Tuesday, July 1, 2008

My Sleeping Babies......... and other sleepy matters......

Debi at http://bouffard11.blogspot.com/ has invited us to post our favourite "sleeping baby" pictures. So, here goes.




This is my beautiful Saraya when she was just a couple of months old. She didn't like to sleep in her bed, but always prefered to be cuddled........... I wasn't really a sling-wearer back then, which made things difficult. So, Stu would get home from work of an afternoon and I would pass him Saraya so I could get some work done! Here they are cuddling up together. I think Stuart enjoyed the excuse to have a rest after his work days anyway. :)



And here she is, big girl of 5, having a sleepover with her friend Daisy. Aren't they sweet?


This is my little man Elijah, about 4 or 5 weeks old. Saraya always liked to hold him and have her photo taken while he was sleeping! She is nearly 3 in this photo.




And this is Elijah at 2 years old doing a rare thing - having a nap in the afternoon! He had fallen asleep watching his after-lunch DVD. And cuddling his little baby doll, John. I love this photo.

This is my very favourite photo of William so far. The morning after he was born Stuart was cuddling him wrapped inside his dressing gown...... a very warm and cosy place to be!

Sleeping babies (and children) are just beautiful. So peaceful, and QUIET! Lovely.

I have a question for those Mummy readers out there. I have been blessed that William so far has naturally been a very good night-time sleeper. He generally settles between 6 and 7pm, and will sleep until 11pm or even 12 or 1am if I'm lucky! He feeds when he wakes, then feeds again at 4 and maybe again at 5:30 or 6am. Each feeding/burping is about an hour-long process. This is much better than my other two children, who would wake on the hour or two hour mark right through the night until they weaned at nearly 2!!
I feel the mistake I made with my other two is that I always fed them to sleep on the breast. I know this works for many people, but in all honesty it never really did for us. It just meant that they would wake, find they were not on the breast, and look for it, day in, day out.

William so far sometimes falls asleep on the breast (night feeds for instance), but otherwise is happy to fall asleep in the sling or just being held or patted on my shoulder. However, I would like to get to the point as he gets older where I am able to give him a feed and burp, cuddle etc. and then tuck him in his bed. I'm not willing to have him scream and cry himself to sleep - I would just love him to be able to self-settle I guess. Especially for a daytime nap when he's bigger. My others immediately stopped having a day sleep when they weaned...... I wasn't ready for them give up their nap, and neither were they really! They just didn't know it. :( I know friends who can pop their baby into bed at naptime and they go off to sleep. Am I kidding myself? How does one get to that point? At what stage do you start to put your baby into bed awake and have them go off to sleep? I would love any ideas or advice on this topic! I know how to settle my babies but am keen to learn how William can learn to settle himself to sleep if possible......

Thanks!!!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Saminda, those pictures are just wonderful! I especially love the first one, and also the one of William inside Stu's dressing gown. Sweet little darlings!

I always nursed my girls just until they were starting to doze off, but not until they were completely asleep. I would very highly recommend the book, "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. He is a leading sleep researcher in the U.S., and his methods are based on how the body's sleep rhythms develop. I love his common-sense approach, and we've always had great success with his methods. He suggests beginning sleep-training at around 6 weeks of age, but doesn't advocate harsh, rigid schedules or anything like that. He offers very good advice for babies on up to the teenage years. Whenever my girls are having a sleep problem, I always go back to his book, and his suggestions never fail to correct the problem. You can find this book on Amazon.

Hope this helps :)

debi9kids said...

OMGosh! These pictures are just GORGEOUS!!! That final one should be B&W and framed in a gallery!!! B*E*A*U*T*I*F*U*L!!!

Thanks fr playing along!
As for the putting them to bed without fussing...I am afraid my advice isn't the best because I didn't nurse. I is so much easier to givea bottle and put a baby down than it is to nurse and put a baby down. Not sure why, but that seems to be the case. I don't know if it's because nursing babies eat more often, so they are used to a lot more nurising/cuddling than bottle-fed babies? I just know that all of my babies were able to be put down to bed by 3 months old without much fussing.
I wish I knew what to suggest... I hope you can find a way to get it to work for you. :)
Debi

Tabbatha said...

Love the sleeping pictures. My DH loved to snuggle with my girls like that. The boys arent snugglers though, wish they were.

I think I started putting the boys down awake for naps and bedtime around a year old, maybe a little older. They fussed but didnt take long to catch on that it was time to sleep. They are going on 17 months and still take a daytime nap. Like I said they arent snugglers and prefer falling asleep in bed, they wont sit still long enough to fall asleep anywhere else.

Renata said...

Oh your kids are just gorgous!
As for sleeping - I'm not sure if I can help, but my twins are self settlers. With my eldest 2 I was like you - I would feed them to sleep- & they even slept in our bed at night - just so it was easier for me. But then I had twins. I must admit they did come out of special care in an excellent routine & I was able to keep this routine & then slowly vary it as they got older - it was feedtime, awake time, sleeptime. I think this just helped them to self settle, but I also think it helped them having another baby with them (because they were not being left out so to speak by the other kids). I'm sure there was some crying, but it cannot have been much ( I cannot handle babies lying in bed crying). I think dummys were very handy for this (& everyone I know with self settlers also used dummys). Now it has lead to my best sleepers yet - my elder 2 both dropped daytime sleeps at 18 months, but the boys continue to walk into their room for rest time (after lunch til 3pm)each day. I wish I could help more with how this came about, but seriously their first few months passed in such a daze I can't remember - I know they did get used to having to wait (having 4 under 4 it's impossible for them not to) Anyway my other 2 are good sleepers now - no different from other kids their age, so I think either method works in the end!
Renata :)

jazzy cat said...

I'm no mummy so no advice...but just wanted to add another exclamation of delight at those photos! I do love the ones of Stu and Saraya/Elijah - the light in the one with Elijah is just so warm and emotive (let alone the subject matter :-) ). Great seeing the photos - and seeing how they've changed over the years/keep on changing.

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