So we started last Monday with proper sleep training. As I went through the course I found a way we will approach our sleeping issue with Alex, but she was sick, so we decided to wait until she was completely recovered. She had Sixth disease (more about at the end of page here). We tried to follow the rules as good as we could even while she wasn't herself, but we didn't push it too much.
She got a little bit better during the night even before she was sick, but still was waking up a lot and of course while she wasn't feeling well it was very bad. One night she woke up even 10 times between 8pm and midnight and a few more times after.
On Monday we spoke about the steps we'll perform if she wakes up. And she did, twice: 11:30pm and 1:45am. My hubby went to her room and calmed her down the way he should. When he was back it bed, I spoke about it with him, to make sure he did it right. All was OK.
2nd night (Tuesday) Alex woke up once. 2:30am. She stretched her first sleep a lot, and then woke up in the morning before 8am. We were very happy.
Her day time routine didn't change much, just as it was recommended in the course we didn't let her nap after 3:30pm. Actually she got use to it in two days and has no problem to play until bedtime routine. She used to get very cranky around 5pm if she didn't nap, not anymore.
3rd night (Wednesday) she slept through. Woke up earlier, before 7am, but slept nearly 12 hours.
4th night she was up again, only once. 4:30am.
Friday night once as well 6:30am and she didn't want to go back to sleep.
Last night (Saturday) she slept until 7:15am, didn't wake up.
She still makes little noises during the night, but she doesn't cry for attention as she was. If she's just humming for herself, it's usually to make a white noise to go back to sleep. We go to her if she cries, but as you can see, it's most of the time once a night, or in the morning. She used to cry at least 4 times a night for attention, so this it great improvement.
We will still continue to do the steps if she gets back to waking up more often and in a few weeks, if she sleeps through, we're going to try to get her of her soother during the night. She's not using it during the day, so she should be fine to let go of it during the night too, I hope ;)
I feel like it was a very good week and I'm just disappointed, that I didn't try to find out more about sleep training earlier. It might have been a different half year for our whole family if we would start when Alex started solids.
But we are still happy the way it turned out!!!
Now a friend of mine needs help to teach her little one sleep longer as he's waking after midnight every hour. I'll get more details of her and set up a plan for them to improve their nights as well. I hope it's going to work for her family too.
People say it take 5-7 days for our brain to adjust to new routine, so when I'm done with them, I'll write about it as well. It won't be next week as I need to speak to her, get her weekly routine with her DS back and set up the plan. And of course another week for them to follow through and come back to me, but surely I'll have something else for you in between anyway.
BTW I'm starting my second maternity leave in 6 weeks (it's still a few weeks before the baby comes). So only 6 weeks at work left! Hurrah!!!
Sunday, 25 January 2015
Sunday, 18 January 2015
Sleep Training Alex
So the decision was made. We going to try sleep training with Alex.
Actually we decided that I will take the course for training kids to sleep in case our second one will have some sleeping problem or maybe a different one, who knows. It will still be cheaper than paying consultation and we can work on any issue which comes to our way. At least we think so ;)
Just a day before I started the course, Alex slept through night and the following night too and the next,... I thought it's like Murphy's law, but was thinking about or next one. As I progressed through the course, I found the issues we've made with Alex and what we need to change when the little one will come, so he won't have the same problem.
But then Alex got fevers, probably still reaction after vaccination from week before and was up more than 10 times a night. I found the way how we might start dealing with her sleeping issue in the course. I just need to put down exact plan for me and my hubby. We need to follow the same steps when calming her down.
We spoke about what is allowed and what's not, but I still feel like putting everything down as yesterday night was pretty bad and we didn't follow same rules. This could cause only confusion for Alex and she won't get it, that she should sleep and fall asleep by herself.
It will be rough week I think, but we'll see if it helps and she'll become better sleeper. If so, we can start thinking about getting her of soother during the night as I feel this causes a problem when she can't find it.
I finished the course, have all the data, but need to go through it a few more times for the information to settle in and then just practice. I might ask some friend if they want help in case they have sleeping issues with kids, so I can have some more case studies ;)
Actually we decided that I will take the course for training kids to sleep in case our second one will have some sleeping problem or maybe a different one, who knows. It will still be cheaper than paying consultation and we can work on any issue which comes to our way. At least we think so ;)
Just a day before I started the course, Alex slept through night and the following night too and the next,... I thought it's like Murphy's law, but was thinking about or next one. As I progressed through the course, I found the issues we've made with Alex and what we need to change when the little one will come, so he won't have the same problem.
But then Alex got fevers, probably still reaction after vaccination from week before and was up more than 10 times a night. I found the way how we might start dealing with her sleeping issue in the course. I just need to put down exact plan for me and my hubby. We need to follow the same steps when calming her down.
We spoke about what is allowed and what's not, but I still feel like putting everything down as yesterday night was pretty bad and we didn't follow same rules. This could cause only confusion for Alex and she won't get it, that she should sleep and fall asleep by herself.
It will be rough week I think, but we'll see if it helps and she'll become better sleeper. If so, we can start thinking about getting her of soother during the night as I feel this causes a problem when she can't find it.
I finished the course, have all the data, but need to go through it a few more times for the information to settle in and then just practice. I might ask some friend if they want help in case they have sleeping issues with kids, so I can have some more case studies ;)
Saturday, 10 January 2015
Happy New Year
Hello Everyone,
I would like to wish you all Happy New Year, all the best and may all your wishes come true.
I know it already a few days in a new year, but this time is very busy for me. I had to work some days during Christmas and the work keeps me busy.
Alex is after the Christmas a little bit more demanding than usual. Maybe because I was home more often and she got use to it. Poor daddy ;) he doesn't have much time for himself when I'm at work.
Alex loved Christmas, she loved the presents and was commenting on everything she saw and checked. It was so funny and all of us were watching her, what she was doing, that we completely forgot to take pictures. Ups!!!!
Her grandma and aunt were here. We liked it, they helped us a lot with everything, just Alex was a little shy. Even though she knew them, she didn't want to stay with them alone. Only on a walk outside, or if I and hubby were not around. This worked only one morning, when grandma took her to play in the living room and we stayed in a bed, but as soon as one of us when there, Alex wanted only us. We were even thinking to put her in a creche for maybe one day a week, but they don't take kids just like that. We need to think about something else to get her use to different people.
I'm currently 28 weeks pregnant, my bump is growing very fast and the little one inside as well.
We were very surprised in a hospital, that they did a quick scan of the baby. During my last pregnancy I got only 2 scans (plus one I requested due to the placenta position), one at 14 weeks another at the end, so it was nice to see the baby again.
After that we went to buy a double buggy. I originally thought we won't need one as Alex would be walking and all, but she doesn't want to walk much. She does a few steps by herself and is standing without support for much longer now, but I don't think she would be able to walk 5K in 3-4 months when the baby arrives and we'll go for walk or something.
I will probably write a review on the buggy when we start using it. We just cleaned it to get it ready when needed. :) BTW it's second hand, we really didn't want to invest too much money in it as we will need them for something else, but it's in great condition, the wheels look like they were outside only a few times ;) Most of the soft rubber spikes you can find on new wheels are still there.
Alex is trying to talk a lot now. It's still her language and it doesn't make too much sense, but she's understands a lot and knows when to use mummy, daddy etc. I absolutely love when she sits down on her playmat takes a book or some other toy and starts "reading" or "talking" to it. She uses much more letters now and combines them together, that sometimes they even create a normal word. Either in English or our language.
She still doesn't sleep good during the night and sometimes she doesn't want to sleep during day either. I was thinking to speak to sleep consultant as it looks like she's waking up most of the time because she lost a soother or her cuddly bunny. I think if she would be able to sleep without soother, she wouldn't wake up that often. Well, we'll see if we speak to someone or just give her more time.
I'm getting more exited in the 3rd trimester as the time for me to stay home is getting closer. I still need to submit paperwork to get maternity benefit, etc, but it's currently stuck in my company :( I hope they will sort this out soon.
Alex is waking up, so I will need to get her and play, because I promised that to her and we think she knows what promise means ;)
Keep in touch!
I would like to wish you all Happy New Year, all the best and may all your wishes come true.
I know it already a few days in a new year, but this time is very busy for me. I had to work some days during Christmas and the work keeps me busy.
Alex is after the Christmas a little bit more demanding than usual. Maybe because I was home more often and she got use to it. Poor daddy ;) he doesn't have much time for himself when I'm at work.
Alex loved Christmas, she loved the presents and was commenting on everything she saw and checked. It was so funny and all of us were watching her, what she was doing, that we completely forgot to take pictures. Ups!!!!
Her grandma and aunt were here. We liked it, they helped us a lot with everything, just Alex was a little shy. Even though she knew them, she didn't want to stay with them alone. Only on a walk outside, or if I and hubby were not around. This worked only one morning, when grandma took her to play in the living room and we stayed in a bed, but as soon as one of us when there, Alex wanted only us. We were even thinking to put her in a creche for maybe one day a week, but they don't take kids just like that. We need to think about something else to get her use to different people.
I'm currently 28 weeks pregnant, my bump is growing very fast and the little one inside as well.
We were very surprised in a hospital, that they did a quick scan of the baby. During my last pregnancy I got only 2 scans (plus one I requested due to the placenta position), one at 14 weeks another at the end, so it was nice to see the baby again.
After that we went to buy a double buggy. I originally thought we won't need one as Alex would be walking and all, but she doesn't want to walk much. She does a few steps by herself and is standing without support for much longer now, but I don't think she would be able to walk 5K in 3-4 months when the baby arrives and we'll go for walk or something.
I will probably write a review on the buggy when we start using it. We just cleaned it to get it ready when needed. :) BTW it's second hand, we really didn't want to invest too much money in it as we will need them for something else, but it's in great condition, the wheels look like they were outside only a few times ;) Most of the soft rubber spikes you can find on new wheels are still there.
Alex is trying to talk a lot now. It's still her language and it doesn't make too much sense, but she's understands a lot and knows when to use mummy, daddy etc. I absolutely love when she sits down on her playmat takes a book or some other toy and starts "reading" or "talking" to it. She uses much more letters now and combines them together, that sometimes they even create a normal word. Either in English or our language.
She still doesn't sleep good during the night and sometimes she doesn't want to sleep during day either. I was thinking to speak to sleep consultant as it looks like she's waking up most of the time because she lost a soother or her cuddly bunny. I think if she would be able to sleep without soother, she wouldn't wake up that often. Well, we'll see if we speak to someone or just give her more time.
I'm getting more exited in the 3rd trimester as the time for me to stay home is getting closer. I still need to submit paperwork to get maternity benefit, etc, but it's currently stuck in my company :( I hope they will sort this out soon.
Alex is waking up, so I will need to get her and play, because I promised that to her and we think she knows what promise means ;)
Keep in touch!
New page Q&A published
Hello,
I just published a new page Questions and Answers, this one will be updated from time to time. Either if I remember something interesting or if somebody will ask me something...
I just published a new page Questions and Answers, this one will be updated from time to time. Either if I remember something interesting or if somebody will ask me something...
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