Well .... its been 5 full nights since we turned our nurturing into training. 

Well.. its morning.. AND....6am - I hear a noise. It's DD. a one min squeak, rolled onto her side. Asleep!!  
730am-  the dog woke me up. Not my kids... My dog!!!
8am!!!  Time to get the whole RESTED family up for the day!!  That's it. She did it. Not only did she do it. She aced it!!!  I'm so proud. She's so full of smiles. She knows. Literally i'm doing happy dances with her and my son!!  

Nap 1 day 2
Full nap. Not a peep. We woke her up at the end

Nap 2 day 2. 
Full nap. Not a peep. We woke her up at the end

Don't get me wrong. She will have bad naps. I know that. But sleep nurturing her paved the path to where we are now. A bump in the road was removing the swaddle. We are over it. There's more bumps ahead. Like the vacation we are going on in a few weeks with just her and not DS. That will be a blog on its own. New space. Travel on the day of a time change. A plane that leaves at 6am and returns at 1130pm landing at 2am. 
She will do great. I know that. She will adapt. She will need us to help her. But I gladly will. 
I can't believe the training day came and went. My newborns now a baby. A beautiful happy smiling chubby baby. 

Here we go. Its training day. We had a great day naps were perfect. She was still swaddled. Its time to get rid of the swaddle shes rolling onto her side and im just scared of her rolling right over. So its time!

Shes been sleeping through without food for at least 5-6 weeks. Her big obstacle to overcome is going to be her hands. She is always sucking on her hands. I dont mean her thumb i mean both hands clenched together sucking on them for dear life!!!

As it was approaching 9pm i was starting to get a knot in my stomach. I instinctively texted Debbie. "Great!! im nervous!!!" her reply "She will do great!". I know, I know. But Debbie hates crying just as much as I do. Whenever shes over and DD lets out a 2 sec cry she says" Oh no, Shes crying" to which i reply, "i know, Shes ok" but just like me. We both don't like to hear babies cry. We just know how great the end outcome is.

Well bedtime is now here. Bath, Massage, PJ's, Sleep sac and feed. 
10:04 -  Hug kiss and with butterflies in my tummy. I placed her in her crib. She's just staring around like "what is going on here?"
10:08 - sucking on her hands like mad. just as i predicted. Seriously. I can hear the sucking from my room across the hall lol.
10:20 - the cry here we go! .... or not... or yes.. or no... (this continued for 10 minutes)
10:30 - I was on the phone with a client so DH did the first check. Offered her her soother. 
10:33 - ASLEEP!!!

Not bad.. Lets see if she wakes through the night. If she does... while im waiting .. i'll be blogging. For those of you that have done the training.... We will be starting session 2!!! Im less nervous now. This chicky's gonna rock it!
Make mommy proud baby girl!

12:25 - she's up…. and yelling for us. Arms flailing, legs kicking. 

12:35 - silence. i was about to get out of bed and go check on her. BUT her arms are by her side and she's still..... she's asleep!!! i didnt have to go in!!!  YAY!!!
good night.. Im going back to sleep!

1:23 up and yelling off and on. 

1:40 Session 2 check. (Theres a big span cause she wasnt crying consistent. it was very off and on. I gave he her soother now and she's gone back to sleep almost instantly 
OH BOY!!! here we go!!

2:10 Shes up again Session 3 starting

2:25 - i go in to check on her.  still not Crying... just yelling LOUDLY. (but not loud enough to wake DH… )

2:55- yup... still up. (im pooped) gotta tire herself out soon. With the amount of kicking and flailing shes doing. Im wanting my swaddle back at this point. BUT no turning back or the above would all be pointless. 

3:00 she may be running out of steam.... maybe .. nope. Go figure my child have this much stamina. 
310-asleep. With her hand in her mouth. 

345. Awake. 

350 rolled onto her side and somehow got her soother into her mouth. But not asleep. 

400 still up on her side. Trying to roll onto her tummy which just makes me nervous. 

410: ASLEEP! She keeps jolting bc she's starting to roll onto her back. 
Fingers crossed cause I'm exhausted. I didn't anticipate this. 

430. Awake poor thing just doesn't know what to do. Wants to sleep on her side but keeps rolling back.  I feel for her cause when I go in to see her she holds my hands as if saying. "What the heck do I do with these things" (from now till the next check not too sure what was happening as i was dozing)

550awake

600- asleep on her side

8am. Awake, happy and ready to start her day!!  Momma however... Is ready for a nap. In changing her i noticed she was kicking so much she literally kicked out of her PJ. I called Debbie in the morning to give her an update. Even myself as a trainer likes knowing i have support and hearing the things i know. Even as a medic. I can help others but sometimes when it comes to treating/helping yourself and your family its good to hear your own advice from someone else. She reminded me that her night was normal. I really did think she was going to breeze through and i didn't expect she would be up as much. BUT its a big milestone she has hit. Rolling. Its her first of many and i know as much as i would love to keep her swaddled more that the training is what needs to be done to keep her safe. What i did like though is that the times i did check on her. There were never tears. She was never crying. She was frustrated that her arms didn't stay still and when i went in to see her she didn't ever cry louder when i left. A big difference when i did the training without nurturing my son. 

Nap 1 day 1
I've kicked DH &DS out to go watch trains in the hopes of a good nap for both DD and I. 
So...  We have done our routine. I'm currently feeding. She had a great morning even though her night was rough. Nice big feed and she's out!!!  Time 10:05
1035-30 minutes into her nap. She's awake. Now we wait. Lets see what she can do. 
10:55 - 20 minutes later. Im going in to check on her and offer her her soother. 
11:00 - the soother falls out, but no crying. 
11:03 - She's asleep. Startling herself a lot but falling back to sleep on her own.
11:15 - awake again. Poor thing. She's so annoyed! AHA! she found her hands. Fingers crossed. Mine not hers!
11:20 (her 3/4 mark) her hands soothed her back to sleep.. . . The amount of jolting is unreal. (I'm a subscriber to the summer infant video monitor channel. i watch it non stop. lol) Its amazing to watch her sleep and cycles. It also shows me just how important the swaddle was. She was able to learn how to soothe herself without having to worry about her hands. Now she can use her skill to help her through this milestone. She's literally jolting every minute. BUT its 11:27 and she hasn't cried. she's doing great! She's ASLEEP
1145-We have reached the end of her nap time. But since she didn't nap much I'm giving her a little extension and will definitely be making a big deal about her making it to the end of her nap.
TIME TO WAKE HER UP!!!! YAY BABY GIRL! - - All smiles and happy!


Nap 2 Day 1

Nap routine done. She's in her crib asleep. I'm hoping to be able to take a good nap myself. I hope. Her lil hands started curled up by her face and have slowly slid down by her sides. Good luck baby girl I know u can do it!!
WOOT WOOT!! 2hrs… not a peep!!!

Nap 3 Day 1


Routine/feed/crib -drumroll. Asleep. That's my girl!!  

30 min in and she's up. A little fuss and she's sucking on her hands. Trying so hard...
After 20 minutes of fussing and tries to roll over and failed attempts to stay asleep. She's finally asleep. 20 more minutes to make it to her nap minimum. It was a struggle for her. But she made it. 


Nap 4 Day 1
Routine/feed. In bed. Milk drunk. - - She made it to her minimum

Bedtime night 2
In bed asleep as normal. No crying tonight. Arms spread out… fingers crossed. I KNOW SHE CAN DO IT!!

STAY TUNED!!!

Here we go. DD is 14 weeks old. 3 nights ago we put DD to bed to bed at 930pm instead of the 10pm that she has been use to since birth. She did great except for the fact that she didn't want to nurse much before bed. Being the big chunker that she is, i didn't push the issue as it was making her very angry. She went to sleep on her own as normal (its funny, or not but this lil girl NEEDS to be put down to go to sleep. She doesn't like being held to sleep at all.) and slept great. UNTIL 5am. Lil babe was doing great 4 nights sleeping straight 10p-7a and of course she wakes. I waited to go in and check on her, offered her soother and left. Sadly we needed to go in for another check. This time DH did it. Its comical because DH is a VERY sound sleeper. Doesn't hear DD shout through the night (i say shout because she doesnt cry for us. Theres never tears. She just yells to let us know shes up.) but always AFTER ive already gone in and checked on her, he gets up and goes towards her room. I laugh at him and tell him. i just left a minute ago. "ugh..." and he comes back to bed knowing he has to wait another 4 minutes. In that time. He falls asleep and guess who has to get up again. Yup.. me. Doesnt really matter cause i end up watching her in the monitor anyway. In the morning when he wakes up he says to me "oh yay, she fell asleep and we didn't have to get up" I just shake my head. lol.  Anyways. we went into her room twice and she was back asleep till i woke her at 7am. Happy as a lamb. SUCCESS!!!! 
Last night she was successful again. 930-7 (in fact she slept in till i woke her at 720 because we all over slept. Oups) She did wake around 6 but it was barely a fuss and she was asleep in a minute or so.
Tonight we are moving again. 9pm BEDTIME. I didnt know what to do with myself after both kids were in bed. SO im blogging. 

DD is still swaddled and in a sleep positioner (she's a side sleeper). Was AMAZING for her up until now. And still is. I know i need to get her into her bed without both. She is starting to roll and its not safe for her to be swaddled if she rolls. Right now with the positioner its hard for her to roll but the time is near. In fact TRAINING Day starts next sunday, Oct 21st. A week early as she wont be 16 weeks, which is when we recommend training. She will be 15 weeks but I feel comfortable and confident in her. The swaddle comes off and the positioner will be ditched and thats going to be a bit of an adaptation for her. I know she will startle herself awake and we will have to change from nurturing to training BUT i really believe that since this is what she knows it will go great. I have full faith in her. Our goal bedtime is 8pm.
MY GOSH... where did the time go. shes so big, so beautiful and a joy to be with. She's an amazing sleeper and i owe it all to the sleep system i have been taught. It was hard work. BUT in a few weeks we will have reached our goal 11 hrs of overnight sleep 3 great naps a day and a well rested family. Cant ask for much more then that. And honestly, It was easier then i ever thought. It had big bumps in the road, and there will still be a few ahead but no where close to the horrible gravel dirt road i was on with my DS at the same age shes at.

Sorry for the long break from my last blog. Things were kind of dull on my end. Which is a good thing. DD has been feed free through the night for at least 4 weeks. No feeds at all. Shes been pretty consistent sleeping 10p-7a. She has woken but was soothed back to sleep either by herself or by a quick visit after giving her some time to sort it out. Its amazing. 

The swaddle has stayed. Crisis averted. We found a new swaddle that she loves. I didn't think to try it because DS hated it. The Woombie. Its got enough give that she isnt too constricted but it does allow her some wiggle room. I bought one, she loved it so much that i had to go out and get another one cause when i tried to launder it and i had to use the swaddle me, she would look at me like are you kidding me lady.. Needless to say we now have 2. (and a third winter one on order)

In the past 2 weeks My lil baby has transformed. It happened in literally a blink of an eye. She is no longer a newborn. She's transitioned to a baby and MY GOSH is she cute! The past week or more i have noticed that she stays awake easily. Is so observant. AND she doesn't want to take full 2 hr naps as she use to. Either she isn't ready to go to sleep and cries in the start of her nap OR she falls asleep fine and wakes early and cries to the end of her nap. Scratching my head i realized... this baby girl is ready to graduate to a baby schedule and not a newborn schedule anymore. Basically she would be dropping a nap (from 5 naps to 4 naps) and be staying awake longer then an hour at a time. I think i've known she was ready for a while but i'm deathly afraid of change. My DS held on to all his naps forever. He took 3 naps a day till 10 mos and 2 naps a day till 18 mos. 
Well this morning i woke up and the lil miss was so smiley and awake and cooing that i didn't want to put her back to bed. So i didn't. I brought her over to our bed where her brother and dad were and we had a big family cuddle watching Curious George. Somehow i got the guts to admit to myself... this baby girl is ready to graduate. So i kept her up to have breakfast with us and by the time it was time for her first nap... she was sooo ready. Slept like a champ the whole 2 hrs. Did the same for all the naps the rest of the day. Her wake up and bedtime will stay the same but heres hoping that it solved the short nap dilemma. 
I had to text Debbie today because i was in such awe. What a difference. I didn't start training (or even knew it existed) till my DS was 4.5 mos. The struggles i faced with him aren't even a thought in my mind. I literally feed her and put her in her crib. Awake or asleep, it doesn't matter. She does all the work. She's happy all the time. Not tired or cranky. I can see all the things i took away from my DS in rushing to him the second he squeaked. Picking him up and rocking him isn't want he needed or wanted. He needed to learn how to put himself to sleep. Not teach me how to do it for him. I thought i was helping him by rocking and holding him but now i realize that isnt at all what he was wanting. I guess its all a matter of perspective. Yes DD cries a bit. But by a bit i mean 5 min MAX. She doesn't even cry as much as shouts. Some people may think thats mean and horrible. I use to be one of those people. I remember before my son was born i vowed i would never let him cry. Well he was crying cause he was so tired anyway so really...i was no further ahead.
 I've learned so much about infant sleep and cues and what they are really wanting to say and need that i sometimes scare myself.  We have weekly clinics through PMB and im still doing mini training programs. Sometimes when i read a question or email and realize how common all the issues are i understand that its normal. BUT we can help create a new normal.

In other news. DD got to try out the jolly jumper yesterday. OMG she loved it. Can you believe it... my baby girl is almost 3 mos old. YIKES.. i had a talk with her today and told her to slow down.. stay small... not sure how much she will listen to me there.... but at least she listens when i tell her "I Love you, Goodnight. Go to sleep."

Stay tuned as DD has 4 schedules to get through till she reaches her goal bedtime.