Operation Weight Gain...What a Night!

After discussing with Dave every possible thing we can do to get Vaughn to gain more weight without decreasing my milk production even more, we have decided to wake and feed him during the night. The La Leche League leader had suggested this back when I went to the meetings in January. At the time, not getting sleep again did not sound appetizing to Dave or me. Part of the decision was because I am not a very functional or rational person when I lack sleep. We asked the doctor about it at his appointment and she did advise against it as well. She said that it wasn't necessary to disturb his good sleep patterns. But after talking to other moms who do or have nursed, they agreed it helped their babies gain weight (Thank you, Lisa ♥). Not long after discussing the topic, Dave had already put a separate alarm clock next to my bed, set it for 2:30am and 5:30am, and was ready to wake Vaughn up and bring him to me in bed. Have I mentioned how blessed I am to have such a supportive husband? I love you, Dave!

It all began around 9pm when Dave put Vaughn down to sleep; Vaughn didn't take his third nap until around 7pm and slept until 8:30pm, making it a little confusing for him when we put him down for the night just a half an hour later. Because of this, he ended up waking up on his own an hour and a half earlier than we had planned. As soon as he started crying at 1am, Dave ran, well, maybe not ran, but sleepily retrieved Vaughn so I could nurse him. Dave set his timer on his phone just in case I fell asleep. When it went off, Dave immediately came to my side of the bed and took Vaughn into the nursery. This trip was followed by crying and screaming. Vaughn was not ready to go back to bed!

We pushed the sleep trainer to let him cry for fifteen minutes. He would not stop! Instead, his wails grew louder and louder. Then, when he started to choke a tiny bit on his spit, Dave and I leaped out of bed to see if he was okay, which he was just fine (we had a little bit of a spit-choking scare earlier in the day that made us on edge). The cries started up again. I could see on the TV (from the video monitor) that Vaughn had rolled onto his stomach, lifted his head up, and couldn't roll back over. Instead, he got up on his knees and proceeded to army crawl from one end of the crib to the next! Yes, at four months of age, he decided to start crawling in the middle of the night. (He attempted to crawl a little today during playtime but nothing like last night). Even though he was not a happy camper, Dave and I couldn't help but laugh. Shortly after watching Vaughn struggle, I went in his room to comfort him. I couldn't just let him lay there whimpering, so I brought him back into our room.

After about fifteen minutes, Vaughn was out. I took him back into his room at around 2:30am. I was expecting him to wake up again before morning so I didn't reset the alarm. I woke up at 6:30am, but instead of waking Vaughn I pumped. I didn't hear a peep out of him again until 7:30am.

Tonight, we put him to bed at 8pm. The plan is to let him sleep until around 1am, feed him, then possibly wake him again around 4am. This is if he doesn't beat us to our plan like last night.

***Update on Consistency...days 5 & 6*** Vaughn is doing great at learning how to nap. Today, he didn't cry for more than five minutes each time I put him down. I can tell he is starting to anticipate what is next on the schedule. It's amazing at how painful this process has been, but also how quickly it has started to work out. Now, we just need to figure out how to get Vaughn to take a longer, fuller nap as he usually wakes after 45 minutes or less. I've been putting him in the swing for the second part of his nap if he wakes too early. It's been working well. And I'll take 45 minutes over no nap any day!