CIO success!

I have been against the CIO philosophy since Brodie was born and even before because of what I had learned in my child development classes. But, after several very sleepless nights and a month or 2 of Brodie screaming every time we set him in his crib awake we knew we had to do something for all of our sanity. As a last resort (and with a lot of coaching and encouragement from my mom) we decided to finally just try CIO for 1 week tops and if it wasn't working we'd go back to rocking Brodie to sleep.

Well, I am so amazed at how fast it worked and how good Brodie is doing now! Here is the breakdown of how long it took:

1st night- cried from 9:26pm-9:56pm (30 min)

2nd night- fell asleep nursing and stayed asleep during transfer to crib

3rd night- cried for 16 minutes

4th night- cried from 7:40-7:43pm (only 3 minutes) and slept (minus a 1/2 asleep diaper change/back pat at midnight) until 8am!

5th night- cried from 10:00-10:02pm (only 2 minutes!) and he had just taken a 2.5 hr nap and woken up at 8:15pm

This is an amazing change from the up to 2 hour cuddle/fight to get him to sleep in our arms. I feel like I have the nights back with my hubby.

The only thing I am trying to figure out is how to handle middle of the night nursing sessions if he doesn't fall back to sleep when I put him back in his crib. I've gotten good advice from several different people and am trying to decide what we want to do. My mom said that if he wakes up after nursing and it's near the morning (like 5am or something) not to leave him crying in his crib because he is too awake to cry himself to sleep again and just bring him in bed and let him cuddle and fall asleep with us until we want to wake up. I like the cuddling aspect of that but we don't sleep well when he's in bed with us and sometimes he doesn't fall back asleep for 30 minutes or so so he's tossing and turning and whining for a long time. Another one of the people I talked to said he has the physical capability to sleep for 11+ hrs without eating so I should just forgo the middle of the night nursing and give him several minutes to cry himself back to sleep without going in. The last person said to go nurse him and then let him CIO again in his crib. Trying to figure out what is best in that regard but I'll take him going to sleep in a few minutes for now! :)

~Heather

11 Months Old!

Ok here is the 11 month post not even a week later but at least it's on time this month. :)

Brodie is 11 months old today, and is as happy as he usually is. We went to the pediatrician to get a rash looked at on Wednesday and he weighed 18lb 8oz (15%). This was a new pediatrician and the experience was amazing! No freak out about weight, he actually involved Brodie in the appointment, and he was just super nice and helpful. It was amazing to have a doctor actually listen to you and not hurry you along!

Brodie is in the middle of teething hardcore, with 4 of those suckers working their way through. Two have broken through the gums already and the other 2 are bulging so it won't be long now. He seems to finally be less fussy so they must not be bugging him as much. He even slept from about 10pm-6:45am last night without waking up! That hasn't happened in a while. :)

The other thing that emerged this week is that he will put anything and everything up to his ear and pretend like he is talking on the phone. It could be a real phone, a block, some food, a glow stick, the remote, his hand, etc. It is really cute to see him beginning to pretend play and know the function of something. He even started to communicate with this sign. Yesterday I was rinsing out diapers in the bathroom and couldn't hear in the living room. I came out about 5 minutes later and Brodie immediately did his sign for phone and tried grabbing for my cell. I looked and had a missed call from my mom. He was trying to tell me it rang!

Speaking of signing, he is FINALLY starting to do a few signs. He understands a lot (food, water, milk, more, all done, diaper change, and sleep). He is actually starting to do the sign for milk and more which is freaking adorable! I'm so glad he is beginning to communicate his wants and needs with me. It is going to make it so much easier to deduce what he needs when he can tell me the basics. :)

I think that's all that has happened in the past few days. I can't believe my love bug is 11 months old and next month he is going to be turning a year old and entering the new phase of toddler hood! :)

~Heather