Unique Babies

I can remember when my children were newborns not getting much sleep.  My two older children started sleeping through the night when they were about 4 months old.  The next two (twins) were sleeping through the night by 2 months old.  The reason they were sleeping through the night earlier was because of my pediatrician a wise older man. He gave me a great tip that I try to pass on to all mothers that are having this problem of getting little to no sleep.

First, your baby needs to be on a schedule with their eating.  Do not let them just eat on demand; this causes your baby to over eat (especially in the middle of the night).  Second, if they have shown you that they can sleep for a stretch of time (in the middle of the night) then if they wake up sooner they need to sooth themselves back to sleep.   They do not need to get up every two or three hours and eat if they have shown you they can go for five or six hours.  Third, he said to start them on a sleeping schedule early, if it is bed time lay them down and let them cry themselves to sleep.  The crying will make them more tired and it teaches them to comfort themselves and go to sleep.

I started doing this with my twins after their two month check up.  The first night I laid them down to sleep it took my son 15 minutes to cry himself to sleep it took my daughter 45 minutes.  I almost went in and got her up but I did not.  The next night she only cried for 10 or 15 minutes, and each night it became a shorter period of time that they would cry.  They learned that they were put down late in the evening when it was bed time and they would sleep for five to six hour stretches.  As they got a little older the length of time that they slept extended to 7 or 8 hours and then they were sleeping a full 12 to 13 hours.  One thing that helped my children was a musical box that played music for 15 minutes.  It also had a remote control that I could turn it back on if I needed to, usually they were asleep by the time it was finished playing.  They also slept with pacifiers; and when they were newborns and little babies it was difficult to keep them in their mouth.

I have discovered the coolest new invention that was not around when my children were newborns.  It is called a Binky Buddy, I wish I invented this; it is truly a unique baby item.  This unique baby item helps your baby keep their pacifier in their mouth, or if it comes out they are easily able to find the pacifier because it is right in front of their mouth.  I would have loved to have had this so when my children where trying to cry themselves to sleep they would not have lost their binky out of their mouth and would have been able to pacify themselves and gone to sleep faster.