7am - wake and feed
9am - sleep
11am - wake and feed
1pm - sleep
3pm - wake and feed
4.30pm - walk in the pram (possible nap until 5.15pm at the latest)
5.30pm - bath
6pm - feed
7pm - bed
10.30pm - dream feed
It is largely working, except the daytime sleeps are often not for 2 hours and Zoe has been waking around 4.30-5.30am. This is really tiring because she's ready to start the day and I'm just exhausted at that time of the morning.
Anyway, according to the 'Save our Sleep' book, one of the things that can cause early morning waking is being cold. For all the time Zoe has been around, we've been really focussed on not letting her get too hot, rather than too cold. The average temp in Sydney this summer has rarely dropped below 20 deg C at night and has been much higher during the day.
Her room temp is about 25 deg C, sometimes higher in the late afternoon. I've been leaving her windows open at night to try and cool things down and the temp goes down to 23 deg C overnight. She's mainly just been wearing a singlet and a nappy in the house because its so hot.
But last night, I put her in an all-in-one suit with long sleeves and legs. I was worrying about her being too hot and the SIDS concern, but guess what - she slept until 6.05am!!! I was so happy and I am sure the extra warmth did the trick.
Tizzie Hall, the author of Save our Sleep, says Australian babies are often not put to bed in enough layers. People feel like it is quite hot so they underdress the baby. I guess Zoe just needs more clothes on at night than we do. LH and I don't wear any clothes to bed in summer - its just too hot but her body temp must be a bit lower than ours.
Anyway, I am feeling very pleased about this and hope we can continue it. Starting the day at 6am is far more preferable to 4.30am or even 5.30am. As for the daytime sleeps, it seems its quite common for babies Zoe's age not to be able to string more than one sleep cycle together during the day (45 mins), so I'm not going to worry about it for now. She should be able to sleep longer during the day as she gets older.
1 comment:
Hi! I just found your blog while doing a search for breastfeeding and IVF. It's amazing - you’re just ahead of me - time wise- with your little one. I've just had my first baby (6 weeks old) through IVF after 5 years. I'm 39, live in Sydney, had trouble breastfeeding and do supplementary feeds with formula. I'm still deciding if I want to do IVF again because of the rollercoaster of emotions through trying and risks during pregnancy. We have 3 frozen embryos as well so it's a big decision to make either way. I love every day with our gorgeous baby - the journey to get here really does put the sleepless nights, crying and pooey nappies in perspective. It only takes one little smile to melt your heart. I'll be interested if you do find any studies on longevity of breastfeeding. best wishes. M
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