Sunday, 30th March
Today we begin enforcing a day routine. The day routine we decided to do for Kai is once he wakes I breastfeed him. Then feed him some solid food, some play time for 1-1.5 hours, read a book, cuddles and kisses then into the cot for his nap. In the cot we're going to turn the mobiliser on as it plays music and hopefully that will help him establish that when he hears this it's time for sleep.
For his night time routine we decided to start around 5:30pm. Routine will consist of a milk feed, then some solids, light play time for about 30 minutes of less. Then a bath, read a book, goodnight cuddles then placed into the cot.
We predict he will of course protest so we decided we would do the control crying method. Control crying is when you put your baby in his cot and walking away the return after a few minutes. Then return back into the room to hand comfort him or any form of comforting except picking him up until he calms down. You would repeat this process until the baby finally falls asleep increasing the time you return back into the room by one minute after each iteration. We don't mind hearing Kai cry just not for too long. We don't mind walking away and letting him cry cause if we stood by his cot comforting him until he settled down we know we'd cave in and pick him up. And the key to sleep training is consistency and for the parents not to break.
8:00 Time Kai woke up.
9:00 Kai is put into the cot after following the day routine we set above. Of course he cried while he was in there so we would return every few minutes to hand settle him, and speak words of love and encouragement to calm him down.
10:00 He's finally fallen asleep.
10:30 Woken up by Eli's loud voice as he came into the room. Waited two minutes before putting the mobiliser back on and a dummy in his mouth. It worked he fell asleep in a few minutes.
11:00 Woke up. Fed him milk then gave him some solid food.
We had a day out planned as it was the last day before my sister flies back to London so we had to all go.
12:30 Slept in my arms for 30 minutes.
14:00 Slept in Ian's arms for 30 minutes.
17:30 Arrive home and decide to start night time routine now. I fed him milk although he didn't seem that interested. Offered food but he was too upset to eat. We bathed him, read a book, had our cuddles and said our goodnight's.
18:22 We put him in the cot and turned on the mobiliser on. Cried, waited for a set timed period then hand settled until he was a little calmer then walked out.
19:28 He finally fell asleep.
23:30 He woke up. I breastfed him. He fell asleep on the boob and as soon as he did I moved him into the cot. He woke but I turned on the mobiliser, placed dummy in his mouth, said goodnight and walked away. He whimpered for a few minutes but eventually fell asleep.
All up he got just under 14 hours of sleep today which is the suggested amount of sleep for a 6 month old.
Monday 31st March
2:30 He woke up so I fed him again. He didn't seem sleepy and quite alert so I changed his nappy, put warmer clothing on him and put him in his Bamboo Baby Sleeping Bag as it is a little cooler by now. I put him back into the cot, turned the mobiliser on and walked away. He was whimpering but I decided I wasn't going to go back to him unless he started to actually cry. I could hear him rolling around the cot.
3:30 Fell back asleep.
8:00 Kai wakes up. I breastfed him and offer him solids. He didn't seem too interested in the food and only had a few bites. He plays for a few minutes but seems irritated. I moisturise him as he's also currently going through an eczema episode.
9:00 I put him back into his sleeping bag, read him a book, gave him some kisses and put him into the cot. He only whimpered for a few minutes.
9:15 He's asleep.
11:00 We wake him as he has his immunisation appointment that day. At the doctors he has his shots and I discussed my concerns about his eczema. It has spread from not just his neck and now to his tummy and arms. The doctor thinks it could be allergies so he's booked in next week to do the allergy prick test. I'm hoping I don't have another kid with allergies but I'm now avoiding certain foods (eggs, cows milk and nuts) just to be sure. We spend the rest of the afternoon with my sister as she flies back to London that evening. At my parent place Kai probably got an hour's worth of sleep broken into two 30 minutes naps.
17:30 Arrive home and begin night routine. Milk, solids, bath, book and good night cuddles.
18:08 Kai is put into the cot. He cries on and off and we return back into the room several times to hand settle him.
19:04 We go to waiting 8 minutes before going into the room by the time he finally fell asleep.
All up he got a little over 14 hours of sleep today. Now we're thinking the eczema is probably impacting his ability to get to sleep as well.
Read about our Day 3 & 4 experience.
Read about our Day 3 & 4 experience.
