For Lydia, it seems like 4 months was a turning point for her. We've been living with my parents after moving all our stuff to the new house. The house still needs work, but that's an entirely different post. Before moving, I had tried leaving Lydia unswaddled and that was an epic fail, waking up every hour through the night...I quickly reinstated the swaddle. Here at mom and dads we started swaddling her again for naps. She was working one arm out and finding her thunb, so we just started leaving that arm out. I also switched her to a 3 1/2 hour feeding schedule because she was SCREAMING at me at 3 hours and refusing to eat. This combination of events, or maybe just her getting older every day, seemed to do the trick! She started taking nice long naps that I would wake her from to eat...at which point she would eat, sometimes both sides (yay!) and then be pleasant til it was nap time again!
On the 3 1/2 hour schedule, I was cluster feeding in the evening (6, 9, 11ish) then feeding her around 3 AM if she woke...but then it was getting closer to morning, and we let her CIO a bit. She was waking up once or twice, but usually we could give her the pacifier and it would soothe her, so I knew she wasn't really hungry. She doesn't hold on to the pacifier like Abram did, she'll suck for a few seconds when I lay her down and then spit it out...unfortunately, I think we have a thumb sucker...and I'm going to just let her be one. Once she found her thumb, she was putting herself back to sleep, and after a few nights she was managing 7-8 hour stretches. Hallelujah! It will be a much harder habit to break than the paci, but I'll deal with that when the time comes.
At 4 1/2 months, I've switched her to 4 hour schedule and it is GLORIOUS! I'm waking her at 7 to eat, she plays on her mat or swings while I get Abram (and myself) up and around. Nap from 9-11, eat at 11, awake til 1, nap 1-3 (Abram down at the same time=Mommy nap or movie....or chores), eat at 3 before Abram wakes up, awake til 5, nap 5-7 (sometimes shorter), eats when she wakes and then ready for bed between 8 and 8:30. I do a dream feed (df) close to 11....and she sleeps til I wake her! Like I said, GLORIOUS! This has worked for the past week and I hope to stick to this, eventually dropping the dream feed...and will probably have to pump for comfort!
Love this expression...looks so much like Abram.
She has been spitting up MUCH less that she used to...she still does, but it's not everywhere, every feed and in between, so I haven't felt the need for bibs to accessorize every outfit. I hate bibs covering up cute clothes! She is a very pleasant baby, smiley and TALKATIVE! She screeches and babbles all the time on her play mat, until I come near, then she smiles and stares at me. Abram can get her to giggle slightly, but she's not a big laugher yet. Abram never was really, always just gave him hiccups!
At her 4 month appointment she was 13 lbs (10-25%), 24 inches (25-50%)...I never put any of Abrams stats on the blog, and his baby book is still in a box, but I KNOW he was never this low in the length percentile...Lydia might have inherited the Cunningham genes when it comes to height!
Lydia went with us to the house in Henryville to get the final load and clean it all up! She was a very good baby and let me get SO much done while Curtis was attending to some real estate business!
As I write this, April is almost over...we'll be in our new house soon...I'll be making baby food again soon! The weather is slowly, SLOWLY getting warmer and I'm excited to use my new stroller around town! Can't wait for summer....pool weather!
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