Baby Wised Our Lives

As unbearable as it is to think of, Cohen will be 6 months old in a couple of weeks, half of a year old! My mind just spins at why he is still having so many troubles at this age. Why does he still wake up 4 times a night and not take 1 nap through the day?! Why does he still cry so much and struggle with Colic when Colic is supposed to end at 3ish months?! Why will he not do tummy time unless I am on my tummy looking right into his eyes?! Why does he have to be held constantly or we will all be deaf from the loudest scream on earth?!

Why is life SO HARD for little baby Cohen?! Cohen, a penny for your thoughts? I wish I could know what was going on in his little mind. My nose has been buried in books and articles reading about Colic but to no avail. Exhausted, sleep deprived, emotionally drained, and feeling absent from life for some time, something needed to change!

My dear friend Becca suggested the book Baby Wise by Ezzo & Bucknam. I knew a little bit about the Baby Wise thing and knew it was about strict scheduling. I dismissed this idea because I figured a baby has to actually sleep to have a sleeping schedule right? LOL I was a little wrong there. Last week Becca brought over the book for me and I read it all in one day, the day that was going to turn things around for us. We have been at this for one week now, and it has been amazing! Let me back up just a little here =)

This picture is classic Cohen for the first 5 months of his life. Scream scream scream while Peyton pleads with him to sh sh sh sh sh sh sh.When Cohen was born I was very much an "on demand" nurser. I felt that was necessary for maximum milk production. We quit nursing at 3 months, but continued feeding him on demand. He had no eating schedule. At 5 months he was not satisfied with the milk, he needed more so we started him on bananas, once again on demand. Sometimes in the morning, and other times in the afternoon, no schedule. As far as sleeping I would lit him take 5 minute cat naps here and there and I would run to the bathroom or try to load the dishwasher before he would wake up. Chaos, pure chaos!

When we started the schedule, the bottles and bananas were the first thing to get set in stone. This took him a little while to get used to, but it was not bad. Then we started with the naps, one morning nap and one afternoon nap. There were two hard parts of this for me. Not letting him take his 5 minute cat naps that I got EVERYTHING done in, and letting him cry for 15 minutes in his crib before he would fall asleep. The first day felt crazy, I think we had more crying than any usual day! He was confused and I was determined.

By day two he was pretty much on board with the naps, cutting them a little short but getting at least 1 1/2 hours of sleep. That works for me! He has been doing pretty good ever since. Not perfect by any means, but SO much better! He still fights the naps and cries for about 10 to 15 minutes before he will fall asleep, but he sleeps through the night! We CAN NOT be out and about for the nap times, he will only sleep in his crib. And I dare not be 2 seconds late for feeding time!

Here is a picture of a much more rested and happy little baby boy. One that was crying out for his mommy to be a little more structured with him.

Not all babies need such structure, Peyton created his own routine just fine. But Cohen has been different from Peyton in just about every way. Cohen is still very Colicy and has a hard time with his tummy, but napping and a full nights sleep has made our whole family so much happier! Our days are MUCH MORE limited, between both of the boys staggering naps we can not get out much, so good thing I absolutely love being home =)

I am sure most of you are thinking "I would have thought of that much sooner than 5 1/2 months old" and I am baffled at the fact that I did not buckle down and try this sooner also, especially since I am a scheduling control freak in most areas of life. In any case, I am glad we are doing this now and that it is working =) An answered prayer!

Oh and I promise a Peyton post soon, hopefully I will be able to spend a little more quality time with blog now, oh how I have missed you!