Enough is Enough!

Yesterday I decided that enough was enough! Even though I have had some INCREDIBLE days and nights with Brody, I'm so tired all the time from the many nightly feedings and the inconsistent daytime feedings. It's exhausting never knowing just when your baby will wake up next and want to eat. Some days I have an idea, but am quickly thrown off when Brody wants to eat 20 minutes after finishing his previous meal! After several suggestions from friends recently, I went and bought the book On Becoming Baby Wise (aka: "BabyWise"). Even though Brody did well last night to go down at 8 pm and not wake up again until 1 am (that's FIVE HOURS!!!!! YAHOO!!! It's a first for him, but I think it was only because we had a VERY rough evening with him.....he was crying a LOT and could not be consoled!), I have still had enough because he was awake 3 times after that wanting to eat. I have no problem at all with feeding him when he is obviously hungry, but I just can't do the "demand-feeding" approach anymore (apparently that's what I have been doing without knowing it....). Many times I think he's starving only to find out he just wanted to pacify himself. At 3:00 in the morning I am not awake enough to have a child using me as his pacifier! =) PLUS, I REALLY need some sleep or I am not being the best mom I can be. I get grouchy (ask Dave), and I just can't think clearly or without overwhelming emotion. SO, we are trying this today! It's a "parent-led" approach instead of the "baby-led" approach I was using before. Basically it suggests getting your baby on a feeding schedule of every 2.5-3.5 hours (hooray!), as well as trying the "feed/play/nap" idea to help them sleep longer at night (the goal being ALL NIGHT!). I started it at 8:30 this morning and while I have him to the 2.5 hour feeding schedule so far, it has been very time consuming and tiring. He won't nap like he used to so I hear LOTS of crying and have to pacify him in other ways (like walking and rocking) until his next "scheduled" feeding. I tried him in his crib for two of his nap times (like they suggest), but since he was only getting 20-30 min of sleep in each 1.5 hour period, I resorted to his carseat in the bathroom with the vent/heater going. I guess I am just going to get the feeding schedule and eat/play/sleep down first and worry about the pacifying him to sleep later. I only do what I can do! =) We will work on this for the next several days and see how it goes. I have heard lots of positive things from this book, so I hope it helps us get some sanity!!!

Oh, and he is doing a LITTLE better with the bottle, but PLEASE keep praying for us! I am so thankful for progress, but that is a lot of the problem with my exhaustion and feelings of being overwhelmed..........