Showing posts with label Elizabeth Pantley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elizabeth Pantley. Show all posts

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Day 84: Book reviews and update

Sorry it's been so long since I posted. Mari's been having a more or less good run of sleeping lately, though she's still waking up about twice a night to feed. I've been thinking again about weaning her off the second night feed, since she doesn't really seem to need it -- she's fine when she sleeps well and gets up only for one feed. Also, if she has a second night feed she won't feed again when she wakes up in the morning, not until nearly time for her first nap. I would rather she feed when she gets up too. Also, she still quite often wakes up from a nap after only one sleep cycle, despite being obviously tired. I don't know what more I can do about that than what we're already doing. However, her naptimes have stabilized a little. I'm doing everything I can to ensure she sleeps at least 13 hours total a day, but she really does best when she gets 14 hours. More about that in the book reviews below.

I'm a big researcher, arguably an over-researcher, so I have read all kinds of books on baby sleep. All have had good points as well as not-so-good. Here's the lowdown on what I think of all the books I've read, in order from the ones I've liked most to least.

1.  The No-Cry Sleep Solution, by Elizabeth Pantley

The book that started me and Mari on this journey, and in my opinion, still the best. I like that it offers an organized way to create a sleep plan and to track progress. It also offers plenty of suggestions to create healthy sleep habits. You don't have to follow them all; just the ones that work for you. In fact, it offers a lot of flexibility, including no guilt about co-sleeping or crib sleeping. Most important, unlike most other baby sleep books, it doesn't involve making the baby cry it out, which despite my having dipped a toe or two into those waters, is in my opinion still an admirable and loving goal.

However,  as I have mentioned before, I have come to believe it's not always possible or necessarily desirable to achieve no crying at all. At least for Mari, I have not been able to prevent her from crying entirely, and until I stopped taking the book quite so seriously, I felt a lot of guilt about that. I believe there are different types of crying that should be treated different ways. There are indeed times when she seems to need to fuss a bit before falling asleep, and if I keep trying to comfort her, it actually takes longer or even prevents her falling asleep. Having said that, if I get the timing just right, she fusses little or not at all. She cries when she's overtired, so it's best to prevent her from getting overtired.


2. Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems, by Richard Ferber. M.D.


I've never systematically Ferberized, but I found this book very informative. It has the best explanations about child sleep that I've ever read and the chapter about sleep associations, I found to be better than in the NCSS. I read the whole thing out of interest, even though Mari doesn't have problems with things like narcolepsy or sleep apnea, and now I feel I know what to look out for if she should ever develop more serious sleep problems.

I had formed a bad opinion of Ferberizing before I read this book. However, once I read the book, rather than just what other people had to say about it, I found the description of the method to be more logical and less harsh than the extinction method of crying it out. I think the method could work for parents who don't have the patience to implement the gentler but more time-consuming methods of the NCSS first, but after a couple of months on the NCSS, I found that Mari's sleep habits were already mostly good enough that it was unnecessary to let her cry for increasing intervals. Most of the time now she goes down pretty easily and if she doesn't, it's either because she's not tired enough yet to go to sleep or because she's overtired, in which case it seems too harsh to me to leave her to cry for very long. 

I have, however, taken some things from Ferber. When necessary, I use the idea of increasing intervals between responses and keeping my time in the room short. If Mari cries after being put down, I will first respond and comfort her after about two minutes of full-on crying (I let her fuss longer if she doesn't sound very upset). At all times I limit my time in the room to two minutes unless of course I'm nursing her. If she still keeps crying, I next respond after five minutes. After that, 10 minutes and so on until half an hour has passed since I first put her down. If she's still upset at that point, I let her get up and play for a little while before I try again, because I figure she either wasn't tired or is overtired but has gotten a second wind. I have only had to let her get up for naps; never for bedtime sleep. I have not, however, increased time between responses from day to day.

There is one major area in which I tend to disagree with Ferber. Ferber constantly contends that sleep problems can be solved by at least temporarily making bedtimes later so the child is more tired when he or she is put to bed. Maybe, just maybe, this is something that could work for older children, but it certainly doesn't work for Mari and probably not most babies. The more overtired Mari gets the LESS she sleeps and the HARDER it is to get her down to sleep. 

Also, Ferber says a six-month-old should be getting about 12.5 hours total sleep a day. I find this just barely in the adequate range. Mari averages about 13, and she's happier when she gets 14 hours of sleep or more in a day if I can manage to get her to sleep that long. In the three weeks since I have been using babybix.com to keep track of her sleep, Mari has slept a maximum of 14.5 hours and wow, she was in a great mood that day. Nor do I believe it's just that Mari needs more sleep than most. On the online message board for moms that I visit, it would seem the majority of 7-8 month-olds need 13 hours or more of sleep a day.

Wow, that took longer than I expected. I will post this now and continue the book reviews another day. Next up: Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child; The Baby Whisperer; The Baby Sleep Book.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Day 31: The new 10-day plan including nap plan

Damn. Mari didn't sleep through the night last night, for the first time in over a week. She was close, since I'm still defining "through the night" as one five-hour stretch -- she had a 4.5-hour stretch. But it has underlined to me that I still need to be emphasizing the nighttime sleep plan as much as ever. I'll probably need to do that until well into childhood, though of course there will be significant changes to the plan before then.

Anyway, here's the new plan, including the plan for naps. Unless otherwise stated, previous plans still apply.

1. For this 10-day plan only I will not try to schedule naps. I will instead look for sleepy cues and try to respond IMMEDIATELY by reading her a quick story, rocking to the point of drowsiness while singing a lullaby, then putting her down. I will try to feed and potty her at least 45 minutes before she's likely to fall asleep. (Feeding her immediately upon waking up has been totally unsuccessful and I will discontinue that attempt. She's too raring to go to settle down for a feed when she's just woken up.)

2.  If I miss feeding her and pottying her before she shows me sleepy signs, I will feed and potty her immediately, limiting time on the potty to a minute or two regardless of if she goes. I will then rock her and put her down without a story or song.

3.  I will keep track of naptimes for the next 10 days so I have a sense of when her natural tired times are. I will use the data to create a nap schedule for the next 10-day plan. For this 10-day plan I will only try to schedule bedtime, starting her bedtime routine at 6:30 every day so she's asleep sometime between 7:30 and 8.

4.  I will make Mari's room darker for naps by sewing blackout fabric onto the backs of the bamboo blinds. (I already did this for one blind, but I don't think the fabric is dark or thick enough, so I'll add another layer.)

5.  I will continue to co-nap with Mari for her morning nap for now, since the morning nap seems to be key. In any case, I usually need a nap too! If she starts to stir too early, I will put a hand on her before she wakes and shush her to try to keep her asleep. If she still wakes up after less than an hour, I will do whatever I have to do to get her back to sleep, including rocking and nursing. 

6.  For afternoon naps, I will put Mari down in her crib and leave the room so she gets more used to napping alone. I will, however, stay upstairs. I will enter the room immediately when I hear a sound and try to get her back to sleep if it has been less than an hour or if she seems cranky.  Exception: if she napped long previously, seems happy and alert and has napped at least 30 minutes, I'll leave her be. She can have one nap a day of less than an hour, assuming three naps a day.

7.  I will work on putting her down after less rocking, drowsy but not yet falling asleep, so she learns to fall asleep on her own in the crib. I will stay by her side for a little while, saying "shh," but I will now not keep a hand on her stomach unless she fusses. If she fusses, I will use the hand but I won't pick her up unless she starts to truly cry, or if she fusses for more than 5 minutes at naptime and doesn't seem to be trying to put herself to sleep. At night, I will leave the room 5 minutes after I put her down, even if she's still awake. At naptime, I'll stay in the room until she's very nearly asleep -- but not quite.

8.  Since her weight gain has slowed, I'm OK with feeding her once or twice a night. Ideally I will do this once before I go to bed, in hopes her longest sleep stretch comes after I go to bed. However, if she doesn't wake up, or puts herself to sleep after less than five minutes of fussing, I will not wake her up to feed her, nor will I do a dream feed.

9.  For night wakings, I will continue to let her fuss alone -- NOT cry -- for the following amounts of time:
- 5 minutes if it's just after I put her down and leave the room, but she's still clearly awake and not happy about being left alone.
- 15 minutes if she has already fallen asleep once for the night but less than three hours have passed since I put her down. If I end up having to go in and comfort her, I will not feed her.
- 5 minutes if more than 3 hours has passed since I put her down for the night. If she continues to fuss for more than five minutes, I will feed her immediately upon going in.
- 15 minutes if I have already fed her once during the night and less than five hours have passed since then. If I go in, I won't feed her.
- 5 minutes if more than five hours have passed since her first night feeding. If I have to go in, I will feed her.
- 5 minutes at any time of the night if it has been less than 30 minutes since her last night waking and she was not fed at the last night waking. If this happens, I will feed her immediately upon going in.
- At any time if she starts full-on crying, I will go in immediately. However, I will only feed her according to the above guidelines.

10.  I will no longer hold Mari during her naps after she has fallen asleep, even if I picked her up after a premature awakening. If she wakes up prematurely, I will soothe her and put her down, up to twice. If she wakes up a third time after being put down, she can stay up.

11.  I will make sure she gets at least some active tummy time between every nap, even if it's only for five minutes before an outing.

12.  I will try very hard to avoid being out when Mari has to nap. However, if it's unavoidable and she falls asleep in her car seat, I will stay in the (intermittently warmed up, if necessary) parked car with her until she wakes up or has napped for a minimum of 45 minutes. Only then will I go in the house, since going in almost always wakes her up. If she falls asleep in the carrier or stroller, I will try to keep walking around outside for the same amount of time. However, if it's too cold, I will take her inside and keep walking around quietly indoors in hopes she won't wake up.

13.  In the last stages of getting Mari down to sleep (naps and at night), I will do the "Pantley Dance" -- alternating periods of rocking and shushing with holding her still and quiet in my arms. I will do both a few times each until she is sleepy but not yet asleep. Then I will put her down.

14.  If she seems in danger of falling asleep nursing, I will employ the "Pantley Pull-Off" (see http://www.pregnancy.org/article/when-your-baby-wakes-frequently-feed-pantley-pull)

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Day 25: Nighttime sleep success, naptime sleep failure

I think I can tentatively say MARI HAS STARTED SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT! I'm so happy!

Last night Mari slept for 11 hours, from about 8 p.m. to 7 a.m., without a single peep. In her crib, in her room. Without sleeping on her tummy. Without a dream feed. And she woke up happy and well-rested, not obviously starving, though with a good appetite once I did feed her. I'm so conditioned to waking up at night that I woke up at about 3:30 a.m., boobs sore and swollen, but even so, I had the best night's sleep I've had since before Mari was born.

The three nights prior too, she technically slept through the night, if one defines "through the night" as five hours. I don't know yet what tonight will hold, but as I write this it's nearly midnight and Mari has yet to utter a peep, so I'm optimistic.

What's more, she has put herself to sleep without me in the room for the last three nights running. I've still been doing her bedtime routine and getting her good and sleepy, but then I've put her in the crib, stayed with her for another couple of minutes, kissed her goodnight and left. Tonight she "talked" a little after I left, but only for a minute or two. Then, blessed silence.

I know not to count on a good night every night, and I know there may be further sleep regressions ahead, but I think both of us have finally learned she is capable of putting herself to sleep and back to sleep, and staying asleep all night or at least most of the night. It feels like a miracle.

Now, if only her napping habits would improve. Today was actually a particularly bad day for naps. She only had a 45-minute nap in the morning and a 30-minute nap in the early afternoon. Her late-afternoon nap totaled two hours but she woke up in the middle and the only way I could get her back down was to nurse her back to sleep, which I really don't like doing. What's more, I or Jon had to stay with her for all her naps, as we've been doing pretty much all her life with rare exceptions, and even so we weren't always able to keep her asleep or get her back to sleep.

It's not that Mari doesn't need to nap as much anymore, because she was obviously overtired and cranky most of the day today, going from laughter to tears like a bipolar mosquito on a roller coaster. Maybe tonight's sleep was saved by her last, lengthier nap, but the day was hard on me because she spent a lot of time screaming shrilly.

I've now read over the No-Cry Nap Solution and will log the day tomorrow and try to create a plan. I must say, I've already started trying to use Elizabeth Pantley's two main suggestions to get a short napper to nap longer and they haven't been working. But maybe things will improve when I've put together an integrated plan to improve her napping.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Day 4: Lovey bunny

I've been working on introducing a lovey, as the No-Cry Sleep Solution instructs. I chose the bunny at right because Mari sucks on everything she touches, and I thought organic cotton would be better than some synthetic teddy. It's similar to the Snoedel NCSS author Elizabeth Pantley said she used with her youngest. Also, with a light T-shirt-like feel, I figured it would be easy to stuff it in my shirt for a few hours and give it my scent. (I wore it most of the day the day before we started the sleep plan and went around with the little bunny head sticking out from between my boobs. These are the things a mother does.)

I wasn't sure if Mari would take to it, since she hadn't adopted anything on her own as a comfort object, but she now seems to be enjoying sucking on Bunny before she falls asleep at naptimes and at night. All well and good, I thought.

Then Jon found her yesterday with Bunny stuffed right up against her face. It made us wonder if she might be able to suffocate on that thing. Of course, many babies cuddle with their blankies, some of which are no doubt thicker than Bunny. Mari evidently survived her mashing-Bunny-into-face experience. But it made us wonder what a totally safe lovey would be. I don't think I'll be trying to get her to glom onto another comfort object, at least not for now, though. I'm sure if people of my generation survived sleeping on our bellies with lots of squishy blankets, not to mention being fed with formula and non-organic baby food, Mari will survive her bunny.

On a related note, Pantley says to have an extra identical lovey in case the first goes missing or gets destroyed and baby is inconsolable. A good idea, but Bunny was a gift and I don't know where to get another. Anybody know? It's made by Piccolo Bambino.

Today: A better day for napping, though three 90-minute naps may be too ambitious for Mari, who woke up from her second one after only half an hour and absolutely wouldn't go back down. So far a not-bad evening for sleeping, with a nearly three-hour stretch in between episodes of frequent waking. Maybe there's hope.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Introducing Mari's sleep blog

Welcome to my new blog about trying to get my baby to sleep through the night. This blog is based on The No-Cry Sleep Solution, by Elizabeth Pantley. I'm keeping this blog in large part to keep myself honest – that is, following the book and my sleep plan. I'm far too good at doing things in a half-arsed way, but can't afford to this time. I'm also doing this in hopes of getting feedback and suggestions from parents who have had more success at baby sleep than me, and hopefully to help out parents who are just as sleep-deprived. The first few posts may be long as I try to set up my daughter's sleep plan, but they should be shorter after that as I explore one of Pantley's sleep ideas at a time.
Introducing the cast of characters
Mari (pronounced MAH-ree): In my biased opinion, the most adorable little girl in the entire world. She'll be five months in two days. Until last month, I was able to more or less live with her night wakings. Typically, she woke up three or four times a night, nursed and usually went straight back to sleep. Sure, sometimes she woke up more often and sometimes she stayed up for an hour or more to fuss in the middle of the night, but those bad nights only occurred once or twice a week.
Until she was about three months old, she didn't seem to have much of a clue when night and day were, so we often kept her up quite late at night, but she napped quite a lot during the day and evening. By early December, we got her bedtime down to 8 PM or so and by mid-December, weaned her from having to be swaddled. I had to stay with her for awhile after she first fell asleep, and when her sleep got lighter after about 45 minutes, I would put a hand on her belly and shush her. Normally she didn't wake up. On good nights, she would stay down for up to four hours and would let me do grown-up things before bed. After that, she typically woke up once every three hours to feed and went straight back to sleep.
Then, around the new year, things got suddenly and inexplicably worse. Suddenly she started waking up as often as every five minutes after appearing to be sound asleep. Sometimes she slept for up to two hours at a stretch, never longer. On average she awoke every half hour or so between 8 PM and midnight, and every hour to two hours thereafter. Often she woke up good and proper before dawn and wouldn't go back to sleep, or would only after more than an hour of rocking. With her waking up so often, I could no longer rely on nursing her to sleep every time, as sometimes she wasn't hungry. I've been constantly exhausted and sometimes feel like I'm starting to lose it.
Karen: I'm the tired mom. But I don't want to make my baby “cry it out.” I know it works for some, but I have serious doubts that it would work for Mari, who can be very persistent and is capable of screaming at the top of her lungs for ages. More importantly, I don't think it would be good for my baby. I think it would lead to her hating and fearing bedtime, and distrusting us. I'm a pretty “attached” parent in other ways – I try to respond quickly to her, carry her often, breastfeed, co-sleep (more about this later), and practice elimination communication. Why would I send her the message during the day that her physical and emotional needs are important, and give her the opposite signal at night?
Jon: The wonderful dad, but a busy one working on a PhD, making me the usual person to put Mari down for naps and for the night.
The goals, from more immediate to less immediate

  • Teach Mari to not wake up with every sleep cycle

  • Teach Mari to go to sleep, and back to sleep, without having to nurse or rock until she's totally asleep

  • Get Mari to take longer naps, so she naps 3-4 hours a day

  • Teach Mari to sleep at least five hours at a stretch, once a night

  • Teach Mari to go to sleep without having to be snuggled up to Mum or Dad

  • Teach Mari to fall asleep in her crib and stay asleep there until Mum is ready for bed

  • Teach Mari to go to sleep without physical contact from Mom or Dad right until the moment of falling asleep (we will continue to cuddle her to get her sleepy)

  • Teach Mari to sleep in her crib all night long

  • Get Mari to sleep eight hours at a stretch
The story today
As of today I've made only a few changes as I prepare Mari's new sleep plan. Today I made sure she had 3 naps, when she started to seem tired, though she fell asleep in the sling when we were out for a walk and steps from home. Then she woke up when we got in the house and got a second wind, and I couldn't get her to sleep until 4:30 – an hour after she first started showing signs of fatigue. She only napped for half an hour that time. I had thought Mari was moving toward just two naps, but actually it seems she still needs three, and she needs them closer together than I'd thought. Yes, she CAN stay up for up to four hours at a stretch, but that's probably twice as long or more than twice as long as she really should stay up – she's really overtired and frenetic at the end.
Tomorrow: the results from my logging of her sleep habits