I can’t believe how quickly she’s growing. Her legs which were once long and lanky, have now grown into these beautiful chubby, juicy thighs that I just want to kiss all day long. Oh, baby rolls are just the best! Of course, time is flying by. I know it’s felt like this since she was born – actually since I got pregnant – but it feels even more so lately because she’s changing so much each day. A new expression, sound, or movement. She looks at things with more curiosity or understanding. It’s incredibly exciting, yet nostalgic all at once. Can you have nostalgia for things that are happening in real time? I certainly do. I give her so many kisses and snuggles each day because I know this time is fleeting.
Knowing how fast time is flying by has helped me cope with this rough patch we’re going through. The 4 month sleep regression is no joke…nooooo joke. If your baby somehow skips it, thank your lucky stars. Our sleep has been worse lately than it was when she was 2 weeks old. Crazy, right? You just learn to cope somehow. I’m on auto-pilot. When we snuggle in the morning and Adriana is all smiles and giggles, everything is right in the world again; I just move on with my day and push the bad night of sleep out of my mind. The surprising thing is my body has adjusted to the broken up sleep better than expected. For the most part, I can function fairly well (although fuzzy mommy brain is still going strong!), and I have a lot to keep me busy during the day with my blog and cookbook work. But I’m still looking forward to things improving. That first night of solid sleep is going to feel like HEAVEN. I might cry when it happens. Tears of joy, hah.
Still putting her down for regular naps in the bassinet, but she hasn’t been napping for long stretches lately. She needs to nap about every two hours at this age. Anything longer, and she “goes loopy” hah. I am wondering if the sleep regression is to blame for her short naps. I think it might throw everything off. I’m trying not to worry about it too much because from what I’ve read everything is kind of up in the air right now. I’m just trying to be consistent with things and give her lots of love, reassurance, and snuggles.
I mentioned last week that Adriana made an obvious shift from being able to sleep anywhere and in anything (months 0-3) to needing a quiet, dark room to sleep now. The exception is sleeping in the car…that will usually put her out. When she was a newborn she could sleep almost anywhere…now that’s definitely not the case. She’s too aware of her environment now. We made the mistake of going to a family visit during her nap time this past weekend and oh boy did we pay for it. When we arrived she was groggy from a short 15 min. sleep in the car, and she quickly became overtired as our family obviously wanted to visit with her. I tried to nurse her and she screamed bloody murder. We tried to put her to sleep in one of the kid’s rooms and she screamed even more. We bounced her, rocked her, sang to her…we tried everything and she screamed and screamed for over an hour straight. I think her gums were bothering her too. My sister in law and brother in law were like, “Oh how I remember those days!!!” hah. Of course, I forgot my Solly baby wrap which would have been so nice to put her in. It became obvious that she wasn’t going to settle until she slept so we ended up having to leave early. Bummer. After she finally napped, she was all smiles. It’s amazing how babies can go from meltdown territory to perfectly content once they’ve had their beloved nap. Anyway, it was a tough day, but we learned a lesson: make sure she naps before we leave the house. Rookie mistake, probably. Figuring out baby sleep has to be one of the most challenging aspects of parenting…don’t you think?
Is anyone else starting to feel cabin fever coming on strong this month? January is always a tough one. I feel it even more so this year, although I have to say I feel much better now than I did last winter during the first trimester! I’m daydreaming about us getting away for a vacation to AZ in Feb or March with my parents. It’s keeping me going right now just thinking about all of that glorious warm sunshine! I can’t wait until spring and summer though…it’s going to be so much fun to be able to get out of the house more with Adriana and to have longer daylight in the evenings! Plus, summer fruit and veggies!!! Give me all the summer produce!
I’m happy to say exercise has been going a bit better this week! I’ve been back at the treadmill workouts – doing about 1/2 hour of hill walking almost every day. It makes such a difference in my mood and I swear it even helps with the sleep deprivation. I’m doing the Madonna arms and Pilates butt workout videos (linked in previous posts) occasionally. It’s far from a consistent workout routine, but I’m not putting a lot of pressure on myself right now, especially during this sleep regression. I’m just grateful when I have some kind of movement each day.
This week’s milestones: Adriana now loves to grab her feet. It’s super cute. She’s also started to roll from her back to her side (but not fully over to her belly yet) while playing on the activity mat (she kicks off the sides for leverage, hah). I can’t believe how strong this girl is. When she wakes up in the morning or after a nap she loves to coo and baby talk to herself for a little while (not to be confused with middle of the night wake ups when she cries!) It’s so nice to see her entertaining herself a bit more these days!
I had hoped to get my favourite baby products post up last week, but it’s taking longer than planned. I hope to have it up by next week. It’s going to be a good one!
How are things going in your neck of the woods? Any advice on navigating baby naps while going out?
Have you tried the 90 minute sleep solution yet?
Best of luck!
We are obsessed with sleep at our house these days – particularly the ever-elusive long nap. I have found a lot of good information here: http://www.mybabysleepguide.com/2012/12/sleep-by-age-index.html?m=1
Do you use the Wonder Weeks app? It has a lot of great developmental information on why they are regressing (but actually PROgressing!). On a lighter note, this podcast is fun when you are up all night :) http://longestshortesttime.com
Best of luck! Hopefully our girls will be sleeping like champs in no time!
Hey Angela! I haven’t commented before and wanted to let you know that I love reading your baby posts. I just started a blog and it’s sometimes weird putting a post out there and wondering how it’s received, so I’m making more of a point to comment on the blogs I read. I’ve been an OSG fan almost since the beginning (~2009) and adore your cookbook as well (just made a recipe last night!). I’m so glad you’re willing to share this part of your life through these baby posts; it’s been so fun to follow along with your journey! Keeping my fingers crossed for you all to get some sleep soon! Take care
I can’t wait to see your list of favorite baby products! My baby is due in March and although I have 3 other kids, they are older–9, 10 and 13 so in some ways this all seems new because everything has changed in the past 10 years! Plus, my “big” kids are boys, and now we will be embarking on the adventure of having a little sister. Your Adriana makes me even more excited. :-)
Angela…
My sweet girl is 5 months now and I’ve been following your baby posts religiously! The sleep topic is so confusing but what worked for us was an early bedtime (getting ready for bed around 5:30PM and in her crib by 6PM). Also, putting baby down in her crib in the super dark nursery with the door closed was a life-saver. She now sleeps through the night and naps for an hour 2-3 times a day. The first week was really hard because I was letting her cry it out… I know you have probably read the exact same things I have about how “horrible it is” to let them cry it out..but those are just personal opinons and it was the only way that I knew I could teach her to fall asleep on her own. I stuck with it and only went into her room if I felt she was really unsettled due to hunger etc., it worked for us, but it`s not everyones cup of tea….. I so badly wanted to co-sleep with baby but I knew right away that there would be more sleep for me if I just went into the nursery when she woke up and came back to my own bed afterwards.
As for naps out and about….. I found out that my little girl will fight sleep when we are out unless she is covered with either a swaddling blanket draped over her car seat like a little tent, or in the stroller I have the canopy extends over the newborn seat and covers her that way. I think removing any external stimulation from them is key….I`ve even put her in her car seat in a quiet place and covered it with a blanket when I`ve been at a family members house because she is comfortable in there and will settle in to sleep.
Hope this helps a bit…..
Rachel
For me, sleep has definitely been the hardest part of parenthood. I’m in the middle of quite the saga. With my two year old (27 months), we co-slept because I thought it was great at first, until it wasn’t. I don’t know if it was nature or nurture, but I found myself with a baby that had to be attached to my breast all night long in order to sleep. Literally. So at 11 months old we transitioned him to crib, sleep trained and night weaned cold turkey. After a few rough weeks he slept thru the night…for about a month. womp womp. Started waking again, tried to comfort him while keeping him in crib but he would just get so upset. Started co-sleeping again part time. When he magically started sleeping again, we decided to have another baby. I banked about a month of sleep before he stared waking again and then we co-slept and nursed all night thru most of my pregnancy. For a little while before new baby came, toddler started sleeping again. New baby arrived this past Aug and thank goodness my toddler slept well for the first 3 or 4 weeks to let me adjust a little. By the time baby was 3-4 weeks he was actually sleeping really well (never thought I’d be so lucky!!!) and then…. womp womp…toddler waking again, and it’s BAD. Up for hours at a time. For over 2 months. Thank the heavens, baby slept thru all of this. In Dec, toddler finally started sleeping through the night again and then…you guessed it…now BABY is waking up constantly! He’s almost 21 weeks and hasn’t slept well since he was about 14-15 weeks. I’ve waited out leaps and just watched it get worse and worse. I keep telling myself that it gets worse before it gets better. Sleep regression…I guess. I had always read that it usually lasted 2-6 weeks (never really experienced it with my first since he never slept well). But I just recently read that if you rely on bad habits during the 4 month regression it can last indefinitely. I don’t really understand what to do if you aren’t supposed to start sleep training this soon. I’m just waiting till he turns 6 months and then will start some gentle training, hoping I haven’t created a monster and that it’s not too hard to turn around. I’m just nervous about the baby crying and waking the toddler. Oy vey. I can hardly believe that I got a taste of what it’s like to have a baby that sleeps, only to have it ripped away! And to make it worse, it seems that no one in my personal life has been thru this. Not a singe mom I know has had sleep issues (which I find hard to believe and secretly suspect that some of them aren’t telling me that they did CIO out a very young age because they know it’s not my style.). It’s been brutal but I have always chosen what felt right to me and try to keep a positive outlook. SOMEDAY they will both sleep.
On a lighter note, I live in AZ, so, no cabin fever here! Come on down! (It’s backwards here. We get cabin fever in the summer when it’s too hot to play outside!)
Lori,
What a struggle!
I’ve found that the sleep sense program to be an awesome program to follow.. it teaches self soothing and is much gentler than CIO. I purchased the premium package so I could have one on one advice if I needed it and they gave me specific tools for my situation and we have been doing pretty well! My daughter is 10 weeks old and we started the program when she was 8.5 weeks old… so I am fairly convinced that they can never be too young to learn good sleeping habits and break old ones! :)
Last week she started sleeping 6, 7, even 8 hour stretches during the night. We are still trying to nail down naps (she rarely naps longer than 1 hour, but it does happen sometimes). Apparently those are harder to figure out and can take 3-4 weeks. Hope you find some peace soon! Good luck.
Hi Jamie,
Thank you. Funny you should say that – we bought the Sleep Sense program when we transitioned our toddler from co-sleeping to crib. And it worked….for about 4 weeks. After many months, I ended up asking for my money back. I have read, relentlessly, about baby/toddler sleep. What I have realized is that you can follow all the rules for getting a child to sleep through the night, but it’s just not that black and white. There is no sleep program that exists that is going to tell you anything more than what you can read on great sites such as Troublesome Tots that Angela has linked to. I was desperate, so I purchased a program. I guess I appreciated the push and support that I felt from it. And I’m not going to say that it didn’t work, but I just felt that I was sold the idea that if I tackled teaching my child to fall asleep without the aid of any props, then I would have a child that STTN (slept thru the night). (obviously there is a period too of dealing with night wakings, but we did all that. It didn’t stop the night wakings and crying from starting up again). And as you read above, it’s just been a rollercoaster. Even though he falls asleep on his own. Crazy.
For any moms out there that want to teach a child to SSTN, what I have learned is that no matter what any program tells you, THERE WILL BE CRYING. Oh yeah, you have options – extinction, sit in the room the whole time, or periodic checks (all brutal). If you want to go the no cry route (Pantley’s No Cry Sleep Solution, or something similar), it’s going to be a loooooooong process. Either way, unless you have a very, very rare kind of child, there will be crying. So I don’t really get it when a sleep plan claims that it’s not a cry it out plan. Whether you choose to leave the room or sit in the room the whole time, to me, if baby has to cry until they fall asleep, it’s all cry it out. And no matter how consistent you are, it doesn’t always result in a good sleeper, so don’t beat yourself up if you’ve tried everything and nothing is working.
I was proud of baby #2 sleeping so well in the pac n play. But now it seems that our 4 month regression (which started closer to 3 months) is never ending, and he’s in bed with me most of the night. I don’t know how mom’s who don’t let their kids in their bed do it. I could not get up and put baby back to sleep over and over all night long. I guess I just need to buckle down, follow all the rules (be relentless with the routine, early bed time, dark room, white noise, really figure out what works for him, last nursing session at least 20 min before sleep time, and the kicker – try try try to get him back to sleep without props after night wakings -the hard part) and hope I have a naturally better sleeper than my first.
YES! totally getting cabin fever right now! And I agree that baby sleep is the most challenging part of early parenthood. Whoever would’ve dreamed that a little person’s sleep would control my life like it does! oh well, life is SO much better when the baby gets their sleep!
This is the first time I’ve ever commented, but I feel compelled to send you some strength and support. Baby sleep struggles are THE absolute hardest thing. I used to say that anyone who could solve my baby’s sleep struggles would be worthy of a Nobel prize. I meant it!
I could go on and on about it, but what worked for us was two things. The first was we ended up crying it out for naptimes around 7-8 months, and though it was really tough and took a lot of consistency, it helped a LOT and also improved her nighttime sleep because she learned that mother-trucker of a “skill,” self-soothing. I had been extreeeemely against crying it out up to that point, but seeing how much happier SHE is as a well-rested baby made me know it was the right decision.
The second was simply time! Though a lot of baby’s sleep is behavioral, a lot of it is just developmental. Sleeping well is a milestone, like crawling. Her little brain will get there in its own due time no matter what you do, so that should relieve SOME pressure of “figuring it out,” right?
I promise promise promise, you’ll sleep again one day. You’ll find what works for you and do NOT feel guilty or defensive about the decisions you make, whether it’s crying it out cold turkey or co-sleeping until she’s 12. Whatever works!
Hello! I was recently introduced to your blog by a friend so I’m a newbie but excited to try some of your raved about recipes :)
Also, I wanted to offer something I had to learn the VERY hard way with my 6 month old!
He started teething at 3 months (previously had slept GREAT) and slowly started waking up more and more during the night. At first I would just get up and nurse him when he started to cry because I knew he was just in pain and that would settle him back to sleep. Well, the teeth broke through and that phase passed but he had gotten used to me coming in when he started to cry because I continued getting up. It never occurred to me what I was doing and I found myself with a 5 month old that woke up every 1.5 hours WHAT!?
So we had to break him of that and let him scream for about 30 minutes a couple nights in a row and he learned that he could in deed go back to sleep on his own. I knew he wasn’t hungry so something had to give. Our lives have been so much more rested since then and he is much happier during the day because he gets more continuous sleep at. Now sleeping for two 6 hour stretches at night! He does wake up and may fuss for a minute or two but now can go back to sleep on his own.
I’m not sure what your views are on letting babies cry, as I know some that are completely against that but it was a necessary evil for us and everyone is better off now. I felt like an awful mother because I had let him get used to me coming in so often and then had to make him suffer a couple nights to correct it but I think he still loves me :)
I know this wasn’t the napping schedule advice you were asking for but it was something that was a huge eye opener and a lesson learned for our family that I hope not everyone has to learn the hard way! We have also learned that we can’t just come and go as we please as he has gotten older. We do have to sacrifice here and there to accommodate his nap/bedtime schedule. I hear you on the over tired baby and I will do most anything to avoid it now that I know better!
Thanks for all you share in this blog, I’m excited to do some reading!
Hey Angela,
First of all I would like to say how I love your recipes, and especially those Crispy Quinoa Bakes. I make those every week and they are my bread. I pair them with the Roast Pepper Hummus and it is divine!!!!
But I wanted to comment here not on your wonderful recipes but baby/sleep/new parents issues. I myself had my second baby last July and I have to say I feel your pain. He is 6 months old now and only now he starts to enter into sleeping routine. Similar to your situation he was sleeping well at first, and then … all of a sudden by his 2 months he started waking up every hour. I thought I had enough experience with my first one to put the baby into good sleeping routine. But it was not working. Anyways, long story short at my visit to his pediatrician I asked what could be wrong. His first question was about my eating habits, knowing that I am fully breastfeeding the baby. I thought it is weird that he is asking about that. But after telling him that my daily intakes are mostly vegetables and fruits (although I am not vegetarian neither vegan, just love veggies!) he concluded that I don’t have enough proteins in my milk to keep the baby satiated for long time. He recommended to give the baby formula to see if he will last longer just to prove the point that the reason is baby being not satiated enough rather than any other reason. And I did that first and the baby lasted for almost 4 hrs with formula. His recommendation for me was to increase protein intake (which is why I added lots of hummus, quinoa, beans etc to my diet when I don’t feel like eating meat). And – ta dah….- it worked its magic. The baby’s sleep time increased from 1 hr to 3 hrs.
So, knowing you are vegan and may be not getting enough proteins I would suggest to try to increase your protein intake and see if it will work.
If that does not work, know that soon enough when the baby reaches the age when you can supplement breast feeding with some real food, things will start changing as well. I started cereals and some veggies and fruit purees. Again that keep the baby satiated to sleep for couple of hours. Also, as they grow they need to get tired before they can sleep. So, your little one will need some entertainment and impressions during the day so that it can wear her off. I go for walks (easy for me as I am in California now). But back in Canada I know it might be challenging with -23 outside :( When i had my daughter in Canada I used to have playdates, or go to a mall, or local YMCA and library just to walk around so that the baby sees changing images and that makes whole lots of difference. (the flip side the baby gets used to that routine of going outside and dare not to do it once. He asks for it and does not stop until he gets that entertainment :) )
Good luck!
Hey Angela!
I just came out of the 4 month regression. My daughter turned 5 months old yesterday and I didn’t think we’d ever see a long stretch of sleep again! In my opinion you’re doing everything right: early bedtime, consistent bedtime routine…that’s we did and it finally clicked! I could not let my little one cry it out….it just didnt feel right for us, but as I know she’ll fight sleep tooth and nail (even in my arms) I did try and keep her in her crib, rubbing her back and singing lullabies…it only took a couple of nights before she became comfortable in her crib and I began to shorten the length of time I sang (the first night I was nearly hoarse after 1.5 hours!!!). Now, I’ll sit in her room as long as she needs and rub her back if she cries. She’s doing so well this way and by getting comfortable in her crib, when she wakes up for feedings she coos for me rather than screams! Bonus!
In response to the January cabin fever comment, I hear ya! Seeing as you too live in Ontario, I thought I would mention the Ontario Early Years Learning Centres. I went to one for the first time today and it was AWESOME!!! A clean space, lots of moms and dads, and lots of toys (that we don’t have to clean or clean-up!). My little one loved the large mats and the huge selection of toys. It was especially nice for her to be surrounded by other children and babies. Next time I’m going to take my knitting…it’s a great place to be and I felt so refreshed having gotten out of the house!!!
Oh.My. It’s all coming back to me now…and I’m now totally, completely certain we have children when we are young because of it! In one’s fifties and sixties there is no such thing as bouncing back from an interrupted night of sleep, over and over again. Enjoy!! You’re young and totally able…and it sounds like you are doing an excellent job of it.
Yes, easily the BIGGEST challenge about this job is figuring out our baby’s sleep! We had the roughest first year to 18 months, step forward, step back and step forward again. As our children grow luckily so do we! (One of the hardest and best lessons for me to learn.) You, Eric and Adriana will figure this sleep thing out one step at a time because you all want and deserve it. You will find the way and your answers. I feel your pain as you share the need to sleep through the night again. When it happens “consistently” and it will, you’ll soon forget this torturous time just like you did with labor. Our babe is 2 now and we all sleep better. I’ve also adapted an incredibly healthy diet and exercise regularly, 30 min a day for the past 5.5 months. I owe it to those times of challenge and pure frustration to get me to this point. What seemed far away when I was at your stage is miraculously and through hard work now part of my blessed past. We are stronger and smarter than we think! Thank you for sharing your journey with me and so many others. You have a wonderful perspective on life that I enjoy so much!
I tried everything during the 4-month regression, but the one thing that really helped was the Magic Merlin sleepsuit. (Google it, it looks hilarious and crazy but really seems to work for some babies!) We used that for about 1.5 months, and then transitioned to the Grobag. My little guy, now 20 months, loves his Grobag, which he calls ‘ippy’ for ‘zippy blankie’. :)
Oh PS. Grobags are made by a different company than Magic Merlin, they are just both good products that I found through lots and lots of internet research.
For naps “on-the-go”, I just try to time it right so that I feed her, get her in the carseat, and get the car moving so she’ll have a nap before we get wherever we’re going! Lol. Granted, I don’t leave the house much… If I go to the grocery store, she sleeps in the Moby wrap, but then it usually throws off her sleep schedule for the rest of the day, so it’s not necessarily always a good thing. I look forward to when she can sit up in the grocery cart’s little seat!
I commented recently that my daughter had been taking a bottle and then all of a sudden refused it.. well, this week she’s been showing a lot more interest in it again. I’ve been giving it to her with just water in it so she can mostly play with it and put it up to her mouth, etc. She’s got a few good latches on it, so maybe if I keep it up she’ll try breastmilk again. Anyway, thought I’d let you know in case it was something that might work for Adriana!
Oh, and you two might enjoy doing some exercise together! Squats holding a baby, pushups with her below you, various Pilates motions, etc… my girls laugh so much when I “workout” with them that it doesn’t even seem like exercise! :)
Love your blog and especially loving your cookbook these days. Having had a baby around the same time Adrianna was born it’s so nice to read about another mom’s experiences, good and bad, and feel comforted that someone else is sharing my experiences. The cookbook has been a go-to for healthy recipes lately that I know won’t let me down, we haven’t found a recipe we don’t like – that’s impressive!
Mommy tip for you, not sure how bottle feeding is going but have you tried Tommee Tippee bottles? Our girl is super picky about bottles she will take and refuses any one but those. We’ve tried many! Might be worth a shot, it sure is nice to get some guilt free time away sometimes :). Take care and keep enjoying that beautiful girl, they really do grow too quickly!
I did make things/events happen after or before naps, Its just better =). It took a bit of adjusting as not everyone would be flexible or remember, so some things you just miss out on, (like my Grandmas funeral =( ) but its really ok because having a screaming baby there wrecks whatever you were trying to do anyway. My second baby is 2.5 now and we still make sure he gets one nap, but he’s flexible within a few hours. My poor third child it seems like we don’t give priority to. She just has to sleep around our and my sons’ day. Her morning nap usually ends up being when I walk my kids to school. If she sleeps when it’s Declans nap time then I can sleep too, (whoo hoo!) Now that she will force herself to stay awake in public (shes 9 mts) she just falls asleep as soon as we leave. Her familiar or acceptable places to sleep are her bed, stroller. car seat or my arms sometimes. I miss when she would sleep anywhere too!
I cannot recommend a white noise machine enough… we have the Marpac Dohm and love it. We chose it based on the Amazon reviews, and people were right – it’s a life-changer! Helps for soothing my baby to sleep, but also awesome because it blocks noises, so it allows the rest of us to do normal things like laundry without worrying about waking her up :) – and I love that I can take it with me when we travel, so there’s a consistent sound environment plus the bedtime/naptime routine involving turning it on. It puts me to sleep, too!