Kathy--that sounds about right. Expect it to get better in another 2-3 days. I know that sounds like a life sentence in prison righht now, but you can't go back. The feeds will even out, and you may find that if you're not already on the 4 hour easy, your lo may end up there after struggling to get pu/pd organized. Today DH put DS down for his nap in 3 minutes, and told me "as skeptical as I was and all, I think this has been really good". This is shocking from the man who spent 2 hours straight holding a screaming baby on Thursday.
Silvia--Here's what I do for pu/pd. After we wind down, we go into the bedroom and swaddle, then sometimes we sit in the rocking chair just to calm down (he hates the process of being swaddled, but needs it). Then I put him in his crib. When he starts to get a little fussy, I try pat/shh. Once he gets worked up enough to start really crying, I pick him up and pat/shh him in my arms. The mistake I made was holding him for 5, 8, or 10 minutes until he was completely calm. You should only be holding for 4 minutes or so max, and you should put them down if they try to arch their backs or slam their feet down while you're holding them. Then put them down, even if they are still upset. Pat/shh for 30 seconds or so (sometimes they will calm down, sometimes just get more worked up). If they are still screaming, pu, calm them or wait 4 min and pd. Repeat until they are asleep, 40 min have passed or they are so p*ssed and screaming that the only thing that will calm them down is eating (especially if you've already done it for 40 min, had a break and are trying again). If they haven't slept, wait 10-15 min and try again, feeding if you've reached that point. Do not expect them to be on any type of schedule (other than a vague idea of "you need to eat in 3-4 hours") because pu/pd is not really part of the schedule and you can't know how long it's going to take, or how long they're going to sleep once you finally get them to sleep. Be prepared to listen to a totally upset scream for 5 hours or so throughout the day. My DH highly recommends earplugs. I didn't use them, but that's because I don't like how they feel in my ears. A few times, especially the first day or so, my DS would almost pass out mid-scream from exhaustion. It totally made me feel awful, and like this was no better than CIO, but at least I was right there and knew that he wasn't hurt and hadn't stopped breathing or anything. Just warning you that it is a possiblity, but hoping that no one else has to go through it.
I still am not really sure that this is teh "right" way, but it's working and it's the best I've been able to piece together from the book, sleep interview and advice I got on the pu/pd board. Even starting out doing it wrong, I'm calling it very successful at 5 days, and I fully expect that given another few days to work out any regression, and the last little bit of crying we still have, that we will be able to just put him in his crib and walk away by next week. HTH!!!
Sorry this is so long, but even after reading the book and the sleep interview I was still confused about how to do it, and did it wrong for a day and a half and the way I was doing it was not at all effective. I wish any of you who are starting pu/pd or thinking about starting it, the best of luck and hope my explanation makes things a little easier for you.
Hey, do you ladies think we could talk somebody who actually knows how to do this into making a downloadable, 5 min video or at least explicit instructions to post on the pu/pd forum?
