The Lay Down

I mentioned in a past blog that I used to rock Maggie to sleep...every time she went down.  I have finally broken that habit and am so much happier...plus my arms are getting the rest they deserve.  It is tough work rocking a 17 pound baby and having to walk laps around the house (because she did not like it when I rocked sitting down).  Man, was I spoiling her rotten!  Well, Kaleb was not having this marathon rocking session and he would put her in her crib to sleep and would let her cry.  I did not like this...at first.  It made me anxious and I really just wanted to pick her up.  We tried it a few times and I said I would wait 10 minutes and if she hadn't stopped then I would pick her up.  It really has never even taken 10 minutes and now that she is used to laying down she doesn't really cry at all.  She gets situated and will almost always go to sleep without a cry.  I know Maggie's schedule and can tell when she is tired, so it is easy to lay her down for a nap.  I feel like she falls asleep much quicker (I think the rocking was actually keeping her awake longer) and it is less frustration for me.  I think it would have been one thing to have this calm rocking chair experience with your sleepy baby, but mine was a constant shaking/rocking and like I said I would have to do laps around the house.  So, here is what I do.  When I can tell Maggie is getting sleepy I will lay her down with her WubbaNub (see previous post) and close the door.  Sometimes she will cry for a few minutes and other times she will just kind coo herself to sleep.  I will let her cry for about 10 minutes (if I even need to) and then go in and soothe her by rubbing her back and putting the pacifier back in (the pacifier is slowly becoming a thing of the past.  I usually start with that when I lay her down to find that she has spit it out and gone for her fingers). I try not to wait until she is too tired because this seems to be more difficult and she tends to try and fight the sleep.  I've also put her down for a nap thinking she was tired only to go in and check on her 10/15 minutes later to see that she is sucking on her big toe.  Probably not tired...or that is her new pacifier!  Now that I have a routine and will just lay Maggie down for a nap - life has gotten much easier.  I finally think I have a handle on this whole motherhood thing...but I hear that can change real quick!

Breaking Routine...just when I had it down

I'm all about the routine.  Most mornings Maggie takes a good 3 hour nap.  This is a great time for me to get a lot of work done.  When she doesn't do the 3 hour nap she tends to get cranky and the entire day is more difficult.  So, being at home where it is easy to follow the routine is best, but then you feel like you never leave the house.  Sometimes I feel like I've been stuck in my house for 4 months straight, but at home I feel more rested.  When I get cabin fever and decide to head up to the cabin (that's ironic) or even visit friends, or go shopping the routine is out of wack.  Maggie never sleeps the same somewhere else, so this leaves her more tired and then she actually wakes up earlier or even in the middle of the night.  When this happens I am also tired that is usually when I wish I was just at home.  My mom thinks it is a better idea to take her out as much as possible, so that she gets used to sleeping other places.  She thinks I will appreciate this more in the long run.  Basically I take all this time to get this routine figured out just to find out that maybe being dependent on a routine is the problem.  I know I'm fairly selfish in saying that my own sleep is very precious and I get much more of it at home.  Maggie always does well travelling in the car or plane, but it's her sleeping patterns when we get there that seems to be the problem.  Maybe my sleep is the sacrifice to having a vacation, but I'm not sure how enjoyable I am to be around.  Who knows what the answer is, but if anyone has and idea I would love to hear it!

Routine!

I have never really lived my life based on routine.  My job changes constantly (which is why I like it so much) and I've never been at a desk from 9 to 5.  My personal life was all about travelling or nights out with friends or nights in with my hubby....that is until I had a baby!  Wow, now I realize that routine is the name of the game.  It has taken me a while to get on that band wagon, but I do think it works the best for baby and for mom.  Knowing when Maggie is going to be sleeping or eating or playing, allows me to plan my day for work and for rest.  Routine is hard when the baby is first born, but even then a schedule falls into place (I tried fairly successfully to follow the Baby Wise plan).  What I recently found working is a nighttime routine.  I had made a fairly bad habit of always rocking Maggie to sleep.  The first few months she would fall asleep pretty easy if I rocked her.  I would do a few laps around the house and she would be out (she only liked it if I was walking and rocking not sitting and rocking).  This last month or so I realized that it was taking longer and longer to rock her to sleep.  My husband was getting sick of walking around the house for 20 minutes (or more) every time we put her down.  He started putting her down and letting her cry for a little bit.  This was making me a bit crazy and I constantly had the urge to go and pick her up.  It wasn't until we went out to brunch with some friends that I realized it was ok to let her cry for a bit.  I basically adopted their nighttime ritual.  Their baby is about 5 months old (a month older than Maggie).  Around 6:30pm they will feed their baby rice cereal.  After that it is bath time.  After bath time baby is ready for the bottle feeding (or last nurse feeding for the night).  They then put their baby down for the night at around 7:30pm.  They do this every night.  So, I adopted this schedule and also put Maggie down without rocking her (more about that later).  By following this routine, Maggie is now sleeping about an hour longer in the morning.  Her tummy is nice and full and she is very relaxed from the bath.  Even if you don't give the full scrub down or hair wash every night the warm water and repetition gears them up for bed.  I also slather Maggie up with the lavender baby lotion too.  When I put her down she is out and sleeps through the night.  So, all in all the routine is fantastic....that is until you break it....watch out!