I have a bunch to update on, the first being SLEEP TRAINING.
I'm going to try to be quick with this.
After Bree turned 4 months old, Dan and I decided something needed to be done with the lack of sleep we were getting. Bridget was getting up every two hours. And would take at least an hour to finally go back down, only to get up an hour later. We were pretty tired. Getting a total of 2-3 hours of sleep a night was wearing both Dan and I out.
Dan purchased Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby and pretty much read through it in one night (we were kind of desperate). HSHHB uses the CIO (cry it out) method. First off, let me tell you I'm sure I PREACHED I would Never, Ever, Ever, let my kid cry it out. Well....
There are two options. Gradual Extinction or Rapid Extintion. We decided on using Gradual Extinction. Basically you lay baby down for the night, let baby cry for 5 mins, go in and soothe no longer then 30 secs, let baby cry for 10 mins, go in and soothe, let baby cry for 15 mins, go in and soothe...once you hit 15 mins, you just go back in every 15 mins to soothe.
First night...we did this for an hour. It was HARD. I was crying. Grayson kept saying "mommy bridgie boo is hungggyyy". Thankfully, Dan took care of the first night. Bridget got up a couple hours later and we repeated the process, but she fell asleep MUCH quicker. Maybe crying for 10 mins.
The next night. She only cried for 5-10 mins after we put her down!
And every night after, for the most part, she would go to sleep. So the hard work was really done after one night.
Along with teaching her to self - soothe, we also started putting her down to bed MUCH earlier then we had been. Her new bedtime is between 6-6:30. She now wakes up twice a night to eat and goes right back to bed - sleeping until around 7 in the morning. It's like a miracle. Not kidding. It saved our sanity.
Next up: Feeding/Eating
Bree is still exclusively Breastfed. Although I'm curious how long that will last:/ I had a MAJOR oversupply in the begining. But along with that oversupply, I had gotten mastitis 4 (YES FOUR) times by the time Bree was 3 months old. At that point, Dan and I decided I would cut down the amount of times I pumped. Luckily, I had almost 1000 ounces of milk frozen. Since cutting down, I haven't gotten an infection (cross fingers). BUT, I've been starting to go through my frozen stash since Bree has been eating more and I'm producing less.
I've started to add in pumping sessions and Power Pump. I don't want to stress myself out over this, so I'm going to attempt to "go with the flow" on it. I'm scared about getting Mastitis again, so want to be careful...the deal was if I get it again, I have to call it quits. I figure even if I don't end up being able to pump ALL her food, whatever I'm able to give her will be good enough until she's one, even if I end up supplementing.
Actual Food: We are going to be doing a mix of purees and Baby-Led Weaning. Just this weekend we let Bree knaw on a cucumber. She pretty much just sucked/chewed on it. We just want her to play around right now.
Milestones:
*Sitting up - she started sitting up unsupported at around 4.5 months...and she can sit on her own, but is still wobbly and will fall over after a bit.
*she smacks her lips a lot, so cute!
*Finally found her feet a week or so ago. She still doesn't really play with them that much.
*She loves teething on rings, sophie, the Ergo, cold things,
*Babbles so much! She wakes up and just talks and talks
*We give her a spoon to play with
*She'll hold her bottle and feed herself sometimes.
*She usually doesn't mind tummy time.
*She loves loves being worn
*She doesn't mind being in the stroller, but we mostly wear her when we go out.
*Loves watching her brother.
*LOVES her jumperoo. We think she enjoys it more then her brother did!
* I think I posted about this in the last update, but she never really used the swing that much and we retired it around 4 months.
*Had her first trip to the playground with Grayson this past week - and even sat in a swing
*Took her first mini hike with her brother - she did great!
*Got Baptised Easter Weekend!
