Sleep training
For the last few weeks we have had less sleep than I care to remember, maybe I just can't remember because my brain is shutting down from lack of sleep, who knows? Our little angel has turned into a Pokemon called "Cryathor". She is a cute type Pokemon with two very special abilities, crying for between 20 and 40 minutes at a time with only slight pauses and staying awake for 18 hours straight without sleep.
In all fairness she was diagnosed with both colic and reflux last week. It has been a daily struggle to settle her down after feedings, but then last night my wonderful fiancee had an epiphany. Maybe Jandri is just over stimulated. Could it be that this is the answer, could this bring weeks of suffering to an end? The answer is yes and no.
Yes Jandri does become over stimulated by us just talking to each other, but that is only because she is entering her 9th week on the wonderful planet and should be starting her sleep training. During this period babies can become easily distracted and very easily over stimulated by noise, light and movement.
According to people that know a lot more about babies than I do babies should be fed in dimly lit, quiet areas during this period. After each feeding they should have about an hour of awake time either on their stomach , tummy time, or just laying down in a doughnut, not an activity center. After the hour they should be placed in the same bed/cot that they would sleep in during the night. They must not be coddled but merely made comfortable in bed and then left to fall asleep on their own. This form of sleep training allows the baby to shut down its own awareness and fall asleep without being held or rocked.
We have tried it twice now, during her 3 a.m. feeding and again after her 7 a.m. feeding. Amazingly she has fallen asleep on her own both times, I really hope this trend continues, touch wood. There are a few other methods that can be used when sleep training, but as this method has been working so far I think will try it out for now, I was happy to try anything to help her settle down last night ;-)
