How did you get Scarlett to sleep 8 hours?
And let me be honest, I really have no idea. I wish I could tell you, but I am almost positive it is genetic. My mom told me that at 3 weeks my brother and I both slept through the night for 8 hours as well. My mom's simple answer when I asked her how she got us to sleep was, "I fed you when you were hungry and held you when you cried." You will soon learn that my mom and I used different methods to get our babies to sleep.
Those first few weeks are rough on every new Mama, I never thought it was possible for her to sleep straight through the night this early until it happend. It was the night of Mother's Day when Joel and I were at a loss of what to do in regards to sleep. Scarlett slept in a bassinet (
this one) for the first 3.5 weeks until one night we moved her to her infant seat/bouncer (
this one). She would nap so well in it during the day, that we figured we would let her hang out in there at night and see what happens. Well at 10pm we put her in there, and 9 hours later, we realized she slept the entire night. I immediately panicked and checked to see if she was still breathing. She was. And then I got nervous that she hadn't eaten in 9 hours (which the pediatrician said is normal and okay). Joel and I had a pretty rough set of nights leading up to Mother's Day. So, we were so exhausted we slept the entire time too.
The 5 nights before she slept 8 hours, Joel and I were up around 3am during Scarlett's witching hour(s), and started googling baby sleep, how to get a baby to sleep, why is she crying, and why won't she sleep. Then I got on pinterest and pulled up some articles that I had saved. Well, some time later Joel and I found
the perfect article that put our minds to ease that we could possibly do something to help the situation. We found a post from a blogger that used Baby Wise concepts lightly, and that is exactly what we were looking for. We don't follow the method strictly or even follow it all the time. What we did do was to try to use some of the suggestions.
In a nutshell, we tried to get her on a feed and sleep schedule by mainly keeping her awake after 7:30pm, so that way she was ready to go to sleep by 10 or 11.
As a side note... Joel and I do not have a bedtime right now since he is mostly at home during the day, and well I am too. If he had an 8-5 schedule, we would probably keep her awake starting at 5.
Joel takes the trophy home on this one, because around her "awake" time, I go take my sits bath and soak in the tub for an hour plus, so he has her for this time. He is great at entertaining her and making sure her eyes are open the whole time. And, he loves this time because it is his time with Scarlett. If he is doing his research most of the day, he doesn't get to really relax with her until the night, so he begs me to go take a shower. I am very lucky, he really is an awesome daddy and husband. As soon as I get out of the shower and ready for bed, I feed Scarlett and just wait until she goes to sleep. She usually can go to sleep and be in her 'deep' sleep after she is done nursing and we place her in her seat to sleep. Other times, we may have to swing her or wait till she goes out.
We found that when we fed her on demand and whenever she cried, she got more stomach aches. So I wouldn't necessarily say we follow the "parent directed feeding" for the baby wise reason. I didn't realize I was feeding her too much, and once I started spacing out her feedings to at least 2 hours, she did not have as much gas or acid reflux. It seemed like a win-win. If she is persistently fussy after trying all methods, I of course will feed her.
Now, we live by the Happiest Baby on the Block methods. The five S's are a lifesaver, and Scarlett responds to all five, so incredibly well.
+swaddling
+shushing
+side/stomach position
+swinging
+sucking
The ones that work the best for her are swaddling, shushing, and swinging. The Halo sleep sack has been so helpful in keeping Scarlett asleep. She broke out from a blanket swaddle the first night at the hospital, so we quickly found Halo to be our best friend. The Halo is essentially a swaddle, just more controlled. By keeping Scarlett in a swaddle she is not able to use her hands to hit herself in the face and wake herself up. I know Happiest Baby on the Block says to swaddle because it helps them feel like they are still in the womb, which I am sure helps, but for Scarlett it is more important for her to keep her arms covered since she wakes herself up by moving around.
Many of you may wonder or pass judgement on the fact that we let her sleep in her infant seat, but when we realized she was no longer having acid reflux and wasn't spitting up in her sleep, we were glad to know she was much more comfortable in there. After a week of her being in her seat, we moved her back into her bassinet and are trying to get her re-adjusted to it. It was not the easiest transition, she really struggled with 'liking' it again. We then slipped back to an average of 6 hours of sleep per night, maybe more maybe less.
Where we went wrong... We should have bought a Rock n Play the day she got home. At 5 weeks old, we decided to head to Babies R Us and purchase the Rock n Play. Since we bought it, Scarlett has slept 8 hours and has actually started a schedule. It is amazing. This is one of those items I wish we would have bought earlier. It is essentially a bouncer, but more secure and has the feel of a cradle. We love that we can rock it too.
Hopefully you could read through my babble and this was helpful. Honestly, I can't really tell you everything we are doing, so many things go into how a baby sleeps. Hopefully our techniques helped y'all, and while our method may not work for everyone, maybe some of the tips will help. I am not a baby expert and don't claim to be, but I am always up for sharing my experience and what has worked with others, especially since I've gotten so many emails and comments asking me about it.
Thanks for reading!
