This week, we are at the O'Connell Family Centre in Canterbury, which is the Mercy hospital's early childhood / sleep centre. We are working on Tabitha's sleeping, since she is still waking 1 - 3 hourly all night. She doesn't even want to be fed every time she wakes up - rather, she is just having trouble getting back to sleep when she rouses.
The O'Connell FC is wonderful - they do not do controlled crying (most 'sleep schools' do), rather they work on reading the baby's cues and responding accordingly. The philosphy here is pretty much what we have been doing at home - i.e. if Tabitha is 'grizzling' in her cot, we leave her, but if she becomes distressed, we go in and comfort her until she is completely calm. We use the techniques from Safe Sleep Space (we had this woman come to our home for a half day late last year, which was great). This has been working brilliantly with her daytime sleeps, and putting her to bed at night - I can now just put her in her sleeping bag, give her her special 'lamby' soft toy, walk out, and she will grizzle for a minute or two and then go to sleep, normally.
However, overnight, she is waking a LOT, and can't get back to sleep without being put to the breast - sometimes she feeds, but often she just latches on and goes instantly back to sleep. So, I would like her to be able to get back to sleep on her own, or even better, to not be waking all night at all! I think she is tired from all her night waking - she yawns a lot and rubs her eyes in the mornings - so hopefully if she sleeps for longer, she will be better rested. So will I!
We arrived this afternoon, and we will be staying until Friday morning. The nurses are GREAT, really kind and responsive to the babies, and do not advocate any sort of controlled crying. Another wonderful part of our stay is that, for the week, I am solely focussed on Tabitha and her sleeps - no rushing around, no cleaning, not even cooking, because all of our meals are prepared for us! For dinner tonight, we had a nice vegetable pasta, with passionfruit cheesecake for dessert, and Tabitha had steamed veggies and cooked apple. She made MUCH more mess than the other babies here, because of the baby led weaning, but all the nurses commented on how happy she is at mealtime, and how much she enjoys her food.
The main downside of our stay here is that there are lots of other babies, all with sleep issues, so there is a fair amount of crying. I imagine it will be difficult overnight - just as she is getting back to sleep, she may be woken by another crying baby. Frustrating!
Overall, I am optimistic about her learning to sleep for longer stretches, but I am not under any illusions that she will start 'sleeping through the night'. I am still perfectly happy to be feeding her once overnight (e.g. feeds at 6pm, 10pm, 2am and 6am when she wakes), but at the moment it's closer to 6, 7:30, 9, 10:30, 12, 2, 3:30, 5:30 and 6:30.
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2 comments:
I am really looking forward to reading what happened after the visit to the sleep clinic- how old is your baby? the thought of waking every hour really makes me nervous! my sisters did a technique with their babies that is ultra strict and got them sleeping through from 3 months on but I can't recall the name and it was a lot of work! Hope the sleep clinic sorted everything for you x
Hi FF - and CONGRATULATIONS on your bundle-to-be!
Tabitha is 7 months old now. We let her do as she pleased for the first 4 or 5 months, and I would do the same again - she is the most cheerful, happy and relaxed baby, and I felt good about always meeting her needs when she was a young vulnerable baby. Now she is a little older, she seems to be thriving with a little more routine.
The 'ultra strict' sleep women are Tizzie Hall and Gina Ford. To be honest, just hearing their names makes me feel all ill and hot and angry, because their methods don't sit well with me (googling something like Tizzie Hall qualifications will give you the arguments against), but I will concede that some babies seem to do just fine on the routines, and they work for some families. Some babies do not, though, and poor parents try to follow these routines and listen to their little cherubs wailing their hearts out for nights on end :( I think the main point is to listen to your baby and follow your instincts - they are there for a reason! I know you will find the best way forward with your precious little one, and I wish you all my luck. And the midnight feeds are actually lovely and special, I promise ;)
Whew. Whoops. Too much comment!
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