At Maya's four month appointment, we were given the green light to start solids and to do some sleep training as well. A good friend of mine suggested not doing both at the same time...too many new things at once would overwhelm little missy. It wasn't too difficult trying to decide between the two. Not only would her little digestive system be more ready the longer we waited to start solids, but getting her to be able to fall asleep on her own seemed just slightly more important ;)
Though it hasn't been easy, I'd say sleep training has been a huge success! We read a book called "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child", and based on the type of baby Maya is, we decided the Cry It Out approach was the way to go. Not everyone believes in it or can handle hearing their child cry and not respond. Like I said, it's not easy, but knowing my child is now getting the sleep she needs and not waking up every 1.5-2 hours (yep, no kidding!) like she used to, it was well worth it. Maya is now falling asleep between 7:30 and 8pm and wakes around 3 or 4am for a feeding. Then it's back to sleep until she wakes for the day anywhere between 6 and 6:30am. A few times she has skipped the feeding entirely and sleeps all the way till morning. We love those times, but don't count on them. We are ALL sleeping better and Maya seems much happier and well rested!
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| Happy and well rested Maya |
I find it pretty interesting to see in what position she falls asleep. Before sleep training, I would lay her down very neatly with her arms at her side. I love that she chooses to sleep like this instead...
...very lady like.
Now we just need to tackle naps...that's a whole other debacle.
So next up is solids! I'm pretty excited to start them and can't wait to see how Maya reacts. I've been reading "Super Baby Food" which was suggested by the pediatrician. We already bought the rice cereal and I'm planning on prepping some bananas, avocado and sweet potato sometime very soon as Maya's first foods. I'll be sure to post pics when the feeding fun begins!
I decided to give our high chair a test run today. It was the first time I put Maya in it...she looks like such a big girl!
Sleeping training is seriously life changing! It was completely worth it to me when I saw how happy my baby was because she was getting the sleep she needed! I wish I was brave enough to try it at 4 months like you...we would have all been a lot happier sooner!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the solids! We tried sweet potatoes first and Jos couldn't get enough! Do you have the book 100 Top Baby Purees? That's a good one too. I'm still using it.