No More Newborn!

So this is probably the VERY last time I can squeeze him into this newborn white button down onesie (which I LOVE because then it doesn't come untucked). I even had to undue the wrist buttons to get it to work. These pants used to be so long and big on him too. Well, about 30 minutes into church he was soaking wet! I have no idea how he filled that diaper that fast, but needless to say I had to take the entire outfit off. I had a change of clothes with me but I hadn't restocked the diaper bag in a couple of weeks and the sleeper I had in there he barely fit into! I felt so bad for him! He feels so sturdy now and has a little potbelly. I love it!

His attitude is definitely not newborn either. We've decided it's time to be the parent and start telling him what to do instead of vice versa. My point in doing so is to get him to SLEEP regularly so we can have a much happier baby. He is so behind on sleep that he even cries and cries with us rocking him to sleep. Now what is the point in that? We might as well listen to him cry in his crib. I think once he gets rested he'll go back to going to sleep easier.

The advice we received to get him to sleep longer through the night (and hence have a happier mom) was to extend his first sleep period at least a half hour by letting him cry and then going to feed him. Do that each night and it should get longer and eventually erase all the rest of the feedings. It should take 2-3 weeks. I had 3 mothers tell me it works and some even had their 2 month olds sleeping 12 hours! So last night was the first night we were going to try it. I closed his door, closed our door and was prepped to turn the sound off on the monitor when he started to cry. His first waking is usually 4 hours after we lay him down. Well, last night he didn't wake for 5 hours, so I thought, Aw, why let him cry? He already went an hour more! So I only let him cry like 5 minutes. :-) He actually had a very good night overall!

Also, it's his naps that are a problem - he thinks a 5-15 minute nap is all he needs. Part of this comes from his habits picked up during reflux - the acid would wake him while lying down. He is just fine sleeping in the crib now so we just need to get rid of the habit. So the plan was when he falls asleep don't get him even if he's crying for 30 minutes to an hour. Well, his first nap today he woke up after 15 minutes and I let him cry for another half hour before getting him. I had to close his door, turn on the TV, do housework, etc. not to think about him crying! As soon as I picked him up he fell back asleep and slept for 45 minutes. He has been doing better this afternoon with just a little help falling back asleep. Hopefully, we can get him caught up on sleep and have our happy baby all the time!!