Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Runny Noses and Sleep Books

Well, Colin still has his cold that started back on 5/3. It has not gotten worse, but he is still so snotty! Yesterday he was grabbing at his right ear all day, so I decided to take him to the pedi just to be sure it had not escalated into an ear infection. We just got home and I am glad to report that he is just fine with no infection. Our clear record of no ear infections remains! I feel very lucky that Colin has been so well...so many of my friends babies are battling ear infections and six of them (including my nephew) have gotten tubes put in within the last few months!! I feel so badly for them! Colin is a very healthy baby...he weighed 23 lbs, 2 oz this morning! The pedi had him open his mouth and his exact response was, "WOW...here is your problem!". Apparently my little man is still in teething hell...not only is he cutting those top two teeth, but his gums are bright red and swollen all the way around his mouth. The poor guy is getting all of them at the same time!! He thinks this explains why Colin has been so upset and needy the last few weeks and it certainly makes sense. I wish I could take the pain away for him!

The main reason that I wanted to check with the doctor is because it looks like Colin is going to have to do some crying at night and I wanted to be sure that he was not in pain from an infection before I began. I am going to give the cold another couple of nights to go away...I tried to start our sleep plan, but with Colin's cold in full swing, after a minute or two of crying, he is covered in snot and can't breathe. I can't start this when the little guy is sick...it just won't work. So I am hanging in there for a few more days. I am about half way through with the Weissbluth book and let me tell you, I am learning A LOT. I had no idea how much I had to learn about sleep...I am not only learning about Colin, but myself also. I can't tell you how much I recommend this book to all of my mommy friends...even if your child is sleeping through the night, it is well worth the read!!! I was way WAY off in a lot of my perceptions about sleep and I am so glad that Dana told me to get this. Almost immediately, I learned that I have been putting Colin to bed too late. He has been going down at 8:00 or 8:30 and that is far too late. I had no clue!!! The doctor suggests that babies should be going to bed by 6:30 or 7:00!! That hour difference seems like no big deal, but just that short amount apparently changes a lot. He suggested that night wakings and early risings can result from a too late bedtime. So last night I put Colin to bed at 6:45 with no problem (I thought he would not go for it)...and he slept until 6:00am as usual. He really did need that extra hour!!! He woke up briefly at 11:00 and he put himself back to sleep and then he woke up crying at 1:00. I fed and rocked him (since he is sick) and put him back to bed and he slept until 6:00. That is a really good night for Colin....no fighting me at all. So the good doctor is apparently right about something! I am going to keep reading and try to soak up all the information that I can. Hopefully Colin will be much better soon and we can really start our plan of getting him more sleep!!

2 comments:

Jeremy said...

Hi Wif!

I miss you two! Here's the show I was telling you about! It is the dude from BNL!
http://www.tsn.ca/oln/feature.asp?fid=10845

Anonymous said...

Glad you have found the book useful! Like I said, mine is practically tattered. Sorry Colin is all snotty...that always makes things tough.

And isn't that crazy about the early bedtime? Gabby is up in the morning at 7 a.m whether she goes to bed at 6:30 or at 9:00. It is hard for me during the workweek though to not be selfish and want to keep her up until 8 or 8:30 to play longer. So we do that on occasion, but still try to do early bedtimes as much as possible.

 
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