Basically for the past 10 weeks Jack has been up every hour or two at night to eat. There has been 1 time when he slept for 4 hours between feeding and a handful of times when he has gone 3 hours. Every night, Jack and I have been doing the same dance and by 3 am I am ready to pull my hair out. I have gotten much better at handling the sleep deprivation during the daytime but I can't go on like this forever so it was time to try something new.
Our pediatrician told us at his 2 month appointment that Jack should be going 3 or 4 hours (or even more) between feedings, when I told him he wasn't even close to that he suggested moving Jack into his own room. In his own room he isn't woken up by us and he can't smell me. So I finally decided it was time.
First night I got up with him alone which was every hour or two and he fed every time…by 5 am he was in our bed so I didn't have to make the long walk to his room anymore.
Day 2, I did some research and learned about nighttime weaning. Which makes perfect sense to me because at half of his nighttime feedings he's only on for a few minutes before he's asleep again. So last night Justin joined the ranks and we made it a group effort. From bedtime (@9:30) to his first feeding he went 3 hours! But then from midnight to 6 am he was up 5 times. I got up with him every other time so that he was only eating every 2.5-3 hours and J got up with him the other times to put him back to sleep.
Ok so granted he was still "awake" every 1 or 2 hours but not having to get up and feed him every time makes me feel like there is hope. I do feel a little bad having J get up but I'm afraid if Jack smells me he will want to feed every time….and let's face it, parenting is all about teamwork ;). Luckily, it seems like J only has to be up with him a few minutes before Jack is out again.
Overall, I feel good about this move. It has to get better….right?!
Lindsey
Jack's boobies shirt is hilarious! Where did you get it cause I think I might want one :) I'm glad you guys are making some progress with Jack's fussiness. I can't imagine how brutal that was/is. Not sure if this will help or not, but my sister recommend giving one last good feeding around 10 or 10:30 (we are at about 9:30 now), and they will start to stretch themselves to a longer sleep period during the night. Abbie slept through the night for the first time last night, but before that I kept stretching her little by little to make for a longer stretch of sleep. It started out much closer together and slowly worked up to 5.5-6 hours. Last week(before she hit another growth spurt) she slept from like 10-4 and then woke up, and I used to think she always needed to eat when she woke up, but once I started paying attention to her cues more closely I realized she just needed her pacifier. That night I gave her her pacifier at 4 and she slept until 5:30 or 5:45...so believe me it will come! Just keep working on it. You are doing great! We moved Abbie about 2 weeks ago into her room and I too cried. I just can't believe how big she is getting so quickly, but I knew it was the best thing for her and us, cause I would wake up to every little noise she made, and really sometimes babies just make noises. They aren't crying for mom, they don't need to be fed...it's kinda like talking in their sleep I guess! He will get there and you are doing great!
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