8 Weeks Old

8 Weeks Old
September 29, 2009

Lydia has been in our lives for eight weeks now and we are still just as much in awe of her as the day she was born. We are not in awe of the fact she still wakes up at 4am, but I do enjoy the quiet moments in her nursery just rocking her during the night. I know moments like that won't be around for long and I relish them. We are officially in "baby boot camp," while training Lydia to sleep through the night and so far so good. When Lydia awakes at 4am, I try to give her a pacifier or distract her from needing to eat until a little later. Last night and the night before we made it until 4:25 and 4:27. The goal is for her to not wake up and cry, so it is tough to stretch her feedings out during the night, but I think it is working. We are also trying to reduce the amount she eats at night. So we went from 4-5 oz to 3.5, and last night she had 3. The theory behind this is that she will eat less at night and thus be able to sleep through the night and make up the lost ounces in her first feedings of the day. I feed her before she gets too fussy at night and thus she "sleep walks" through her feeding and it is MUCH easier to get her back to sleep. Before, when we thought "crying it out" was a good option, she would get too upset and wake up too much that it would be difficult to get her back to sleep. The book we (I) am reading also suggests giving Lydia 3-5 minutes of crying time before attempting to soothe her... That is if it is known that she is fed, has a clean diaper, and is otherwise comfortable. This has been an amazing feat as well. If she calms down at any point in the 3-5 minute time frame, the time is restarted. If she does not calm down, then Brett and I go in and soothe her without picking her up. We may give her her pacifier, pat her belly, and just let her know that we are there. This has been working really well and Lydia is able to be put in her crib awake and put herself to sleep.

Lydia's nap schedule has been a little more erratic, but the book has this as the last and final step in the plan. Lydia tends to fall asleep at different points in the day, but our goal is to keep her awake between her 3rd and 4th feedings.

Brett and I are still adjusting to life as parents. Our schedule revolves around Lydia as much as we try to keep our normal commitments. Our attempts at coordinating schedules still is in the works. We find ourselves enjoying one night in on the weekends, for the purpose of catching up on sleep and relaxing. We do take Lydia with us as much as possible and are pleased that we haven't yet had to get her a babysitter (aside from Oma and Opa for the Ritter Wedding).