SLEEP TRAINING WITH JENNY

I have been receiving SO many questions regarding how Lawrence is sleeping through the night at 2 months old.  I wish I could take credit for this, but the truth is that we hired a baby nurse who in fact turned out to be the baby whisperer angel sent from the heavens above.  She has agreed to share the schedule we keep him on, but would like to be clear that Lawrence is by nature a very calm baby and every child is different.  We hope this helps some, but it might not work for all so don't be discouraged should your child need something different than this.

Keep in mind that the magic mark for any sort of feeding stabilization is 10 lbs. When Lawrence reached that weight, at about 10 weeks,  he started to get 4-5 oz. of formula per feeding (I stopped breastfeeding at 8 weeks due to lack of supply). He was fed every 3.5 hours during the day until 9 p.m. After the last feed, we stopped waking him up to feed him and let him sleep until he woke up in the night...about 1 a.m. and 4 to 5 a.m.  

During this time we:

 1. Bathed him every other day at about 7 p.m.

2. Swaddled him well before the 9 p.m. feeding 

3.  Burped him at about 3 oz. and then again at the end of the bottle

4.  Did not turn on any lights or interact with him during the night feedings (which was SO hard)

(After he was 10 lbs., we did not change his diaper after the 1 a.m. feeding unless he had pooped!).

At 11lbs., we increased his milk to 6 oz. His last feeding of the day was at 8 p.m. and he slept until 4 to 5 a.m! After two weeks of this routine, when he woke up at 4 to 5 a..m., we gave him a pacifier--he would then fall back asleep until about 7-8 a.m.

Now, at 13 weeks, he is still receiving 6 oz. of milk, and eats about every 3-4 hours during the day. We now bathe him every day ay 7 p.m., swaddle him, and give him his last bottle at 8 p.m. He sleeps ten to twelve hours, and if he does wake up at all we simply put the pacifier back in his mouth and he goes back to sleep. Soon we will push the bottle amount to 7 oz. and feed him every four hours from wakeup time until bedtime at 8 p.m.

The most important advice we have received is that consistency is everything and the more he sleeps during the day, the more he will sleep at night (Lawrence takes 1 short nap, and 2 long naps).

Happy weekend, and hope this might help some of you get some extra rest :)