Sleep Training: Day 4

We had a bit of a break-through last night! As I said before, John has been doing really well on the four-hour feeding schedule. I was actually quite surprised by how easily he took to it. No fussing between feedings, no hysterical crying at three or three-and-a-half hours, nothing... which is quite a relief. I don't know how well I would have done trying to coax him into waiting just a few minutes more if he were really struggling to make it to the next scheduled feeding. He's still not getting a full day's worth of formula during his day feedings, so we're continuing with the 11 PM and 3 AM feedings to make sure he doesn't dehydrate or go hungry.

Where we really made progress was at bedtime. Lately, we've been having trouble getting John to go to sleep after his 7 PM feeding. Because he hasn't been sleeping well, he's been tired and cranky during the day. Because he's been cranky, he hasn't been napping. And because he hasn't been napping, he's totally exhausted by the afternoon. He passes out pretty hard around four o'clock and sleeps until just before his last feeding of the day. So of course he isn't tired and ready to go to bed at seven. He just woke up!

I went to a friend's house to study yesterday afternoon and after we were finished, we sat around and played with the babies for about an hour (she has a daughter about six weeks older than John). When John was totally worn out, I put him in his car seat and drove home. He slept all the way home, which is typical, and then for quite a while after we got back to the house. We woke him up for his 7 PM feeding, changed his diaper, and rocked him for a while. To my surprised, he went right back to sleep (must have REALLY worn him out at Rachel's house). Not only that, but he slept for almost 4 hours before waking up hungry around 11 PM. We gave him a bottle, checked his diaper, and put him back to bed. To my surprised again, he zonked right out! Same story around 3 AM. He was awake for about 20 minutes while we fed and changed him. And then he slept until about 6:30 this morning. He slept for almost 11 hours (minus two twenty-minute feedings)!!

He woke up kinda mad because his diaper was really wet. But he settled down as soon as I changed him and we  had some morning cuddles until it was time to eat at 7:00. I played with him in my lap for a while and then let him swat at the hanging toys on his Funky Farmyard activity mat. When he started yawning and getting droopy-eyed, I slipped him back into his crib and he slept for a little over an hour and a half. He took an actual nap! Now I've got him in the Baby Bjorn and we're hanging out until it's time for his 11 AM bottle. I'm hoping a little play time and some tummy time will wear him out enough to take another legitimate nap this afternoon.

We're making progress!

And may the peace of the Lord be always with you.