Jakesters Journal

So, I thought I should give everyone a little update.

Jake has cut/is cutting his first two teeth. The past few evenings have been the most obviously painful for him and we have struggled to get him to settle once we put him down for the night. On Monday, I could see a little teeny slit on one side of his gum. Yesterday I could feel a tooth on that side and saw a slit on the other side. Today, I can feel two little teeth. Pretty exciting. You can see them from the top of his gum, but they aren't actually poking out above the gum YET! Since I'm nursing, I'm honestly thankful that they're not poking out yet. Hopefully he won't think I'm a teething toy. :)

One of the biggest recent accomplishments has been a change (for the WAY better) in his daily routine.
It used to be something like this:

He would wake between 5:30 and 6:00 and nurse.
Then he would nurse for the rest of day just about every 3 hours until the evening where we would manage to squeeze in two cluster feeds around 7 and 9 p.m. He nursed a total of 6 times a day.
In addition to that he ate 3 solid meals as well.
He was only going to bed at night around 8p.m. on a good night and his daytime naps would only last about 45 minutes to 1 hour. He took 3 -4 naps during the day, but they were short and did not result in a pleasant awakening. I became concerned that he was not getting enough rest and knew something needed to change.
I read an article at iVillage about babies and sleep and realized that for Jake's age (he's 7 months) he was probably not getting enough sleep. (They recommended 16 hours till 9 months of age, at which they need 13 hours. I knew it wouldn't just suddenly drop off to 13 hours at 9 months, so I decided that for Jake's age I wanted to shoot for him getting at least 14 hours of sleep.)

Firstly, I prayed for God to give me wisdom and to help me know how to help Jake. I thought that if he went to bed earlier he might actually sleep longer in the morning. I cautiously and carefully watched him for a few days to get an idea of when he was typically acting hungry or tired. The first change I made was in his evening cluster feeds and bedtime. I decided to nurse him at 6:30 p.m. and then put him down for the night at 7 p.m. His next nursing would be at 8:30 p.m. in his sleep and then not again till morning. (if we made it that far) We tried it on Thursday night. He slept till 6:35 the next morning. On Friday, I played around with feedings and naps and kept praying for wisdom. So far, it seem to be working. This is what he's been doing since Friday (although Sunday was a little bit different because of the time change and church)

6:30 Wakes and nurses
Plays
7:30 - 8:00 Breakfast (depends on when Rob gets out the door)
Reads with Mommy
8:30 - Nap
10:00 - 10:30 Wakes and nurses
Plays
Goes on a walk (weather permitting) with Mommy
12:00 eats lunch with Mommy
Reads with Mommy
1:00 Nap
2:00 - 2:30 Wakes and nurses
Plays
Bath time
4:30 Nap
5:30 Supper with family
Plays with Daddy
6:30 Nurses
7:00 Put down for the night
8:30 Fed in his sleep

NEW ROUTINE:
ONLY 5 nursings
3 square meals
sleep total = 11 + hours/ night + 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours in naps
= 14 1/2 to 15 1/2 hours
A VERY HAPPY CHILD!!
AND AN OVERJOYED MOMMY!!!!

Pictures will follow in a future post.