Well Chloe had her first night in her new bed on Monday night. She didn't really seem to notice the new bed. Or the fact that her cot had mysteriously disappeared while she was out with Daddy. She went to bed as normal and woke up as normal. She hasn't attempted to escape from the bed yet, but I'm sure she will figure it out soon enough that she actually CAN escape! So the switch is going well... on to the next daughter.
Poor Megan, I feel sorry for her, Chloe got a whopping 19 months out of getting a bottle in the middle of the night. Megan is not so lucky. This feeding every 2 hours at night is going to stop! And soon! I was always of the mindset that those babies that sleep through the night have some lucky parents. I was jealous, but those babies only come around once in a blue moon. Well, I am going to change MY luck. It was ME that got Chloe addicted to the bottle, it was ME that got Chloe used to waking in the night for a bottle, so it is going to be ME that gets Megan to sleep a decent amount of hours. Something she is well capable of! So I started the "pick up put down" method yesterday. For those who don't know, this is a method to get baby used to putting themselves to sleep, without any other form of "comfort". You do exactly as it says on the tin, you put baby down, let them cry for a certain amount of time, pick them up and calm them, and repeat until baby is asleep. So far so good, the HARDEST part is doing it during the night, when baby is used to being picked up and fed. Yesterday I also decided that I am going to feed Megan at 4 hour intervals, I figure its not fair to feed on demand during the day and then be strict during the night, too many mixed messages. She did fine with the method during the day, and being put down last night... but during the night was a different story.
Stewy was banished to the spare room (actually he begged me to let him sleep there). Megan was put down at 10pm, no problem. Then it started at 1am, she whinged but put herself back to sleep. At 2am she was now getting cross, as the minutes dragged pass, she got more and more cross. I picked her up, but a few minutes later when she realised I wasn't heading towards the bed, she got very very cross. I offered her a bottle of water (bearing in mind she hates the bottle anyway, never mind water coming out of it!), I wanted her to know that this is all she is getting if she wakes in the night. I put her down, very very very cross baby. I waited about 20 min and picked her up again. Put her down, this time I turned on her mobile which has very soft lights that go around, she switched from concentrating on the lights to crying every so often, and then she drifted off to sleep when the mobile stopped. (3am - not too bad me thinks!) She then woke at 5.40am, and I fed her, I told myself I would feed her after 5am, went straight back to sleep after I put her down awake and she then woke at 8, she went back to sleep and woke at 9.45!!! SUCCESS. Recently she was going to bed at 11pm, feeding every 2 hours and waking up for the day at 6/7am. I will see how the next week goes, I am not such a hard ass and if she doesn't get used to this after a week then I will feed her at night and try again in a month. But no way am I going to have a 19 month old waking at night again, not going to happen! Sorry Megan.
Poor Megan, I feel sorry for her, Chloe got a whopping 19 months out of getting a bottle in the middle of the night. Megan is not so lucky. This feeding every 2 hours at night is going to stop! And soon! I was always of the mindset that those babies that sleep through the night have some lucky parents. I was jealous, but those babies only come around once in a blue moon. Well, I am going to change MY luck. It was ME that got Chloe addicted to the bottle, it was ME that got Chloe used to waking in the night for a bottle, so it is going to be ME that gets Megan to sleep a decent amount of hours. Something she is well capable of! So I started the "pick up put down" method yesterday. For those who don't know, this is a method to get baby used to putting themselves to sleep, without any other form of "comfort". You do exactly as it says on the tin, you put baby down, let them cry for a certain amount of time, pick them up and calm them, and repeat until baby is asleep. So far so good, the HARDEST part is doing it during the night, when baby is used to being picked up and fed. Yesterday I also decided that I am going to feed Megan at 4 hour intervals, I figure its not fair to feed on demand during the day and then be strict during the night, too many mixed messages. She did fine with the method during the day, and being put down last night... but during the night was a different story.
Stewy was banished to the spare room (actually he begged me to let him sleep there). Megan was put down at 10pm, no problem. Then it started at 1am, she whinged but put herself back to sleep. At 2am she was now getting cross, as the minutes dragged pass, she got more and more cross. I picked her up, but a few minutes later when she realised I wasn't heading towards the bed, she got very very cross. I offered her a bottle of water (bearing in mind she hates the bottle anyway, never mind water coming out of it!), I wanted her to know that this is all she is getting if she wakes in the night. I put her down, very very very cross baby. I waited about 20 min and picked her up again. Put her down, this time I turned on her mobile which has very soft lights that go around, she switched from concentrating on the lights to crying every so often, and then she drifted off to sleep when the mobile stopped. (3am - not too bad me thinks!) She then woke at 5.40am, and I fed her, I told myself I would feed her after 5am, went straight back to sleep after I put her down awake and she then woke at 8, she went back to sleep and woke at 9.45!!! SUCCESS. Recently she was going to bed at 11pm, feeding every 2 hours and waking up for the day at 6/7am. I will see how the next week goes, I am not such a hard ass and if she doesn't get used to this after a week then I will feed her at night and try again in a month. But no way am I going to have a 19 month old waking at night again, not going to happen! Sorry Megan.
You go girl!!! Keep strong!!!! There are kids who sleep through naturally, it's just in their make-up! But I think you can start early with stretching our little ones. Tank Megan up in the evening and hopefully it'll keep her settled!
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