Hello everyone,
I am new to the forums and just read SOTBW. It makes a lot of sense to me, as we're not willing to CIO/CC or do hardcore AP/co-sleeping. BW methods seem sensible and moderate - I'm hoping they work, too!
I am not sure where exactly to start working with my baby. From what I can tell from the quiz, I think she's a textbook baby with tendencies toward being touchy. Here's where we're at right now:
--Breastfeeds about every 3 hours (sometimes shorter if she seems really hungry, sometimes longer if she's napping longer. Usually not more often than 2.5 or less often than 4 hrs (that's quite rare)) during the day. A couple weeks ago she was eating every two hours, but I realized she wasn't really hungry and I was actually just feeding her when she'd get fussy b/c she was tired. Since then we've pushed the feedings to being fairly consistently every 3 hours.
--Usually awake for an hour and a half between naps, if I can get her to take a nap.
--For the first five weeks or so of her life, she pretty much only napped being held by people. Partly because she was so sweet and snuggly, and partly because we were afraid to wake her once she was asleep.
A couple weeks ago I started trying to put her down in her crib for naps, which she hated. It stressed us all out terribly, so I gave up after about 5 days and for the past week, she's been taking all her daytime naps in the swing. She'll nap for anywhere from 45 min-2 hrs+ in the swing with white noise going, generally.
--She nurses to sleep at night - usually she'll nurse around 8:30 or 9, fall asleep and I'll put her in her crib. I'll often DF or rouse her just enough to eat at 10:30 or 11 before I go to bed. Generally she'll sleep until 4 or 4:30 am, I'll feed her, and she'll sleep again til 7 or 7:30 am. She sometimes makes noises either in her sleep or like she's waking up between those feedings, but she'll generally settle back down on her own. We've only had to go in to settle her down a couple of times.
To begin with, I've been concentrating on getting her into the EASY routine - eating, having a little activity, then taking a nap. I already mentioned that we've gotten her to be mostly on a 3 hour routine. I'm working on trying to read her tired cues...it's so hard to tell. Sometimes I feel like she's only been awake for 40 mins and she's already giving cues - yawning, staring, etc. but then I try to get her to nap and she fights it for another 40 minutes. Other times I wait til I'm sure she's tired - yawning more, getting a little fussy - and she might cry a bit but falls asleep faster ... or she's overtired by then and won't nap at all.
It's so hard.
I also know at some point I need to get her to nap in her crib and fall and stay asleep there without using the swing, and we'll eventually need to wean her from nursing to sleep at night (though she sleeps SO well at night that I am scared to mess with it!).
We do swaddle her for every nap and at bedtime. She will occasionally take a pacifier, but very inconsistently. She does seem to have a strong sucking need, and will often suck on her tongue/our shoulders/her hands if she can figure out how to get them in her mouth.
So...where should I start? What am I doing right and what am I doing horribly wrong?
What area should I tackle first?
