So, I blog a lot about sleep. I posted about how great Kayden was at sleeping when we first brought him home, and I've posted about the struggles we now have with getting him to fall asleep on his own and in his crib. I've struggled A LOT with the cry it out method. It breaks my heart to listen to him cry for over an hour. I have been scared that he thinks that his mommy doesn't love him because he is just laying in this room all by himself screaming and no one is coming to get him. I would do it a night or two, and then give up.
I told myself that when he was rolling over, we would see if that would help since he seems to like to sleep on his stomach. Well, as I have blogged, rolling over is not going over well with us and at this rate, I'm not sure if he will roll over consistently and to where I am comfortable leaving him on his belly for a very long time. I then was all like "well when he is 8 months old we will do the sleep training again" What was so magical about 8 months, I don't know. For some reason I felt like at 8 months he would understand more of what I was saying to him and that way I could tell him I loved him, but he needs to learn how to sleep on his own. I mean... really... what 8 month old really understands that?!
Last night, however, I had a breaking point. Kayden was SCREAMING bloody murder. We couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. I think some of it was the fact that he was over tired because he never really took a nap after 4 and he usually has around an hour nap at 6. While I was rocking him, for some reason, I just lost it. I felt like a horrible mother because my child couldn't fall asleep on his own, he couldn't roll over, he was over tired, and there were many other things that were going through my mind at that point but I can't even remember them because they were THAT stupid. But anyways. Last night I decided that we really needed to try this whole sleep training again. It was all or nothing this time. He has GOT to learn how to sleep on his own. He will NOT remember laying in his crib screaming until he falls asleep. This WILL set him up for success in the future. I never expressed this to Nick though, because I was scared he would hold me accountable for it and I would actually have to go through with it if I told him. There have been many nights where I would say, tomorrow night, we are doing sleep training again... and that night would roll around and I wouldn't do it.
Tonight however, I looked around the house at the stack of coupons that needed to be cut out, the dishes that needed to be cleaned and put away, the laundry piled up high, the baby food that needed to be made (which is yet ANOTHER blog post... but i'll save that one for another day), the floors that needed to be swept, and on and on the list grew. I can't ever get anything done because when Kayden is awake I want to be playing with him and when he is asleep I have to be holding him. So I decided I was going to do it. Nick wasn't even home at the time that I decided I was going to do it. I had given Kayden a bottle at 6:30 and at 7:30 he was starting to get tired so I gave him a bath, lotioned him up, read him a book, cuddled with him for just a little bit, and then laid him down in the big scary crib! And of course he screamed, and screamed, and screamed, and continued to scream. I just kept myself busy with clipping coupons and thinking about how I needed to get this stuff done. I told myself that if I finished everything that I needed to get done, and he was still crying, I would go get him (which... there was NO WAY i could finish my list.. but it made me feel better :) ). Finally, after an hour and a half the screaming started to subside and then he went to sleep. Of course, it had then been 3 hours since the last time he ate so he only stayed asleep for 30 minutes. I was all ready for this to be a complete failure. I was going to wait for him to wake up and then feed him and try to lay him back down but the second time around has always been a lot tougher on me and that is usually when he ends up back in our bed. Luckily, we had started so early that this bottle was at 10 when I was still up so I fixed him a bottle and fed him. Then went and laid him back down. He of course started screaming but this time around, it lasted 5 minutes. 5 MINUTES!!!! trust me, I was shocked. I then was all like yeah, he's going to just wake up 30 minutes later and won't go back to sleep. Well it's been an hour since he has gone down and he is still asleep. I'm sure he will wake up several times tonight, but I'm hoping that I can stick to my guns throughout the night. I'm going to just try and feed him and put him back down in his crib. He usually sleeps from 11-8 straight through the night, but that's usually with me waking up several times throughout the night and putting his paci back in when he starts to stir. Obviously in my bed it wasn't that big of a deal, but when he is in his crib it's going to be a bigger deal :)
In the past when I have let him cry it out, we have always let him cry for about 15 minutes and then would go in there and give him his paci again and then leave. While i feel like this was reassuring to him (or more myself) it PISSED HIM OFF. So tonight, I decided that I was not going to go back in there at all to put his paci back in. Hopefully, with him learning how to fall asleep without his paci, it will help in the middle of the night. We will see. To be honest, i'm just glad that we have made it this far tonight. I feel like every little step helps.
Monday, February 28, 2011
5 months old!
Dear Kayden-
I feel like I start every letter with "I can't believe you are already __ months old!" But seriously... each month just keeps flying by! You are learning so much and getting so big that I can't even believe that you were that 6 pound baby just 5 months ago. You have yet again learned so much and changed so much this month that I don't even know where to start. You have started sitting up a lot more on your own. You love sitting in your pack n play playing with your little workbench. I keep the boppy pillow behind you just in case you decide to rest a little bit! You are starting to roll over too... even though you don't seem to like it too much. We have to put a bunch of toys to one side so that you will want to go get them, and we still have to help you a little bit but you are getting there!
This month you also started eating rice cereal! You were not a big fan of it the first couple times we gave it to you, so we waited two more weeks and decided to try it again right before you turned 5 months old. You ate it like a pro and loved it! We also gave you a sippy cup. You instantly grabbed it and pulled it to your mouth but you weren't quite sure what to do with it. You mostly just wanted to chew on it, but that's ok!
I still enjoy watching you smile and laugh all the time. You are a very happy baby and for that I am thankful. You will smile at anyone who is willing to talk to you and will laugh if they make funny faces or play peek a boo with you.
This past month you also experienced ALOT of snow. We haven't let you get out and play in it but maybe next year we will get a lot too so that you can see what it is like. You enjoy looking out the window and watching the puppies play in it though! And speaking of puppies, you also got a new dog this month! Mommy and Daddy adopted Izzy from the humane society. While she may be a handful, she absolutely adores you, and you her. I see many great times in the future! :)
5 months! Next time I write a letter to you, you will be half a year old! While it seems like the months are flying by, it's hard for me to remember what my life was like before you. You have made your mommy and daddy very happy and have loved every minute of the past 5 months! You are such a joy to us and we love you SOOOO much!
Love,
Your mommy :)
I feel like I start every letter with "I can't believe you are already __ months old!" But seriously... each month just keeps flying by! You are learning so much and getting so big that I can't even believe that you were that 6 pound baby just 5 months ago. You have yet again learned so much and changed so much this month that I don't even know where to start. You have started sitting up a lot more on your own. You love sitting in your pack n play playing with your little workbench. I keep the boppy pillow behind you just in case you decide to rest a little bit! You are starting to roll over too... even though you don't seem to like it too much. We have to put a bunch of toys to one side so that you will want to go get them, and we still have to help you a little bit but you are getting there!
This month you also started eating rice cereal! You were not a big fan of it the first couple times we gave it to you, so we waited two more weeks and decided to try it again right before you turned 5 months old. You ate it like a pro and loved it! We also gave you a sippy cup. You instantly grabbed it and pulled it to your mouth but you weren't quite sure what to do with it. You mostly just wanted to chew on it, but that's ok!
I still enjoy watching you smile and laugh all the time. You are a very happy baby and for that I am thankful. You will smile at anyone who is willing to talk to you and will laugh if they make funny faces or play peek a boo with you.
This past month you also experienced ALOT of snow. We haven't let you get out and play in it but maybe next year we will get a lot too so that you can see what it is like. You enjoy looking out the window and watching the puppies play in it though! And speaking of puppies, you also got a new dog this month! Mommy and Daddy adopted Izzy from the humane society. While she may be a handful, she absolutely adores you, and you her. I see many great times in the future! :)
5 months! Next time I write a letter to you, you will be half a year old! While it seems like the months are flying by, it's hard for me to remember what my life was like before you. You have made your mommy and daddy very happy and have loved every minute of the past 5 months! You are such a joy to us and we love you SOOOO much!
Love,
Your mommy :)
maybe we will just skip rolling.....
One of the main reasons that babies roll first is to develop their stomach muscles so they can sit up on their own. Well, apparently my child doesn't like to roll... but his stomach muscles are still developed enough to sit up on his own! They are probably developed enough because we roll him ALL THE TIME in hopes that he will eventually get this rolling thing. Don't get me wrong, he does roll but you have to REALLY motivate him to want something in order to go get it. Stubborn little thing! I have a video of him finally rolling on his own from back to belly but I can't seem to get it to load... but maybe one day i'll get it up!
Kayden has been sitting up for quite a while with support and if he has a toy in front of him to play with he was able to sit up since about 3 weeks ago. The physical therapist would sit him up and keep her hands close by but several times he would sit on his own for a couple seconds. She has been doing that for about 3 weeks now and each time she does it he holds it for a little bit longer.
This past weekend, I decided to get brave and remove the boppy pillow from behind him. We have hardwood floors so I've always been too afraid to remove the boppy pillow. I folded a blanket four times so that it was extra thick and then put another baby blanket on top of that (because of course the other blanket had dog hair all over it... imagine that!) and then put a throw pillow a little way behind him so that it would catch his head if he fell backwards. He did a great job with sitting up on his own! He held it for quite a while, but if he got excited he would just fall backwards. I think since he still hasn't completely mastered rolling, his lower stomach muscles aren't developed enough to where he can keep himself from falling backwards, but he does a great job with sitting up on his own for a little bit! I was nervous that we would be behind on EVERYTHING since we have had such a hard time with rolling... but hopefully the whole rolling thing just isn't that big of a deal. I mean at least he does it... he just isn't that into it :)
Kayden has also started the beginning stages of crawling! He gets his legs and butt up in the air but ccan't seem to figure out the whole arm thing. He will push himself up with his arms, and then when he goes to get his legs and butt up, his arms fall. But it's at a pretty cute process! He's getting there!
Kayden has been sitting up for quite a while with support and if he has a toy in front of him to play with he was able to sit up since about 3 weeks ago. The physical therapist would sit him up and keep her hands close by but several times he would sit on his own for a couple seconds. She has been doing that for about 3 weeks now and each time she does it he holds it for a little bit longer.
This past weekend, I decided to get brave and remove the boppy pillow from behind him. We have hardwood floors so I've always been too afraid to remove the boppy pillow. I folded a blanket four times so that it was extra thick and then put another baby blanket on top of that (because of course the other blanket had dog hair all over it... imagine that!) and then put a throw pillow a little way behind him so that it would catch his head if he fell backwards. He did a great job with sitting up on his own! He held it for quite a while, but if he got excited he would just fall backwards. I think since he still hasn't completely mastered rolling, his lower stomach muscles aren't developed enough to where he can keep himself from falling backwards, but he does a great job with sitting up on his own for a little bit! I was nervous that we would be behind on EVERYTHING since we have had such a hard time with rolling... but hopefully the whole rolling thing just isn't that big of a deal. I mean at least he does it... he just isn't that into it :)
Kayden has also started the beginning stages of crawling! He gets his legs and butt up in the air but ccan't seem to figure out the whole arm thing. He will push himself up with his arms, and then when he goes to get his legs and butt up, his arms fall. But it's at a pretty cute process! He's getting there!
Monday, February 21, 2011
Updates on... Everything!
Torticollis-
We have been going to physical therapy once a week ever since we found out he had torticollis. Kayden has responded really well to physical therapy. Ms. Kelly works on stretching out his neck muscles and also works with developmental milestones that he should be reaching.
Kayden can freely look from side to side now, before he would only look to his right because the muscle was so tight he couldn't turn his head the other way. We are still stretching the muscles but for the most part that part of the torticollis is fixed. We are still working on the tilt part though. He still tilts his head a little and still holds his head down rather than lifting it up. He has a hard time holding it up for long periods such as when you put him on his belly and have him push himself up. I also noticed this weekend that he has started to hold himself up a lot longer than he use to. One of the exercises we do to help this is roll him on his right side and hold toys above his head so that he will look up. This is an exercise that is a battle for us because he HATES doing it.
There is no word as to when they think he can stop physical therapy. I think we will probably be going for a while, which is fine by me. I really like having them work on different stuff with him and then showing me what to do. I think they will do another evaluation of him sometime in March, but I'm not sure.
Sleeping-
We are still having issues with sleeping. I have had a very hard time doing the cry it out method. I know many people who have done the cry it out method and it has worked very easily for them. We've had a struggle with it though. Kayden just screams and screams bloody murder. It's not the "i'm just tired so i'll whine a little bit", it's a full out scream which I am having a hard time dealing with. I hate the thought of him laying in his crib all by himself screaming, not knowing if I'm going to come get him or not. We've decided for the time being to let him continue sleeping with us until about 8 months, in May, and then work on sleep training again. I know it will be harder, but I feel like at that age he will have a little bit more of an understanding when we talk to him and it will be easier to do a gradual weaning of sorts. I've read several different things about sitting next to the crib and each night getting further and further away from the crib, etc. We will see. I know he will get it eventually and I'm willing to wait. Sleeping through the night has gotten a lot better though. We usually try to give him a bath around 8:30-9 (or an hour after his bottle that is around 7:30ish.) He will then usually sleep until 11-1130 when we give him another bottle. If he doesn't wake up for this bottle, we usually wake him up so that he isn't waking us up in the middle of the night. After we give him this bottle, he will (most of the time) sleep until 7ish. At this time he will take another bottle and a lot of times go back to sleep until 9. If by 6 months he hasn't cut out his 11 bottle we will start cutting it out. We usually put the rice in his 9 o clock bottle but if we don't wake up around 1130 he will eventually wake us up at 2:30. We are finally back to taking naps in our swing also. Kayden took about a 3 month hiatus from his swing where he wasn't a fan of the swing. Luckily, I can now put him in his swing and he will take a nap so that I don't have to hold him through the whole nap time.
Milestones-
Kayden laughs ALL.THE.TIME. We can always do something to make him laugh and I love it! We are finally getting to where we can get him to roll from back to belly pretty consistently.Due to his neck he has had a lot of trouble rolling over. You have to use your neck muscles in order to turn your head when you roll and to reach your arm across your body to get up the momentum to roll, which is what he is struggling with. He has rolled over twice about a month ago but we have had a hard time getting him to do it again. This past weekend he has rolled over multiple times but you can tell he still really has to work at it and we have to really motivate him with toys in order to get him to do it. He has been doing it continuously though and we don't have to physically help him anymore. Last week at physical therapy, Ms. Kelly only worked on rolling in hopes to get him to start rolling more often. It seems to be working so far. I feel like I can say confidently that we have rolling over now. Kayden's been sitting up for quite a while now, with assistance. He can sit up by himself for a little bit but falls either to the sides or backwards. He's getting there though!
We have been going to physical therapy once a week ever since we found out he had torticollis. Kayden has responded really well to physical therapy. Ms. Kelly works on stretching out his neck muscles and also works with developmental milestones that he should be reaching.
Kayden can freely look from side to side now, before he would only look to his right because the muscle was so tight he couldn't turn his head the other way. We are still stretching the muscles but for the most part that part of the torticollis is fixed. We are still working on the tilt part though. He still tilts his head a little and still holds his head down rather than lifting it up. He has a hard time holding it up for long periods such as when you put him on his belly and have him push himself up. I also noticed this weekend that he has started to hold himself up a lot longer than he use to. One of the exercises we do to help this is roll him on his right side and hold toys above his head so that he will look up. This is an exercise that is a battle for us because he HATES doing it.
There is no word as to when they think he can stop physical therapy. I think we will probably be going for a while, which is fine by me. I really like having them work on different stuff with him and then showing me what to do. I think they will do another evaluation of him sometime in March, but I'm not sure.
Sleeping-
We are still having issues with sleeping. I have had a very hard time doing the cry it out method. I know many people who have done the cry it out method and it has worked very easily for them. We've had a struggle with it though. Kayden just screams and screams bloody murder. It's not the "i'm just tired so i'll whine a little bit", it's a full out scream which I am having a hard time dealing with. I hate the thought of him laying in his crib all by himself screaming, not knowing if I'm going to come get him or not. We've decided for the time being to let him continue sleeping with us until about 8 months, in May, and then work on sleep training again. I know it will be harder, but I feel like at that age he will have a little bit more of an understanding when we talk to him and it will be easier to do a gradual weaning of sorts. I've read several different things about sitting next to the crib and each night getting further and further away from the crib, etc. We will see. I know he will get it eventually and I'm willing to wait. Sleeping through the night has gotten a lot better though. We usually try to give him a bath around 8:30-9 (or an hour after his bottle that is around 7:30ish.) He will then usually sleep until 11-1130 when we give him another bottle. If he doesn't wake up for this bottle, we usually wake him up so that he isn't waking us up in the middle of the night. After we give him this bottle, he will (most of the time) sleep until 7ish. At this time he will take another bottle and a lot of times go back to sleep until 9. If by 6 months he hasn't cut out his 11 bottle we will start cutting it out. We usually put the rice in his 9 o clock bottle but if we don't wake up around 1130 he will eventually wake us up at 2:30. We are finally back to taking naps in our swing also. Kayden took about a 3 month hiatus from his swing where he wasn't a fan of the swing. Luckily, I can now put him in his swing and he will take a nap so that I don't have to hold him through the whole nap time.
Milestones-
Kayden laughs ALL.THE.TIME. We can always do something to make him laugh and I love it! We are finally getting to where we can get him to roll from back to belly pretty consistently.Due to his neck he has had a lot of trouble rolling over. You have to use your neck muscles in order to turn your head when you roll and to reach your arm across your body to get up the momentum to roll, which is what he is struggling with. He has rolled over twice about a month ago but we have had a hard time getting him to do it again. This past weekend he has rolled over multiple times but you can tell he still really has to work at it and we have to really motivate him with toys in order to get him to do it. He has been doing it continuously though and we don't have to physically help him anymore. Last week at physical therapy, Ms. Kelly only worked on rolling in hopes to get him to start rolling more often. It seems to be working so far. I feel like I can say confidently that we have rolling over now. Kayden's been sitting up for quite a while now, with assistance. He can sit up by himself for a little bit but falls either to the sides or backwards. He's getting there though!
Friday, February 11, 2011
The Sippy Cup
We tried rice cereal again the day before he turned 5 months and Kayden finally ate it! The whole bowl!! It took him a couple bites to get use to it again but then he was leaning for the spoon and ready to eat! When he started eating solids I also wanted to start offering a sippy cup of water to get him use to the sippy cup. He LOVED the thing! I'm not sure if he could really get anything out of it but he loved chewing on it. He can't lift it up yet to get the water out so I have to lift it up and I think he gets a little when I do that. We got a new cup that has ounces measured on it so I can see if he is actually getting any. He held the cup just like he was suppose to though and looked like such a big boy! I can't believe my baby is eating solid foods and drinking out of a sippy cup... and turned 5 months old YESTERDAY!!! Where is the time going?!
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Big Stuff!
Kayden has FINALLY gotten big enough to play with some of his toys on his own! He loves sitting in his pack n play (we have hardwood...and 2 dogs so the pack n play is about the safest place for him to hang out! haha). We put the boppy pillow behind him for support but he can sit himself up pretty well. Especially if there is a toy for him to play with that sits in front of him. My dad got Kayden a toy workbench for Christmas that lights up and plays music. (If you know my dad... you know he was SUPER excited about this toy :) ) Kayden can hit the little shapes that light up and play music and he thinks he is big stuff when it starts playing music! He just gets the biggest grin and gets so excited! He also talks to the toy a lot. It's quite entertaining!
Solids
At Kayden's 4 month appointment the pediatrician gave us the go ahead to start solid foods. He wanted us to start with rice cereal and then move to orange vegetables then yellow, then green veggies before starting fruits. I am planning on making Kayden's baby food so I was really excited that we got the go ahead to start solids so that I could start making baby food! We still waited a couple weeks before starting the cereal.
About 2 weeks ago we decided to try giving Kayden rice cereal from a spoon. We had been putting just a little bit in his bottle a week before that. The cereal from a spoon didn't work out too well for us. Kayden just kept making an awful face and spitting it right back out. We tried several times but it was clear he was not going to eat it.
We tried it again the next night, but the same thing happened. I have had people suggest trying to mix bananas into it so we may do that this weekend. I still think we are going to wait a little bit to start the full out baby food though. Kayden turns 5 months this week so we will probably wait a couple more weeks and start the veggies. Hopefully he will like those!! :)
About 2 weeks ago we decided to try giving Kayden rice cereal from a spoon. We had been putting just a little bit in his bottle a week before that. The cereal from a spoon didn't work out too well for us. Kayden just kept making an awful face and spitting it right back out. We tried several times but it was clear he was not going to eat it.
We tried it again the next night, but the same thing happened. I have had people suggest trying to mix bananas into it so we may do that this weekend. I still think we are going to wait a little bit to start the full out baby food though. Kayden turns 5 months this week so we will probably wait a couple more weeks and start the veggies. Hopefully he will like those!! :)
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