Cautiously optimistic...

So I posted an SOS on my moms' group discussion group board yesterday. One of my friends came over with her notes from when she met with a sleep consultant for her baby who did not sleep. She paid $500 to see the consultant so I was very grateful she shared what she learned with me.

Last night...

Dori slept for 7 hours, I fed him, he slept 3.5 more, I fed him, then he slept for 2 more. 6pm-6:30am. Not bad!!!!! Only minor fussing for a few minutes about 4 times in the night. My friend told me to let him cry solidly (not fussing but proper crying) for 15 minutes before feeding him. He fell back asleep right away after I fed him.

The changes I made? I put loads of soft blankets under his sheet because my friend told me his mattress was too hard...she said the consultant asked her if she'd want to sleep on a mattress that hard? They make baby mattresses hard and you are told not to put blankets, pillows, bumper pads, etc in the crib for fear of the baby suffocating or dying from SIDS. But the sleep consultant told my friend that our babies are old enough now and if they're not sleeping, we need to make their sleep environment warmer and more enticing. I actually went one step further and folded one of our adult fleece blankets and packed it in really tight over his mattress - there is no way it will come loose. But now he has soft fleece to lie on, rather than cold cotton. It's also the same kind of blanket we have in our bed (in fact it was the same one; I put a clean one in our bed) so it has my scent and also reminds him of our bed. I stuck his stuffed monkey in my bra for an hour before he went down to get my scent on it. He was clutching it when I came in to check on him throughout the night. I put a cotton onesie on under his jammies. I made sure the room was warm enough - I turned up the heater even higher than I've had it on. It seems weird to be using a heater in June but his room is a bit chilly. I made sure I did the normal bedtime routine to a T. Solid food, bath, change into pajamas, soft music on, read book, nurse him, put him down with his stuffed toy. Normally, we put him down around 7pm but he was so exhausted yesterday from no naps that I put him down at 6pm. I planned to let him cry for 35 minutes or do the wave (intermittent crying/fussing) for 50 minutes when I put him down for the night but it never came to that. I let him cry solidly for 15 minutes during the night before feeding him.

I will buy bumper pads today. I will let him cry for 25 minutes when putting him down for a nap. When that doesn't work, I am to pick him up and do something else for an hour before putting him down again. If he wakes up from a nap before an hour is up, I am to let him cry for 15 minutes to see if he'll fall back asleep.

Dori is in an awesome mood this morning!!! And so am I. I hope we see more nights like last night (or dare I say it, even better?) Thank you so much, Vicki!