Thursday, August 13, 2009

Maybe we've turned the corner

Cameron has slept well the past two nights...yay! We've changed a couple of things, so I'm not sure exactly what is helping, but we'll keep doing exactly the same thing until it quits working. Here is what has worked...
Cameron gets his last meal around 9:45 or so. Then we change his diaper, swaddle him, turn on his noise machine (to a pretty loud volume), and put him in is crib to sleep. We watch him for a minute or so then leave the nursery, monitor in hand. He'll whimper for a few minutes, but both nights, he has fallen asleep and stayed asleep until 2:00 or so. Then he'll wake up to eat, burp, get his diaper changed, etc. and an hour later we swaddle and lay him back down in his crib. He'll then sleep until about 5:30 and we do the whole routine again and Zack leaves for work. Both mornings, Cameron has gone back to sleep again until 9:00 am! So, for the past two nights, I have gotten eight or so hours of sleep in three hour stretches! And, for the first time since Cameron has arrived, I felt like this is something we can manage and it felt "normal". It has been wonderful! I'm thinking the key is one or two things...
First- the sound machine. We have been able to leave it on all night at a pretty decent volume. It really seems to calm him and hearing it through the monitor helps me to sleep too. So far, it has absolutely lived up to it's repuation as a "baby crack machine" and is worth far more than the 25 dollars we paid for it.
Second- sleeping in his crib. Before Cameron got here, we had figured on him sleeping in his bassinet/PackNPlay in our room until around six weeks or so. But, the other night, he was so fussy, I took him out of the room and rocked him in the nursery so Zack could get some much needed rest. When he fell asleep, I just laid him down in his crib, since I didn't want to try him in the PackNPlay again to have him wake up shortly and disturb Zack. Miraculously, he stayed asleep in his crib! I couldn't believe it! That night, I slept on the floor in the nursery. Since he slept so well in his crib that night, we tried it again the following night with great success. Same thing last night! I think I actually sleep better with him in the nursery too. I'm not compelled to sit up in bed and peek in his bassinet every time I hear a peep. Our monitor has a great feature which makes it vibrate when Cameron makes a louder noise/cry. So, I've attached the monitor to my pajama top while I sleep, so I can be sure to feel it vibrate in case I don't wake up from hearing him alone which keeps me from worrying about him too much.
I hope I'm not jinxing myself by writing this...but we are so tickled to have had two great nights in a row, I just had to share. Please keep your fingers crossed that this is not a fluke or a coincidence and that Mr. Cameron is settling in to a decent routine!

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