3 Months With Lydia Grace!

Good morning! I have been so excited to share today’s post with you. A little different from the normal outfit post here but I thought I would share a 3 month update of Lydia Grace, our sleep journey with her and a few of our most used newborn products. Warning: this is a rather lengthy post! We knew early on that we wanted to work with a sleep consultant to get Lydia Grace sleeping. I have been blessed that my best friend started her own sleep consulting business, Bedtime Bliss Sleep Consulting about 4 years ago. With her trust and expertise, we starting implementing laying the foundation very early for her and we have seen the benefits of it starting to pay off. At 3 months old, she has been sleeping 9-10 hours a night for a little over a week now!

I learned with Dockery that sleep is so important for their development and it makes for a happier baby! Laying her down awake, monitoring the clock for wake times and watching for her tired cues. The first few weeks, Danielle and I were shocked at how well she could put herself to sleep. Over the next few weeks, she definitely became more of a crier putting herself to sleep. It was honestly making me a little stressed out but once I learned what she preferred with putting herself to sleep, it made things so much easier. She can put herself to sleep within 5 minutes for every nap and nighttime! As the weeks went on, we started noticing longer and longer stretches at night. By the time she was around 2 months old, she was only waking 1 time a night to eat. Girlfriend loves her sleep and we are so thankful!

I know everyone says it but it is crazy how fast time goes by. With our son, I wished for time to fly by just to get to the next stages thinking it will get easier. With her, I find myself looking forward to seeing what she’s going to do next and noticing new developments more so than I did with Dockery. It’s been the biggest blessing having her as such an easy baby, knowing what she needs and why she’s crying. Usually it’s because she’s either hungry or tired. This has been a completely different experience this time around. While I battled PPD pretty severely with Dockery the weeks that followed his birth, I found myself going through it again just shortly after Lydia Grace was born. I knew the signs to look for and man did it hit me hard and quick. Thankfully, I knew the steps I needed to take to make sure it didn’t get as bad as it was with Dockery. One of the things that affects me the most dealing with PPD is lack of sleep. As a new mom, it’s so hard to get the adequate sleep we need but it’s so important. One of the best decisions we made was having a sleep consultant there to help guide us to more sleep in our house, which meant that I would be a happier, more content, rested mother.

Now that she is 3 months old, we are adjusting her routine slightly during the day and will be looking forward to her getting on a schedule closer to 4 months. Naps are still really hard for her but we know over next few weeks they will start to consolidate. I asked in stories last week if you, as the reader had any questions related to sleep and Danielle was so gracious to answer them. Funny enough, most of them were related to naps! I hope some of these questions will help if you are struggling with newborn, infant and/or toddler sleep.

MEET DANIELLE – OWNER OF BEDTIME BLISS SLEEP CONSULTING

“My babies sleep great in cribs at night, but struggle during daytime naps. Suggestions?”

The three main things that contribute to successful naps are: Environment, routine and wake time. Environment: Take a look at your child’s room. Is it dark? Children (and adults) sleep best in a completely dark environment. Light filtering through the curtains or window shade can impact the length of your child’s nap so black out the windows however you can!

Routine: Create a small nap routine for your child to allow them some wind down time prior to nap time. This can be helpful for them to prepare their body and brain for sleep! So go into their room 5-10 minutes prior to nap and do something like: change diaper, sleep sack, read a book or sing a song, then in the crib.

Wake time: Applying the right amount of wake time for your child suitable to his or her age can make one of the biggest impacts on daytime and night time sleep. It can mean the difference between a 30minute nap or 1.5hr nap. If your child is under or over tired it will significantly impact the length of a nap. Here is a rundown to guide you on wake times suited by age because they change frequently during the first year of life!

0-6 week : 45m-1hr

6w-3m : 1hr-1hr45m

3-6m : 1.5-2.5hr

6-9m: 2-3hr

9-12mo : 3-4hr

12-18mo : 4-6hr

18m -3yr: 5-7hr

“My baby won’t nap if Im not holding her. I feel kind of stuck all day, any tips on how to…”

It is very common for babies to rely on parents for sleeping, especially young babies and newborns. If your baby is a newborn up to 4 months the best way to work towards independent sleep is to begin with the first nap of the day. Start slow and work on placing your baby down in his or her crib awake for the first nap. Then when you start to see improvement, start adding in the second, third etc naps. This especially helps newborns to learn the skill of falling asleep independently with time and some work.

“Is it bad that my baby always wakes up crying from naps and nighttime sleep?”

No! In fact this is how most babies wake from sleep. Crying their number one means of communication, so its very common for them to begin crying upon waking from sleep. For most children, when language develops you often see the crying decrease and talking becomes their dominant means of communicating that they are awake!

“Naps! 12 w/o who immediately cries when put down. Following sleepy cues already!”

Nap training can be a process! To work towards longer naps you want a few things to happen; wake windows, nap routine, eat-play-sleep routine.

Sleepy cues are important but you also want to pay attention to wake times as they should be between 1hr15min-1hr30min between naps. Nap routine should be a simple process that could look like: diaper change, read a book, place down awake. The steps to a nap routine can greatly impact the duration of a nap. We’ve all heard of Eat Play Sleep, and for good reason! feedings should take place upon waking, then activity , then sleep which allows baby to work towards falling asleep independently.

“2 year old still waking up in the night. Won’t calm down unless we sleep on the floor next to crib”

Changing sleep habits for toddlers may seem impossible but it certainly can be done! And yay that he/she is still in a crib! This will certainly help in changing sleep habits. Creating boundaries around sleep and remaining consistent on those boundaries are the key to making changes for toddler sleep. It requires creating a bedtime routine and response that fosters independent sleep for your toddler during these changes. Parent present (being in the room) sleep training is most beneficial for this age group, but you will want to remove yourself from the room in time and create a sustainable response for night wakings. Typically sleep changes like sleeping through the night at this age happen within a week of following a consistent sleep plan.

“Newborn baby girl who doesn’t nap unless she’s held. She’s 6 weeks old now. Any suggestions”

Congrats on your newborn baby girl! Nap struggles for newborns is very common, but there are things you can do to help foster independent sleep. Its important to understand that creating healthy sleep habits for newborns takes practice and TIME!! It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Begin by following appropriate wake times for your baby, make sure she is getting full feeds and try to keep her awake for these feeds, use a really really tight swaddle! (until 8-10wks). Placing your baby down awake for naps is an important part to achieving long naps. For newborns you can start doing this for the first nap of the day, along with the other tips mentioned. Once your baby makes progress with nap 1, then work on nap 2 being independent and so on. Pace yourself and know that every day won’t be successful, but in laying the foundation for healthy sleep habits little by little, you will see longer stretches of sleep.

What I love about using Danielle is that it is one-on-one with her the entire process. You get to speak with her initially, she will come up with a sleep plan directly related to your child and is available as your needs and questions come up. She doesn’t just give you a course to read and tell you to be on your way, she is with you guiding you every step of the way. And let me tell you, getting a baby to sleep is no easy feat. It takes patience and it doesn’t happen overnight but once you start seeing your baby sleeping, it is so rewarding!

Below are a few products we have been using over and over since we brought her home. Danielle actually recommended quite a few of these products! She slept in this bassinet for the first few weeks in our room and did great in it. She absolutely loves this chair and sits in it quite a few times a day. This tub makes bath time so easy! I thought I was going to have a csection (I ended up having a vbac) and didn’t want to lean over the tub for bath time. She goes right in the sink and loves it! I think it’s her favorite time of day!

We transitioned her out of the swaddle at 8 weeks and she has been doing great! We used the SwaddleMe swaddle while being swaddled and we now use them with her arms out and just wrap it around her belly for her to feel the tightness of it still. Highly recommend these!