The boys have been waking up for two feeds in the middle of the night for the past few weeks now. At first, I think it started because they were going through a growth spurt. At some point that need to wake up transitioned from a growth spurt to a habit. I have no idea when it happened but since they were both eating so well and so much at night, I just assumed that they needed the feed.
In talking to Carolyn (my sister-in-law), she warned me that it didn't really matter if the boys were ready to eliminate the feed. I needed to be ready to stick to the plan of not letting them feed in the middle of the night. The whole process would not work if I was not ready. She was completely right. I had been talking about trying to get them back to not feeding in the middle of the night, but I obviously was not prepared to do what was necessary. Hence my giving them until they were 6 months old...
On Friday night Nicolas slept from 12:30 until about 7:30. I went in around 3:30 and gave him back his pacifier but he did not completely wake up and need a feed until 8:00am! This made me realize that the boys were waking up in the middle of the night purely out of habit. If Nicolas (the younger and smaller baby) could go over 7 hours without a feed, so could Zachary. This was what I needed to decide that it was time to stop this night feeding. And so, we started Baby Boot Camp on Saturday night...
Saturday night, Nicolas did well again. He woke up for his regular first feed around 12:30 -1:00 and then slept until 8:00am or so. There was a need to go in and calm him down with his pacifier and a back rub around 4:00am but that only took a few minutes. Zachary on the other hand cried quite a bit and was much harder to calm down. We let him cry for a while and then Steve would go in and comfort him. I couldn't do it because he could smell the milk and would get even more worked up. This routine went on for 1.5 hours! Finally we fell asleep and went until after 8:00 in the morning. Sunday and Monday nights were very similar to Saturday, expect the amount of time that Zachary would have to cry before he would go back to sleep decreased.
Last night we had a breakthrough! Zachary was in bed and asleep by 8:30. He woke up around 12:30 and I went in to give him his pacifier. He put his head back down and went to sleep. He did not really wake up again until 5:00am! I then fed him and he went back to sleep until after 7:00.
Nicolas went to sleep shortly after Zachary at around 8:45. He woke up for a feed around 1:00am and had some difficulty going back to sleep. He woke a few times in need of some comfort and his pacifier, but never once did I have to pick him up out of his crib. Once he fell asleep, he was out until I nudge him awake around 9:45 this morning! Tonight I plan to make sure that he eliminates the 1:00 am feed rather than the one after that. That way eventually they will be able to skip over the next feed as well. the good thing is that last night Steve did not have to get up at all. He was able to stay in bed when I went in to lull the boys back to sleep.
Baby Boot Camp took three days to complete. I did not want to simply let them cry it out because I think that it is a bit cruel. However, the boys do need to cry somewhat in order to learn how to cope on their own. Sometimes the boys cry and calm themselves down. Other times I go in and help. That's what seems to work for all of us. Hopefully Baby Boot Camp will stick, otherwise we will start again until it does!
Here are some cute pictures of the boys sleeping in the van on the way home from Grandma and Grandpa's:
I love how they fall asleep holding onto their little bugs!
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