We are almost ready for Christmas. I have just a few more presents to wrap, and maybe a last minute gift or two to purchase if I find just the right thing. Tonight, we had the pleasure of going to LaLa and Poppy's (Cline's parents') church for their children's Christmas program. Abby Kate was "baby Jesus" and sat as content as could be on "Mary's" lap for the whole program!! I was quite proud. She's a terrible sleeper (more on that fun in a minute), but she makes up for it by being so happy and easy-going the rest of the time. At the end of the program, Christa joined the kids as a little angel and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. Then, at the request of LaLa, she did an impromptu, solo, acapella performance of Away in a Manger. Sooooo cute and soooo on tape thanks to my father-in-law! (He said he'd have to think about how much he was going to charge me for a copy :) She completed her number with enthusiastic applause for herself. To say Cline and I were proud of both of our girls tonight would be a huge understatement! I'll try to get some pictures of the evening up in the next day or so.
As far as Abby Kate's sleeping goes, there have been no "Silent Nights" around here for many days. She started out sleeping like a dream - 4 or 5 hours at a time from the day we brought her home from the hospital. She was never a great napper - she likes to cat-nap, and I'm lucky to get a full hour at a time. Plus, she's always gotten very fidgety unless she was being held. But she made up for that by sleeping at night. Then, we had the feeding issues the first month, and I had to wake her up at night to eat. She was still doing ok for a while, but I was kinda hoping she'd start sleeping through the night at 7 weeks like her big sister did. Instead, it's gradually getting worse. If she sleeps 4-5 hours, she wakes up every 30 minutes to an hour after that to "eat" (i.e. nurse for 30 seconds until she falls asleep again). The last 2 nights, she's woken up every 2-3 hours all night long. Come on, kid - this is newborn stuff!! We're supposed to be past that!
I'm totally blaming the SIDS recommendations, and I have to admit, I'm having a harder and harder time resisting the urge to put her on her stomach and be done with it. I'm learning that babies don't like to sleep on a marble slab with no blankets, no lovies, and no cute bumper pads to look at, stretched out on their backs like all of the health care professionals insist on! I actually knew that from the beginning, but figured that plenty of other parents out there get their babies to sleep on their backs, so we should, too. (How do you do this, people??) We let Christa sleep on her stomach from about 3 weeks on (due to reflux issues), and it was a dream! While I don't expect Abby Kate to sleep all the time like Christa did, I do feel like she should be able to sleep comfortably for a decent stretch at night and a couple of hours during the day by this point! Not to mention, she's about to be able to kick herself out of the bouncer she sleeps in (early on, she showed her disdain for the very nice bassinet that was purchased just for her)! Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. I'm about out of ideas.
The rest of my time lately has been spent obsessively reading the latest news articles about the health care reform bill. Without opening a huge can of worms on that topic, let me just say that I've been concerned about it, but I'm doing my best not to let it consume my life. I find I'm a much happier person when I just don't pay attention to the news, and I'm going to do my best to do just that this week as I celebrate the greatest event in history with my family. Although it sure is hard to resist pulling up the latest Fox News headlines when the iPhone is right there... all the time :)
Alright, I'm off to try to get my wide-awake infant to sleep for
8 comments:
Statistics can be manipulated. Both of my girls slept on their stomachs as recommended at the time and they are both still alive. But I guess you can wait until Abby Kate can roll over and decide for herself.
Hang in there!! Every baby is different. Lizzy hasn't been the greatest sleeper lately either. I have chalked it up to being sick for almost two months and she is finally sleeping longer stretches at a time at night now in her crib. I have always used blankets to cover my babies up. I worried too, but they wouldn't sleep without them. I blame it on the nurses at the hospital bundling them up tightly while they are there. Most babies don't move too much in their sleep until they are older and once they move that much, they are usually okay since they can lift their head up some and move it much better alone. Hope ya'll have a great Christmas!! Miss you!!!
I'm a firm believer in the stats released by the CDC. Statistics can be manipulated by people that use them improperly, but the CDC is full of statisticians that know what they are doing. Have you been using sleep sacks? They are a MUCH safer alternative to loose blankets. You won't have to worry about it covering her face. In my mind, I would much rather do what is recommended rather than take a chance and possibly regret it later.
When we were babies, our parents were told to put babies to sleep on their tummies. Most of us are still here and doing fine, but the fact is that infant mortality has decreased since the recommendations changed to sleeping on backs.
I just let my babies sleep on their stomachs or with me. I haven't met many moms who stick with the sleeping on the back for very long- although I will say if you are looking to prevent SIDS, back sleeping is definitey the way to go- I haven't heard of many babies who actually sleep on their back and I don't think they've had any cases of babies who die of SIDS whie AWAKE :)
We had many issues with Mattie due to reflux and allergies. Oh wait we still do! At 9months my pediatrician recommended Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child. Sometimes this book is helpful and sometimes I feel like throwing it across the room. Elijah has started sucking his thumb which helps him fall asleep. This can be both good and bad. All I can think about is the germs. We need a playdate soon to try and figure these kids out!
This discussion is very interesting to me. Last night I happened to read an article in Parents magazine on SIDS (January 2010 issue). It said that among developed countries, the US has one of the HIGHEST SIDS rates in the WORLD mainly due to people not heeding the recommendations given by the CDC and AAP. In fact, along with the recent rise in cosleeping in the US, the rate of accidental suffocation and strangulation of babies has TRIPLED between 1996 and 2004! In countries, like the Netherlands, where people closely follow the recommendations of back sleeping, no cosleeping, no loose blankets***, etc, the SIDS rate is almost nonexistent. Good luck and I am glad to see that she was sleeping better in your more recent post. Love the pictures!
***I use sleep sacks to keep my babies warm at night instead of loose blankets. Even before my kids could move much, they could easily pull the blanket over their head. I witnessed this when I picked up Jacob from a babysitter a few years ago and found him with a blanket over his face! I was furious because I specifically gave the caregiver a sleep sack to keep him safe and rather than putting the sleep sack on him properly, she just draped it over him like a blanket! Oh my!
This is a very interesting discussion, to me, too, and I very much appreciate all of the feedback. I read that Parents magazine article, hoping for some reasonable suggestions. It scared me to death!! Although my heart went out to the families mentioned, I did sort of feel like the author pulled a couple of extremely RARE horror stories to try and scare people. They also did not mention the possibility of drug/alcohol use which is often the case in SIDS. I got mixed feedback from my Dr. office about co-sleeping - the lactation consultant highly encouraged it, and showed me a lot of research that shows it's not only safe, but beneficial to the baby to co-sleep. We were actually doing that for a while, but the position she slept in made it impossible for me to unknowingly roll over on her - my arm simply would not bend that way. I can't deny the statistical research, though, that shows SIDS to be essentially nonexistent when the guidelines are followed, which is why we've struggled through it. (Although I do use blankets tucked around the bouncer and am considering trying out those sleep sacks when we eventually transition to the crib). On the flipside, I want to be reasonable, and enjoy these early years without living in fear that every little thing I do is going to kill my children! Abby Kate seems to be adjusting to the back for now, which is my biggest challenge! It just took a little longer than I was anticipating.
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