I warn you all that this will be long!
Justine - What time does Scarlett get up with that early bedtime? And/Or what time did Henry and Madison get up when they were going to bed at 6:30PM? Ryan is also ready for sleep between 6:30-7pm ... trying to time the Prilosec with his nighttime cluster feeding and his bedtime bottle has been difficult too so we are trying to keep a hungry and tired baby awake.
We have trouble with Alex sleeping too ... he goes to bed by 8pm most night and is up around 7am but he wakes at least once during the night either requesting one of us to lay with, with a screaming night terror, wanting milk or after wetting his bed. He is usually back to sleep within 15-30 minutes though. However, by 9am he is EXHAUSTED laying around on the couch sucking his thumb. If we go anywhere after 2pm, it's almost a gaurantee that he will fall asleep in the car but HE WILL NOT nap at home anymore. We dropped naps a few months ago because his nighttime sleep was horrendous. Once we did that he started sleeping better then when I went to have Ryan he started this waking thing. Argh ... I am actually thinking HE needs an earlier bedtime too.
If only DH could be done with work and we could eat dinner at 4:30!!
Scarlett wakes up at 6:30am every day. She had been getting up at 4:30am to nurse, then back down till 7, but she seems to be cutting that out and just sleeping straight till 6:30 recently. Same with Henry, he slept 6:30-6:30 every night. And now my older ones are in bed by 7:30pm and also wake up at 6:30am. They need to be in school at 8:30am so that works fine. I wish it were later on weekends, but that never happens, regardless of bedtime.
What is the dosing on the Prilosec? What I have been doing with Scarlett is giving her the 1st dose in the morning around 7:30am (which is when we're all dressed and downstairs and the older kids have their food), then the 2nd dose, since she is sleeping at 7:30pm, I didn't know what to do with so I gave it before she went to bed. Well, I realized that since she started sleeping all night, she didn't really need the dose at 7:30, but did need something to hold her over in the morning, as it was apparent the night dose had worn off. So I started giving her the pill when I go to bed, around 10-11pm. She doesn't wake up when I do it (which is very odd as I have to crush the pill in her mouth, and then she isn't a bear in the morning after her first meal.
Of course, if Ryan is still nursing all night long, which I imagine at his age he likely is, that may not work, but maybe give it to him at his first night feeding? That's what I started with Scarlett (she'd sleep from 7-11pm initially, so she got it at 11pm) just to avoid that frenzy you are mentioning. It was a crazy time, trying to get her fed, changed, in bed, and medicated before she got overtired and really cranky.
Does Alex wear Pull-Ups to bed? With my first I did day and night training from the start, but then we learned she had kidney reflux so the bed-wetting was out of her control, so we went to Pull-Ups at night. With Henry I never even attempted the night training cause he slept so well that I didn't want to mess with nighttime accidents. Of course, he's been trained nearly 2 years now and still in Pull-Ups, but one less kid to wake me up at night! But like I said, it's been 2 years, so I can't say I totally recommend using them as they become a crutch, but in the short term they might work.
Having gone through that phase with Madison and Henry (the waking overnight as toddlers), I learned from the first that the best thing to do, as exhausting as it was, is to walk them back to their bed every single time. I didn't give Henry any snacks, drinks, or allow him into my bed once I started the 'training''. I'd just walk him back, sit with him for a couple of minutes, then tell him I needed to go to sleep and he needed to stay in his bed. Of course he didn't, but I'd repeat the process. And it was really hard for me because he shares a room with Madison so I didn't want him to wake her up. And it took awhile, probably over a week, but eventually he got the message. He does occasionally wake up overnight now (Madison has probably gotten up less than 5 times since she was 3yo) and I let him crawl into my bed, but it's typically a one night thing, he hasn't made it a pattern in awhile.
Now, I didn't have any refluxy infants to contend with while toddler training Henry, so don't think I am telling you what to do cause I totally know what it's like when you're dealing with a newborn all night, particularly a refluxy one. But it did work and ended all the night wakings right away, whereas they went on forever with Madison cause we were really lax about it. But she was our first kid, like Alex, so you tend to be more willing to cave with them cause you don't have the demands of another kid all day.
And you're right, I bet he does need to go to bed earlier, though he may fight it initially. That does seem to help them sleep better overnight (we're nap free too).
I feel the pain on waiting for your husband to eat! I do have to feed the kids alone sometimes because Joey will be home late. Not ideal, but keeping them up till 9 or 10pm when they have school the next day does not work for any of us.
Of course you can use them! Someone else made them and posted them on
youtube, I wish everyone would see them!
And on the sleep front - I'm hoping future children of mine sleep better, LOL. I wanted to have a bunch of kiddos but this bad sleeping pattern has me rethinking that, LOL. It is weird because from 2 months til about 5 months she was sleeping 5-7 hours straight each night, since 5 months, she's been getting up every two hours. Once we move I may try your thing and put her down earlier and see if she will do better with an earlier bedtime routine (we usually do the bathing and all that at 9:30 and put her down around 10). We got that earlier, she used to go down around midnight!
I was right there 6 years ago! Madison was a terrible sleeper at best. Terrible. Her peak was sleeping 11-3 and 3-7 from 6 weeks to 4 months old. Then it stopped and I was lucky if she went 2 hours at a clip. And she NEVER slept in her own bed from 4 months on. She would scream to the point of vomiting every time we tried to put her in the crib. She was such a challenging infant that I said I was not following through with my plan of 4 kids, and that it would be a long time till I even had the 2nd! Of course, then I was surprised with #2 so that ended that plan, but I was so terrified that I would have 2 kids up every night! Luckily she changed on her own just weeks before I had Henry or I think I'd be insane now!
But with that said, Madison went to bed at 11pm like I said. She never slept all night so I figured why bother putting her to bed earlier when she'd just be up every 2 hours anyway? That proved to be a mistake, at least given what I learned with Henry and Scarlett. The earlier the bedtimes, for them anyway, the better they slept all night. Those two also slept in their own beds early on. Henry slept in the cosleeper from birth, and Scarlett did once she got on the Prevacid. Prior to that she slept in my arms. Henry stayed there till 5 months when he moved to the crib in his own room, and Scarlett will be around 6 months when we get out to AZ, which is when I will set up her room.
But the brightside, once Madison did start sleeping all night, she never looked back. Like I said, maybe 5 wakings since she was 3yo. But Henry, who was a power sleeper from 6 weeks old, went through a couple of night waking phases as a toddler.
I'm having one of those days today... Carys is fussy and won't take a nap, she scratched right under her eye with her fingernail and it was bleeding, I spilled formula all over the counter when filling her a bottle, so I thought a car ride would settle her down so we went to Starbucks. I got back to the car with my drink and set it on the hood while I unlocked the car and got her in the back. As I was doing this, my drink slid off the hood and smashed on the ground and all over my car. I just shook my head and picked up the cup to bring home to throw away. I cleaned off the outside of my car with kleenex I had in the glove compartment. I don't know why but that set me over the edge and I just started crying. I know that it's really not a big deal, but it made me realize that I can't do it all. I only have 2 hands and it's ok to make a mistake once in a while. My mom said that I should have gone back in and told them I dropped it and they probably would have given me another one. I said that it was my fault and plus I had already put Carys in the back so to get her out again and go back in would have made me look silly
So that is my day so far and it isn't even noon. sigh...
I had a similar day when Scarlett was just about a month old and seriously almost broke down.
It's tough when you've got a tiny baby to adjust to!
Hi all! It has been awhile since I have been on here!
We are taking Klarabelle to Disney for her first trip at the end of June and staying at the Contemporary and now I need all of your advice.
I am most worried about the airplane. How do we get her bottles on there when we can't bring on liquid?
I am also worried that she will not want to be held for that long. Tell me about your experiences!
We always buy our kids seats precisely because of that issue, so maybe look into that. I never had one that wanted to be held in a confined space that long, but they dealt with the carseat just fine. Even Madison who hated the infant carseat would generally sleep on planes in that, but the 1 time we didn't buy her a seat (she was 5 months), she was outraged and made it a miserable flight.
So i posted this in hte old thread..sry.. thanks harleyquinn for directing me here.....
Hey so i havent been on the boards very long but im a single mom to a 7 month old boy, devyn. his first disney trip will be for his 1st birthday..lucky guy!!lol. He is my joy and my miracle. after all i was on bedrest for 5 months he was born 8lbs5 oz, was 20 pounds at his 6 month check up! hes huge. hes already wearing 18 month/24 month clothes and hes not even one. I would love to hear any parents that have taken a baby around 12 months to disney and how it worked out for you all! any tips at all!
We've taken our older ones from 3 months on and I really enjoyed the trips right around 1yo a lot. They were typically pretty agreeable at that point and excited about rides and characters (well my son was terrified of characters, but not my daughter).
We are thinking of taking Carys to Disney in January (if I decide to do the half marathon with my friends) and we would be driving too. Our drive would be 20 hours. That might be the deal breaker. She would only be 10 months then and I don't know how she would be.
We are driving from NJ to AZ this July and Scarlett will be 6 months old so I'll have to let you know how it goes. If it helps, our plan is to drive no more than 6 hours a day to give the kids a chance to get out of the car and move around. Plus Scarlett will need to eat every 2-3 hours during the day anyway. This won't apply to you, but we're waiting on solids till we are in our new house for convenience, plus the milk intolerance thing, so I know she'll still want to nurse a lot during the day.
We have no plans to drive overnight as I have no idea how I would function during the day, being exhausted from staying up all night, with my kids awake and raring to go.
I have been out of town these past few days visiting my parents so I need to catch up here. Hope everyone's little ones are doing well. I am starting to plan Natalie's first birthday 
woohoo: Gosh, I can't believe it is almost here. Boy have things changed from one year ago today.
That said, I really do love sleeping with her, so I shouldn't complain. I just wish that 1. she would sleep longer stretches while with me and 2. she would nap/sleep in the crib. But I am thankful that I get sleep at all. 
I would much rather fly!!
Thanks! It's not a problem. I'm just grateful for them 
