Big Boy

Graham turned 10 weeks old yesterday. I can't believe how fast this is going. I get sad with each little outfit I put away because it doesn't fit anymore. Graham is already becoming more independent *sniff*. He smiles big smiles, rolls over from his stomach to his back, lifts his head and chest, and chuckles.

We have started transitioning him to his big boy bed in his own bedroom this week. I have been reading all kinds of books on how to get your child to sleep the best. There are so many theories out there on the best way to soothe your baby: binkey or no binkey, put them down asleep or put them down awake, nurse them to sleep or don't nurse them to sleep, let them cry it out or soothe them as soon as they cry...it can be so confusing knowing what is best!

I have finally settled on the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth (yet another book I wish I had read BEFORE Graham was born). He offers suggestions for all styles of parenting and gives you a plan for all age groups as well. After reading his book, I realized that Graham wasn't getting good naps during the day because we were playing with him until he reached the melt down stage. Dr. Weissbluth says babies shouldn't be awake for more than 2 hours at a time. Graham starts showing tired signs after about an hour to 1 1/2 hours of being awake and active. Now we know to get him ready for nap before he reaches that breaking point. It's helped a lot.

We first tried Graham in his big bed without a swaddle and noticed he kept jerking -startling-and waking himself up. So, we went back to the swaddle and wrapped him up like a little burrito. He didn't care for it, but he slept GREAT. We would get good 1 hour - 2 1/2 hour naps and 4 hour blocks of sleep at night that way. Now, we compromise and let him have one arm out so he can suck on his fingers. It's quite funny looking, but he still naps well. We'll try him unswaddled again once we get a good routine going.

We have also decided we are definitely not "cry-it-out" parents -- yet. I make no judgements because I hear it works great after the first time or two. We are trying the check and console method for now. As soon as we hear "real" fussing we go in and pat him and let him know we're there. He usually only needs us one time after he's been put down. He falls back to sleep pretty easily. We make sure not to pick him up, but to continue soothing until he's back asleep.

We make nap and bed time a routine where we say goodbye to Mr. Sunshine and close the blinds, then swaddle him up, turn on the white noise, sing a song or say a bedtime prayer, then rock/pat him to sleep. That takes anywhere from 10-30 minutes because we wait until he's in that first light stage of sleep before putting him down. He still wakes up twice at night. Once around midnight and again around 4. I still bring him to bed with me after that last wake up call. We catch a few more zzz's after that.

It's only been 4 days, but already we notice he's much happier during his awake time. We are getting a pretty good schedule down which I know will help him a lot in daycare *sniff again*.

I'll try to take more "awake" pictures to post next time!