So after agonizing and blogging about Bubby’s eating and sleeping this past few days…OBSESSIVELY…I’ve reached out to a couple of people, read some things, and come to a conclusion.
We are fine.
I still like the nutrition chart. My mom told me to make sure I didn’t freak myself out about it too much, that all I have to do is look at my child to know he’s healthy. He still in the 75% for all his stats, he has lots of energy and likes to eat…most days. The chart is less for anal record keeping me and more for the “I don’t want to have to think about it too hard” me. I can just glance and know that he’s at least well-rounded, and it’ll get me thinking about the different things he needs to be healthy before he’s off the formula and I’m responsible for getting him all that nutrition with the foods I give him at mealtimes and snacks. As for his fluctuating 4-5 oz. bottles, I’m not stressed. Sure, there are a lot of babies that will take 8 oz. bottles, but Camper doesn’t. No amount of sitting with the bottle in his mouth or stretching the time between feedings will do it. So that’s how it is.
And as for SLEEP. I was completely fine with our arrangement before the doctor gave me “new” expectations. For now, I’m going to keep on keeping on with what I’m doing, with one small adjustment. Instead of feeding him in the middle of the night/morning, I’ll try to comfort him back to sleep first. Also, if he eats, I’m going to try just 2 oz. to see if he’s just using it for comfort. If so, we can work on getting him off midnight feedings altogether. If he still seems hungry and restless, we’ll go from there. I’m giving it one month without thinking about it, and then I will start some more formal “sleep training.” I will still rock him to sleep at night- I can’t imagine just laying him down without cuddle time first. When John and I talked about it, we decided that he’ll have a whole new bucket of sleep issues with the different stages he goes through, so why break my back trying to change something that I feel sad to leave behind? Sure, I’m tired sometimes. Sure, sometimes I wish he’d sleep through the night. But if the trade off is not rocking my baby to sleep, listening to him cry while I could be cuddling him and watching his eyes close, smiling the erratic sleep smiles he’s had since he was a newborn…
So my decision is not to make one. No big routines to follow, no new “rules.” Just follow my intution, do what I can handle, emotionally and physcially, and maybe next month thing will be different. Thanks for the advice and help, everyone.
Tags: baby stuff
Erin I think you are right on in following your intuition. With every stage and sometimes every other day or week brings something new for you and your child. Some days (not right now) Stew will stay the whole night in his bed other nights he is in our bed by midnight and still other nights he comes in at 4am there is no rhyme or reason. The thing is me and Sean are ok with it for the time being and he is not waking us up when he gets in bed. I have stressed over him sleeping with us often as that in many peoples books is a big no no but I am following my gut. I am happy to say though that I do have Princess sleeping in her own crib most of the night waking between 4-5am to eat. So we are down to 2 in the bed while we are here.
Talk to you later.