Wow, lots going on today!
I have to say that for the last two nights, I've been able to put Aaron down and walk away.
:D:D:D:D:D:D Just like that, no pat /shh, no pu/pd, nothing. But naps have been difficult, especially the catnap.
For most of his day time naps, we're still having a few minutes of fussing and a little pu/pd, but the catnap is so hard on him that I sometimes still have to do "intentional accidental parenting" in order to get him to sleep, and then it's the only nap of the day that he'll sleep for longer than 45-50 minutes, so I have to really watch the clock to make sure that he doesn't just "sleep through" bath and bedtime.
I think part of it may be that DH is the one doing the day naps, then I do the catnap and bedtime, so there's kind of a transition from his way to my way at the catnap, and it might be confusing on DS, even though we try to do things the same way. I dunno. Might just be that evenings are just his fussy time because he's not getting enough day sleep.
I think we'll see about switching him all the way to the 4 hour EASY (we've been on 3.5) and see if that helps, even though lately he seems to be having a hard time staying up even 1.5 hours unless he's being held for the last 30 min, which DH won't do. DH is now saying that he's just going to start expecting 45 min naps. I think I'll slowing work on him to see if I can get him to try extending the A time and do the 4 hour schedule. Boy, but sometimes it feels like I've got 2 kids, not one!
Andrea--I can't be of any help on your questions, since I haven't ever had a really good schedule for more than about two weeks before something screws it up, and I'm just happy when he takes any naps at all. I can say that I'm going to try to hold off on solids until 6 months, mostly because it just seems to me that breastmilk is free, easy and convenient (yes, even with pumping because of work I still think it's convenient). Why buy more stuff and spend more time than you have to if it's something that hasn't been shown to be really beneficial? JMO.
Kathy, Congratulations!!!! You're now doing better than I am, so keep it up, and now you can keep me posted!
Sylvia, your DH will come around when he figures out that BW is so good, and he might just need a little more "supervision" to make sure he's doing things "right" and to gain some confidence. Mine now spends more time with my DS than I do
, but he still feels very overwhlemed, underprepared and insecure about everything, especially pu/pd because it is soooo hard for them to understand that by doing it you are teaching a valuable life skill and it is so worth the time, effort and emotional energy. I suggested that DH actually read the book (novel concept, I know!) or log on here since I saw at least one other new dad posting recently, but he gave me that "are you kidding, woman?" look, so I didn't press it.
I'm hoping for both of us that things come around and our lo's will get the hang of it soon!
Hope you guys all are doing well and wish everyone a good night's sleep.