Sleep

As I mentioned in the previous post, Coleman was not sleeping well at all. He would wake up almost every night when we went to bed (since he was still in our room in the bassinet) and whether or not I fed him he would cry for awhile, only to wake up 4 or 5 hours later to do the same thing. This kind of behavior doesn't go well in my house. So after several pretty bad nights I was ready to change things up. First, we decided he was probably hungry and that's why he was waking up. But I wasn't making enough milk for him and that's why he kept crying after feeding. So we tried formula. It has helped amazingly. He sleeps so much better and I think this is the biggest reason why. He's on formula all day now. He seems to be eating a ton now. Before formula when we'd give him baby food after it was gone he would usually cry because he wanted more (even though he seemed to eat a lot) and now he's still content when he's done. He's also happy after he eats in the middle of the night. Sometimes I hear him babbling in his bed after he eats, but he doesn't cry anymore.  I was planning on nursing until he was 1, so I was a little disappointed to give him formula. But I am enjoying the freedom it gives me and I also like that I don't have to worry about if he's getting enough. 

We also moved him out of our room.  I didn't want him with the other kids because he was sleeping so poorly, but I also wanted him in his own space so we didn't wake him up and he could have the fan on all night. We can't have the fan on in our room because then we couldn't hear the other kids if they wake up at night.  I set up his crib in the loft. The other kids were excited about his new bed .

It took him awhile to fall asleep the first night, but since then he's done really good. He also slept about 10 or 11 hours in a row the first couple nights. And since then he's done almost as good. Hopefully I'm not jinxing his sleeping habits.

The biggest problem with moving him into the loft was the fact that it gets really light in there in the morning. I like my kids sleeping in dark rooms. I found out the Home Depot sells this black out blinds that are cheap and made out of paper, but work really well for a temporary solution. The kids and I headed to Home Depot to get some. When we were almost there I realized that I was really going to Lowes not Home Depot and was worried that Lowes wouldn't have any. Luckily they did and they work perfectly. 

I had to use them to cover the window by the stairs too because that's where most of the light comes in. Now he has a dark room, a comfy bed, and a better rested mom. :)