Coffee Catchup 6th May - NELSON with Dorothy Waide

OHbaby! Coffee Catchup - 6th May 2014. Feel free to ask questions and Dorothy will reply when she can.

Hi Dorothy thanks for yesterday! Would have loved to been at that talk when my baby was a newborn! Can u tell me what a 6 month baby day would look like?

Hi Dorothy,
thanks for your talk it was very informative!
You spoke to me about changing my son Liam's (8.5mths) feeding to food before milk for every meal which we have done -wakes and within 15mins has breakfast, milk, play, milk, sleep, play, lunch, milk, play, milk, sleep, short play, dinner, milk, bath, milk, play, bottle & bed. He is still not a big fan of food, he loves his milk! but I'll persist.
I tried resettling him today for both sleeps the first time he was up for 3 hrs and down slept 30mins woke so I sat by his cot and did the cupping technique for 30 mins. He fell back to sleep but he was only in the light sleep - his eyes were twitching etc... after about 5 mins of this he would wake again. After 1hr 10mins (in total) I got him up. Later in the arvo I lay with him (I'm all stuffed up with a head cold so took the opportunity to rest while resettling). He had been awake for 3hrs 45mins but this was at a push. Again he slept for 30 mins stirred but I was able to turn him onto his side and he went back to sleep for another 40mins! This always happens if I'm lying next to him. He will have a good sleep. Even though it was a 1hr 10min sleep there was no resettling after this!
Should I continue to resettle him the time it takes to make 1.5hrs? I find it quite hard because he only has 30min sleep cycles... you thoughts?
PS: the karicare does do the formula for constipation.
thanks, dee

Hi Dorothy,

Thank you for all the wonderful advice on Tuesday, I found it very interesting and informative, a huge amount of info in a short time!

I spoke to you about my 5 1/2 month baby boy Tanner. We have a few issues to work through and I'm wondering what order you would recommend tackling them in and any tips to overcome each issue, which includes:
- stop swaddling (I tried cold turkey as you suggested, but his wee wings do not stop flapping and it takes him twice as long to settle and he only sleeps one sleep cycle)
- get rid of white noise
- waking to feed 10pm-12am & 3-4am (although only had one feed last night at 2am)
- waking early in the morning (5-6am, sometimes resettles, not always, what to do if he starts the day at 6am? I am putting him to bed too early in the evening at 6.15-6.30pm?)
- start solids (when, what first)

Thank you
Cindy

HI Nic
I have just posted two general guideline charts for babies 5 mths to 8 months plus. Your question re what do you sort first feeding or sleeping.

My suggestion would be to do both together as sleep and food are nutrients and they walk hand in hand so to get the best results you need to look at both.

ideally at 6 months your baby is having wake times of 3 hours and having 2 naps with a minimum 1 1/2hours. To get your baby's routine to where you need to go , consistency is important and it takes a minimum of 10 days to see a light at the end of the tunnel. The hardest are the first 3 to 4 days and it takes at least six weeks to change their circadian sleep cycle. (normally it takes 3 weeks to change their circadian sleep cycle with 100% consistency).

In my experience it takes approximately 20 minutes for a baby to fall asleep.   Here is a guide to encourage her to learn how to self settle. Self settling is about falling asleep and re settling is about keeping them asleep

When working with the self settling and re settling the different stages are that. I would suggest that you do stage 1 for ten days and then STOP, THINK and ACT - the act may be to go to stage 2 or the act may be to stay at stage 1 for another 10 days. At some stage you do need to step back further.

If your baby is not having awake times of 3 hours, then stretch out by 15 minutes and again after 10 days, STOP, THINK, and ACT. Again if you are happy stretch-out another 15minutes or again hold for another 10 days. 12_wk_general_settling_&_resettlingOHbaby!May2014_.docx

HI Sarah
YOu haven't mentioned what her daytime routine is, or how old she is.   I don't tackle night time issues without looking at their daytime routine.   

It would also break my heart so until i Know what her daytime routine is, I would be advising you not to do this.

You can email me direct with her routine and age and then I can give you some suggestions and tools.
email address is dorothy@babyhelp.co.nz. I look forward to hearing from you.
Dorothy

Hi Ladies
Thank you for all your questions and hopefully the answers will help you. It was lovely to meet you all at the OHBaby Coffee Catchup.

Remember before you do anything STOP, THINK, and ACT – work out what you are doing, why you are doing, and what you are trying to accomplish and then act.

Remember YOU are the baby’s mum and so listen to your heart and instinct.   Yes, we all don’t do it by the book, or get it right the first time, but you need to make ‘mistakes’ to get it right for you.   It’s a time of learning a little person’s personality and figuring out what works for your home life.

If you have the time I would love to see you pop over to http://www.facebook.com/BabyWithin
and 'like' it. You can then keep up with information that I post from time to time or hear from other mothers who write on the wall.

Please remember as a parent or carer that you should understand and acknowledge that Dorothy is NOT a licensed medical doctor or other licensed medical provider and the information that I share with you has come from experience and working with numerous families and babies and toddlers