We took Bridget to her 4-month appointment yesterday. Here's how it went:
The Appointment
- 26 inches long, which puts her in the 95th percentile for height
- 14 lb 10 oz, which puts her in the 75th percentile for weight
- I don't remember her head circumference, but she was only 25th percentile for that I think.
- Got her second dose of vaccines, which of course she didn't like.
- Her thigh folds are slightly asymmetrical (???), which could be a sign of hip dysplasia. Doc said not to worry, though, and if it's more prominent at her 6 month, we'll do an X-ray then.
- She has a mild case of eczema, so we're to put Cetaphil on her dry patches.
- We're supposed to wait until she's 5 months old to start solid foods.
- We are NOT supposed to be feeding her at night (Doc looked slightly taken aback when we told her we still were) because she should be able to go for eight hours at night without food. Bridget should be sleeping through the night now, so we need to start sleep training her.
- Otherwise, she seemed like a happy, healthy baby.
The Aftermath
6:00 - Gave Bridget a dose of infant Tylenol because of the shots, and I started to give her a bottle. The drugs were making her drowsy, so we decided to try to put her to bed. By the time we actually got her in her bedroom and ready, she was screaming.
7:00 - Still screaming, after Nate trying to soothe her, and she spit up all her food.
7:45 - I decide she's hungry again having no food left in her tummy, and I take her out to feed her. She doesn't eat much, so I put her back down, and of course, she starts crying again.
8:30 - Nate gets up and tries to soothe her again. Somehow, she finally falls asleep.
11:45 - Starts crying, so I get up and rock her, try giving her a pacifier, put on her seahorse a couple times, read the sleep book recommended by the doctor for tips (didn't really find much useful information for the situation, but more on that later).
12:45 - Essentially cries herself to sleep when I can do nothing to comfort her. I was sitting in her room the whole hour, so I went back to bed at this point.
3:30 - Crying again. At this point, it's been about 8 hours since she ate, so Nate got up and fed her. Apparently, she wolfed down this food in minutes.
6:15 - Woke up but only ate 1 oz of formula. Seemed happy, though.
Needless to say, night one of "sleep training" was hard. But I kept reminding myself that it's supposed to be hard, but it should get better soon. It was kind of nice to know that we're actually doing something proactive to get her to sleep through the night.
The book the doctor recommended was Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child.
I could see how the book would be very useful had we started sleep training earlier. He had a lot of tips for babies birth through 3 months. Most of the tips for 4+ months were for "post colic" babies, which Bridget is not. We just haven't known we needed to sleep train her (or how we needed to) until now. The vast majority of the book seemed to emphasize the importance of naps and a timely schedule. That's all well and good, but it left me no advice for what to do in the middle of the night besides one page on how to soothe your baby. So I guess we did the best we could--try to console her and know that crying is going to happen at this point.
I have never read that book, nor have I done total sleep training, but maybe last night was not a good night to start sleep training, she probably was overly fussy due to the shots. Which probably made the sleep training a lot harder.
ReplyDeleteI know shots are a big deal at this house. Aubrey is usually super fussy as well, even with her supper shot thighs that she has. I have after her 2 months shots I actually would come home give her a bath and then the Tylenol.( The nurse suggested it) That seemed to help. Her calm down a little bit. That might help.
As far as sleep training, do what you feel is best. There is so many different methods out there to try. While we are fortunate and don't have sleep issues until about a month-month and a half ago. I at first started using the Dr. Sears method as I was not to keen on allowing her to cry it out for a curtin amount of time. Dr. Sears says to put baby in bed drowsy but not sleeping, put you hand on their back for comfort until they are completely asleep and then leave, after a time period you slowly move from contact to no contact by sitting at the bed then door until you are out of the room. Needless to say that did not work for her. So I decided to try the Ferber method. It worked some days and not other. We started putting her to bed drowsy if she starts crying I wait about 3 or so minutes go in pick her up rock her a little until she is drowsy again and then put her back in bed. Most times I had to do this no more then 2-3 times each time waiting a few minutes of her crying before going back in. Now I would say 80% of the time We do bottle book and cuddle time which is usually rocking to drowsiness and then bed,she usually fusses/ babbles for anywhere between 5-30 minutes before she goes to sleep.
So I guess my point is if it something is not working for you, or does not feel right to you try something else. Also remember that you guys are the parents you know your child the best. Doctors are not always right, maybe she still does need something at night, its not completely uncommon for an infant to get up multiple times a night. What also may help is a top off before bed or a slightly bigger bottle. Aubrey seems to eat 6oz bottles through out the day but her last bottle before bed is usually 8 oz.
I highly recommend the Ferber method. We modified it so that we were comfortable doing it and it worked extremely well for us. If you want more info about what we did, feel free to ask and I'll give you the run down.
ReplyDeleteI would NOT, however, recommend trying any kind of sleep training right after shots or when your baby is sick. Just my opinion.
wow.. I can't wait to be a mom but you must be soo tired all the time if that is your typical schedule at night! She is soo cute though!
ReplyDeleteAaron's been sleeping through the night since the first month.. so I can't say I understand your struggle. He's asleep every night between 10:15 and 10:45 and wakes up at about 6:50ish every morning. I am seriously blessed with that kid.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read this, I was all like, "Aaron just had his 4 month check up too!!" and then I remembered they are only about a week apart. Hehe.
p.s. I LOVE that picture. :)
Amanda and Lindsey - Yeah, after we had already put her down, it occurred to me that it was not the best idea to start it on a day when she got shots. Whoops, live and learn. She did a lot better last night although she was grunting and moving around most of the night. But Nate only had to get up with her for a half hour at 2:00. I'll have to talk to you more about what worked for you, Lindsey.
ReplyDeleteRachel - Thanks! Coffee is definitely needed, that's for sure. It's worth it, though, and it does help that she's so stinkin' cute.
April - Haha, that's OK. I often forget what kids belong with what blogger. And I'm very jealous that Aaron's been STTN for so long! What a good boy.