The Swaddle Update

This past week was sort of a weird one between continuing the "de-swaddling" process and I was home sick for two days with the stomach flu. In order for me to get some decent sleep, I continued swaddling her with one arm out and one arm in, and wasn't ready to tackle both arms out again until I was good and ready for a night of no sleep!

But, here we are almost a full week later and we have had success 2 out of 3 nights in a row with both arms out! Per a friend's recommendation, I have kept her legs in the swaddle so it's nice and tight but left the arms out. It's worked!

In addition, I decided this weekend to attempt to stretch the time in between her feedings to 4 hours. It only seems logical that she is ready to go longer stretches, especially given that she is getting a little bit of rice cereal in the evening. Sure enough, yesterday and today I had absolutely zero problems with her going that long. The only challenge we ran into last night was that she woke up several times - I think because of the swaddle situation, but at one point acted hungry. Just so I could get some sleep, I fed her for about 5 minutes and that seemed to tie her over until the wee hours of the morning (5 am).

I have a feeling that as she gets older, we are going to have a very early riser on our hands. Thank goodness, after she wakes up at 5 am, she will always go back to sleep for at least a couple hours, but how long will that last?! I think I will enjoy it while it lasts...

Video of Katie Eating Rice Cereal

De-Swaddling

I'm not sure if that is really a word, but it's definitely what we are trying to attempt these days. 4 months and this baby girl has been swaddled every night of her life...and it's time to start weening her! Recently, she has started to bust out of the swaddle in the middle of the night, and not only does it wake her up, but she tends to pull the blanket up over her face.

Last night, we made our first (futile) attempt. Everything I read states that you should start by swaddling with one arm out, do this for two weeks, and then move to having both arms out (with the rest of her body wrapped up), but we decided to go cold turkey all together. Needless to say, by 12:30 this morning, I was back in there swaddling her so we all could get some sleep. I did keep one arm out, as recommended, and that seemed to work wonders. She slept, and even though she punched herself in the face a couple of times, she wasn't getting as startled as she was with both arms flying around.

We'll try again tonight and see what happens!

Rice Cereal

I took Katie to the pediatrician today for her 4-month check-up, and while we were there, the doctor gave me the lowdown on starting her new food adventure! I won't bore you with all of the future plans, but instead say that we were given the go-ahead to stop giving her rice cereal in the bottle and start to spoon-feed it to her!

Why waste any time! We started tonight and she loved it! Video to be posted later this week.

We Survived

I could think of a million titles for this post...everything from "We Survived" to "The Hardest Day of My Life", to "Many Tears Shed" to...well, you get the point. I figured "We Survived" was the most fit - it obviously says it all.

I'd be lying if I said this wasn't the absolute hardest day of my entire life. I honestly underestimated how hard and emotional it would be to drop our baby girl off at a daycare facility. Nothing against the teachers, but no one can take care of her the way that we can. No one.

I tried to stay strong all weekend, and it wasn't until last night that I lost it. I broke down, while feeding her, and just sobbed. I woke up this morning and tried to get myself psyched up about the day and think "this is just another adventure" It wasn't until I was walking down the steps to the car that, once again, I lost it. But, I quickly pulled it together and talked to Katie about how much fun she was going to have and will have so many stories to tell us this evening.

When I arrived to the daycare, the Director was there to greet me. While I was standing there filling out the paperwork, I tried to tune out the sound of 7 screaming babies in the background and focus on the smiles Katie was giving me from her car seat.

I brought her into the infant room and seriously thought about turning around and walking right back out the door, calling into work and saying I've decided to be a stay-at-home-mom...I just couldn't stand the thought of leaving her when I knew that she was hungry and there were 5 other babies "in line" in front of her to get fed. So, I did the next best thing - I sat down in the rocking chair and nursed my baby right then and there. That way, I could have that bonding time with her, and she wouldn't have to go any longer without breakfast.

Suddenly, it was 9:00 and I needed to head out the door to work, so I passed her over to one of the teachers. Katie didn't react - didn't cry and didn't smile - just looked at the woman. I took that as my cue and walked out. I got about 20 feet from the door before tears started to stream down my face. I can't describe the multitude of emotions - guilt, sadness, etc, but I had to keep telling myself she would be fine.

I waited until 11:00 before I called to check on her. She was sleeping - in the swing, of course, and doing well. I managed to stay away as long as I could (meaning, 2:30 in the afternoon) before going to pick her up.

She was asleep in the swing, but woke up as soon as I kneeled in front of her and gave me the biggest smile. Suddenly, I realized it was all going to be OK.

Daycare Tomorrow

I can't believe it, but our baby girl is starting daycare tomorrow. I've been trying to remain positive about it and telling myself all day that this is just our "next adventure", but I'd be lying if I said I'm not nervous. I know she will be in great hands, but it is such a strange feeling to leave our baby with complete strangers.

The nice thing is that she will be in the complex next to my office, so I can check on her whenever I need to...and, odds are I will pick her up around 3-4 and bring her back to work with me.

Her diaper bag is packed, her bottles are ready and labeled and her clothes are picked out. Now, if we didn't have to contend with DST, we would be all set! It's 8:15 and she should be having her last feeding of the day, but we can tell she thinks it's 7:15ish. So, for one night, we will put her to bed at 10 (which will be 9 according to her body clock), in hopes that we have a good night's sleep before her first big day!

Wish us luck!

The Power of Rice Cereal

Everything I have always read states that rice cereal helping a baby sleep is just an old wives tale. Well, if that is the case, then we have a major coincidence on our hands. 3 nights in a row of a tablespoon of rice cereal about 30 minutes before bed has worked wonders on this baby! We've gone from her waking up every 2-3 hours because of a stuffy nose to waking up at 3:30-4:00 am hungry to now sleeping 9+ straight hours!

Everything goes in spurts, so I know it won't last forever, but I will (once again) enjoy it while it lasts!

Sleep baby, sleep!

Rolling Over

Last Thursday, Katie hit a big milestone: She rolled over from front to back! Normally, this is what happens first, but she originally started to roll from back to front when we were in PA last month. It's funny how she went from hating tummy time to not only liking it, but rolling right over...all within a day!

Introducing....Rice Cereal!

Just to err on the safe side, we took Katie to the doctor this morning for them to officially diagnose her cold. We walked away with peace of mind knowing that this is all that it is, her lungs sound great and her ears look good.

While talking to the pediatrician, she asked me how Katie's sleep has been. I explained to her how she has been sleeping through the night for 2 months now, but just in the past two weeks, we have been running into some issues. While I know that most of the issues were congestion-related, I have still been questioning whether or not Katie really is/should be hungry in the middle of the night.

Dr. Wolfe's recommendation: go ahead and introduce rice cereal tonight and see what happens! Rice cereal!! Talk about a milestone. So, I breastfed her, as always, around 8:00 and then I mixed in a tablespoon of Gerber Rice Cereal with her 2 oz of formula she gets every night before bed. Right now, she is sound asleep...and I am hoping this lasts until at least 5 am tomorrow!

Our baby is growing up SO fast!

Cold, Growth Spurt and Little Sleep

The poor little munchkin has been contending with a cold for the past 2 weeks! Once I realized she didn't have to go to the hospital and it was as simple as a stuffy nose and a cough, I figured it should run its course. Well, tomorrow will mark 2 weeks and I think its time to head to the doctor. She seems to feel fine, but 2 weeks seems a little long!

We started to notice yesterday that she may also be going through a growth spurt. After 2 bottles, she lost it and made it seem like she was still hungry. In addition, she keeps waking up at odd hours of the night to eat; whereas, before if she woke up, she would just need a pacifier. So, who knows, but all I can say is that I am TIRED this week!

More updates to come!