Rules for Christian

Now that Christian is five months, I have made some new rules for him, especially in reference to bedtime.

1. Bedtime is around 8-10, whenever he gets cranky and needs to go to bed. I will feed him before he goes to bed and say good night.

2. If he wakes up in the middle of the night, I am not going to feed him anymore. He's been stuck at 4:30 for about three months now and I would get up to feed him, but I know he really doesn't need this feeding, it just puts me and him back to bed faster.

3. When he does wake up, I will go in and put his pacifier in his mouth and give him his blanket. I wil touch his face or whatever I can do to calm him down, but not pick him up.

4. If he doesn't go back to sleep, I am going to leave the room for 5 minutes and then come back and put his pacifier back in and try it over again. He needs to learn to sooth himself back to sleep and really, this is working. He is getting much better at going back to sleep in the middle of the night.

5. I know he is an early riser, so I will not try to get him back to sleep after 6-6:30. I will go get him and feed him, but then he needs to stay awake for awhile. This is where we start our schedule for the day. Usually an hour and a half after I feed him, he is ready to go back down for a nap. If I put him back to bed after I feed him right away in the morning, it messes our whole day up!

6. Throughout the day, our schedule is eat, awake time, nap. I cannot put him down for a nap after he eats, no matter how tired he is! (Thanks "Babywise"!) I need to stick to this!

We've been on this schedule for about 2 months and it is really helping. He is sleeping better during the day and at night and he is very predictable. I can get out of the house during his awake time and be home before his next feeding. I am realizing that Christian's sleep is precious, but is hard for him to get to sleep and stay asleep. I think I'm finally getting him figured out.

Yes, he has been our most challenging baby, especially in regards to sleep!!!