Eversince Sis bought for me the book titled 'The New Contented Little Baby' by Gina Ford....I've decided to try out her schedule/routine...with much modification of course. I started him on the schedule on 14th June.
The basic principle of the book is that baby must be gaining 180-240g of weight per week to assume that baby has enough food storage to sleep through the night. I think that is a great way to train Elijah...and in a way..I guess having him on mix feed....day breastmilk and night formula allows him to sleep better and allows me to start training him to sleep though the night.
The tough part of this training is that our lives are kind of tied to his schedule and it gets tough in the evening as we settle for dinner at 7-8pm. By then, Elijah is usually sleepy but we cannot let him have his bedtime yet as we're not home by then. Poor Elijah always becomes cranky at the evening time due to tiredness.
The other tough part of the training is that each meal may not be a constant quantity..eg. it can be range from 60ml to 150ml. I used to think once the baby's tummy expand as we increase the feeding quantity...you must fill that amount into his tummy before he can be satisfied but after following the schedule/routine..it seems that that is no true. He can even be happy with 60ml but of course with some complains. But once he knows his routine.....he seems to be happy following it.
Right now he feeds at 5-6.45am, 9am, 1pm, 5pm, 7pm, 9pm and 11.30pm.
Total feed: Close to 800ml per day
Day 1Elijah seems puzzled by this new routine we've gotten him into. However, he seems happier (crying less) as he is fed before he is hungry...or before he has to cry for his milk. He slept from 8.30pm till 6am.
Day 2He is starting to get used to it...mabbe irritated as he gets woken up by mummy..but good thing is he gets fed so no complains from him. The other thing is that he needs to be stimulated to sleep less. So far so good..he is sleeping less in the day..with the help of rattles and playmat. Am happy to get him to sleep less but that also means I have less personal time..oh well for the sake of peaceful nights in future...I shall make that sacrifice. He slept from 9pm to 6am.
Day 3He seems to be totally used to the schedule by now...sleeping less and getting the rest at night. However...to my horror...he woke up at 1am. Luckily....I pacify him to go back to bed by cuddling him just for now. Then 3.30am...he woke up AGAIN!!!! I tried the same thing...cuddling..but he continued on. So I put him down and let him cry....I was persistent not to feed him as he wasn't hungry for the past 2 days. It wasn't hunger...perhaps habit more than hunger..coz he used to wake up at that time. He cried and cried and cried...but I had to persist on...no carrying..just patting. The whole night...I patted and patted...he cried and cried for almost 1-1.5hour. Finally at 5am he stopped.....and slept. Ah...it wasn't hunger then coz he could fall asleep. Poor him....deep inside it's painful....but I know I had to do it for a better future. I want him to get used to sleeping through...especially since he is on formula. I had to wake him up for a top-up feed.
Day 4He woke up again at 6am...I painfully dragged and waited till 6.20am before I fed him.
Day 5He woke up at 5.30am....I again painfully dragged till 6am.
Day 6Ah...he is getting used to it...this time 6.45am.
Following daysEversince, he has been waking up about 6.45am. Way to go Elijah. He did wake up at 3+am sometimes but he would self soothe by suckling to bed....and that was an achievement!!! He also wakes up at about 5+am but he would suckle till 6.45am before he cries...not sure if he has been trained by cruel mummy to cry only when really really hungry. Anyway he's been such a darling. It's painful to train him like this but I know he is feeding enough...so it shouldn't hurt. It's not easy for me too....but mabbe he knows how tough it is for us too....mabbe he does love us alot..to do it for us. My darling Elijah...I love U lots lots!!! And Daddy loves U too. We know u've been a good boy all this while.
He has been waking up between 5.15am - 6.30am eversince...most of the time he wakes up at about 6am...hope he could wake up even later yah. But it's ok...mummy thinks U've been great already. Way to go. Anyway just went to PD on Sat....he gained 1.05kg since he last visited the PD on 1st June...that meant he gained close to 180g per week. Guess he is drinking enough yah. :)