Sleep Training: Revisited

Remember how I was saying that I was getting such success from sleep-training Brandon? Well, he has been sleeping fairly well at night - knocking off around 10:30pm and sleeping to 7am the following morning, waking up briefly only to take his milk at around 2am and 6-7am. Now that I'm going back to work soon, I expect this plan to fall apart sadly.

Yesterday I was at my PILs place and it was time for Brandon to sleep. Unfortunately, they could not take Brandon crying (actually, he was whimpering) even for 5 seconds so they promptly carried him and rocked him to sleep. Worse, they did not put him in his cot until some 10-15mins later, even after he fell asleep! I can see all my hard work (and Brandon's tears) going down the drain. I feel very irritated and "mung chang" but I supposed there's nothing I can say considering my MIL will be taking care of Brandon during the day. Just have to swallow it lor.

What a pity!

Bad Memories

I read with horror in today's The Star papers about a 2 year old boy who fell into a pot of curry and had 50% of his body scalded. Immediately, it brought me back to Bryan's accident. I can still vividly recall all the sordid details - from the time the accident occured to the long 3 days spent at the hospital. I will always remember this as a lesson learnt. Now I am paranoid about the safetly of my boys. Better paranoid than sorry.

The Final Week

This is my final week of being a SAHM - I will return to work on Friday, which is exactly the 60th day of my maternity leave. How time flies. How do I feel about going back to work? I will surely miss spending my days playing with both Bryan and Brandon, but deep down inside, I know that I'm eager to resume my life in the corporate world - nice lunches, stressful meetings, difficult emails. I've already told VT when I was halfway through my leave that I am just not cut out to be a SAHM because I am so impatient with kids. I expect them to behave like adults haha.
Anyway, what better time to reminisce quietly about the past 2 months than now. These photos were taken at Bryan's 2nd birthday celebrations at Eastin Hotel, PJ.

2-Word Bryan

I must admit that blogging about Bryan has somewhat taken a bit of a backseat since Brandon's arrival. Afterall, it is more satisfying complaining about a newborn than a well-grounded toddler.

Since Bryan turned 2 last month, his speech development has improved by leaps and bounds. Just overnight, he managed to utter his first two-word : NO MORE. I must have used that a lot with him, especially when he keeps asking for snacks. Then he figured out that he could say other combinations, such as -

- nice shirt! (always said with an exclamation mark)
- change shirt
- wear shoe
- wear socks
- fun song (from Fun Song Factory)
- Mama sit
- Mama take
- Mama hold
- tap head (from a Barney activity book)

I still think he's a little slow compared to his peers in speech. He still struggles with two-syllable words although I know he is trying very hard. Sometimes when he doesn't want to nap, my MIL will force him to at least lie down and rest. What does he do to occupy himself? Talk to himself lor!!

Sleep-Training

I think it's safe to declare myself an infant sleep expert.

Bryan was such a poor and light sleeper that I went out to buy and/read every sleep-training material there was on the bookstore shelf and internet. Still, no use with Bryan. You can imagine just how desparate I was - from his birth, he slept an average of 10-12 hours in total a day, and each time, for no more than 45 minutes. Yes, even at nights!! Bryan would be over-tired that he was screaming by the time he was really ready to kaput. Even then, he had to be rocked and carried and lullabied. Luckily, things have improved significantly since turning 18 months although MIL still needs to rock and carry and lullaby him today! Imagine, having to struggle with a cranky toddler when you yourself lack of sleep for 18 months.

But to give Bryan credit, I think he was born a poor sleeper. Literature points that poor sleepers are fast learners and can be greatly rewarding. This is very true. For example, I only taught him the numbers 1 to 10 once and he could recite it almost immediately. Now Bryan is able to recite A to Z, sans missing a couple of alphabets.

However, I was still determined to not let this (the poor sleeping habits) repeat itself with Brandon. So what sleep-training method do I use with Brandon?

Brandon, on the other hand, slept an average of 20 hours in his first month. Now in his 2nd month, a little less but still considerably much much more than Bryan in his hey-days :) Brandon's biggest challenge is going down for the night when he usually does not want to sleep and wishes for entertainment, ie us talking and cooing to him. So, I've decided to harden my heart and let him cry it out.

Now, you can't simply employ the CIO techniq (the "Ferber method") on every baby as some may be too agitated by it and make things worse. I tried it once with Brandon and he seemed to adapt well to it. It's still in the early stages but I can see the results as when he wakes up, he is able to self-soothe himself back to sleep without any intervention on my part. That is key to a good night sleep for everyone in the house.

There are many other techniques out there so if your baby is a poor sleeper, don't despair. Get help!

My Rojak Boy

First of all, thanks to everyone who gave such great advice about coping. Don't worry, I am not suicidal..........yet! LOL :)

My little boy here has been mixing everything up like a really good packet of rojak. He sleeps during the day, stays awake at night, poops only at night, eats when he's supposed to be sleeping and sleeps when he's supposed to be feeding.

Yesterday, he was sleeping the whole day through - up for a total of perhaps only 2 hours. Then of course, at night tai wok lor. Brandon was up the whole night till 6:30 this morning!! He probably had a couple of cat naps in between because after a while, I was too tired to pick him up. In a way, he was being sleep-trained at the same time as I heard him crying & wh'ining for about 20mins and then silence ha ha.

Besides keeping him up a little more during the day, do you reckon I should wake him up for his feeds if he sleeps through them? So far, I have been letting him sleep to his heart's content at daytime but I suspect that is why he cannot sleep at night.

Horrible Mother

I am on a guilt trip here.

As you know, I have not been doing many night shifts of late. The reason is that I get really grumpy and irritatable whenever I don't have sufficient sleep. I will become this ugly person and complain to VT to no end. As a result, I am not patient with poor Brandon.

Reading other mummy's experiences with their babies, I feel even more guilty as there are so many types of challenges apart from sleeplessness. I am grateful that Brandon is Ok health-wise, but there are just those moments when I feel so tired that I could cry.

I think I am not a good mum especially in the initial first few trying months. Any tips from the many accomplished mothers out there on how I can be more patient with my boy?

Less Time, More Stress

Just when I thought things were getting better, the boys caught the cough at the same time and Brandon still only sleeps at 2+am every night. So much for being lucky! VT still does most of the night shifts because he knows that I turn into a horrible green monster if I don't get enough sleep and have to face an edgy infant the whole day the next day.

Last night was a good example. We had returned from a wedding dinner at around 11pm and picked Brandon up from my PILs. Byran slept over. I know VT was really tired so I picked up the shift. Boy oh boy! Brandon was fussing till 1:30am and I cannot tahan already since my eyelids were on auto-close, so I put him down next to me on the bed, and pat him till I don't know when because I must had fallen asleep before he did. Throughout the night, I could hear him tossing and making noise, but I'd ignored him and before I knew it, the clock showed 5:30am. I felt guilty and quickly woke up to give him his feed. I went back to sleep after burping him...not sure whether Brandon went to sleep though!


At 7:30am I could hear Brandon going "nyek nyek nyek". I turned to look at him and he was wide awake already! I tried to desparately put him back to sleep but with no luck. I felt like a wreck the whole morning until at noon, I gave him his milk and bath and he promptly fell asleep after that. Now it is almost 3pm and he has been up since 2pm. I walked around a bit and now he's left in his cot, making noises.

Looks like I won't be able to blog or blog-hop as much as I would like to anymore. In a way, I am looking forward to heading back to work next Friday to "get a break".

My Two Boys Are Sick

Bryan caught the cough first abour 10 days ago. We thought we were pretty lucky to arrest it quickly by giving him some Benadryl, and after 2 days, it went away. Unfortunately, the cough came back with vengence a couple of days later and this time, Brandon caught it too. Which is not surprising considering the kor kor has been kissing the di di! I didn't have the heart so stop such affection!

Brandon had a fever on Saturday night and I didn't even know how much paracetomal to give him. I had no choice but to call my mum (who used to work for a paed) at 3:30 in the morning for advice. Ok - 1.25mls - now I know. After taking the para and some sponging, thank goodness his fever subsided. I still brought him to the paed the following morning for good measure. He diagnosed a mild cough and oral thrush. Unlike Bryan, Brandon absolutely despises taking meds. He will screw his face up when presented with both the syringe and spoon. Bryan on the other hand, pleads to be given meds because he likes to play with the syringe after that!

I pray for the boys' speedy recovery. Also so that mummy does not feel so zombified!

1st Time Lucky

VT has been doing the night shifts with Brandon for the past 4 nights, and I tell you, he looked absolutely shattered yesterday morning. I'd offered to take care of Brandon last night, which I did, so that VT could have some rest. I had braced myself for the usual "cry like a mad man" episode that usually happens between 11pm to 2am.

I was pleasantly surprised.

Not only did Brandon not cry, he actually slept from 9pm all the way through to 8am this morning, waking up 3-4 hourly for his feeds.

1st time lucky, or have the crying spells ended? I'm more convinced of the former. Afterall, this little boy did not sleep a wink the whole afternoon yesterday. Let's see how it goes tonight. Unfortunately for VT, I won't be doing the shifts over the next 2 nights as I have work conference to attend on Thursday & Friday - can't afford to fall asleep in front of my boss!