Ladies Night, oh What a Night!

(Chubby cheeks - James)

Yesterday, our buddy Cheryl came to hang out with us and participate in bath day. While she was here, I pick up some good tips on how to help your baby sleep through the night. Most of what Cheryl told us was in the article we have been following, but she said that she did not feed her kids in the middle of the night unless they really freaked out for food. Kathy and I have been splitting the night shift, and it's been pretty hard because we let the boys wake up and eat when they dictate rather than sticking to the four hour schedule. We've all noticed that they don't eat much in the middle of the night at all, so last night, Bob and I decided to try the soothe and starve method.


(Chubbier cheeks - Michael)

We put the boys to bed around 9 or so, and Bob and I were in bed with the farmers - 9:30. About 1:30 a.m., Michael started squawking, and so I headed upstairs with a mission to comfort and soothe without feeding. By the time I made it upstairs, Mikey was pretty vocal (no problem really except for the fact that he woke up James which in turn woke up Ryan). Until about 3:30, Dusty, Emma, and I all hung out and travelled from crib to crib soothing and patting and shoving the pacifier in open mouths. The ladies were on point, and it went pretty well. Around 3:30ish, everyone settled and I went downstairs to the bathroom. I needed to pump but was too hesitant to do it at this point because I knew as soon as I "strapped up" they'd be demanding my presence in the nursery. Thus, I tinkled and returned. By this point, Dusty had abandoned ship and returned to bed while Emma slept on the bed and tried to bite me every time I sat down on the bed we kept in the nursery for grown-ups. James, who hates dirty pants, started going to town around 3:45ish, so I changed diapers while the boys stayed in their beds (I was very strong and did not pick them up one single time). Mikey started going really nuts around four, so I gave him about an ounce of food and he went back to sleep and slept without waking up again until 5:30 when Bob had to roust him out to eat.


(Chubbiest cheeks - Ryan)

At 4:45, my main man arrived in the nursery, and we decided that the boys had done very well and got James and Ryan up to eat. Ryan actually took his pacifier much more than usual during the night, and he was very patient (he's my baby that likes to eat, so I was interested to see if he could make it without a midnight snack). Surprisingly, they boys were not starving. I thought they'd eat like ravenous wolves, but they just ate their normal early morning amounts and went back to sleep. Other than the fact that they were pretty labor intensive, they seemed to do well with the soothing technique. Hopefully tonight will be easier and Bob and I can accomplish our goal of getting the boys to sleep through the night before Grandma Newhouse heads home. Things are looking pretty good (although it could just be my sleep deprived state is altering reality).