The future of sleep

I'm about to invite the karma gods to rain down on my head but I have a not-so-secret confession to make: Cameron is an excellent sleeper. How exactly did we arrive at a 14 month old who sleeps 12+ hours a night? Let me share my secrets:

• I tracked her sleep/wake/fussy patterns starting at 8 weeks old for about a month. This allowed me to visually understand her patterns and be able to adjust her feeding/nap schedule appropriately.
• Swaddling. We swaddled for about 6 months until we started CIO. The super swaddle was the only thing that allowed us to keep her in a burrito shape.
• Consistent bedtime. Need I say more? Cameron is in bed between 6:30-7 PM depending on how well she naps at school. We also have a consistent routine with bathing every other night, music, book and bed.
• We did CIO when Cameron was 6 months old. I know that some people don't like CIO for various reasons but I am convinced it was a key step in teaching her how to fall back asleep on her own.
• Medicate early and often. I can count on one hand the number of times we've had to console Cameron during the night and they all point to illness or teething. Motrin is my friend and if there are signs of teething I will give her some before bed. I don't want to be in pain so I assume she doesn't either!
• Good naps. It's totally true. A good napper is a good night time sleeper. We have irregularly gone down to one nap a day (always at daycare but sometimes on the weekend). She spends that nap in her crib with the shades and curtains drawn and the fan and humidifier on. I'm a light sleeper so I always assume everyone else is too. The white noise helps ensure a 2+ hour nap.
• Read, read, read. I searched other people's blogs, I read "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" and I posed questions via my own blog for advice. I didn't have to experiment with many techniques, fortunately. CIO worked for us in about 4 days. I also felt no major guilt over CIO. I know my mom did it with us (how could you not with triplets?!?) and I love to sleep.
• Genetics. See above. I love to sleep. I can nap and still go to bed at the same time. This must play a roll in my child's capacity for sleep.

I am curious about how long our luck will hold out. I plan on keeping Cameron in a sleep sack until she can't fit in it any more to avoid attempts to climb out of her crib. Thanks to Goddess In Progress for that suggestion. I'm sure once we transition her into a "big girl" bed that sleep interruptions will be more frequent.

As your kids have gotten older did you find that their sleeping patterns changed drastically? Any particular stages for us to be aware of? In July Cameron will be sharing a room with her almost two year old cousins. They are twins and hence used to noise from each other during the night. I am a bit worried that Cameron will wake up more frequently and not be able to fall back to sleep. But I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Crap, guess it's time to start really parenting

I picked up Cameron from daycare on Tuesday and got to talk with her main teacher Miss Melba for a few minutes. In that time I learned two things:

1. For the third week in a row Cameron has consistently only been "resting" in her crib for her morning nap;
2. She screams and screeches if she isn't fed her meals or snacks first

The first one I can handle. I've been toying with the idea of bringing her down to one nap for a while. I've been resisting because she still sleeps 2-3 hours in the morning and another 1.5-2 hours in the afternoon on the weekends. But going down to one nap will allow us more flexibility in our day, a good thing now that we have joined a local community center. Cameron has also been extremely tired in the evenings which has pushed her bedtime up to 6:30 PM. Now that I will be commuting from uptown (with a daycare drop off in the opposite direction) I probably won't get home until 6 PM. It would be nice if we can put her down at 7:00 PM instead. I'm hopeful that Miss Melba speaks truly and by eliminating the morning "resting" period Cameron will sleep 2+ hours in the afternoon. As it stands now, she just sleeps for an hour which is not enough and hence the 6:30 PM bedtime. Please speak up if you have any advice about going down to one nap. Also, has anyone maintained a one nap schedule in daycare but two at home successfully?

It's the second item on the list that has concerned and caused me to run out to buy a book recommended by Laura, "Your One Year Old: The Fun Loving, Fussy 12-To-24 Month Old." OK, maybe I snuck in a few books for me with the order but hey, that way I qualified for free super shipping :-)

I've noticed that Cameron has definitely entered the feisty, fussy stage, especially when it comes to food. Part of it is our fault. We will give her some green beans or fruit while waiting for the rest of her dinner to heat up and cool down enough for her to eat. That means she is receiving her meal in piecemeal fashion which causes her to screech when she sees stuff she didn't like and not stuff she does. As of three nights ago we are now making an effort to get her food ready in its entirety before giving it to her. Then when she starts screeching and throwing her food, she is "all done" and down she comes. I still hate that she doesn't eat much in the evenings so we are still using the evening bottle as a crutch. I expect that to be phased out by the end of the month at the latest. She is still getting her molars in so I don't want to push it. Honest question for my readers, "How long did you/will you give your child a bottle?" I figure if Suri Cruise still has one at 3 years old I'm OK with phasing it out around month 14.

Basically what it comes down to is that I don't want a wild child. I don't think that Miss Melba related Cameron's mannerism as a reproach to me (or wait, maybe she did???) but I did see it as an area that we should be working on with Cameron. Especially if she ends up being an only child she will need to learn how to share. I guess part of me hoped that daycare would help with that (and it will) but we need to be doing things at home to reinforce it as well. Full honesty here: I also don't feel quite ready to really parent, you know what I mean? Toddlerhood may have more sleep for me but it certainly has it's own stressors, doesn't it? I'll let you know what I think about the book but as always, any and all advice or commiseration is welcome!

It would be easier if she took a feed bag

For the past couple of months Cameron and I have been in a pretty good groove with her feeding schedule. It was far from perfect but it seemed to work in getting her to nap twice a day for 2 hours and sleep through the night. So really, what more can I ask for?

But of course Cameron doesn't just come from me. No, no. She also has a wide streak of her father in her. DH and I are diametrically opposed when it comes to food and eating. Me? Never met a carb I didn't like. I would rather cut off my arm than miss breakfast. I require breakfast, lunch AND dinner or I become a crazed, grumpy woman. DH on the other hand can sometimes go from breakfast to dinner skipping lunch entirely. When I poke him about what he had for lunch that day I get the following responses:

• "I was too busy to eat." Um, I would make myself un-busy just to eat. Otherwise I would be distracted by the constant grumbling of my tummy.
• "I wasn't hungry." Freak.
• "I forgot." Seriously? Who forgets to eat?

For many months I had an unhealthy fascination with the amount of food going into Cameron's system. I limited my stressing when I was breastfeeding because it's not like I really knew how many ounces she was eating. But when I moved to primarily pumping and then formula feeding I felt my Type A personality rear its ugly head. Despite this Cameron and I got into a groove where she would eat most of her bottle and I would count up the number of ounces she ate over the course of the day and not-so-silently seethe if she dropped below 20 ounces.

Flash forward to this week at day care. Cameron has decided that she doesn't want to eat at least 1/2 of two of her bottles most likely because they were too close together. So last night I made the executive decision that we are changing up her feeding schedule dramatically. Instead of 5 bottles at 5 ounces we are now moving to 4 bottles of six ounces.

Cameron has consistently eaten 6 ounces for her first bottle of the day so 6 ounces appears to be doable as a bottle size. Her new schedule (fingers crossed!) will be:

• 6:45 AM - 6 ounces
• 8 AM - solids
• 9 AM - nap
• 11:00 AM - 6 ounces
• 12 PM - solids
• 2 PM - nap
• 3 PM - 6 ounces
• 5 PM - nap (she really only needs this during daycare days because she doesn't nap well there)
• 6 PM - 6 ounces
• 6:30 - solids?

My biggest issue with the new schedule will be on the weekends. Cameron usually naps 2 - 4 PM which would screw things up. The other general problem will be fitting in the last solids of the day.

What I really like about this new schedule is that it gets us out of the habit of a bottle at bedtime. Now DH and I can create a new bedtime routine with books instead of bottles. Yay for reading! Anyone else able to swing four 6 ounce bottles with two 2 hour naps? When can I stop stressing about food with Cameron? Or is this just the start of a years long battle?

I'm OK with keeping her at this stage forever

When we took Cameron in for her four month doctor's appointment her pediatrician commented on how much fun the 4-9 month stage is. Think of all the pluses it has going for it: start sleeping through the night, nap consolidation, longer alert periods, no teething (yet), and still not mobile. Throw in lots of smiles and laughter and you have for one fun infant.

This weekend was the first we experienced the consolidation of naps. And it made a huge difference in how I was able to spend my day. We are leaving for a vacation next weekend so I had lots and lots of errands to get done while DH took care of some much needed yard work. Cameron has started taking a 2 - 2 1/2 hour morning nap, a 15 minute snooze in her carriage while running errands and a 3+ hour nap in the afternoon. Amazing! Of course I have no hope that she will replicate it at school. Sigh.

She has coupled this with refusing to nurse except for morning and occasional evenings. I was sweating it in the beginning but quickly tired of fighting to latch her on. So now she gets bottles and I pump while I can. This gives me added flexibility of a bottle on the go and for DH to pitch in more with feedings. Liberating! This bodes very well for our two (!) week vacation.

I realize I have been remiss in posting some Cameron pictures so enjoy!

Cameron sports a mini mohawk after her bath.

Cameron is so close to rolling over!
Cameron loves it when Daddy plays with her.

Look at those big beautiful blue eyes. She can thank her Daddy for those.

About a dozen toys but Cameron would prefer to play with her Taggies onesie.

Channeling infant sleep patterns

To quote Alanis Morrisette, "Isn't it ironic?" Yes, despite having an almost 4 month old, I appear to be the one with sleeping problems. I have no problems falling asleep, it's staying asleep that poses the biggest challenge. I hear DH breathing away next to me and want to kill him. Even the dog is better at going back to sleep than me!

Up until last night I would wake up at every little Cameron sound and stay away for at least 10 minutes at a time. What changed last night? I decided that we would no longer have the volume turned way up on the monitor. Like so many other parents I felt like if the monitor wasn't loud I would miss something critical. But I slept so much better at a lower volume I had DH mark the dial so we could come back to that very spot. Oddly the monitor we use* doesn't have numbers on the dial so it's basically guess work unless you MacGyver it like we did.

And thus I have conquered the waking-up-at-every-little-noise-that-Cameron-makes problem. What I am still struggling with is falling back to sleep after I feed her in the middle of the night. Yes, our great experiment of trying to get Cameron to sleep through the night has failed. Don't snicker. We are naive first time parents. I have to time her middle of the night feeding so that she is hungry again around 6:30 AM or we are both out of whack. I've been forcing myself to get up around 2:30 or 3 AM and feeding her whether she is awake or not. It takes about 15 minutes and then I stumble back to bed only to lie awake for an hour or so. And that hour of sleep is so, so precious. I'm not that tired during the day (good) but find it very hard to get out of bed in the morning (bad) when I need to.

What have others done to fall back to sleep after you wake up? I've tried thinking about work hoping that obsessing about the placement of optical circuits would bore me back to sleep. No such luck. I've planned my dream house (two words: butler's pantry) and how I would spend my lottery winnings. All failures. Help!

*I don't recommend the monitor we purchased. The battery life is pretty poor and after about 2 months we had to start keeping it plugged in over night or we would be woken up with a loud beeping telling us it was dying. That was fun. Also, the monitors are very sensitive to other electronic equipment and we get a lot of feedback.

It must be done

This morning I decided Cameron will start sleeping through the night. Whether she agrees or not will be determined. Here's the thing. I don't mind getting up for a middle of the night feeding. But what it has become is more of an early morning feeding. 3:30 or 4 AM. I feed her, she goes back to sleep and I wake her up around 6:45 for another feeding before I leave. The problem? She doesn't really eat at that second feeding. She eats off one side for about 8 minutes and then usually spits up 1/2 of it. Then what happens is she wants her bottle at daycare earlier than normal and it cascades throughout the day.

I wouldn't even mind that if not for the fact that it requires me to pump immediately after arriving at work. That means my work day starts a bit later and I end up pumping 4 times at work. Yes, 4 freaking times! I am trying to cut back but there are those pesky supply issues I'm worried about. I've actually starting pumping just about what I need so I would hate to see that stop.

So here's my game plan: pacify her until 6 AM. Yup, that's it. The sum total of my awesome strategy. It will involve a lot of getting up by me and DH but I'm hoping after a few nights she will start sleeping on her own until 6 AM. It starts our morning juggle a bit earlier too but we can handle that. After all, it's not like we'll get much sleep with the "pacify her until 6 AM" plan. Am I crazy? Has anyone else dealt with this and have advice you can share with me? Or how about just good thoughts?

Cameron's last feeding is 4 ounces at around 6:30 PM if anyone is curious. We still keep her tightly swaddled throughout the night. Her stomach used to grumble while I was feeding her in the middle of the night but that hasn't happened for a couple of weeks so I don't think she's starving when she wakes up, if that makes sense.

Fussy, busy evenings

I have been warned about fussy evenings, especially with Cameron in daycare. Cameron isn't a fussy baby but she is definitely not getting enough sleep during the day at daycare. She's at about 2-3 hours worth of naps compared to the 5-6 hours she gets at home on the weekends. Sometimes she needs a 30 minute nap as we drive home and get settled. But even then she is usually in bed and asleep by 6:30 PM. Cameron's fussiness manifests itself in her wanting to be held basically from the time we get home from school to the time she goes to bed. Thank goodness there are two of us or we wouldn't have dinner until 8 PM.

Cameron is all tuckered out and needs a little cat nap.

I'm going to go ahead and put on my judgemental hat and ask, "How the heck can parents not put their kids to bed early?" I know parents who keep their babies up until 9 PM and even later. I shudder to think about the havoc that would wreck on Cameron's sweet disposition.

Of course with a very early bedtime for Cameron that means I am squeezing a lot into an evening. I am usually home around 5 PM and have to:

• Start dinner (or DH does - he cooks more than me these days!)
• Feed Cameron
• Wash bottles
• Wash pumping gear
• Prepare bottles for the next day
• Make my lunch
• Prepare my outfit for the next day (I have been doing this for 2 years and I highly recommend it!)
• Put Cameron to bed
• Wash dishes (whoever doesn't cook does this)
• Relax
• Pump before bed

That's a lot to get done by 9 PM! I completely understand the "juggle" that so many people complain about. I'm living it! Why 9 PM? Well, that's when I go to bed. Yes, that's right. I go to bed at 9 PM, read and am usually fast asleep by 9:30 PM. I hate people who are totally fine on 6 hours of sleep. I need 8-9 or am much less effective at work.

How about the rest of you? What do your evening juggles look like? What do other parents do to make things easier in the evenings?

Slowly adjusting

We are three days into school for Cameron and we are all slowly adjusting. It has helped that my friend Helen is in town to keep me distracted from thinking about Cameron too much. My biggest issue so far? Naps. Or rather the lack of naps. I've been picking Cameron up at 4 PM so she can get at least one hour long nap before her last two feedings and bed time. That won't be happening next week when I'm back at work and I pick her up at 5 PM.

Cameron has been napping for about 30 minutes twice a day while at daycare. I expressed my dismay to the teacher and asked if her transition would get better. While assured it would and that they are swaddling her (but not the super swaddle) I am still very nervous about how much she is sleeping during the day. She used to nap for about 6 hours while I was home with her. And was rarely crabby, even in the evenings. Now, even after her one hour third nap, she is a crab monster in the evenings. I shudder to think how bad it will be when she doesn't get that long last nap.

I appreciate that she is interested in everything and won't sleep but I question how hard the teachers are trying to get Cameron to sleep and stay asleep. With 8 other infants I can't imagine they have the time to spend keeping her asleep. I'm also not happy with the level of detail they are providing in her daily log. Basically it is just a list of dirty diapers. They should at least tell me which feeding she doesn't finish her full bottle at (which they said they would originally). I also want to know if she's "talking", getting tummy time, etc. I just want to scoop her up and get out of there not spend 10 minutes asking questions. Plus, it is usually a different teacher at the end of the day than in the morning. Am I crazy? Should I be pushing for more written detail?

On the plus side Cameron has been sleeping either through the night or close to it with a wake up at 4 AM. It is kind of a pain when she sleeps until 5 AM because I have to hold her off until 6 which can get dicey. So, any thoughts about napping? Will Cameron start sleeping more at school or will I just have to suck it up and deal with a crappy evening?

Cameron in an adorable dress and leggings that Auntie Helen gave her. Cameron is tuckered out after a long day at school

Daddy decided to be silly and put a sock on Cameron's head. Auntie Helen gets a snuggle in.

Updated: Cameron had a wonderful day at school and napped for almost 4 hours, including a two hour long nap! I promise to try and not expect miracles and just hope that as the days pass Cameron does learn to nap better in a more hectic environment than home.

Fussy eater

Cameron has been a very fussy eater lately. She keeps pulling off and crying. I was at my wits end so did the typical mom move. I Googled it. What did mothers do without the Internet?!?

I was really worried that Cameron was just not getting enough food from me to keep her happy. But based on my research she is fine and has enough appropriate diaper changes each day. I so wish I had my own scale for her just to double check but that's just my Type A personality talking.

It turns out that Cameron just wants her food very fast and doesn't want to work for it. She seems to favor the hare over the tortoise. My solution? Add in an extra feeding so she doesn't get frustrated.

I found a couple of really great links I wanted to post here for current and future breastfeeding moms:
http://www.askmoxie.org/2008/02/qa-fussy-baby-w.html
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/baby/fussy-while-nursing.html

Cameron's extra feeding now means she eats consistently every 3 hours. It adds another nap too but since we will just have to deal with that on the weekends, I'm OK with it. Plus that means her naps are shorter which I think is a good thing for daycare. It was sometimes a battle for me to keep her asleep for 2 hours and I had a dark room and cradle swing.

Has anyone else experienced this an increase in number of feedings? I figured she would reduce her feedings as she gets older but it appears with breastfeeding that she needs more. I assume if I had a larger supply at any given feeding she would not need the extra one. Will my supply eventually increase so we can reduce the number of feedings or am I stuck with every 3 hours?

Planning for Cameron's first day of daycare

Is anyone surprised that I am already in planning mode for Cameron's first day of daycare? I thought not! The daycare provides the following for us: wipes, bibs and formula. I need to provide bottles (since she will be getting breast milk), diapers, and anything else I want. The daycare changes all infants every hour (unless napping) so that means a lot of diapers to be sent along each week!

Here are the other items I plan on packing in Cameron's bag:

• One extra outfit
• One extra pair of socks
• Pacifier
• Swaddle blanket
• Diapers

Should I have an extra onesie just in case? Is there anything else I might be missing? I will probably not be doing full days for the first week. More to ease me into it than Cameron!

The daycare feeds Cameron according to her own schedule which is nice except for two issues: she's picked up an extra feeding in the last week and I don't really know how much she eats off of me in general. I am planning to send 4 four ounce bottles with her with the hope that she only needs 3 of the four and I can do two feedings before bed. That is in addition to the middle of the night feeding and morning feeding. For other moms who breastfed before starting daycare is that enough ounces to send along with her? I will provide the daycare with a schedule but also leave it to their discretion/experience as Cameron needs.

The biggest plus to Cameron starting daycare a week before I go back to work is that I can nail down a routine for her and also have my days free. I need to figure out a good pumping schedule and do some shopping. I haven't tried on my work clothes yet, post-baby, and have a feeling I will need a few roomier outfits to get me started. Sigh. Apparently unlike the denizens of Hollywood breastfeeding isn't all I need to get back my pre-baby figure!

What's that I hear?

I am here to tell you that Mommy Ears are not a myth. In fact, they could be a super power. I find myself waking up at 12 AM or 1 AM and wondering why I'm awake. Turns out I hear a small stirring sound from Cameron and it's like a marching band in my ear. I jerk awake and lie there for a couple of minutes waiting to see if she needs a pacifier or is falling back to sleep on her own. I even keep the monitor over on DH's side of the bed so I supposedly can't hear as much. Yeah right.

Normally I am a light sleeper but being a mother has taken it to a whole new level. Funny thing is I also find myself waking up even when Cameron doesn't stir. She is usually up around 3 AM for a feeding and if she isn't then I find myself wide awake, staring at the clock and wondering if she is going to sleep all night. And if she does sleep all night will she be up at 5 AM instead of 7 AM and then her whole feeding and napping schedule will be thrown off? Yes, these are the things I think about in the middle of the night.

I wonder, is it just mothers who have super hearing or do dads too? I haven't heard of one yet...but you tell me!

While Cameron has definitely started learning how to reach for things she isn't actually pointing at anything here. I'm sure that will come soon enough.

Daddy dances with his little girl.

Yes, I guess I do need to go back to work

Since BigFinance's leave policy means no email or calls while I'm out, I have had little to occupy my mind besides Cameron. Hence my obsession with her feeding, pooping and of course, sleeping schedule. By the way, Cameron had her two month doctor's appointment on Tuesday and has gained almost 2 pounds in one month. Yay! That makes me feel very relieved that she is getting enough with just breastfeeding. In bad news she got two shots and one oral vaccine. It would have been 3 shots but I asked to postpone the combo one a week. I didn't feel comfortable having so many different vaccines in one day. My doctor tried to pressure me into doing all 3 shots at one time but I held firm.

Cameron has definitely regulated her naps: one in the morning and two in the afternoon. She goes to bed by 8 PM and has only one wake up at night for a feeding. The reason I know this so well is because I have been tracking her sleep with a daily log. If you are interested (and I can't imagine you would be!) here is the link: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=rsXyxgCkGt0kIYKD61hweBw&output=html

A sleep log is a great way to learn more about your baby. I have been very fortunately with having Cameron on some kind of schedule since she was about two weeks old. But this log helped me to spot new patterns in her sleep and adjust my behaviors accordingly. If you have a baby who doesn't appear to have a "schedule" I think you will find he does have one if you use a sleep log like the one I kept. I didn't use the Quiet or Crying categories very often because I usually let Cameron swing until she falls asleep. Or she'll cry for 5 minutes so it's not worth it to record it.

Cameron is at about 8 hours of wakefulness and 16 hours of sleep. That is right in line with what "experts" recommend. We are struggling a little bit with her first afternoon nap. She falls asleep around 1 PM and should sleep until 3 PM but that doesn't happen unless I swing her a lot or keep running up the stairs for a pacifier insertion. I know that eventually she will eliminate one of the two afternoon naps but I hope it's a while before that happens. Or at least until she stops waking up for a middle of the night feeding!

Here is a nice little graph of Cameron's daily sleep log. I tried to throw in some pivot tables but it would have required a lot of formatting and I'm intellectually bored, but not that bored! I'm sure other moms or dads can put me to shame with your fancy tracking spreadsheets. But for now, I have decided to stop tracking her sleep until she changes her schedule up on me. When did other parents stop tracking your child's activities? Did you find tracking helped you to learn more about your baby?

A slave to the clock

Cameron and I have had a lovely weekend. DH has had a dirty one as he is trying to fix a drainage issue we have with the garage and it involves a lot of digging. We were given a ridiculous minimum quote so our Puritan souls shriveled and DH decided to try it on his own. I'll update the blog with the results. Fortunately it is nothing serious so the work doesn't have to be completed immediately.

On Saturday Cameron and I went to Amanda's for a play date. Cameron ruined her two nights of uninterrupted sleep with 3 AM wake up calls for Mommy. I guess I was right that the sleeping through the night was a fluke. I took advantage of a break in DH's work to run to Babies 'R Us and then to get a manicure and pedicure. It took about 3 hours total and I felt guilty for taking the time. What is wrong with me?!? Plus I was annoyed because it takes so long to get to Babies 'R Us (why are they always placed so far away?) and I had to go there for the product for which I refused to pay $5 extra dollars in shipping costs.

So what is this post really about? Well, the title says it all. When I leave Cameron at home I feel like I'm always rushing to make sure I'm back in time before she wakes up from her nap. Or her next feeding. DH is always willing to step in but with breastfeeding, that isn't always possible. Plus I'm having trouble letting go. What if he doesn't recognize the signs that she is getting sleepy and she gets overtired? Will he know to put her in her swing for a while and then in her crib? Can he move her just as gently as I can so she doesn't even stir on transfer? It's not that DH isn't competent. Far from it. It's that I spend basically every minute of her waking life with Cameron and probably know her better than myself at this point. And because I know her schedule so well I just assume DH does too. But I'm trying to let it go...I promise!

I have to let it go because Cameron isn't a very portable infant. It is very hard to bring Cameron out with me for any longer than an hour and a half. Maximum. She is completely on a schedule which is great but makes me feel terrible if I'm out and she gets fussy because she's ready for a nap. There isn't much I can get done in 90 minutes. And usually I only have 60 minutes. Even when I'm home I still constantly watch the clock. It's weird that I haven't been wearing a wrist watch but between clocks in the house, on my phone and on my computer I usually know exactly what time it is. And more importantly how much time until her next feeding or nap! Even worse is when I write the date down for my milk storage bags every day. I feel the days slipping away until I return to work (sniff, sniff).

Have other moms experienced this slavish devotion to timekeeping? Does it get better in a couple of months or not until Cameron is much older?

And in the seventh week, she slept

Now that she's seven weeks, Cameron has decided she is a big girl. For two nights in a row she has slept from 8:30 PM to 6:30 AM. A pacifier helped with the last hour or so, but she wasn't very fussy. I'm hoping this isn't an aberration! Cameron has also been napping really well too so I guess the saying, "sleep begets sleep" is true in her case. Of course that means I am even more tied to the house so I'm going a little stir crazy. I'm looking into getting some babysitter names so I can have a few hours to myself in the afternoon. I'll definitely need that as I get closer to returning to work.

In case anyone is wondering what my secret is with having Cameron sleep so well let me clue you in. First, she is an amazingly easy baby. Yes, we are blessed and very well aware of it! DH and I frequently turn to each other and say, "She is so good!" Secondly, sleep is extremely important to me so I make it important for Cameron. I try really hard to spot the "tired" cues that Weissbluth writes about in his book. When she starts to get sleepy I know it is time to return home (if we are out) or swaddle her. She usually falls asleep in the Bjorn while we are walking which makes it very easy to put her down to nap. And I put her to bed in her crib all the time now because she seems to prefer it and sleep a lot longer. Sometimes that means several trips up the stairs to put a pacifier in but it's well worth it. I will use the swing if she's particularly fussy, but she's usually only fussy when I miss her cues and don't put her down early enough.

The last "trick" I use for getting Cameron to sleep is the super swaddling. I can't write enough about how that has helped us. Cameron has started wiggling her arms out at some point during the night but it takes a lot longer than the old swaddling method and I (or DH) just swaddle her right back up and she is good for several more hours. What tricks have you used to ensure longer and better sleep for your kids?

Daddy is already prepping Cameron for a lifetime of baseball caps. Fortunately this one is UVA and not the Yankees so it is allowed to be posted here.

Cameron still loves playing with her tongue but her latest trick is blowing bubbles. In case you can't read it, her shirt says, "If you think I'm cute, you should see my mom." Word.

The crib monster strikes

Every since Cameron started her morning nap, it has been both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because she sleeps for 2.5 to 3 hours which means I can either get a lot of stuff done around the house or take a nap myself. A curse because she really likes to nap in her bed which means we are tied to the house. The best thing about a newborn is that she tends to be really mobile and will sleep anywhere. Now that Cameron is almost 7 weeks, we have moved away from that mobility. I manage to sneak out with her to Barnes and Noble or Starbucks for about an hour in the early afternoon and then it's right back to the house for her first afternoon nap.

I know, I shouldn't be complaining because she is such a good sleeper. She is still going down before 9 PM and sleeping until 4 AM for her feeding. Technically that is sleeping through the night although I would prefer a few more hours...I just hope that going into daycare at 12 weeks won't screw it up. I did speak with another mother whose daughter has been in the program since she was 6 weeks old and the mother seemed really happy with the daycare. So that relieved my mind a little. But I won't be reassured completely until Cameron has been there a few weeks and is still the perfect angel she is for us!

DH and I went to a picnic this weekend. I dressed up Cameron in an outfit that her Uncle Ross sent her. DH also surprised me with a beautiful locket for Mother's Day and a lunch out! Another Mother's Day surprise was that the eggs in our nest hatched. They are little furballs right now but I'm sure they will be flying any time now.

The morning nap commences

I devoured Dr. Weissbluth's book, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child over the past week. Well, I read up through the chapter on months 0-4 but since Cameron is only 6 weeks old (can you believe she is already 6 weeks?!?), I figure I still have time for the rest. Because of her age, there is a lot of what Weissbluth writes that I just can't apply yet to her. But it has been very helpful in identifying her current sleep habits and thinking about how I would like them to develop before she starts day care.

Cameron definitely falls into the "easy baby" category. Yes, I know I am blessed. She has always slept well and has only had one middle of the night feeding since she was a week old. I think it's interesting that Dr. Weissbluth argues a middle of the night feeding isn't hunger related. Of course, at Cameron's age, that just isn't true. She is definitely hungry when she wakes up. I assume it won't be until she is close to 4 months old before that feeding will be phased out. More on that later.

The book also talked about how the morning nap develops first. I scoffed initially. Cameron was really set in her 6:30 AM feeding, nap for about 90 minutes and then 9:30 AM feeding. But lo and behold, she is now sleeping from 8:30 AM to 11:00 or 11:30! Cameron has done this for the past two days so I am taking it as a sign of a new pattern. My biggest concern is that this basically means she misses a morning feeding. She still eats at 4 times in the afternoon so should I be worried? She is taking 4 ounces in her afternoon bottle so I assume she gets about the same or more off of me.

Bedtime has been going really well although Cameron stays up between her 6:30 PM and last feeding (usually around 8:15) so she is very cranky by the time she goes to bed. My question for the readers is, should I be considering a "dream feeding" at say 11 PM? She gets up at 3:30 AM now but perhaps with the dream feed she could stretch to her first morning feeding? I'm a little clueless on what dream feeds are. Do I leave her all swaddled up and just give her the bottle in the crib? Or do I pick her up? Should she get a full 4 ounces or less? Please pass along any and all advice!

Cameron has also been discovering her tongue which is really cute. I'm trying to capture a picture of it but no luck so far. Instead, here is another picture of her looking adorable :-)

Sometimes a straight jacket is just what you need

Cameron and I had a really good day yesterday. We are still in the process of figuring out her nap schedule to pick the ideal time for running errands. I have been reading Weissbluth's book and have decided the man is a genius. We are starting to implement some of his ideas related to napping and it is already working for us. Once DH gets home I'll have him make me a nap schedule tracker. Once I finish the book I'll write more about it.

I am also waking Cameron up about 45 minutes before her last two feedings to try and wear her out before her nighttime sleep. She melts down a little then but a bath seems to help so I have unilaterally decided that DH will be bathing her every night now instead of every other night.

Last night was also the first night that I employed Goddess In Progress' super swaddling technique. It is the greatest thing ever! I have joked before about Cameron having magical powers in getting her arms out of her swaddle. Sometimes it would take me 4 or 5 tries to swaddle her tight enough that I could be assured of a few hours before she worked her way out. As cute as it is to come in and see her with her arms stretched out over her head, I enjoy sleep a lot more.

Cameron hated the straight jacket swaddling for about a minute before she fell right to sleep at 9 PM. She woke up at 3 AM (woo hoo!) and I fed her. Despite a very dirty diaper change that necessitated turning on the light, once she was swaddled again she was out like a light. And slept until about 6:15 AM. I even used it for her first morning nap and got her to sleep for almost 2 hours.

I'm sure there are a few other factors that went into a good night's sleep and great morning nap (like good feedings) but the swaddling was an excellent way to keep Cameron from waking herself up inadvertently. I also didn't have to play the pacifier game with her. She fell asleep without it!

So thank you to Goddess In Progress for her clear swaddling directions. And also to Mommy, Esq. for pointing me to the post.

Going it alone

Before anything else, let me say how thrilled I am that I have a new niece and Cameron a new girl cousin! They will only be a month apart in age and hopefully will be really good friends. Congrats to A., M. and Finn!

I am a single parent this week while DH is traveling. We have Cameron on a really good sleep schedule right now so it hasn't been too painful. My biggest complaint is not having adult conversation. DH works from home so I can talk with him quite a bit throughout the day. Of course most of my comments to him are like the following:

• She had a huge blowout today!
• We just had a really good feeding.
• She is being a fusspot right now.
• Can you hold her for a minute?

Really stimulating conversation, right? I also miss DH during the witching hours (usually 5 PM to 7 PM) and as an extra set of hands for diaper changes. Come home soon, honey!

In the meantime I have been running errands each day just to get out of the house. I also have to do some cleaning since we are hosting a play date on Saturday. There will be a whole post on the play date this weekend and I really need to write about my inability to let dust and dog hair go. I picked up Weissbluth's book, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. Cameron has been really good with sleeping but I need to prepare myself for the inevitable changes to come.

I have also noticed that Cameron's eyes are lightening. They are turning a true blue. Can anyone tell me if that means she will have blue eyes? I know eyes can change for up to a year but if they are already lightening does that indicate blue will be the final color?

Here are some pictures of Cameron for your enjoyment.

Daddy is in charge of bath time and Cameron really likes it now!

Isn't this the cutest towel ever? Grammy got it for Cameron because our nickname for our dog Charlie is "chicken."

This is Cameron being drunk on milk. I actually tried to look presentable before we headed out to a play date.

Isn't Cameron's new outfit adorable?

The importance of schedules

When I was in business school I took a class on Leadership. The professor did a session on habits and their importance in our lives. Did you know that 99% of what we do on a daily basis is habitual? I definitely agree with that statistic, at least in my own life, and find that it only strengthened when I was pregnant. I rarely varied from my routine including wake up and sleeping times. This put me in very good stead once I became a mother. I mocked Mommy, Esq. a little bit about her adherence to a schedule but now that I'm in her position I mock no longer. I do try to change things up by taking her out on errands or while doing work in the yard but I don't screw with her feeding schedule.

It's been over a week now with a consistent schedule and I love it. Sometimes I feel a little too tied to the clock but that's also because I'm exclusively breastfeeding so all feedings are on me, so to speak. Cameron eats every 3 hours during the day starting at 6:30 AM and has her last feeding at around 8 PM (filling her up again so soon after her 6:30 PM feeding keeps her nice and happy). She's usually asleep by 9 PM and goes until 2 AM for her middle of the night feeding. I often times have to wake her up during the day to have her eat on the three hour schedule but I think it keeps her happy and adhering to a single wake up during the night.

Am I jinxing myself by writing about this schedule? I hope not. What should I expect as Cameron continues to grow? Will I be able to space out feedings to 4 hours at a time?

I'm on my own this week (well, DH does work at home so it's not quite that bad) as my mom left this morning. She was a huge help with cooking and gardening and talking and singing to Cameron. Grammy has inspired me to start reading to Cameron. Also on the list is tummy time. The last part of her umbilical cord came off last week and she's been having regular baths. Plus she's already lifting her head up so it's definitely time to start. I will be sure and post lots of pictures of her outrage at being on her belly. At least that was how Mommy, Esq's kids reacted...

Our happy family on Easter Sunday 2009
A beautiful day in Charlotte

Charlie is starting to be protective of Cameron

Is Grammy the baby whisperer?

My mom has been visiting since Monday and it has been wonderful. She is very low key and aside from not wanting to watch ER and other procedural shows with me (I've been watching a lot of TV while breastfeeding) she is up for anything.

Hard to believe she is a grandmother of 4 (almost 5), isn't it?

We actually ran some errands with Cameron yesterday. I got some nursing bras and a couple of tops and picked up a few books from Barnes and Noble. Then we met with the lactation consultant again. Cameron still isn't at her birth weight but she is getting over 2 ounces from me at a feeding so she's gained 9 ounces in 8 days. Not too shabby! Plus the LC converted the grams from the hospital records and they say Cameron was 7 pounds 6 ounces, not 10 as originally indicated so she's just an ounce away right now. Either way, she's gaining weight but they do want me to come in for another weight check next week. So that's 4 appointments (counting the LC) in 3 weeks. Good times :-)

I'm not sure if it's Grammy's influence or the hand of god but Cameron has only been waking up for one feeding for the past two nights. On the flip side, she hasn't been falling asleep until about 10 PM (with the help of the swing) but she's usually done eating by 8:30 (including about one ounce supplement). She sleeps for 3 hours after her 6:00 AM feeding so I would prefer she's up then and sleeping after her 8:00 PM feeding. But I guess that will come in time. Not that I'm complaining about only one night feeding! DH fed her last night so I could sleep and I woke up at 6:00 AM with my boobs about to explode. I've been pumping before bed but with Cameron skipping the 12:00 AM feeding and DH feeding her at 2 or 3 AM I'm leaking everywhere. If she keeps up with this one time a night feeding I may have to suck it up and feed her and let DH sleep. But we'll see - I do like my sleep! I have been able to set aside about 8 ounces a day of additional milk which is awesome and will really help once Cameron is in daycare. Of course now we're running out of freezer space so Grammy is buying us a freezer chest for additional storage. Any recommendations?

Look at how wide awake I am!

I'm also looking for any advice on getting Cameron to sleep earlier in the evening. But I don't want to mess with the one feeding a night. Should I just wait it out and see how her schedule adjusts? Should I be forcing her to stay up after her 6 AM feeding? Right now she just conks back out and I go back to sleep myself until 9 after pumping. Her most wide awake time is early afternoon and evening.

Baby aerobics with Grammy.Watching baseball (the Yankees of course) with Daddy and Charlie.