Good Night, Sleep Tight THANK YOU!

o Simo Von Ritter Family
Tia Vanessa & Primito Cairo
Cousins Noelya & Cairo
The  prettiest of all Tali & Nohli
GranMa & The Sleeping Beauty

Hello everybody! The holidays have approached us, and the weather has changed accordingly.  It has been cold and rainy in many parts of the North East...Nohli has been laying low, chilling at home and only coming out for special occasions.  Alot has happened since our last post.  We were up in Rye, NH for a week. Pops needed Papa's help with the leaky roof.  Grandma needed her grandbaby fix and Tia Jen Jen needed her #1 fan/cheerleader for support.  Back in the big apple things settled down for Nohli quite a bit.  While in Rye we began reading some baby books on sleep.  There was "Good Night, Sleep Tight" by Kim West aka the Sleeep Lady. " What to expect the First Year" and "Baby Massage".  All of these books had similar information when it came to sleep.  Sleep is very much needed not just for babies but for EVERYONE!  It is very important for growth, development, and overall behavior for a child to get enough sleep throughout the day, and night of course!  We were having some serious problems with Nohli's sleep behavior.  Because she is a breastfed baby she has more frequent feedings.  Which makes her wake up more just to eat.  According to the Sleep Lady babies need to be taught how to sleep.  Crazy right?  Well its true....However teaching them how to sleep is the challenge.  I tried several different ways that were recommended.  I even tried putting her to sleep in different places. Nothing worked for more than 20 minutes.  I even tried letting her Cry It Out (CIO).  Nothing seemed to work.  The only thing I learned is that our daughter is very strong willed and has a great set of lungs and vocal cords.  Another challenge we were faced with, as if sleep deprivation wasnt enough was her love hate relationship with the "BOBO" aka the pacifier/binky.  Well heres the thing.  When we did get Nohli to sleep it was with her monkey and her bobo.  Only problem was that as soon as there was some noise or she'd stop sucking the bobo popped out and instantly she awoke-MAD!  Uhhh!!!  We were at our wits end.  Good Night, Sleep Tight helped us understand how babies sleep and what occurs to them physically in this stage but unfortnately all the scheduling and the charting didnt help one bit!!!  So I decided enough with these books!  I was overstimulated with information and advice, at my wits end!  Not to mention physically exhausted and sleep deprived myself!  I left the books alone and started observing our lil one's behavior.  Thru out the day I was looking to see what she felt, what she did to show she was tired, hungry, bored etc...I learned a lil bit and I decided to come up with something a method of sorts ON MY OWN...Well I realized that Nohli was sleepy thru out the day, she would attempt to go to sleep and wake up soon after.  Even if I carried her and kept her in my arms she would fuss and awaken.  But I also noticed (by accident) that she would  flail her arms about right before she woke up.  So by jerking her arms she would in turn wake HERSELF up!!! Hmm...and so I remembered reading some online advice from a mom with a similar problem who suggested "swaddling"....I was hesitant to try it because her Pops-Wayne doesnt think its a good idea to strap a baby down.  He calls it a straight jkt!  But when you are sleep deprived (3 months worth) and exhausted you'll try anything once!  And so I did! And GUESS WHAT? It worked!  Nohli slept about 3hrs while swaddled.  It was amazing!  I was so happy and relieved.  And last night we fell asleep for about 4 hrs. But after waking and not being able to go back to sleep, I swaddled her and off to sleep she went.  Another 5 hrs of sleep!  My first good nights rest in a looooong time!  I will try swaddling her for naps only, in hopes that she learns how to get herself back to sleep.  Hopefully she wont have to be swaddled for too long.  What I learned from all this is, its important to be informed on all options and methods, so read all the books you can.  But all in all its important to pay close attention to YOUR child and his/her own personality and behavior.  You as the parents know whats best for YOUR child!  Alot of patience works too, lol! Hope this helps.