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Thursday, September 29, 2011

Sleeping Habits



I would love to really discuss my view on sleeping habits for babies and children but I'm just not in my normal blogging groove so I'll just add this much.

http://inashoe.com/2006/08/hes-sleeping-like-a-baby/

This is a blog I came across today that I found extremely interesting. It's a mom of 10 children who blogs about parenting. While I don't expect to have 10 children and quite frankly get light headed at the thought of it, I admire this mom and aspire to be more like her. She has some amazing advise on mothering and one section on sleep habits made me happy. I pretty much do the same things she does as far as newborns sleep is concerned. I did learn a few extra tips that I will immediately be starting now. One of the tips is letting the baby only nurse just enough in the middle of the night so he doesn't get used to waking fully. She said her middle of the night feeding is almost always less than 10 minutes. That way the baby gets used to eating more before bedtime and in the morning. I probably do this already since I'm so out of it in the middle of the night anyways. Her techniques just make sense to me. She said 10 of her 11 babies slept through the night by 7 weeks. That's saying something. I like how she says she needs a good nights to hold things together during the day (as do I!!) and to maintain a good "attitude-something that is pleasing to God". I found it humerous when she stated "Some people just don’t see a problem with waking up every hour and a half with a new baby, or waking up once or twice a night with an older baby. If this suits you and your husband, then keep doing it cheerfully." I don't know about you but I can see her sense of humor shining through on this statement. I mean, who wouldn't see a problem with waking up every hour and a half???

As far as Thomas goes, he has had a wild 2 months of life. He has no place to call home, nor does the rest of his family. We have been between Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and soon to be California for the past two months. It started out with a wedding, then two funerals, then a new job, etc. Thomas has mostly slept on the floor next to our bed for the past month while we are temporarily living here in Lindon at Andrew's parents. When we were in ID, he had a bassinet. He takes most of his naps on the couch in the "round room" (a nice room where VTing/home teaching/etc. takes place) because the kids aren't "allowed" in there. So, with all this madness that's taken place, I was pleasantly surprised to have him sleeping in 8 hour stretches by 2 months. I haven't been incorporating the techniques I learned with the girls as strictly as I'd like to so seeing this improvement was really a shock to me....a very nice shock however. The timing of his "8-hour stretch" is still up in the air since I'm not scheduled enough to put him down at the same times every night. If you'd like to hear more of what I think about babies and sleep leave a comment and let me know. I've been blessed with good babies and good examples in my family on how to sleep train your children. It's worked for all 3 of mine so far which has been awesome.

Most of my views come from a book called "On Becoming Babywise" Great info in that book.
You can get it used from Barnes and Noble for $1.99 here

Friday, September 23, 2011

Newborn Pictures

Here are a few of the pictures Andrew's cousin took of Thomas. I love them and will always cherish these.