We'll get there

I've been "experimenting" with Riley's food & sleep schedule over the last few days. I tried many of the suggestions that some friends & family gave me. Some are working; some are just not for us. Although we are still adjusting, things are already much better than before for three reasons:

1.) He used to wake up at least 3 times per night. Now it's only once, maybe twice. (I'll take it!)

2.) He is sleeping for longer periods of time instead of waking every couple of hours.

3.) He doesn't seem hungry if he wakes up that 2nd time during the night.

Some things that I've found that seemed to help were:

1.) Spread his "real food" meals out & give him a snack (fruit, yogurt, or crackers) in between & after his last meal of the day. (I initially tried to delay his supper to around 8 so that he would be full before going to bed, but we never actually made it all the way to 8:00...so I tried this & it worked better.)

2.) Put rice cereal in his bottle before bed. Apparently he really likes it because he ate 7 ounces last night! I'm still amazed.

3.) When he does wake up wanting to eat, I'll let him nurse for 2 minutes or less, then slip a 2 ounce bottle in. He fought it the first time, but has done better ever since. My next step with this will be to gradually weaken the formula in these bottles so that he won't want to keep waking up for it. I read this in a parenting magazine & thought I would give it a try once he is only taking a bottle during that night feeding.

I know I am taking the long route with the night wakings, but I just don't feel like the "cry it out" method is for us. At least not right now. Just having him in his room at night instead of right beside our bed is a big deal for me & him. We will eventually get back to the point of sleeping all night and I will do it how we feel comfortable, whether it's the "Baby Wise" way or not. Don't get me wrong, I believe Baby Wise is great, but every baby is different & some things just do/don't work for certain babies. We are going to take it one step at a time. I mean, he used to sleep through the night-from about 7 weeks until around 4 or 5 months...right when he started teething. Ever since he got his 1st tooth, he hasn't had a period of not teething. He already has 8 teeth & is seems to be getting another one in the back the way he is putting things to the back of his mouth to chew on now. It's got to hurt to get that many teeth at once & I'm convinced that it is contributing to him waking up at night. Look at all of my baby's teeth!!

I'll take the blame for nursing him back to sleep & apparently getting him into this habit. Obviously it's taking longer to break it than start it, but I'm trying. Remember I am new to this Mommy stuff & am flying by the seat of my pants with a lot of things. But we'll get there.