My good little sleeper

Henry has been in his crib now for about a week. And since he's so close to rolling over, we had to stop using the Miracle Blanket. He's now in a sleep sack. And he's been sleeping really well! Basically, he passes out around 9-10-11 p.m. and sleeps until the morning! One night he went from 11 p.m. to 9 a.m. That's TEN HOURS! Amazing. Love big babies!

OUT with the Miracle Blanket & IN with the sleep sack!

When Alexa rolled over on New Year's Day, the way we put her down to sleep in her crib changed immediately. We could no longer swaddle her in the Miracle Blanket (photo below) because if she rolled over and had no use of her arms, she could get stuck!

While we could have gradually weaned her from the Miracle Blanket by swaddling her with one arm out, then both arms out, we decided instead to drop the Miracle Blanket cold turkey. We switched instead to Halo sleep sacks, like this one and this one!

I got two sleep sacks from Buy Buy Baby using 20% off coupons and two from Greater Goods, where they were marked at 50% off! We'll need to have a couple extras in case her diaper leaks and one to send to day care for naps.

So far, so good! It took about a week for Alexa to get used to sleeping without the swaddle. At first, she startled herself with her arms. Now, she simply rolls over onto her tummy and gets comfortable. She's out in two seconds!

Alexa likes sleeping on her TUMMY!

Today, for the first time, Alexa slept on her TUMMY! It was during a nap. She was in her crib in a sleep sack when she decided to roll herself over. In the past, when she's rolled over in the crib, she wakes up and cries. This time, she curled up and went to sleep.

I would have taken a picture of her... But I didn't want to wake her up with the flash! Of course I had to creep into her room to check on her. She was OK -- breathing and sleeping peacefully.

As you might know, letting babies sleep on their tummy is a big no-no. All the books and doctors say to put your baby down to sleep on their back to avoid SIDS. But, once they can roll over on their own, they are allowed to sleep on their side or tummy.

However, once babies can roll over, you must stop swaddling them. We had been using the Miracle Blanket to put her to sleep and were sad to see it go. The last two nights have been, um, rough. Tonight will be our 3rd night without the Miracle Blanket and so far so good. Alexa went down at 9 p.m. and is happily sleeping on her SIDE!

Update: She slept soundly, all night long! Down at 9 p.m. Dream feed at 1 a.m. Quick feed at 6 a.m., then down again. I might survive this post-Miracle Blanket life after all!

My good little sleeper!

Alexa is doing so well with her naps and night sleeping. I am so proud! Here is what my happy baby looks like in her crib when I walk in each morning...

I make sure she gives me a BIG SMILE before I pick her up. I want her to learn that the crib is a happy place and that if she wakes up, she can play on her own and hang out before I come in to get her. I think it's working!

We have been doing the same bedtime routine each night: Bath, put on sleep clothes, book, last feed, then I put on her sound machine of ocean waves (my beach baby!) and put her in her Miracle Blanket in her crib.

If she has fallen asleep at the breast, then she wakes up during the swaddle, so I either pat her while she is laying in her crib in the swaddle until she closes her eyes or walk out and turn the light off and she falls asleep on her own!

Generally, she has been sleeping about 5-6 hours a night. So if we put her down at 10 p.m. or 11 p.m., she'll sleep until 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. I'll nurse her and put her down again and she'll sleep for about 2-3 hours on the second put down. If I can get her to sleep that whole time without that 4-5 a.m. feeding, I'd be golden! Then I could gradually move her bedtime earlier...

During the day, we are still doing the E.A.S.Y. (Eat, Awake time, Sleep) routine and it's been wonderful. She'll take a couple naps of 30 minutes to an hour long, then one long nap mid-day or late afternoon that ranges from 2-3 hours. I have been better at predicting that long nap, like I did on Thanksgiving, so that has been great.

Anyway, sleep training is a work in progress but at least I feel like we are on the right track!

In other news, we just found out today that we have a daycare spot as of Jan. 11th... Which is good and bad since I'll be off longer with no pay! Oh well, it's still a spot.

Alexa slept her first night in her crib!

Yup, that's right. We did it. We put her in her crib and she slept soundly! Actually, she slept really well in her bassinet on Saturday night -- ALMOST FIVE HOURS! But when we put her in her crib last night, she slept FIVE AND A HALF HOURS!

This is big stuff, folks!

We are using the Miracle Blanket and once she nods off, I wrap her up, turn on the ocean waves sound machine and tip toe out of her room. We leave her door open and our door open so we can hear her. She's doing so well! Our big baby girl!

Also on Monday, Daddy didn't have to work so we went out for a nice lunch and sat outside. Then we went to Barnes & Noble and got "Secrets of the Baby Whisperer," which has an interesting theory on babies and putting them on a schedule.

Essentially, the books says that you can use the E.A.S.Y. schedule where every 3 hours, your baby EATS, followed by a period of AWAKE time and ACTIVITY. After that, they SLEEP for little bit and during that nap, you have a bit of YOU time to get stuff done.

I'll let you know if it works!