Friday, January 22, 2010

Focusing on Sleep

It's 1:30 pm. Do you know where Charlie and Lily are? I do - they are napping IN THEIR CRIBS!! Yay! Yesterday I decided that I would finally start working on transitioning them to nap in their cribs. I had been just letting them nap wherever they may doze - the swing, the boppy, etc. But I was getting tired of having to tiptoe around while they were asleep. (It's hard to, say, put away noisy dishes when you have two sleeping babies less that 10 feet away.) Plus, I was hoping to start getting them on a more consistent schedule and synchronize their naps a bit. So yesterday morning, as soon as Lily started her "I'm tired and need to sleep NOW" fussing, I brought both babies right up to their nursery. I laid Charlie in his crib with his binky (because unlike the Bug, he will lay there quietly) and rocked Lily. She fell asleep and I put her in the crib, but about one second later she coughed and startled herself awake. Then she wanted nothing to do with settling back down. Finally, I got wise and swaddled her the way we do for bed. Bingo. She was sound asleep after 2 seconds of rocking. Poor Charlie, in the meantime, had just fallen asleep on his own. Both babies napped for about 40 minutes, which made me happy.

Next nap was a bit easier - I swaddled them both right away, rocked Lily (who went to sleep almost immediately) then picked up Charlie and rocked him for a minute or two (but he didn't really need it, as he's pretty good as self-soothing with his binky - I just wanted to be fair!). They slept again for about 40 minutes, then did it again for another 40 later in the afternoon. Woo hoo! I was afraid this good napping was beginner's luck and was sure I'd be in for it today, but right now they are on their second crib nap of the day! I really hope they can keep it up! If we can get the napping down pat, my next goal is to work on getting them to bed a little earlier. Right now we try to feed them their last bottle around 8:00 pm and get them to bed by 9:00 pm. I'd like to start getting them to bed by 7:30 or 8:00 pm so we'll see about that soon.

Sweet dreams, babies!

(PS: Joe is going to make fun of the amount of exclamation points in this post, but I don't care! Sleep is exciting!!!!)

Charlie and Mommy sneak in a cuddle. (And yeah, I'm aware that I look about 12 in this picture.)
Charlie and Lily playing in their rocker. They won't be able to fit in there together much longer!
"Hmmmm...what is that red bird up to now?"
Charlie and Daddy "wrestling." Charlie always wins.
Charlie has been enjoying his little red seat. He gets all happy when I put him in it and looks all around the room.
"I spy with my little eye a beautiful Bug!"
Charlie has become quite the thumb-sucker recently. Perhaps not the best habit in the world, but it makes him happy.

11 comments:

Kimberly said...

You say, "I look about 12 in that picture" like it's a BAD thing! You look great!

Good luck with the sleeping thing. Just remember that with babies, schedules change...pretty much as soon as they become a "schedule" :)

carrie said...

Great update! What seems to work for us is bottle, hour or two of playtime, then swaddled tightly and all down for a nap at the same time. I use a white noise machine to drown out household noises, and that seems to help. We're all about schedule here, so I can relate. Hope they continue to nap for you! They look wonderful! And btw, is that a bumbo chair? I've been wondering if mine are old enough for one yet. Thanks!

Brooke said...

Thanks, Carrie! Yes, it's a Bumbo. Well, another version of one called a Bebe Pod. Charlie likes it, but I only leave him in it for short periods of time while I'm sitting with him. After a bit he gets tired and starts to slump.

Laura said...

That is a GREAT accomplishment. Keira is 9 months now, but I did what you did with the crib napping---started slow! She was a great crib napper in just a few weeks. To get her in bed earlier, I just gradually moved her nightly routine up either 15 mins or 30 if she seemed tired, until we got to the time we were aiming for. Good luck! You are superwoman doing this with two babies! (Oh, and be thankful that Charlie found his thumb. It will pay off big time when he needs to self-soothe to fall asleep. No need to play the paci game!)

Anonymous said...

Bumbo chair - that looks really neat... Don't worry about the thumb sucking - if it makes him happy - let him do it. Michael sucked his thumb till forever... As long as he had someone's ear to hold while doing it he was the happiest camper ever... Charlie looks extremely content. Let him be...

OMG - they are getting sooooo big -would you just look at that Little Joe sitting in his Bumbo Chair.

Of course - I'm hysterial here...

Al My Love, Auntie :) xoxoxoox

happy_wife said...

A big YAY on crib napping! Isn't it funny how you feel like you "have control" of the house again when they sleep in their room? Although, for some silly reason, I still whisper when my son is sleeping...and he is a floor away!! As for the thumb sucking? I think it is BRILLIANT (!!!......sorry, Joe!!), after all, your thumb is always with you!

You all are so precious. And you can tell your babies are such a joy from the wonderful pics you post! Thanks for letting all of us in on your life together!

Jane

Anonymous said...

I'm sooo jealous!! My 7 month old daughter doesn't sleep at all at night... and she only naps in her swing (so to solve the problem of getting stuff done around the house, we moved the swing to her room :) )

Charlie and Lily are getting so big... and as always, they are beautiful!! It's so obvious that you guys are having so much fun with them!

Little Wonders said...

Yeah, good job, mommy! Sleep is a BIG deal. Even though my LOs are still horrible one-sleep-cycle (aka 40 min) sleeper, I think consistency is KEY and has made such an improvement in their sleep. Putting them down for naps exactly like you put them down for nights really helps, I agree. Also, don't be afraid to just try an earlier bed time and see what happens. Getting rid of that 3rd napping and moving up our bed time to 6:30 was the best thing we ever did. Good luck!

wv_tabby said...

Napping in swings n stuff like that can cause tortacolis (its prolly not spelt right though). So doing the crib naps are definately better for their lil necks. My daughter who is 17 months old would only sleep/nap being swaddled till she was around 7-8 months old I think it was..I didnt think I'd ever get her out of that habit. It was that or on her belly and that made me nervous till she was better at moving her head (when she was younger of course). But I didnt want her swaddled anymore cuz she would escape from it and the top part would be on her face so I just quit doing it and turned her on her belly and she LOVED IT! But I sleep that way, or at least fall asleep that way...along with my son (almost 3) and my husband..were all belly sleepers so I figured its what she liked to so I just done it! They are getting big and sooo cute! Good luck with the bed times! I also done like another person said, moved them slowly back in 15 min intervals and it works pretty well! Good luck!

Michele from FTHS said...

They are so beautiful and getting bigger every day. Congrats on the !!!!!!!!! And naps are ALWAYS a GOOD thing - even better when they are for the grownups!!!! ;-)

Cindy said...

Congrats on a great accomplishment! What a milestone!