Making Moves

Case is starting to get the hang of Tummy Time and lifts up his head and looks around for a bit instead of crying as soon as we put him down! He has also recently found that his fist is great to suck on. He hasn't quite got the thumb or fingers down yet cause he ends up gagging himself but he isn't far from getting them to cooperate :). Another recent development is that he can roll onto his side from his back - I know, big changes!

I would have to say, though, that the biggest change in his life over the past week and a half is that we have a new naptime/bedtime routine. Case has relied on a pacifier the past three months to fall asleep and to stay asleep (my bad). Since this meant that he couldn't fall back asleep without it when he would transition from REM to deep and then back to REM sleep he was only getting very short naps throughout the day. So, we decided to make some changes before he got any older. Now our routine is that we go into his room, close the blinds, turn on the lullabies, swaddle with one arm out for fist sucking, sit with mom in the chair with the paci for a few minutes, then into the crib (no paci!!!) to fall asleep on his own.

Let me just say that the first week was torture. He would cry and cry and I spent hours in his room patting his back until he fell asleep. Now, I am so pleased to say, when I put him down he may fuss or "settle" for a minute or two but for the most part he is off to dreamland on his own!!! Now his morning nap is 1 1/2, and his midday nap is about an hour and his afternoon naps about 45 minutes so we are slowly getting there. We have also cut out a 2AM nursing and now he'll go down at 7:00PM, I wake him for a dream feed at 10:00PM, he's hungry again at 4:30AM, then back asleep until 7:00AM for the start of the day. Yeah Case!