As I mentioned before, Elean is in sleep training. Today is day four. Its 7:19 PM and she is asleep. The reason we are in sleep training is because she is so unpredictable. I guess she's that way because I am so unpredictable and never laid out a solid routine. I'm finding it hard to do much with out it ending in an all out screaming/crying session. I have to take her with me everywhere because I can never seem to find the time to pump some breast milk. So hopefully a regular schedule will help and I will finally be able to do the shopping with out rushing though the grocery store enduring the disapproving stares of people while she screams, or alternatively with her suctioned onto my breast. The only pro about having a screaming baby in a grocery store is people hear you coming and move out of your way.
So as I often do before beginning any new endeavor, I consulted the great google oracle as to how to go about getting her on a sleep schedule, and I found a sleep sense web site that "guaranteed" to get my baby to sleep though the night. It was a program that you purchase on-line for $50.00. I tried to see if it was available in a book format (maybe I could borrow it from my local Library for free), but I wasn't able to find it. This made me very suspicious, because I have purchased other on-line "programs" before, only to be severely disappointed. Like the one that tells you how to make money by doing on-line surveys. All I got from that one was a bunch of junk e-mail. There was another one I once bought that promised to get you organized. I still have the organizational binder shoved on shelf under a stack of recipes and magazines. What can I say I like on-line programs almost as much as I lover infomercials. I am a proud owner of:
a GT-Xpress 101,
I loved this thing! Only now, my counter top space is limited so it is put away and hardly ever used.
a Scunci Steamer,
I loved this thing as well, I use it when ever I don't want to iron clothes.
a set of Smartware bake ware,
This stuff is great (ask my Mom)! I use it when ever I remember I have it.
a Magic pasta maker,
The only one that I don't sing praises for. Once you boil that much water you might as well though the pasta in the pot you used to boil the water.
and a Magic Bullet Blender.
I loved and I mean LOVED my Magic Bullet Blender. I used it at least twice a week and then just before reaching the year mark of ownership the motor died, probably because I kept making chicken salad the consistency of Spackle in it. I guess you could call it a chicken spread. I called the Magic Bullet people up and thy sent me another base, sadly I burned up that motor too, I really eat a lot of that thick chicken salad.
So back to the main point, I love infomercials and on-line books, but am weary of online programs because they never seem to be worth what you pay. After a bit of digging I found that the sleep sense program basically was a cry it out method. I endure enough crying while driving to and from work or any other place. So I looked a little more and I found a book touting itself as the no-cry solution. In the book after doing an assessment of your baby's current sleep patterns you evaluate your motives, decide on your dream sleep goals and the goals you could live with. Then using the various techniques you lay out your plan. Implement your plan for ten days, take another assessment, make adjustments, tweak your plan, implement said tweaked plan for ten days, assess again, and so on and so forth. The key to changing your baby's sleep pattern, with no crying, is you take very small baby steps and only implement a few techniques at the same time or even just one at a time, so as to not over whelm your baby.
My "Dream" Sleep goals for Elean are as follows:
One, two hour nap in the morning
Two, one hour naps later in the day.
Get her to go down for naps with out aid of any of the following: baby swing, blow dryer, vacuum cleaner, static on radio
To sleep no later than 7 PM
Get to sleep with out nursing
Sleep through the night in her crib with out nursing
So I have started, she is regularly taking a morning nap and afternoon nap but she still does it with the swing and blow dryer/vacuum.
At 6:30 every night she gets a bath and then I nurse her in bed, while soft music plays. But she doesn't go to sleep some times until 8:30. She wakes up during the night to nurse anywhere from three times to once every hour. Luckily the once every hour doesn't happen very often.
Oh so you don't really care about all that you just came to see cute baby pictures...
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haha!
ok ok
This costume actually belongs to the Dog.
