanket on the floor quietly while we ate.  Even they were like, who is this baby?! 

Tonight was not so great...because we were at the rents house and his schedule was off.  He didn't get a good afternoon nap, so he nodded off on the way home at 545.  I got him to the house, gave him a quick bath, a full bottle, and he started tonod off.  So I put him in the crib.  Well an hour later, he is still not asleep and keeps rolling over onto his tummy and can't get out.  So I have to go in there.  Finally he falls asleep, so I'm hoping the rest of the night goes well.

We'll see!