Well, as Addison nears her 6 month birthday we decided it was time for our little sparkle to move into her own room (and out of mom and dad's - hooray!). Until she was 4 months old, she slept with us in our bed...and made a very good little warmer! Once her cast went on we moved her to her playard bassinet that was located right beside our bed. Last week we decided to make the big transition. We figured this might make for a few cranky nights of her feeling abandoned and alone...but we were wrong! Last week I laid her down in her crib, head and torso propped up with a crib wedge and lots of blankets to make her bed a little more comfy as she can't reposition herself at night...and to my surprise she not only went right to sleep, she had a two hour nap! Success! So that very night we put her in her crib and she slept really well, only waking once, around 4 am for a bottle. So this was the real test, would she go back to sleep after her bottle and change, or would she lay awake wondering where the heck she was? Again...she went right back to sleep.
Hubby and I were so impressed with the independence our little girl was showing, but at the same time we are both a little melancholy because it just means she is getting older and we so desperately want to hang onto our little baby. She is so happy in her new room that for the past three nights, she has slept 12 hours straight, no early wakings. Her dad and I, meanwhile, are still waking up in the middle of the night...so it seems we are the ones with transition problems as we are still trying to get used to it! The first night she slept all the way through her dad woke up in a panic, asking "Is she still breathing up there?". When you are used to having her right next to your bed, it does take a little getting used to!
Last night I was watching her from the baby monitor set up in our bedroom, and I noticed that the poor thing still tries to turn over onto her side in the middle of the night but the cast keeps her firmly anchored on her back. However, it seems she has figured out a work around, she simply turns her torso to the side, inserts the thumb into her mouth and sleeps, half twisted, blissfully unaware that the cast is anchoring her down.
So after all we heard about how hard it is going to be to get her sleeping in her own crib after having her co-sleep with us it turns out we have disproven that in the last week! As for our worries of her feeling abandoned and alone by putting her in her own room... it looks like we are the ones left feeling abandoned and alone...while she sleeps peacefully in her big girl bed in her big girl room.
How 2 parents are laughing, crying, fumbling and loving their first born through the journey of DDH (hip dysplasia)
Showing posts with label sleep schedule. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sleep schedule. Show all posts
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Spica Sleeping
Sleep is a much discussed topic among new mothers...how much sleep is your baby getting, is she sleeping thru the night yet? How many naps does she take? Is she sleeping in her crib yet? Well, this all takes a different slant when you have a baby in a body cast.
Before her closed reduction Addie and I had come to an agreement on the sleeping arrangements. Her dad and I tried for the first few weeks to have her sleep in her own crib, in her own room. However, after three weeks of poor baby waking every hour or so in need of comforting, only to get her back to sleep and try ever so gently to lay her back down in her crib to have her wake 5 minutes later crying out for comfort...well, we decided that something had to give. We would not survive the sleep deprivation this was wreaking on our lives! So, after one particularly bad night where no matter what we did Addison would not go to sleep, at 3 am in the morning I finally broke down and brought her to bed with me. Wouldn't you know it, she fell right asleep snuggling face to face with me. And so it went, until she got her spica cast.
The first night home she co-slept with us as she had done for the past two months and did not stir. In hindsight I now realize this was due to the pain meds they had her on! For the second night was not so peaceful! She just could not settle. So that next day I decided to try an experiment. We had purchased a playard for Addie before she was born, thinking it would serve as the bassinet until she was ready to sleep in her own crib. From day 1 Addie wanted nothing to do with that playard/bassinet. We would lay her in it and she would immediately start screaming. Turns out our newborn was just a cuddle bug in need of body warmth! Prior to her surgery we did not make much of an effort to get her on any kind of schedule, we were so devastated that she was going to have to endure surgery and casting that we wanted to spoil her a little and so we let her dictate what she wanted. Being the happy baby she is, she wasn't too demanding and her needs were totally achievable so we said schedule be damned!
After that second night home following her surgery, I decided to give the playard another try. Sure enough, I set her down in it for a nap and she went right to sleep. She was now ready for a little independence. I think the stay in a hospital bed helped to expedite that somewhat, but we were pleased all the same. So, we moved the playard into our room, put a crib wedge in it to help prop up her head and padded it with lots and lots of blankets to help make it as soft as we could. That same night following the successful nap we put her down to sleep in the playard...and wouldn't you know it...she slept peacefully.
While I am happy to report Addison is, for the most part, a great napper...night sleeping is a bit of a challenge for her. When I chatted with my doctor about this issue, she simply told me that until Addison is out of the cast and able to reposition herself on her own Addison will likely continue to wake every 3 hours or so. Not the news or advice I had been hoping for as by mid-afternoon I am generally a zombie due to midnight, 3 am and 5 am wakings!!
Now, I mentioned earlier that before her cast went on, we were on no particular schedule but a funny thing happened on the way to the spica cast. Almost immediately following her surgery and casting, Addison started to develop her own schedule. Pretty soon, the time of day she needed her naps, her meals and her bedtime began to get more consistent. It really surprised me! It got so good that prior to her cast change, Addison had a few nights where she slept the whole night through (success, or so we thought!).
We try to socialize Addison a lot, so we take her to visit relatives and friends as often as we can but we have noticed that this does, indeed, disrupt her day to day routine. Following her cast change, sleeping has been a little more unpredictable again. She is still in her playard and continues to wake at midnight, 3 and 6 am for feedings but we are thinking that once the weather starts to cool a little, we will be moving her to her own bedroom. Our bedroom, where her current bed is situated, is in our basement so during these hot summer days it is much cooler for a baby in a cast. Her room is on our upper floor and while our house stays fairly cool, it still is likely more comfy for her to remain in the dark, cool basement for now. She is fast approaching the 6 month mark, so I am going to have to get the transition to her own room underway, we want to achieve that before then.
Before her closed reduction Addie and I had come to an agreement on the sleeping arrangements. Her dad and I tried for the first few weeks to have her sleep in her own crib, in her own room. However, after three weeks of poor baby waking every hour or so in need of comforting, only to get her back to sleep and try ever so gently to lay her back down in her crib to have her wake 5 minutes later crying out for comfort...well, we decided that something had to give. We would not survive the sleep deprivation this was wreaking on our lives! So, after one particularly bad night where no matter what we did Addison would not go to sleep, at 3 am in the morning I finally broke down and brought her to bed with me. Wouldn't you know it, she fell right asleep snuggling face to face with me. And so it went, until she got her spica cast.
The first night home she co-slept with us as she had done for the past two months and did not stir. In hindsight I now realize this was due to the pain meds they had her on! For the second night was not so peaceful! She just could not settle. So that next day I decided to try an experiment. We had purchased a playard for Addie before she was born, thinking it would serve as the bassinet until she was ready to sleep in her own crib. From day 1 Addie wanted nothing to do with that playard/bassinet. We would lay her in it and she would immediately start screaming. Turns out our newborn was just a cuddle bug in need of body warmth! Prior to her surgery we did not make much of an effort to get her on any kind of schedule, we were so devastated that she was going to have to endure surgery and casting that we wanted to spoil her a little and so we let her dictate what she wanted. Being the happy baby she is, she wasn't too demanding and her needs were totally achievable so we said schedule be damned!
 |
| Just waking from her mid-morning nap in her playard |
While I am happy to report Addison is, for the most part, a great napper...night sleeping is a bit of a challenge for her. When I chatted with my doctor about this issue, she simply told me that until Addison is out of the cast and able to reposition herself on her own Addison will likely continue to wake every 3 hours or so. Not the news or advice I had been hoping for as by mid-afternoon I am generally a zombie due to midnight, 3 am and 5 am wakings!!
Now, I mentioned earlier that before her cast went on, we were on no particular schedule but a funny thing happened on the way to the spica cast. Almost immediately following her surgery and casting, Addison started to develop her own schedule. Pretty soon, the time of day she needed her naps, her meals and her bedtime began to get more consistent. It really surprised me! It got so good that prior to her cast change, Addison had a few nights where she slept the whole night through (success, or so we thought!).
We try to socialize Addison a lot, so we take her to visit relatives and friends as often as we can but we have noticed that this does, indeed, disrupt her day to day routine. Following her cast change, sleeping has been a little more unpredictable again. She is still in her playard and continues to wake at midnight, 3 and 6 am for feedings but we are thinking that once the weather starts to cool a little, we will be moving her to her own bedroom. Our bedroom, where her current bed is situated, is in our basement so during these hot summer days it is much cooler for a baby in a cast. Her room is on our upper floor and while our house stays fairly cool, it still is likely more comfy for her to remain in the dark, cool basement for now. She is fast approaching the 6 month mark, so I am going to have to get the transition to her own room underway, we want to achieve that before then.
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