I know I've mentioned getting Quentin on a schedule more than once and it was my intention to do so as soon as possible, but it was all bad timing. My in-laws came the week I wanted to start him on the schedule and it was just too stressful trying to keep him awake when he wanted to be asleep and vice versa. I decided that we were doing better before I tried to get him on the schedule and fell back into demand feeding/sleeping.
It soon became apparent that I wasn't doing so well. I couldn't figure out if I was depressed or just really tired and it started to freak me out. I was pretty ambivalent about everything and it made me sad that I wasn't really enjoying my baby. I was just too tired. I felt impressed to give the New Contented Little Baby Book by Gina Ford a try. I had flipped through the schedule before and I have a nice chart someone put together, but I felt like it was too ridged. This time I actually read the book and it teaches you how to implement the schedule, which has been so helpful. I really wish I would have read it before I had Quentin, or at least in the first few weeks. Now I carry it around with me all day and refer to it constantly.
To say that this book has solved all my problems isn't exactly true, but sometimes it feels like it. I actually just started on Friday and it's only Tuesday so I probably should be too overly confident, but I am feeling so much better and so is Quen. I has done all that it espouses to do. It says that it will help the baby sleep at night and be happy, and help the parents feel more confident in their parenting.
I feel so much better with a plan going into each day and each situation. I know when to pump and how much, when to wake him up and start putting him to bed. Every time it's time for a nap he is magically tired and often he naturally wakes up when he's supposed to. It's kind of weird actually, like she's tapped into his natural sleep/eat rhythm. I feel more prepared. Before I didn't know when he was going to want to eat or sleep and I was always nervous that he was "snacking."
Now I know what is a good amount for him to eat and when and he's much happier. During the middle of the day he always became fussy and I was so ready for my husband to come home by about 3:00. I hadn't slept and he was so ornery, it just wasn't fun. Now we play and laugh during the day because he's getting enough sleep and food. He was awake for too long during the day and so he was overtired, but I didn't know that.
He is rarely hungry. I would only feed him when he showed signs of hunger and he was probably famished by then. So don't worry that your baby is going to starve to death if you put him on this schedule. He's definitely eating for longer periods of time and according to my i-Pod app is eating for the same amount of time during the day as he was before (around three hours).
Another benefit has been my milk supply. My milk supply has been so much better now that demand has been up. It's been hard to get Quen to eat for more than ten minutes at a time, but he's getting better and last night he got his full 40 minutes in before bed and slept so much better. Now he's much more likely to hit the hind milk at every feeding as well. The times she has me express work nicely with my supply and my over supply problems have diminished dramatically. It's pretty much a non-issue right now.
Quen's late night wake-ups are about the same in quantity, but the quality has changed. Last night he woke-up at 11:45, but since he had just ate for 40 minutes I knew it wasn't because he was hungry so I quickly rocked him back to sleep. He then didn't wake up until 3:00 AM, he ate for 10 minutes and then didn't wake up again until 6:20 AM. I think he's waking up early (before 7 AM) because he hears my husband's alarm go off. I'm so excited for him to have his own room so this won't be a problem anymore and we can get super light blocking drapes.
Another benefit is that he's sleeping from 7 PM - 10:30 PM, which is allowing my husband and me more time together. We can make dinner together since one person isn't taking care of the baby, and we have a lot to do in organizing our move and picking out things for the new condo so we need time to be together and get things done. It is taking time to really get on track, but every day is better. The first two nights he only slept from 7 - 9 PM, then the third night he made it all the way to 10:30 and we were so excited - high fives all around :)
Quentin is sleeping better during the day and I'm finally getting the sleepy cues he's putting out so he doesn't get over tired. When I miss the cue he's a mess and won't sleep unless I carry him around in the Moby - I just figured this out yesterday. Right now he's in his bed napping! His morning nap went perfectly (he didn't even cry when he woke up which he always does and he's pretty much stopped fussing when I change his diaper) so we'll see if he can manage to stay asleep for the whole 2.5 hrs for his lunch nap. He hasn't ever managed it before in his bed.
The thought of putting myself on such a strict schedule scared me, but now I feel empowered by it. I know what I can do and when and I can do so I can plan my days better, I actually have more free time. I know that the schedule works and it's given me a challenge to better implement it everyday. I am learning how I can tweak it when things go wrong so it doesn't throw off the whole day. Hopefully now I will have the time to take care of myself and the house which will definitely help me feel better. I feel so much happier, which in an of itself will be a huge benefit to all of us.
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