Sleep Class

1. Times like these, I am thankful for this town and all its helpful (and free!) resources. 

2. I went into it thinking I won't learn anything new... just wanted to tell myself I was doing it all right. Boy, was I wrong.

3. There will be some challenging and sleepless nights coming up...LOL.

This class was offered before, but I didn't go because I didn't think I needed to. Gemma was a terrific sleeper from the beginning, though we did have some issues with napping when she was 5-7 weeks old. Once I got her into a routine, however, she began napping and sleeping very well. I can put her down drowsy and she falls asleep on her own. If she wakes at night, we only need to put her soother back in and she goes right back to sleep. She doesn't eat during the night and she doesn't fuss or wake up wanting to play (except for last night, lol).

I was mainly curious on how to get her to stop rolling over and how to take away her soother.

HOW TO GET HER TO STOP ROLLING OVER:

Well, apparently she can roll over if she wants. I get frustrated because for some reason she has forgotten how to roll from her belly on to her back and she cries out. Either Jesse or I go in there and turn her over on to her back. Kim's (the instructor) advice: STOP ROLLING HER BACK. Help her practice during the day rolling over front to back again. Even if she cries at night because she can't get back on her back, let her figure it out. don't turn her over. (of course, make sure she is safe and not stuck in some weird way or something)

HOW TO TAKE AWAY THE SOOTHER:

Babies have sleep associations that help them sleep: a lovey, a soother, a rocking motion or bounce, a lullaby, white noise, a repetitive sound, etc. Gemma is addicted to her soother for sleep. When we are at home, that is the only time she gets her soother and so she associates her soother to sleep. I don't need to rock her, I don't need to sing to her, I don't need to hush her. All I do is put her into her sleep sack, hold her in a "cradle" position, and put her soother in. Then I give her a quick kiss on the forehead and put her down. She is off to la-la-land. Easy Peasy.

Until she wakes up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep because the soother is no longer in her mouth. Weirdly enough, she spits it out when she wants to actually sleep. She just seems to need it to help her get there. So she will whine or cry out and Jesse goes and puts her soother back in. She then turns her head to the side and back off to la-la-land.

Most nights this is only once or twice at most. But there are some nights when she cries out four or five times. So you can imagine poor Jesse can't get a good night's sleep when he has to constantly go in there (I don't get up during the night because Gemma will not go right back to sleep if she sees me).

Kim's advice was to change her sleep association from the soother to something else - something that Gemma can do herself. Gemma likes having her hair stroked, so I am gonna try to teach her to stroke her own head to help her fall asleep. This isn't going to be easy as I think she needs something to SUCK, but I don't think I can get her to suck her hand without her isolating her thumb somehow. 

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So what is the big deal with getting up a couple times a night to stick her soother back in? Well actually Jesse doesn't mind at all (or so he says), but I have a feeling it will be easier to take it away now at 6 months rather than at a year. 

Anyways, wish us luck. 

Here are some other interesting tidbits of information:

• The first morning nap is crucial for brain development. The afternoon nap is essential for rest and rejuvenation, stress relief.
• Nighttime sleep does not make up for lost naps. Babies NEED to nap.
• Babies 6 months old (and under) should only be awake for 1.5 hours to 2 hours at a time. 
• A baby's sleep cycle is 20 minutes long, while an adult's is 90. 
• A baby falls asleep in REM, an adult falls asleep in non-REM, which is why babies awake so easily soon after they've fallen asleep.
• A new developmental milestone is one of the causes of sleep disruption, as well as growth spurt, teething, travel, illness. These developmental milestones include making strange.