day 10

Its been 10 days (i think?) since we started the no-cry sleep solution.
So far, its been OK. I liked co-sleeping a lot, but as I said in a previous post he's been up every 45 minutes or so at night, I think I was keeping him up. Anyway, our schedule usually looks like this:
7pm-bath time, massage, lotion, jammies
7:30-8pm-story time and nurse
8-8:30-he gets laid down in bed.
I usually have to go back in there 3 or 4 times before 9:30 or 10 (sometimes 10:30) before he's really out for the night and I can go to bed. On a good night, he will sleep from 10ish to 1, which is an amazing improvement from what he was doing. I feed him again at 1 and put him back down, and he usually goes back down easily. He usually gets up again between 4-5 and then up every hour til 8ish. Its frustrating that he wont sleep longer than 11-1 at a time, but its a start. He seems like his crib OK and he just needs an occasional reassurance from mom. We started turning on a box fan up in his room too, and that seems to help him sleep longer. The last two nights have been rough though because I think his tummy has been hurting him. He finally pooped today after crying a lot of the night last night. Last night he slept with me, because he was so fussy. He didn't want to be put down at all. So we were up most of the night. I hope this doesn't ruin the progress we've made. I think its more important to respond to his needs than stick to some arbitrary schedule for our convenience.

We've also been working on nap time. I am trying to encourage him to nap at least 2x a day, for more than an hour. He seems to like to cat nap for 45 minutes at a time. So if its been less than an hour I try to rock him back to sleep and give him his paci. Surprisingly, he's been going back down pretty easily!! I often lay him on the couch next to me, or in his swing, but I think we need to get him in his crib for nap time too though because he's a pretty light sleeper.

Anway, enough about sleep. I just wanted to say I am relieved, and somewhat surprised that the no-cry sleep solution is working. Minimal tears, and I feel comfortable not leaving him alone to cry it out. Its a win-win, its just time consuming.

On a more positive note, Eli has changed so much. He is laughing, smiling, cooing, reaching for toys and chewing on everything he can get his hands on!
His laugh lights up the room and warms my soul. It makes it so worth it to be up with him night after night, and then I go in to his room to pick him up and the morning and he starts cooing and laughing because he's so glad to see me. He is a total mamas boy too and fusses when daddy tries to hold him. I want him to learn its OK to let other people take care of him sometimes. He has been more content for longer periods of time playing alone. I like to watch him play with his toys, he gets so serious as he grabs them and looks them over and the chomps down on them. I think he's getting close to giving up the paci, he often gets it in his hands and chews on it, but usually gets so mad if he wakes up fussing and I stick it in his mouth. He is an awesome little dude. The ped gave me the go ahead to start solids at 4 mo, but I dont think hes ready. He's not sitting up on his own, he hasnt doubled his birth weight, and he shows no interest in our plates when we are eating at the table. I have been looking into baby led weaning and I like a lot of what it says there. I am in no rush to start solids with him because a lot of studies have shown that early introduction of solids leads to increased risk of food allergies, obesity, early weaning etc. Breast milk is amazing too, I didnt know how much it changes to suit his needs as he grows. It has everything he really needs in it until he's a year old. I just dont want to rush him if he's not ready. At his four month check up he was at 12lbs 6 oz, and 25 inches long. That puts him in the 10th% for weight and the 65th% for height. Hes a banana shaped baby! I love that Monkey.

Anyway, thats pretty much it for us right now.
Heres a video of Eli talking