Humidifiers

Winter in Japan is dry. Gettin' zapped every time one touches the car, dry.
Last year, in preparation for baby, we bought a humidifier and used it a lot at first when Pi came home from the hospital. Then summer hit; no humidifier needed- no, really. Then I started using it a bit but it had a funny 'moldy' smell to it, so I stopped until I had the time to investigate properly.

Today I finally did and I couldn't see any mould, however there was a bit of red discolouration. Needless to say, the whole thing got a good scrub and then I learned from the internet that it should be scrubbed after every use. My word, who has time for that.

That is my biggest problem with buying things in Japan. Most of the time I can figure out how to work them, but things like 'manufacturer's instructions' are completely ignored.

Thankfully, the smell seems to be gone. I also thought I would add a bit of tea tree oil in there now that Pi is a bit older, to help kill any germs in there, or in the air.

Now his room smells like home.

What do teething and glaciers have in common?

Both mover at a ridiculously slow pace....


We have our bottom teethies well and truly pushed out now. As of last week, however, the top ones are coming through. Unlike the bottom ones that cut in a few days each, the top ones are taking about a week. Much like the bottom teeth, the top teeth are pushing out one after the other with only a few days apart. Unfortunately for little Pi, we are still going.

He is one of those babies that is really bothered by teething, the poor little man. I've been trying to go easy on the Nurofen and Panadol- only giving it when he really seems to need it. The Bongela has been applied at least once daily, but I give up on it to a point at Pi knows what I am about to do and shuts his mouth and moves it away every time I get close. Which means that I am not sure exactly how much I get on the tooth part. Not very much, at a guess.

I have also bought "Hylands teething tablets" off of I-herb.com. I am not sure how much they work, and have only given him the actual tablets twice, as by the time they arrived in the mail, his discomfort seemed to be largely over.

Thankfully, one of the top ones has pushed through, and the second one is mostly there. He seems to be sleeping better and a little less grumpy. Apparently, this is the 'usual' order of when teeth come in (obviously, all babies are different and not all follow this trend).

Lower central incisors- between  4 and 7 months
Upper central incisors- between 8 and 12 months
Upper lateral incisors-  between 9 and 13 months
Lower lateral incisors- between 10 and 16 months
Upper first molars- between 13 and 19 months
Lower first molars- between 14 and 18 months
Upper canines- between 16 and 22 months
Lower canines- between 17 and 23 months
Lower seconds molars- between 23 and 31 months
Upper second molars- between 25 and 33 months

and that's the set of baby teeth! Most kids will apparently have the set by 3 years.

Sleep training Day 19, 20 and 21

So, I had taken my log, but not written it up on here. These are the last three days of sleep training. I have slacked off with the 'training' part a lot because Pi keeps teething, or learning how to crawl, or started with separation anxiety, so I want to be there for him as much as possible. Things that remained the same is he still goes to sleep, in his crib without me there. But I do come in a lot or talk to him at intervals. He seems to go to sleep better when I am not in the room (If I stay and rub his back, he gets angry), but I give him my verbal reassurance, and obviously pick him up or rub his back if he is getting distressed.
The other thing that has changed, is I feed him closer to three times a night, instead of two. It sucks, but I figure if he is teething he wants the extra comfort, and that way he is still getting plenty of milk.


So this is how Day 19 looked:

Nap 1- 1 mins to get to sleep- 26 minutes sleep.
Nap 2-  in car- 1 hr and 9 minutes sleep.- slept with engine off
Nap 3- 6 mins to get to sleep- 29 minute sleep.

Bed (at 6:52pm)- 3 mins to get to sleep

During the night:

10:17pm-* 10 mins to get back to sleep
1:59am-* 10 mins to get back to sleep

Awake at 5:53am

*fed

How amazing was that night sleep!


This is how Day 20 looked

Nap 1- 4 mins to get to sleep- 14 minutes sleep. (possibly teething)
Nap 2- in pram- 27 minutes sleep.
Nap 3- 5 mins to get to sleep- 20 minute sleep.

Bed (at 6:40pm)- 0 mins to get to sleep

During the night:

10:50pm*- 16 mins to get back to sleep
12:46pm - 8 mins to get back to sleep
1:20am - 10 mins to get back to sleep
3:25am*- 12 mins to get back to sleep

Awake at 6:43am
*fed
He might have been teething today. Not so great naps and a few night wakings.

This is how day 21 looked:

Nap 1- 3 mins to get to sleep- 26 minutes sleep.
Nap 2- 2 mins to get to sleep- 1 hr and 20 minutes sleep. By himself!
Nap 3- 2 mins to get to sleep- 34 minute sleep.

Bed (at 6:43pm)- 1 mins to get to sleep

During the night:

10:43pm-  7 mins to get back to sleep
*dream fed him at 1am

Awake at 6am

Wow!


From what I have learnt, while he still only catnaps, he will occasionally go longer by himself. I din't think there is a pattern. I have tried all the combinations (eg, food, no food, freshest nappy, long time awake, short time awake) and nothing seems to be consistent. If I were to deny him milk at night, I am sure he would sleep through. I am not ready to do that though. I figure I can do another 5 months of feeding through the night before I cut it out. That opinion might change though. I definitely do not want to feed any more than 3 times a night though- otherwise 4 times soon turns into 5, and then we are back to 10 night wakings.

We are about to go on holidays back to Australia for almost a month, so after we return we will reassess the night wakings and see if we can get it down to 1 or 2 consistently. I wish we could do a consistent bed time- (it's always between 6 and 7ish), but until he naps start extending, he can be super tired so I wouldn't want to keep him up until 7 if he needs to sleep.

Washing

I never would have thought that I would look forward to doing the washing.

Pi, it seems, gets bored so quickly. When we go out he is a little angel (mostly), but when we are at home he gets so fussy because he is bored. I can't blame him either. I never have the TV on, and it's not like he has facebook or emails to check. Our house is (while sizeable for Japan), small with only a few rooms (2LDK), which can all be toured and explored in about 15 mins. Which means that after he has played with his toys, he is bored.

I try to take him for walks and all, though it is getting colder these days and worry about him freezing as he likes to kick his blanket off of him.

Though, when Mummy does her chores- doing the dishes, and especially washing the clothes- he loves to watch and keeps him entertained for a while. He used to love watching me cook, but not so much these days. It does mean that the clothes are washed more like how Japanese people wash their clothes (once a day, or two), whereas we used to wait until the weekend and do a megaload.
Too bad he really hates the vacuum cleaner these days, otherwise the house would be spick and span.

And we're off!

As of Sunday, Pi started army crawling. We discovered he could do it while I was giving him tummy time on the carpet at Husband's school (he had an event on Sunday). He started motoring. forward, pulling himself along and pushing with his leg. Later that night during 'nudie' time (I give him nudie time every night to help prevent nappy rash and air out the 'bits') he could pull himself along. Now he can even do it fully clothed and on the hardwood floors.

It looks super awkward, and not 'proper' crawling, but he can get around... Which means he can get into things and I need to keep the house cleaner.... yay, and *sigh* for cleaning...

I wonder if real crawling comes soon, or if he will just army crawl until he walks.

Very Crafty....

Pi and I have a game he loves to play. It's called- pulling off and losing my socks. He loves it. Me, not so much.

Apparently socks aren't just for feet, but also tasty snacks- which is probably why they are dripping wet most of the time. They are also extra work for shop assistants that find baby socks in the aisles and madly dash around playing "match the sock to the baby". Thankfully, so far all lost socks have been returned, but I really don't want to trouble the workers any more.

I found a great product called "Sock Ons"






They can be bought off Ebay or Amazon, but between the shipping and the fact the Pi's socks never fit, I thought I would try and make something similar.

Feeling rather crafty (pun intended), I had some elastic around the house that I bought from daiso, and some felt that I bought from the craft store. Taking care not to make them too tight, I whipped these up... They work great.





Now I don't need to play "find the sock" any more.

$$$

Money, money, money... While I didn't get much in the way of bonuses from my work place- no maternity leave pay or anything from the government due to the "creative phrasing" my boss uses for various reasons., we do get the monthly child allowance. In my town (Ninomiya) for one child we get 15000yen a month. Which is great considering that I am breastfeeding. So that covers nappies (diapers), toys, and clothes each month that we buy. It's nice to be able to buy Pi lots of things and justify it (to an extent).

While I knew I was going to receive this money, I didn't know when though. It seems that payments are made at specific times of the year. As I missed the payment date for the first payment and so I was paid 75000yen all at once at the next one (45000yen + 30000yen for the first few months). This lead to a rather happy bonus for us when I checked my bank account one day.

 Mind you, we are being responsible parents and actually using that money for Pi, rather than going out and buying a Playstation. Who on earth has time for games now, anyway?


The payment is called the Jido Teate, and was applied for after the birth of my baby from city hall. I believe the payment is 15000yen/month for children under 3 years of age, and then 10000yen per month for children over 3 years. The first payment period will be calculated starting the month after the applicant is approved to receive benefits. Benefits are paid out 3 times a year, in February, June and October. The amount disbursed will be calculated based on the length of the most recent payment period, and will be transferred directly into the recipient’s designated bank account.

For more information, see this post:

Child Payment

Sitting like a champ

My little man, for the first time, got into a seated position all by himself. I think it was a complete fluke, but still. Yay! Go little fella!

Sleep training- Day 18

Today's naps were a bitter disappointment on the heels of yesterday's naps. Only 30mins each! When I calculated it, it was only 2 hours, or just over 2 hours between naps, so in the future I will try and keep him up a bit more, even when he is grizzly. See if that helps extend the naps...

This is how day 17 looked:

Nap 1- 3 mins to get to sleep- 30 minutes sleep.
Nap 2- 1 mins to get to sleep- 30 minutes sleep.
Nap 3- in prams- 30 minute sleep.

Bed (at 6:11pm)- 1 mins to get to sleep

During the night:

6:45pm- 6 mins to get back to sleep
11:20pm*- 19 mins to get back to sleep
3:54am*- 12 mins to get back to sleep

Awake at 5:30am

As you can see he had a really early bedtime as he was soooo tired.
The day had some crappy naps, but great night sleep! Go Pi-chan!

Sleep training- Day 17

WHEFESNVSFBJSRGIRG!!!! That is my excitement coming out over how fantastic his sleep was today.

This is how day 17 looked:

Nap 1- 1 mins to get to sleep- 1 hour and 37minutes sleep by himself.
Nap 2- 2 mins to get to sleep - 1 hours and 40 minutes- I nursed him at the hour mark and he went back to sleep.
Nap 3- 8 minute to get to sleep- 30 minute sleep- but I woke him up as it was getting late

Bed (at 7:15pm)- 11 mins to get to sleep with one resettle pick up.

During the night:

9:08pm- 4 mins to get back to sleep
12:12am*- 17 mins to get back to sleep
5:12am*-  18 mins to get back to sleep.- only slept for 3 mins before awake for the day

*Feed

Awake at 5:33am

How good were those naps and night wakings, hey! I was so surprised. Needless to say, my boobs were quite painful as he was going about 5 hours between feeds. A bit of an early morning, but he had so much sleep at night I think he was well rested.

Sleep training- Day 16

Well, no new teethies have popped through yet so not quite sure what is going on with the longer wake ups. He did really well for day 16 though.

This is how day 16 looked:

Nap 1- 1 mins to get to sleep- 1 hour and 12 minutes sleep by himself.
Nap 2- 11 mins to get to sleep (he was WAY overtired- over 3 hours)- 1 hours and 43 minutes- I nursed him at the hour mark and he went back to sleep.
Nap 3- 3 minute to get to sleep- 36 minute sleep.

Bed (at 7:35pm)- 0 mins to get to sleep

During the night:

11:00pm*- 15 mins to get back to sleep
2:22am*- 12 mins to get back to sleep
3:37am-  8 mins to get back to sleep.

Awake at 6:22am

I thought I should mention (if I hadn't before) that when I feed him, the time I note that it takes him to get back to sleep is more the time it takes to feed him and then get back to sleep. Most of the time when he is finished and I lay him back down, he just rolls over and goes to sleep. It takes him roughly 15 mins to feed in the night.

How great was that night sleep. Apart from the extra waking, he did so well. Three times a night is a huge improvement on 6 times. Lets hope it continues to get better. I am aiming for two, personally (and then phasing out to once, then none when he is over a year).

Sleep training- Day 15

The good news about keeping such a detailed log... I noticed that when Pi was awake for a little bit longer than the 2 hours, he slept for a longer time. We thought it worth a try to keep him up a little bit longer (even though I tested this theory ages ago) and by gee, it worked (some of the time). Some of the time is much better than none of the time.

We spend the day at the shops today, and Pi was such a great little boy. I love Terrace Mall in Tsujido. They have lots of great shops that I love, like H&M for baby clothes, and Zara, and they also have some yummy restaurants and lots of baby rooms.

This is how day 15 looked:

Nap 1- 2 mins to get to sleep- 1 hour and 9 minutes sleep by himself.
Nap 2- In the pram. Took about 10 mins to get to sleep as I tried for about 6 mins in the baby room, but that wasn't working. But then I moved to my secret dark spot in the far stairwell  that has a braille bump, and he was down in 2 mins- 1 hour sleep
Nap 3- 3 minute to get to sleep- 30 minute sleep. He may have slept longer but a screaming kid woke him.


Bed (at 7:04pm)- 4 mins to get to sleep

During the night:

8:00pm- 35 mins to get back to sleep- Possibly teething. No idea. We gave him some Nurofen, just in case.
12:00am*- 15 mins to get back to sleep
1:24am-  32 mins to get back to sleep. We think he may have been teething and gave him some more Panadol, as we don't want to overdose on one.
4:42am*- 16mins to get back to sleep.

*Feed



He had some long naps in the pram and at home, which was so great for him. We have no idea why there are a few long wake ups in there. Maybe teething issues. I wish he could tell us. We stay in the room with him at night if he needs us, and leave when he is asleep.

Sleep training- Day 14

Yes. I am still keeping a log. I figure I will keep it until 21 days (they say it takes 21 days to make a habit) and then take a log every 5 days to compare. In the "No cry sleep solution" they recommend taking a log only every 10 days, so you can see progress and don't focus on the bad nights. However I like to see it more often and like that I can go back over it every few days to see how often he is waking, etc.

This is how day 14 looked:

Nap 1- 7 mins to get to sleep- 33 minutes sleep
Nap 2- 2 mins to get to sleep- 30 minutes sleep
Nap 3- 0 minute to get to sleep- 1 hour and 50 minute sleep- BY HIMSELF!

Bed (at 6:54pm)- 1 mins to get to sleep!!!

During the night:

10:00pm*- 10 mins to get back to sleep
11:22pm-  1 hour and 52 mins to get back to sleep. We think he may have been teething and gave him some more Nurofen. We had no idea what was going on here. Husband started the settling, but I ended up finishing it as I felt so bad for him. He got back to sleep though, my poor little man. (We were in the room the whole time)
1:55am*- 10mins to get back to sleep.

Awake at 5:38am.

I couldn't believe that he slept the whole time for his third nap, without needing me to help resettle him. It's amazing stuff!

The long wake up during the night left us scratching our heads as to why though...

Sleep training- Day 13

Today, I tried the "out the door" trick. Being I did my usual routine and then walked out and waited outside the door to see if he needed me.... He didn't! I was so surprised. He just rolled over as normal and went to sleep. Wow! I felt a bit bad, not being in the room with him, but he didn't seem to mind.

This is how day 13 looked:

Nap 1- 2 mins to get to sleep- 30 minutes sleep
Nap 2- 4 mins to get to sleep- 35 minutes sleep
Nap 3- 3 minutes to get to sleep- 25 minute sleep
Nap 4- 7 mins to get to sleep- 22 minute sleep


Bed (at 6:55pm)- 0 mins to get to sleep!!!

During the night:

11:20pm*- 15 mins to get back to sleep
2:30am*- 14 mins to get back to sleep
2:52pm- 2 mins to get back to sleep - I didn't go in but sang over the baby monitor (we have a two way)
5:00am- 12 mins to get back to sleep- Sang over monitor but it didn't work, so he came into my bed at 5:13 and I nursed him to sleep. Naughty me!

*Feed

For the last nap he cried for a bit. But every time I went to go in, he started calming himself down. I felt really bad, but he got there by himself, and I was standing outside of the door the whole time, waiting for it to escalate to the point where he needed me. 

I nursed him back to sleep in my bed for the last wake up of the night. It is not a habit I should get into, but I loved it so much, and missed it so much! 

Pi slept in my arms until 7:35. So much longer that way!

Sleep training- Day 12

I think we are failing in a way (but in other ways, WINNING). I feel that we are failing as we are still in his room, and pick him up when he cries. So in the night he might still need us to provide the initial reassurance. I say might as we won't know if he needs it until we stop giving it. But I am not ready to not give it though. This sleep training thing for me, I believe, it all about balance. Finding the right amount of comfort but not dependence. I still feel, at my core that he should be attached to me 24hours a day. Husband feels differently, and while he would be okay if I put my foot down and said I needed to do it he definitely prefers having his room,and his wife back a bit more. At the end of the day it was a safety concern as much as anything, and we want to put Pi's safety first.

Thankfully, Pi is adjusting well, and I just try to give him lots of love and cuddles while he is awake to make up for the lack while he sleeps.

This is how day 12 looked:

Nap 1- 4 mins to get to sleep- 47 minutes sleep
Nap 2- Sleep in car- 20 minute sleep
Nap 3- 1 minute to get to sleep- 25 minute sleep
Nap 4- Fussed for 15 mins and then was too late for a nap.


Bed (at 6:22pm)- 0 mins to get to sleep!!!

During the night:

6:54pm- 9 mins to get back to sleep
8:30pm- 5 mins to get back to sleep (Husband did this one)
10:30pm*- 16 mins to get back to sleep
12:00am- 10mins to get back to sleep.
2:02am*- 16 mins to get back to sleep

Awake at 5:35


I get really frustrated when he doesn't have a long nap- and so does he. He gets super cranky now, or maybe I just notice it more. I tried to put him down for a fourth nap (as the first three were so short) but he cried, and next thing you know it was too late for a nap, else it would have messed with his bedtime.

I wonder if he was up so early due to the earlier bed time. I tried resettling, but wasn't having any of it.

Sleep training- Day 11

Wow, past the day 10 mark. The day 10 mark is significant for us, as we decided that at day 10, we would assess the progress (if any) and work out if it is affecting Pi positively, or poorly. We believe that Pi has been affected positively. He goes down without a fuss, mostly, and every time he cries in the night we are straight there to give him a quick cuddle and reassurance (while this might need to change in a week or two). In turn, Pi has been sleeping a little bit better (both night time and naps), and is quicker to fall asleep- which is good for me, obviously, but also good for him, as he is not getting distressed about being over tired and unable to switch his brain off.

This is how Day 11 looked:



Nap 1- 2 mins to get to sleep- 47 minute sleep
Nap 2- 6 mins to get to sleep- 28 minute sleep
Nap 3- 1 min to get to sleep- 1hour and 20 mins by himself + extra 40 minutes after feeding and resettle.

Bed (at 6:43pm)- 1 mins to get to sleep!!!

During the night:

*He woke briefly at about 8pm by us, so I am not counting that.
10:25pm*- 10 mins to get back to sleep
10:45pm- 10 minutes to get back to sleep
1:54am*- 20 mins to get back to sleep
5:02am*- 40 mins to get back to sleep- he was woken by Husband and wouldn't resettle. After trying for 40mins, including nursing him, I took him into our bed to have a cuddle and comfort nurse. He fell asleep for another hour after that.

Awake at 6:42am.

I feel like we are kind of making progress at night. He is taking a long time to nurse at night. He is usually finished in 10 minutes or so in the day. I think I notice it more as I am sleepy and uncomfortable, and though I used to nurse him ALL night (Or it seemed that way), at least I was nursing while I was snuggled in bed with my little boy, so it wasn't as much of a chore (in fact, I kind of miss it...sometimes)

Sleep training- Day 10

After two lovely nights of sleep, he had another really bad night. When I checked on his tooth progress the next day, the tooth next to his recently cut tooth is bulging. No wonder- poor little man. Not sure when this one will cut through, but it looks to be two teeth in the space of a week...


Here is how Day 10 looked.

Nap 1- 3 mins to get to sleep- 1 hr and 32 mins sleep. He did it all himself. No resettle by me!!! :D
Nap 2- 5 mins to get to sleep- 1 hr and 25 mins sleep- He was resettled by me after 25 mins.


Bed (at 6:46pm)- 1 mins to get to sleep!!!

During the night:

10:20pm*- 10 mins to get back to sleep
11:50pm- 10 mins to get back to sleep (Husband did this one)
1:10am- 27 mins to get back to sleep (I did this one)- I also gave some Nurofen, just in case as he was constantly waking.
2:00am*- dreamfed while he was asleep
3:30am- 30 mins to get back to sleep (husband did this one)
5:58am- 4 mins to get back to sleep.  Then slept for a few minutes before I went in and got him for the day.

As you can see, lots of night wakings. Maybe it wasn't just the teething and because he only had two long naps. I really wanted him to have three and even planned for him to have three, but as we were going back in the house at nap time one of the Obachans (granny) from the neighbourhood had a chat for a while, and then there was a sales man and next time I knew it was way too late to put him down. Because he had two long naps (more sleep in two, than he usually has in four) he was able to stay awake without being to cranky, but I wonder if it affected his night sleep... It might be a bit of discomfort due to the bulging tooth. He didn't have a pained cry though. See how the next few nights go...

Sleep training- Day 9

Pi finally seems to have stopped teething. Or, at least isn't in discomfort anymore. He is back to his usual happy self, and I am very happy to report was sleeping like a champ!

Here is how Day 9 looked:

Nap 1- 2 mins to get to sleep- 29 mins sleep-
Nap 2- 7 mins to get to sleep (in pram at shops)- 25 mins sleep
Nap 3 - 13 mins to get to sleep- I nursed him because he was approaching 4 hours and might have been hungry- 29 min sleep + 40 min sleep with nursing resettle.


Bed (at 6:37pm)- 6 mins to get to sleep!!!

During the night:

9:46pm- 16 mins to get back to sleep (took a few pick ups/put downs as he was a bit upset)
1:16am*- Dreamfeed- I don't think he woke up. I can't remember as I am so tired, but I am pretty sure I woke up without him crying, looked at the time and then fed him.
4:55am*- He woke up to Husband's alarm. I nursed him back to sleep as he was due for a feed.


Awake at 6:07- due to neighbour's alarm.

Can you believe that sleep! Go Pi!!!

Sleep training- Day 8

Day 8 caused a re-write of the rules. Little Pi seemed to be in pain, and there is no way that I was going to withhold comfort when he really needed it. Thankfully, Mum also brought over Nurofen, as well as Panadol for Pi, which meant that he could be without pain at night. I read that Nurofen is better for teething (if your baby is old enough) as it is a pain killer (like Panadol) but also reduces inflammation of the gums.

I figure that I would rather plateau or take a step back from sleep training, than push him to settle on his own when he needs me. I want to be gentle regardless, and it is one thing to give a gentle nudge towards better sleep, and another (I feel) to withhold comfort when it is needed.

This is how day 8 looked:


Nap 1- 4 mins to get to sleep- 1 hour and 2 mins sleep- Pi woke up at 6:13, and didn't go back to sleep, so I think that is why he had a longer nap. He might have had even longer 'twere not for Husband and his lack of stealth...
Nap 2- 0 mins to get to sleep- 12 mins sleep- fell asleep in the car.
Nap 3 - 2 mins to get to sleep- 40 min sleep
Nap 4 - 7 mins to get to sleep- 20 min sleep.

Bed (at 6:35pm)- 2 mins to get to sleep!!!

During the night:

8:35pm- 15 mins to get back to sleep
9:10pm- 30 mins to get back to sleep (he only slept for 10 minutes after the last wake up. We gave him some Panadol, and Bonjela again. Poor little man.
12:50am*- ***HE HADN'T WOKEN UP YET*** I woke up and dreamfed him, as he hadn't been fed since 6:15pm and wanted him to have a nice belly full of warm milk and comfy Mummy cuddles. I gave him a dose of Nurofen too, just in case.
4:00am*- 4 mins to get back to sleep. It had only been just over 3 hours, but I figured it was close enough to morning to give him a top up, and wanted him to have the comfort due to teething.


Awake at 6:07.

I was so surprised that he slept- really- until 4am (if you don't count the dreamfeed). I am calling it a fluke for now, but we will see...

Brand new toys!

Today, we went to 'ToysRus' and spent way too much money in one visit. Now that Little Pi is over 6 months, we are finding his toys are getting a little bit boring for him. 'ToysRus' happened to be having a sale, so we bought lots of things. It came to just over 8000yen, but we bought:


 Imaginarium Learning Board Books
 Imaginarium Learning Chunky Alphabet Board Books

 Imaginarium Learning Chunky Number Board Books

Leap frog animal adventure activity centre
 Bruin Inflatable Roller
Yookidoo Musical Snail

Unfortunately, Pi hated ALL of them except the books. The snail, in particular, made him really scared. It is battery operated and plays a really creepy tune as it rolls along.

Still, at least we have some toys for when he is ready for them.

Sleep training- Day 7

The teething has finally begun....!

Which meant that he had his cranky pants on ALL day, and his night sleep was a little messed up. We still stuck with our new plan and it worked so well!!! If Pichan ever got too upset then we still picked him up and comforted him when he needed it. I made sure to give him lots of cuddles in the day and still at night so he felt as comforted as possible, while still allowing him to develop the ability to self soothe.


Here is how Day 7 looked:

Nap 1- 1 mins to get to sleep- 39 mins sleep
Nap 2- 2 mins to get to sleep- 36 mins sleep + 38 minutes after patting and shh-ing back to sleep.
Nap 3 - 4 mins to get to sleep- 25 min sleep

Never did I do more than the initial "twinkle twinkle/good night" speech. Present, but boring.

Bed (at 6:42pm)- 3 mins to get to sleep!!! Only cried for 60 seconds.


During the night:

7:25pm- 3 mins to get back to sleep
10:20pm*- 15 mins to get back to sleep
12:00am- 14 mins to get back to sleep
2:25am*- 33 mins to get back to sleep- maybe teething pain so I gave him some "Bonjela" than Mum brought over from Australia.
4:53am  - 51 mins to get back to sleep. He cried a bit, so after 4 times of the plan, we gave him some more Bonjela and some baby Panadol (also brought from Australia) just in case it was teething pain.



*Nursed at night

He woke up at 6:13, which was only 29 minutes sleep since he last went down. Husband ended up getting up with him, instead of trying to resettle him.

During the night, it was a bit of a rough one. We think it is because of the teeth coming through. Hopefully after it has finished we will see an improvement in the amount of times he wakes up at night.

Sleep training- Day 6

Today, I left the house. Yay! Sounds like such a small thing, but for me it was so nice to get to the shops (even if it is the boring, local ones) and have a coffee and not look at my walls for a day. Little Pi enjoyed it too, and I figured that he had been doing so many of his naps in his crib that it would probably be okay to get out for a bit. I think we both needed it.

Here is how Day 6 looked:

Nap 1- 3 mins to get to sleep- 23 mins sleep
Nap 2- 17 mins to get to sleep- 32 mins sleep
Nap 3 - 4 mins to get to sleep- 25 mins sleep and then another hour and 25 minutes while/after nursing.

Nap two was done in the pram at the shops. I deliberately didn't put on the white noise to see if he would drop off. It took a while of just wheeling him around and sang "twinkle twinkle" twice, but eventually he went to sleep. For nap 3 I didn't do anything though. Just sat in the chair to be present, but boring. It worked much better.

Bed (at 6:39pm)- 25 mins to get to sleep (see below)

During the night:

11:20pm*- 8 mins to get back to sleep
1:26pm- 3 mins to get back to sleep (I actually did this one instead of Husband, as I was so sleepy I thought it was just after the feeding)
3:12am*- 10 mins to get back to sleep
4:12am  - 22 mins to get back to sleep (It took a while, but he was happy, not crying)
4:38am- 17 mins to get back to sleep


At bedtime, I actually let him cry for again. This time it took a while, and it seemed that me talking to him and trying to comfort him with my voice was actually messing with him. He would almost go to sleep, and then I would say "good boy" or something, and then he would start up again.

During the night, Husbands method of settling has been a little too gentle (would pat until almost asleep). We decided we needed consistency and because our voice tended to mess him up a bit we decided on a new plan for all naps/night wakings/bedtime.

****THE PLAN****

We pick him up and cuddle him, sing "twinkle twinkle" once, and say something like "It's time for sleep now. We love you very much and hope you have big sleeps. We'll be here when you wake up. Sweet dreams, little man, nigh nighs". And then lay him down and go sit in the chair silently- so he can still see us, but we are as boring a possible and he knows he must go to sleep by himself. We watch the clock and if he is settling down after 5 minutes then we don't do anything, if he is still crying then we get up after 5 mins and do the exact same thing. Repeat every 5 mins.

*****

It worked spectacularly! He gets a lot less frustrated and after that decision he was often asleep in 5 minutes- even at night. Sometimes he tossed and turned for a bit longer, but no crying.  I don't know if this new plan would have worked if we did it straight away as it is a little like controlled crying but with us in the room, though now that we have been gently pushing him to a point, we are just fading away our presence gradually. We realise that we will also need to stop picking him up (which we will fade out to a pat, and then voice, and then nothing).

We'll try the plan for all of tomorrow and see how he goes.

Sleep Training- Day 5

Pi needed four naps today, as he was so sleepy but refused to go over the 30 min mark. He is getting really bored being at home (I have tried to keep him home to make sure all sleep is in his crib). We go for walks, and out to the park for a bit sometimes, but mostly we rotate between the three rooms in our little house (2 LDK), which needless to say- is hellaboring.

Here is how Day 5 looked:

Nap 1- 2 mins to get to sleep- 34 mins sleep
Nap 2- 4 mins to get to sleep- 30 mins sleep
Nap 3- 6 mins to get to sleep- 30 min sleep
Nap 4- 4 mins to get to sleep- 20 min sleep and then another 30 minutes while/after nursing. He would have slept longer than 30 minutes, but it was 5:10pm and I didn't want it to interfere with his bed time.

I didn't need to pat him at all again. I just soothed with my voice and sang "twinkle twinkle".

Bed (at 6:48pm)- 8 mins to get to sleep (see below)

During the night:

10:38pm*- 20 mins to get back to sleep
1:50am- 50 mins to get back to sleep
3:40am* - 20 mins to get back to sleep
5:15am- 5 mins to get back to sleep


At bedtime, I actually let him cry for 5 minutes. After I laid him down for bed he went a little crazy. I sang "twinkle twinkle" as usual and soothed with my voice, but I wanted to see what would happen if I didn't pat him. I set a timer for 5 minutes, with the expectation that if he didn't calm down on his own within 5 minutes then I would help him. But I needed to give him a chance first. I figured I was in the room and soothing him with my voice, so he would know he is not alone.

It worked. By about 4 minutes (though, it seemed much longer) he was settling down, and at 6 minutes, he fell asleep. I felt a bit bad, but figured it's better for him to do it while I am in the room, than in a few days when I am out of the room.

Sleep training- Day 4

Going to sleep for today's naps was amazingly quick! I was surprised at how little he fussed. At night, he only woke up four times (mind you, I am aiming for two). Here is how it looked:

Nap 1- 2 mins to get to sleep- 20 mins sleep and managed to nurse him back to sleep for another 40 mins.
Nap 2- 2 mins to get to sleep- 40 mins sleep
Nap 3- 2 mins to get to sleep- 32 min sleep

I didn't need to pat him at all again. I just soothed with my voice and sang "twinkle twinkle".

Bed (at 6:39pm)- 0 mins to get to sleep- Yep- 0. But that wasn't a good thing. The little man fell asleep on my shoulder as I was cuddling and singing "twinkle twinkle" to him (only twice). The reason this was bad, as naturally when he woke up he was wondering where I was. I have read babies falling asleep in one place, and waking up in another is really disorienting to them. Like us going to sleep in our bed and waking up on the front lawn...

During the night:

8:13pm- 22 mins to get back to sleep- including one pick up.
11:48pm*- 10 mins to get back to sleep
3:14am - 9 mins to get back to sleep
4:25am*- 35 mins to get back to sleep

The last waking took him a little while to get back to sleep as I remembered that I needed to change him AFTER I nursed him. And his nappy soaked through too- which meant a full change of 3 layers of clothes (Singlet, pj's and sleep sack). He was wide awake after, but after I laid him down in his bed, he just 'cooed' to himself for a bit before going back to sleep on his own... Yay! Go Pi-chan!

Sleep training- Day 3

The little man is doing so well. He going to sleep with hardly any fuss for naps, so no touching needed.

I do feel really horrible to withhold my touch. Day 3 night I was crying again as all I want to do is have my little man next to me for as long as he wants, whether that is 15 months or 15 years... I do feel like I am ignoring my instincts by sleep training him, but I read again and again how between 5 1/2 months  and 7 1/2 months is the best time- which Pi is bang in the middle of. I honestly don't think I could do it when he is older and looking at me and can call out "mummy".

Here is how day 3 measured up-



Nap 1- 4 mins to get to sleep- 25 mins sleep
Nap 2- 5 mins to get to sleep- 1hr and 5 min sleep!!!
Nap 3- 4 mins to get to sleep- 25 min sleep

I didn't need to pat him at all. I just soothed with my voice and sang "twinkle twinkle".

Bed (at 6:42pm)- 3 mins to get to sleep and went down sooooo easily. Not even a fussy cry.

During the night:

9:57pm*- 10 mins to get back to sleep
12:25am- 31 mins to get back to sleep
2:07am *- 1 hour and 23 mins to get back to sleep
6:06am- 3 mins to get back to sleep

*nursed him to sleep. 

You can see a big 1 hr and 23 mins to get back to sleep. Tonight was hard on Husband, and we (somehow) had a miscommunication. I told him to only pat him if Pi really needs it. Husband thought I meant, "don't pat him at all". So I ended up having to go in at 3am, as Husband had his fingers plugging his ears and was just singing twinkle twinkle over and over and over- while poor little Pi was going hysterical. I know it might mess up the training a bit to have me go in, pick him up and then ultimately feed him (as so much time had past that he was due)- but I think Pi's comfort and sense of security is the most important, even if it sets us back a little bit.

We also think Pi is woken up by next door's alarm at 6:05am, which vibrates through the floor boards. It always woke us up when we have slept in that room. We also think some of his night wakings may be because of the neighbour going to bed (as he is a typical Japanese night owl), so we are going to try and play music tonight and see if that helps at all.

Sleep training- Day 2

We are into day two and feeling very sleepy. My husband said to me today "Wow, it is really tiring when your sleep is broken".... Yeah, it is. Try six months of it.

As you can tell by the above comment, my husband is now on sleep duty, and is resettling Pi every time he wakes up but it hasn't been 4 hours since his last feed- if it is, then Boobie McGee (aka, Me) is on call. I am awake the whole time though, as I am a crappy sleeper, but at least Husband sleeps through the times I get up to feed him.

The good news is that while Pi can't get back to sleep on his own, yet, he is trying! Yay!

Here is how Day 2 looked:

Nap 1- 7 mins to get to sleep- 30 min sleep
Nap 2- 12 mins to get to sleep- 1hr and 12 min sleep!!! (Took a bit longer to fall asleep as he had a 3 min sleep in the car)
Nap 2-  5 mins to get to sleep- 34 min sleep

Bed (at 6:37pm)- 23 mins to get to sleep but went down fairly easily.

During the night:

10:10pm*- 15 mins to get back to sleep
12:17am- 23 mins to get back to sleep
2:07am- 10 mins to get back to sleep
3:28am*- 10 mins to get back to sleep
6:05am- 3 mins to get back to sleep

*nursed him to sleep. All other times were either singing/soothing with voice, shhing and patting. Sometimes instead of patting him, patting the mattress works much better. No pick ups due to him getting more upset when we put him back down.

Sleep training- Day 1

It has begun...

The thing that I have been undecided over for the last 6 months- we have decided to do. Sleep training....

I actually started on the Friday night, but am calling Saturday "Day 1", as he did all his naps and bedtime in his crib in his room.

The first thing you need when you sleep train isn't to buy books, or look up websites, but to harden ones bollocks to be of steel. We didn't do cry it out, or controlled crying, but at the end of the first night I couldn't stop crying. It is really draining and emotional (see here for post).

I have many reasons for sleep training. Pi's safety topped that list, and wanting to teach him the important skill (even though the other half of my brain was crying out that I can teach him that skill at 4 years old). Husband was very pro sleep training (I think he is worried about how little sleep I get every day).

Our method was to take the middle ground. No Cry It Out, or Controlled crying. I wanted to be in the room with him the whole time. I have been training-training him to sleep for the last month or so by gradually training him using pickup/put down and shh- patting him, and so for training I wanted to do that as little as possible, so he does most of the work by himself.

Here is how "Day 1" looked-

Nap 1- 5 mins to get to sleep- 30 min sleep
Nap 2- 5 mins to get to sleep- 30 min sleep
Nap 2- 5 mins to get to sleep- 1 hour sleep!!!!

Bed (at 6:30pm)- 11 mins to get to sleep and went down fairly easily.

During the night:

7:20pm- 17 mins to get back to sleep
10:50pm*- 10 mins to get back to sleep
12:00am- 15 mins to get back to sleep
2:30am- 35mins to get back to sleep
4:10am*- 12 mins to get back to sleep
6:07am- 1 mins to get back to sleep

*nursed him to sleep. I have the aim of getting him down to 2 feeds per night so he is not relying on milk to help him to sleep.
All other times were either singing/soothing with voice, shhing and patting, or the occasional pick up.

We both fared much better at bedtime tonight. No crying from me, and very little fussy-cries from Pi. I am calling it a successful day

Extending cat naps

Elizabeth Pantley's "No cry sleep solution" is probably one of my favourite sleep books that I have read. I have also read "Healthy sleep habits, happy baby"- which is CRAP and not Weissbluth's book "Healthy sleep habits, happy child" (as I was expecting), "Save our sleep" by Tizzie Hall ( is quite regimented and I find her advice dubious due to lack of qualifications and her saying to do things that is against regular SIDS advice) and I am halfway through "The secrets of the baby whisperer" by Tracy Hogg (It's really long, anecdotal and most of the book is for parents to be to learn all about breastfeeding etc). Not to mention the countless internet articles and sites I have read.

She has a way of "extending naps" which means to do ANYTHING you need to when they wake up after 30 mins (or how ever long your baby naps for) and eventually they will learn to go back to sleep themselves. For Pichan, sometimes I could pat him back to sleep but ONLY if I was in the room the whole time he slept so I could jump on him straight away and soothe him before he got too worked up. Most of the time though, he would need to be nursed back to sleep. With that, I had about a 75% success rate, and very, very sore nipples; he liked to nurse for the whole hour.

So, up I would go with a book and after 30 mins, I would nurse him and usually get at least an hour and a half. Sometimes, I would get almost 2 hours (providing I didn't move, or turn any book pages). Once I even got 3 hours. It might not be ideal, but certainly a nice way to force myself to rest for a few hours each day.

The idea is that if he can get past the 30 mins then eventually he will like it so much that he'll keep wanting to do it on his own. Whether or not it is permanent, I am not sure. The day before yesterday he did two, hour and 10 minute naps by HIMSELF!!! But then he went back to only 30 mins yesterday (and only got past the 30 minute mark with nursing, once out of the three times).

Now that he is in his own room, and napping on his own today (with just a shush pat), he woke up at the 30 minute mark the first two naps, his third nap though.... an hour and three minutes on his own! Then I nursed him while sleepy and then he did another 20 mins (including nursing time). I am not sure if I am messing him up with sleep training by nursing him back to sleep during the day. I really hope not, as I really want him to get all the sleep that his growing little body needs.

Sleep training- Night one

I feel horrible. I feel like my insides have been gutted and my heart squeezed in a vice. But night one has been made.

We decided to start sleep training as Pi is rolling wayyyy too much. The last three nights have been filled- all night- with me putting him back on his bed, him crying, me soothing, him sleeping, me almost sleeping, then him rolling back onto my bed... Rinse and repeat.

Because of the danger factor, and the fact that sleep training only gets more painful from here on out, we decided it is time for his own room and for him to learn sleep without me.

Gosh, I feel horrible just writing that. I feel like it goes against everything I am as a mother, and every instinct, however him next to me is become not so practical, and too dangerous. Now that Pi is on solids and over 6 months, we decided that it might be best to move him now, rather than in a few months when separation anxiety kicks in fully (though, it is just starting- we have noticed when I am not around and it is just Pi and Husband, that Pi screams until I am back in view).

We have decided to use a mix of Pantley's pick up/put down, the shh pat and the disappearing chair (also called the sleep shuffle). Because we have been doing fading to wean him off my thumb- which worked brilliantly- and we have been pick up/put down-ing and shh patting for the last few weeks, little Pi has been getting to sleep better. However, we have had to have a bit more involvement the last two weeks due to the rolling (a hand must be kept on him to stop him rolling off the bed) and because of that we have noticed a bit of a regression. We moved the crib back into his room with the idea that we wanted to stay in there the whole time, but touch him as little as possible. I tried for a few minutes with just soothing with my voice, but that didn't really work, so I would get up (off the chair next to his crib) and shh and pat him just for a little bit, and then sit back down. I picked him up once, but he stopped crying immediately and got so distressed when I put him back down that I decided not to do it again.

It was heart breaking. I was sitting there, crying, singing 'twinkle twinkle' through the tears (his and mine) and watching the poor little man grip onto the bars, and try to touch me any way that he can. It still tears me up thinking about it. But the point of withholding my touch is so that he doesn't need it to go to sleep. I tried waiting at least 2 mins between patting him and soothing him with my touch. It was so hard. Everything in me wanted to pick him up and take him back to my bed to cuddle throughout the night.

Half an hour later- he was asleep/passed out. I stayed in there for a little bit to make sure he was truly asleep and then came downstairs with the baby monitor.

It took less time than I was expecting. I hope that the sleep training training that I have been doing (here) helped.

I am glad that I didn't give up and hope that he is able to make this transition well.

My big, brave boy!

How to... Solids

I've been finding it really difficult to find information on how to start solids. Just like sleep training, the information is all over the place: Don't start solids before 6 months, start after 4, start by 7 or they'll never eat food. Give them a teaspoon once a day, feed them as much as they'll eat, feed them three times a day, purée it, babies need to eat lumps or they'll won't respond as well to food, only feed them some foods, pumpkin is okay at 6 months, unless it's U.K. pumpkin- then you need to wait until 8 months....

Where on earth to start. We ended up giving Pi rice cereal as a first food, and are slowly introducing veggies. The baby food making class I went to suggested buying a wooden pestle from the dollar store and boil the veggies and then putting them through a strainer in order to purée it. I went down the western route and steam my veggies and then have bought a hand blender (from Yamada Denki- here) to purée the foods. Nice and easy.

As for how much though, the best place I have found information was from 'Healthy Alberta'- click here for the link. I figure a Canadian government initiative might have it's head screwed on, and seemed to be taking a nice middle ground. The PDF contains lots of great information, including how to prepare and store baby food.

So, how many meals a day does baby need? For 6 to 8 months I should offer 1 to 3 meals per day, so I am going the middle route at 6 months by offering 2 small meals a day. I am giving him about a tablespoon of prepared food (either cereal or veggies). I have cooked a lot of veggies the other day, and have puréed and frozen them and then sealed the cubes in plastic bags in the freezer. When it is time to eat all I have to do is defrost a cube out of the freezer and voilà- instant yummies. It doesn't taste too bad either. At least, Pi hasn't been complaining.

Solids

Happy half birthday Pichan!!!

He has finally hit six months, which means that we have finally started solids. We actually gave him a little taster two weekends ago, of rice cereal because we knew he would have a taste of something at the baby food making class I went to (cooking class);  and Husband wanted to give him his first food. I also wanted him to, as I feel bad over him missing of so many of Pichan's firsts. 

The great news is that Pichan relished it! He loved his food and his little legs kicked away with excitement. We bought rice cereal off of I-herb (click here for a discount off your first order*). I chose this one because of the added DHA and probiotics, and it's a brand I know. Pi quite likes it, as much as he likes anything else we have fed him, anyway. So far, we have given him sweet potato, both as purée and chunks (he didn't mind it) and puréed broccoli (I think the jury is still out on that one)

I had been saving the new foods to try for the weekend, so Husband can give them to Pi, but my Japanese teacher was telling me her daughter feeds her son new foods on a weekday- so that if there are any allergic reactions the hospitals will be open. Good thinking! I have been careful to not feed new foods to late in the day in order to watch for reactions, but I wasn't even thinking that hospitals might be closed (and they really can be). Now we will be giving Pi new foods only during hospital/doctor hours, but we hope he doesn't have any bad reactions.

Happy Hantoshi!

*First-time customers will save $10 on purchases of $40 or more, or $5 if the order is less than $40. Depending upon the total of the order, they may receive discounted or free shipping as well.

Pampers attempt again

Merries, I love 'em, but are just about always sold out (thats-where-all-my-nappies-are-going) so I thought I would give Pampers one last shot. After all, maybe his skin has changed since Pi being a newborn, and he does poop a whole lot less (thankfully!). The Pampers M size do have awesome stretchy tabs, which make putting them on a breeze, but surely enough after a few days of wearing them, my little one's bottom was all red again. I have super sensitive skin, so maybe Pi takes after me on the account. Either way, we won't be buying Pampers again.

I would like to note though, that other people haven't had this problem.

That's where all my nappies are going

I always knew that there was a bit of a shortage of Merries nappies in Japan (my favourite due to being a bit longer, and no nappy rash problems), and I was aware it was sometimes because of Chinese people buying the nappies and selling them back in China... But arrested for it...

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2014/10/22/three-chinese-men-arrested-in-japan-for-buying-too-many-diapers/

Cooking class

Last Thursday I went to a 'cooking baby food' class at my local health centre. I was a bit worried whether or not I would understand it, but thankfully I had little trouble. There were four other ladies there as well (including my former student).

So I arrived nice and early andafter filling out a form all about Pi and how he was feeling for the day, Pi started to cry. One of the ladies picked him up to settle him, and after my form was finished and Pi was still crying (no surprise) I went to take him. Nope. I mean that in the nicest possible way, but after the woman said not to worry, I realised that I was to leave him while I did the class in the next room. There were about 6 volunteers to take care of the babies while us ladies learned how to cook. But, Pi, being Pi and a bit of a sensitive baby really wasn't happy to not be around him mum. I went into the 'kitchen' and listened to his little cry, but they assured me they were professionals and I figured that Pi needs to learn at some stage to be without me for an hour or two at a time. Unfortunately he cried for quite a while, which means I was on the edge of my seat listening and waiting for a break in the talk for me to check. Luckily he stopped crying eventually, and when I stuck my head back in the room to check he was okay, he was happily playing with toys. I think I spoil him too much..

The class itself was interesting. We made pangaiyu (or something like that), which is boiled white bread in milk. Learned how to chop spinach, leaned how to make okayu (boiled, watery rice) and learned which consistency to make baby food for each month. They like to add 'dashi' to food when they mash it (like carrots), which I found kind of gross. Carroty fish- yum... We did boil a little bit of fish with potato starch too. I think Pi would have like it. We tried each of the dishes, and it really made me aware of just how western my tastebuds are. I really am not into boiled fish, or soggy bread... Just me though.


 (Okayu)



Once again I was super proud of my little man. He was so tired, and wouldn't nap, but still kicking away happily. He is also very physically developed compared to some of the placid babies, though, not as chubby. I think his genes is keeping him lean, and all that moving he constantly does. At the end of the class, we fed our babies a bit of the 'okayu' water, which Pi gobbled down like a champ. It was nice for him to try it, though I don't think I will be making okayu myself. Too much work, for what seems like little nutritional value.

3-4 month health check

Last Thursday was Pi's 3-4 month health check. I know, I know- late hey. But this one isn't my fault. You see, in my town they combine all the babies 3-4 month check from a certain date range. In my case it was all the babies born from the 23rd of April (Pi was born on the 24th) until some date in September. Which means Pi was one of the eldest. There was a baby born on the 23rd though,so he wasn't the oldest.

The check was at the local 'health' centre, which is a big concrete building in the middle of town. After registering and surrendering the boshi-techo, and a questionnaire (I had only half filled the questionnaire due to all the Kanji), I went into a tatami room filled with other residents with their babies peacefully lying on cushions on the floor. Needless to say, when I put Pi down he did not 'peacefully' lie on the floor. Instead there was rolling, and kicking and general thrashing about. I am proud of my little boy though, at least he is energetic.

We had a midwife speak to us about our health, and to watch our calories (they really don't like people getting fat in this country), and then talk about feeding baby solids for the first time, which was useful. After that, we were split into halves, and I went through to speak to another midwife about Pi, and any problems I was having. There was the usual questions on the form about weight and feeding, and she read the ones out that I couldn't answer- which were things like "do I have any help with the baby", and "do I get angry with my baby". After that, we were back to sitting on another tatami floor while we stripped off our babies and waited to be weighed and measured. Then, the doctor poked and prodded for a bit, but gave Pi a clean bill of health.

After all that was done, we were given back our boshi techo, but had another talk (individually) with a lady from "book smart", who gave Pi a free book (which is awesome). She had 3 to choose from, so it was nice that we had a choice. I think it was part of a reading initiative. This is the one I chose. Kind of Japanese peek-a-boo.



I also signed up for a 'how to make solid foods' class, which is on tomorrow. I can't wait!

All in all, a successful visit. The next check isn't until 8 months, but will be done by the paediatrician.

Jackhammering and babies

There is a beautiful family shrine next to our terrace house. It's nice to look at, and doesn't creep me out like I thought it might. A few weeks ago, our landlord died (and now the rent goes to his son) and his name was added to the plaque.

From yesterday, though, they have begun a total overhaul of the site. It's been interesting in a way, for example I now know that there are actually people buried there (They were placing mostly burnt, but not quite cremated bones). They even had a priest come last weekend to do something with the site. At first, we thought bless it, but maybe he was trying to appease the spirits and apologise in advance for messing with their resting place.

Unfortunately, for little Pi. It has meant jackhammers and circular saws for the last two days. Anyone following will know how precious the little sleep is that he actually gets, let alone when you also place in rock thrown into the back of trucks and constant hammering. Looks like we will be going out again today...

Sleep training training progress

It has been well over a week now that I have been 'training' for sleep training. My personal attitude to being a mother is to take a nurturing approach, and keeping telling myself that the difficulties wont last forever. So this training for training approach that I have been taking is gentle, but yet working nicely for me and Pi.

Basically, I just lie down next to him, trying not to touch him if possible, but if he needs my touch I don't withhold it. I pat either him or the mattress (he seems to prefer it when I touch the mattress though), and either shhh or sing twinkle twinkle. The aim of the game is for him to learn to settle himself, and most of the time he has been doing it beautifully. He does do his little 'mantra' cry for a bit, and often needs to touch me somehow, but then sucks his thumb or fingers and then goes to sleep in his crib.

Still only for 30 mins though.

His night sleeps are getting much better too. He goes down VERY easily most of the time. Within 5 mins of me laying him down on the mattress. It's so lovely. For a while he has only been waking up 3 times a night, but the last night or two it has been four. Though he does do a 5 hours stretch at the start of the night.

The reason he is getting a little bit tricky for sleeping at night, and also for naps, is he is going through another wonderweek- again! This one is shorter though, and should be over in 3 weeks, max. Until then, I will keep going and hope I am creating some good habits.

How quickly time flies

I was in babies r us and going past the 'baby on board' signs, and started reminicing about how long ago it was that we bought ours, and how excited we were to be having a baby on the way. I thought, how lucky I am to have such a beautiful boy, and looked down at him in the pram and he was pulling serious 'rodent' face as he chewed on his teether.

It really is awesome being a mum sometimes

Starting solids

Last month, a lot of people in the online mother's forum I follow had started solids. I have heard conflicting reports of whether or not starting solids helps babies to sleep better. I personally think that people also need to factor in age of baby, and that babies eventually (hopefully) sleep better as they get bigger.

Now, doctors recommend 6 months, but not too long ago they were saying 4 months. There are big changes that happen to a babies digestive system and because of that there are important reasons to avoid solids until 6 months:

Baby will have greater protection from illness (if exclusively breastfed)
Baby's digestive system will have time to mature
Baby will be developmentally ready for solids
Baby will have a lower risk of obesity in the future
Starting solids will be easier
Baby may have more protection from iron deficiency anaemia
Breastfeeding mums will more easily maintain milk supply
Breastfeeding mums will be less likely to become pregnant
Breastfeeding mums may loose the baby weight more quickly

For more information and referencing on the above, see this site: http://kellymom.com/nutrition/starting-solids/delay-solids/

So how do you know when your baby is ready?
Here are some developmentally ready signs, as found in Kellymom

• Baby can sit up well without support.

• Baby has lost the tongue-thrust reflex and does not automatically push solids out of his mouth with his tongue.

• Baby is ready and willing to chew.

• Baby is developing a “pincer” grasp, where he picks up food or other objects between thumb and forefinger. Using the fingers and scraping the food into the palm of the hand (palmar grasp) does not substitute for pincer grasp development.

• Baby is eager to participate in mealtime and may try to grab food and put it in his mouth.

Looks like, for Pi, it is still a while off. While he seems eager, he can't yet sit up by himself. We are super eager to start the fun of solids (I am sure the after about a week of cleaning pumpkin off the floor, we no longer will be) but will wait until it is best for Pi.

Save our sleep routine for baby on solids until 6 months

ROUTINE FOR A BABY ON SOLIDS UNTIL 6½ MONTHS

Feed times
7 am
11 am
3 pm
6.20 pm

Solids
8 am
12 noon
5.20 pm

Dreamfeed
10.30 pm

Sleep times
9 am
1 pm
4.30 pm (possible nap)

Bedtime 7 pm 7 am

If your baby wakes before 7 am, delay her milk feed until 7 am as this will encourage your baby to sleep longer. Otherwise, wake your baby at 7 am and give her a milk feed.

8 am Give your baby breakfast. Feed your baby until she turns her head away. I recommend you give your baby two courses, one savoury and one sweet.

9 am Put your baby to bed awake and allow her to self-settle. This means without the help of you or a dummy.

11 am Give your baby her milk feed. This feed will start to get smaller as your baby gets older and is eating more solids.

12 noon Feed your baby two courses of solids, one savoury and one sweet.

1 pm Put your baby to bed awake and allow her to self-settle.

3 pm Wake your baby up and give her a milk feed.

4.30 pm If your baby has not slept well, you might want to encourage a nap in the car or pram. At about 6½ months your baby no longer needs this nap.

5.20 pm Feed your baby two courses of solids, one savoury and one sweet. If your baby is now skipping the nap at 4.30 pm, try giving solids at 5 pm to allow a bigger space before the milk feed.

 6 pm Bath your baby, or give top-to-toe wash.

6.20 pm Give your baby her milk feed. Your baby needs to finish this feed at least ten minutes before bedtime.

7 pm Put your baby to bed fully awake and allow her to self-settle.

10.30 pm Dreamfeed.


*Hall, T. (2011) Save our Sleep. Sydney, New South Wales: Pan Macmillan.

Sleep training, training... kinda- Day 3

Last night, he slept so much better.

After he went down around 7, he woke up just three times until he was 'awake' for the day at 6:30am. Because he only woke 3 times, I fed him all the times (10pm, 1:30am, 4:30am). Every time I lay him down he went straight back to sleep too. Also, at the start of the night he woke up 30 minutes in and cried for 4 cries and then settled himself. Miracle!!! Obviously we have a long way to go.

I was bad today, without realising, and cheated with his first nap. It was only an hour after wake up, and I was still sleepy and in bed watching him play, so when he started rubbing his eyes, I took him into my bed, in my arms and gave him my thumb to help him sleep. I didn't think it was that bad a thing to do, but for his second nap he REALLY fought going down. I think I need to be consistent for his sake. I kind of messed him around a bit too, as I went out for a very long lunch (longer than we intended) with friends. He was such a champ though. I am so proud!

Here is roughly what his day looked like. I didn't put in activity times, but always do things with him from one nap to the next.

6:30- wake and feed
7:50-8:25- nap in my arms
9;20- feed
10:25-10:50  nap in crib. 18 minutes to go down, lots of crying, but no rage crying. Picked him up 4 times to calm him.
11:40- feed
12:40-1:15- nap in pram while at a restaurant.
1:40- feed
3:40-3:45- car (One minute he was awake, the next he wasn't. The interesting thing is I had been rocking him in his pram while I was talking to friends for at least 20 mins and he didn't sleep. Then in the car and he was playing with his book and then 2 minutes later he was fast asleep.)
4-5- (I tried to extend his car nap by putting him in his crib and giving him my thumb. That didn't really work, so I took him downstairs and bounced him in his bouncer. He had at least 45 mins that way).
5pm- feed
7pm- sleep.

He went down really quickly and without fuss- I think about 10 mins, but maybe less. In fact, by the time I put him in his crib he was already sucking his thumb. I stayed with him until he was almost asleep, but with my hand off of him, and then left the room when his eyes were more closed than they opened. He even rolled onto his belly about 10 mins in but after a cry or two, settled himself.

Success in putting him to bed, I think!

Sleep training, training... kinda- Day 2

Little Pi woke up at 6:30 again today. Maybe it is because he is sleeping a little bit more at night. (3-2-2-3-1.5hrs in a row). I changed him and dressed into his day clothes at 6:30, but I was still tired to I brought him back to bed to play with his mobile. While that only lasted for a little bit, he was still rubbing his eyes so I thought it might be time for him to have more sleep too. I held him, and gave him my thumb, just as he wasn't settling without help, and I didn't want to stress him out too much.
He ended up getting another 40mins or so, I think, and so did I. Magic!

6:30- Awake

7:15-7:50- Nap in bed with me
8 am - feed

9:55-10-50- sleep (protest cries/fussing for 20mins) did it on his own. He still woke up cranky though.

11:13- feed

1:05-1:25 sleep (in pram while we went shopping, fell asleep with white noise and rocking in 3 mins)

2:00- feed

3:30-4pm sleep (small cries/ fussing for 25 mins) did it on his own- he was probably over tired too as he was almost falling asleep in the car.

4:55- Feed (he was so grumpy getting to this feed though, but happy as Larry after)

6:50- Bed- Took about 20mins to get down. Lots of 'mantra crying' with some sad little tears. He got there though, all by himself again.

I really hope he gets use to putting himself to sleep. It's hard to watch him not have fun, but I think it is a great skill for him to learn.  The biggest problem at the moment is he wakes up crying in his crib. Not sure if it is because I am not there, because he is hungry, or still tired. Or maybe he is just not use to it yet. Lets hope it's a phase.