Ryan has been having some trouble with sleep. As a result, so were Mommy and Daddy. And when Mommy and Daddy are not happy, Catherine is not happy. Our whole family was miserable! Granted, we are all still suffering from jetlag, but it was to the point of ridiculousness.
So the other day, I decided to take control and have an INTERVENTION! :)
My friend Monica mentioned that he might be screaming his head off because he was not getting enough medicine. DUH! I am still mad at myself that I did not think of that! I've taken it upon myself to increase his reflux meds until I can get in to see the doctor here in India. What a relief! He has not shrieked once since I upped him a few days ago.
And yesterday, I decided that he's going to have to cry it out and get himself to sleep from now on. I'm not sure how many of you have read the book Babywise, but the concept is to get them to sleep through the night as quickly as possible. Parents are responsible for determining the schedule, and it's based on a sleep-eat-play-sleep-eat-play cycle. This cycle helps regulate baby's metabolism, and the baby learns to go to bed awake, and soothe himself to sleep, so parents are not up rocking, nursing, driving around all night.
We followed this schedule with Catherine, and she slept through the night within 3 nights of crying-it-out- at 8 weeks no less! It was a miracle! One huge factor though was her gigantic size....Ryan is much smaller at 8 weeks, so I am OK with getting up once a night to feed him. But only for a few days- haha, just kidding!
Today is our first full day of following a VERY strict schedule, and so far, so good! Ryan has taken 2 2-hour naps, has woken up smiling both times, gets sleepy about 45 minutes after waking, so I've layed him down and he drifts off to sleep on his own.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not fooling myself into thinking we won't have bad days. But I sure am having a GREAT day today! :) I think I might try to capture a few of those smiles on camera today- look for a new post soon!
I'm glad to hear Ryan is feeling much better and that the intervention is going well. Sometimes we parents have to say "enough is enough" and take back control of the situation. We did the eat, play, sleep routine with John and it really helped him to sleep better both during the day and at night. I hope it continues to go well for you.
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