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?”
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!
infant rocker | bassinet | baby monitor | change pad
hatch sound machine | infant bathtub | baby bottles
baby musical playmat | newborn swaddles
You can find Danielle on her website, Bedtime Bliss Sleep Consulting and on Instagram @bedtime_bliss.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out! Have a wonderful day!
xo
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