Coffee Catchup - Grey Lynn - 30th June
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Topic: Coffee Catchup - Grey Lynn - 30th June
Posted By: skiltz
Subject: Coffee Catchup - Grey Lynn - 30th June
Date Posted: 16 June 2014 at 12:05pm
OHbaby! Coffee Catchup - 30th June 2014. Feel free to ask questions and Dorothy will reply when she can.
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Replies:
Posted By: AnnikaJ
Date Posted: 30 June 2014 at 2:35pm
Hi Dorothy - thanks for the talk today - it was great to hear your thoughts, particularly on routines & impact on sleep. I have a couple of questions i didn't get a chance to ask:
1. My baby girl is 15 weeks and suffers badly from reflux (on losec) and colic (on colic calm) and at this stage is still waking 2/3 times a night - she has always gained weight well and when she wakes at night she always feeds as if starving (even if not a big amount) - how do i tell if she is waking for feeds or simply needs to be resettled? We had been told by the Dr to expect small and frequent feeds until the reflux settles - any tips? (we have a good day routine of 2 good sleeps (1 & a half hours to 2 & a half hours) and 1 shorter 45 mins afternoon nap).
2. We are looking to transfer her from her bassinet in our room to her cot in her own room - any tips for the transition?
Thanks, Annika
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Posted By: Becky96775
Date Posted: 30 June 2014 at 3:13pm
Hi Dorothy
Thank you so much for today. It was so useful. I only wish I could have gotten to hear your talk sooner!
Background: My baby boy is 16 weeks old (actual) but 8 weeks adjusted as he was born 8 weeks premature. We have issues with silent reflux etc and have all the usual tools that we are using to combat this ( cutting out certain foods/ raised bassinet/ elevated feeds/ gripe water/ and he is also on gaviscon which i think has helped immensely). So we spent the first 12 weeks with him falling asleep in upright position on mum or dad as this was where he was most comfortable. He has recently been better in his bassinet and is also used to having a dummy on occasion to help with the reflux. He has had no issues gaining weight and is currently 5kgs. I have also been making sure that i give him a good feed on one breast to get that hind milk.
Question 1: I have started to transfer him from bassinet (our room) to cot (own room) for day sleeps. I just wanted to clarify the settling technique as I have never done it before and it was quite a lot to take in today. But when i got home today I swaddled him snow angle style as he is a hands up/sucky baby (which he loved!) This has seemed to work well and I put him down to sleep in his cot and let him try and settle himself and he fell asleep after about 10 mins of fussing. (is this the right thing to do?) Then he fell asleep for about 5-10 minutes and then woke himself up (usually does this). He then cried for 2 mins and I went in to settle him side lying until he settled and then rolled him back to sleep. Did I intervene to settle him to sleep in the right place?Is it when he is full on crying? that's when I leave him for up to 5 mins (increasing from 1-5) as appropriate?. I don't use the settling technique to settle him when i first put him down in the cot? It was a maximum of 20 mins so 4 tries of settling? Do i pick him up at all inbetween each of the 5 minute blocks? then would I offer a feed if none of this worked?
Question 2: He sleeps well for his first morning nap 1.5-2 hours, then seems to only cat nap 30-45mins, for the next 2 naps, sometimes he goes longer on the second day nap, it varies. I find he gets really over tired and fussy in the afternoons and is in bed for around 6-7 and usually sleeps until 1am, then wakes up at differing times after this. Any suggestions on what to do? Am i leaving him to sleep too long? Should he have more awake time first thing? He tends to run on a 2.5 hour cycle though it is moving nearer to 3 hours sometimes.
Many Thanks for your help
Becky (1st time Mum)
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Posted By: Esther147566
Date Posted: 30 June 2014 at 5:58pm
Hi Dorothy.
I would like some advice on how to transition my 18 week old to longer awake and sleep times during the day. At the moment she is still having around four 40-45 minute naps, and seems to start getting cranky and overtired after only 1 hour awake. I would like to get her to have at least one longer nap. What is the best way to introduce this into her routine?
Thanks,
Bee
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Posted By: TanyaWhite147667
Date Posted: 01 July 2014 at 9:38pm
Hi Dorothy
Thank you very much for the amazing opportunity to attend you seminar.
We are all very lucky!
We have been truly blessed that our 2nd child; 5 week old daughter sleeps well (other than waking @ 45 mins). Could you please help me with the following:
1.Could you please refresh our memories and provide the details of the cupping routine/engulfing cuddle for the under 6 week old babies and the cupping routine for 6 weeks+. Time frames would be extremely helpful.
2. Our daughter feeds 4 hourly during the day/evening. She can sleep between 5-8 hours at night. I wake her during the day for her feeds but from the last feed (generally 9:30pm) I let her wake me.
I would like to know please if it is true that my milk supply will decrease if she is not getting the prolactin let down feed at approx 3am? I thought that the more sleep that I can get the better my milk quality and quantity would be?
If she doesn't wake at approx 3am, should I be getting her up to feed or should I get up to express to keep my milk supply up?
To date my milk supply has been good.
Our son hated being woken in the evening/night for feeds and i gate waking a sleeping baby.
3. Do you encourage the use of white noise? If so could you please advise which one to buy as they can all be so different.
Thank you also for your help with my son 2 years ago. You changed our lives for the better.
I look forward to your reply.
Best regards, Tanya
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Posted By: Michelle132448
Date Posted: 02 July 2014 at 1:58am
Hi Dorothy,
Thank you for your informative talk on Monday. I got some great advice that I could start putting into practice.
My daughter is 17 weeks old and before Monday we use to feed to sleep almost every nap time. We have tried a variation of controlled 'CIO' and my daughter did not respond well to that (and neither did I). We have since adapted your methods and seems to be better improvements - so thank you.
Our usual daily routine is wake up play, feed, play, bum change, feed, sleep. She wakes around 6-8am, and we do up for up to 2 hours and down for a sleep for up to 2 hours. Bed time is around 6-8 and bed time routine incl bath and story time (has been doing this from day she came home). We EBF as well.
She use to sleep between 8-12 hours a night pretty much from day one but has since woken up 1-2 times during the night. I've read that this is the 4 month regression. My question - is the sleep regression hunger or comfort? And if comfort -
1. Do you start your day time nap methods straight away for night time or get daytime naps sorted before weaning off middle of the night feeds.
2. If she wakes up and doesn't want to resettle with the hold/ or cupping in bed, and the dummy doesn't work, do you offer the boob?
I appreciate your help. TIA
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Posted By: EstherKern
Date Posted: 02 July 2014 at 8:20am
Hi Dorothy.
Thankyou for the informative session on Monday, I know my friend and I really appreciated it.
Both of us are pregnant with our first babies, so the session, although informative, was a little overwhelming and hard to remember things as we have no experience so far to relate the information to. I was wondering what your 'best bits' advice would be to us as we are about to have newborns and will therefore be wanting to set a great sleep and settling routine from the beginning.
Thankyou so much!
Esther
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Posted By: DorothyW
Date Posted: 04 July 2014 at 12:06am
Hi Esther
Yes, it would have been totally overwhelming, if you can email me at dorothy@babyhelp.co.nz I will send you my notes for under 12 weeks which will help you in those first few weeks.
Dorothy
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Posted By: DorothyW
Date Posted: 06 July 2014 at 8:42pm
HI Annika
The way that I work with night feeds is that I always attempt to resettle before feeding. Resettling over night is not about not feeding a baby but ensuring that we are feeding for hunger and not comfort. You cannot resettle a hungry baby. How long you resettle is dependent on the baby and parents but in my experience it takes approximately 20 minutes for a baby to fall asleep so to resettle it would take a minimum of 20 minutes. When resettling it is not about leaving your baby to cry it out or be alone but you give her an appropriate time to resettle and then intervene to help her.
With regard to transferring her from a bassinet to a cot, I just do it. As long as you feel secure in doing this step then she will be fine. Start her from her first morning nap so by the time she goes to bed for the night she will be used to sleeping in her cot.
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Posted By: DorothyW
Date Posted: 06 July 2014 at 8:53pm
When teaching a baby to self settle the guidelines are there for support and then you need to work within your boundaries and that of your baby.
Reading your notes you intervened at the right time and there will be times that you don't get it right as well
When you are teaching your baby to self settle I put them in their cot awake and then go from there.
I leave him for up to 5 minutes – this isnt about leaving him to cry his lungs out but about giving him the ability to find his sleep. IF he doesn't then you intervene
In my experience it takes approximately 20 minutes for a baby to fall asleep but you wouldn't (unless you choose to) leave him for 20 minutes without interveneing at his age.
So I would be looking at the following
Put baby in cot
Leave for up to 5 minutes (intervene earlier if you choose to)
Cup /pat and shush – if he doesn't respond then step back and repeat this sequence for up to 20 minutes
At anytime it is important to pick up your baby and do this in arms to self settle.
Are you feeding him before goes back down for a nap. This is also normal for a baby to sleep well in the mornings and then find that they cant do more than one sleep cycle in the afternoon. IF this is the case then I tend to do the resettle in arms.
For his age in my experience his wake times during the day will be approximately 2 hours stretching to 3 hours by the time he is six months old.
He will be having 2 or 3 naps a day with a minimum of 1 ˝ hours or he will be having 2 naps of a minimum of 1 ˝ hours and one band aid nap (this is no longer than 30 minutes) and is just to get him through to the evenign routine without getting overtired.
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Posted By: DorothyW
Date Posted: 06 July 2014 at 8:57pm
Hi to transition your 18 week old baby girl to longer awake and nap times then you will stretch her current wake times out by 15 minutes and hold for 10 days. At the end of the 10 days stop, think and act - the act may be to do another stretch of 15 minutes or the act may be to hold for another 10 days and then do it. By the time she is six months old ideally her wake times will be 3 hours
Are you feeding to sleep or using any props to get her to go to sleep. Is her room light or dark during the day.
Sleep is a learned behaviour and it is about working within your boundaries and your baby's boundaries on how you do this.
When she is up her wake times will look like this
wakes, feeds, plays, feeds, sleeping bag and down for nap
If she wakes after 1 sleep cycle then ideally you will take the time to resettle her.
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Posted By: DorothyW
Date Posted: 06 July 2014 at 9:01pm
Hi Tanya
I think I have sent you those notes but will check and if not resend them to you.
With regard to your second question there are a lot of mothers who have babies that sleep through the night and by not feeding does not affect their milk supply. This question is an individual one and does depend on your body and how it functions, but i would never wake a sleeping baby or a sleeping mother at that time of the day.
SOme will say it is better to get up and pump and others will say stay asleep. I think you need to listen to you and do what is right which I think after our conversation you are doing.
No, I don't encourage props (white noise) at all, however I certainly will use them if the baby needs them.
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Posted By: DorothyW
Date Posted: 06 July 2014 at 11:42pm
Hi
Sleep regression can be triggered for various reasons. I find the most common is that the baby hasn't been taught to self settle or resettle and so when they wake in the night they have no idea of how to go back to sleep. What triggers them to wake again can be different reasons - pain, cold, unwell, hunger etc.
If she is going to bed for her daytime naps and falling asleep with out any props and then if she wakes and resettles then it would suggest to me that she is hungry. IF she doesn't do either of these for naps then I would suggest that you teach her and then see if she resettles during the night.
Resettling overnight is about ensuring that if you feed you are feeding for hunger and not comfort. IF she is hungry you will not be able to resettle. Resettling is not about not feeding.
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Posted By: DorothyW
Date Posted: 06 July 2014 at 11:43pm
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. Also there is now a “recommendations’ section and it would great to hear your comments.
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
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