There's Hope

I was getting so worried that I was doing this the wrong way or maybe trying to teach him to sleep on his own too early. But much to my amazement, within just a couple of days he's been figuring out how to fall asleep ALL BY HIMSELF! I'm so proud of my little guy. Now it's not to say that we've got it all figured out (come on, when do you ever?) He's still having gassy issues and I feel so terrible when there's nothing I can do for him. I try burping him in different positions, rub his tummy, rub his back, giving him baby massages, etc. But sometimes he just needs to cry it out and eventually we get through it.

What I'm trying now is to keep us on some kind of schedule so that he and I both know what to expect during the day. So I'm feeding him every 3 hours (give or take 10 or 15 minutes) and we're trying to teach him to sleep in his crib for naps, usually about an hour or so after he's been fed.

The kink in this new plan is that he's been waking up from his naps after just 30-40 minutes a lot of the time because of his gassy pains. (I've been thinking he may have colic) I'm pretty sure he would probably be able to sleep longer, but because he's hurting, he wakes up unhappy. And then when it comes time for his next feeding, I feel like he doesn't get as much awake time afterwards because he's already been up for almost 2 hours. I know this doesn't all happen like clockwork and I do have to learn to be flexible. It's just hard not to think I'm doing something wrong when I read all these books saying do this, do that, don't do that. I know it's all up to me and the temperment of my own child, but I also want to be sure I don't get him into any bad habits. And rocking him to sleep or letting him sleep on me was starting up some habits that I'm now trying to break him of. And that's why I'm so amazed that he's already doing SO MUCH better after trying this for just a couple of days.

I was very encouraged this morning... we both got a good night of sleep and he took a 2 hour nap this morning! I couldn't believe it! But I knew he needed it. He ate last night at 7pm, then again at 12am, and again around 3am. And then he woke up this morning to eat at 7am. I felt like we both got good sleep because he was going right back to sleep after his feedings. And now he's waking from his nap, so I have to run!