Our little darling is 4 months already and it is so true when they say it just keeps getting better! She has completed our lives and even with all the chaos we couldn’t imagine it any other way!
Ava is one chunky babe and we love each and every roll! Her sleep is still pretty great (knock on wood). We put her down around 8:30 and wakes at 3:30 and 6:30 to nurse. She goes back to sleep and wakes up for good around 8:30am. The past few nights she only woke up once and were HOPING that becomes the new routine!
We are definitly guilty of rocking her to sleep at night. I am currently reading the Lulla Baby sleep training book. I do want Ava to learn to self soothe but Im so bad with letting her fuss. I always run to the rescue. I would love to know what has and has not worked for you ladies. She rolled over for the first time a couple weeks ago and loves blowing raspberries. I think she has also discovered her thumb. I’m not sure if that is a good thing (being able to help soothe herself) or bad thing (when we have to try to break the habit later down the road).
She is still in her co-sleeper beside our bed but I think she is quickly outgrowing it. Im not ready for her to be in her crib in her nursery just yet! When did you ladies move your babies to their cribs? Speaking of nurseries, Ava’s is almost finished! Yeah! Hope to get the last few items and share pics with you all soon!
omgosh!! she is the cutest!!
Your baby is so beautiful, what a blessing!
Blessings, Eli
Eli's Spiritual Journey.blogspot.com
I'm not a mother but I was just speaking to a former teacher of mine who just had her second baby. She said she had trained her daughter on the pacifier to prevent her from getting attached to her thumb and is now doing it for her infant son. She said it's easier to break the sucking habit when their attached to a pacifier and not their thumb. I hope that gives you an idea! 🙂
She is so so adorable!
She's so cute! She kinda looks like your hubs in the second picture! hehe My mom didn't let me suck on my thumbs or eat my hands and I think that was a good thing! I can't wait to see Ava's nursery! I follow your Pinterest and I've seen really cute inspirational pictures!! <3
Aww, she looks like a Cabbage Patch Kid doll 😀 Too adorable!
Andee, Will you be returning to work, and if so, will you still keep same sleeping schedule? I'm in similar boat, and was just looking for advice and support…
Yay for good sleep. My daughter is 9 months old, still in our room ( in the Rock and Play) and nursing 2x a night. I have no advice…haha. I can't seem to break her of these bad habits, I always give in.
We have a great sleep routine that has had our little man sleeping through "the night" (8:30pm-about 6am or later) from about 4 weeks of age.
We don't feed him after 6pm so that he is slightly hungry before bed and his nighttime routine starts at 8pm. Bathtime, jammies, bottle of breastmilk (he can drink a bit more this way, so he stays asleep longer. He drinks about 4-5 ounces rather than the 2-3 ounces he could get from nursing), swaddle, and turn the Sleep Sheep and nightlight on. He is literally passing out in his daddy's arms by the time he gets swaddled and goes down without a whimper in the crib. In his own room – since day 1. I swear by this routine (especially the bottle of breastmilk, that was the game changer for us). Highly recommended!
She is so cute. I love her rolls. Chubby babies are the best. 🙂
I've taken a blog break and now I am back! So exciting to see pics of the baby girl! She is just adorable and so precious. I cant wait to catch up on more! Looks like you are loving being a mommy – so exciting!
http://sincerelyarizona.blogspot.com/
Highly recommend Babywise. My son was sleeping through the night after his 10:30 p.m. feeding at 2 months. I ve had a number of friends do the same program. If your committed you'll have a great sleeper! We moved our son to his crib at 1 month. He actually slept much better away from us ;).
What a cutie pie. I also have a little one who turned 4 months yesterday! We just moved him to his crib last week. It was soo hard for me to do. I'm also not good at letting him fuss or cry it out. I rush in and pick him up every time, and I totally rock him to sleep. SOOO, sorry not much help there. But I will say, I think he is now sleeping better (and longer) in his crib then he did in our room. 🙂
Omg she is ADORABLE. seriously adorable…. Congrats again babe
hiraschaos.blogspot.com
she is the cutest little dumplin!
Ava is adorable – such a little lover!
xo
Oh my goodness! What a little doll she is!
-Morgan
She is just a doll – such a little cutie. 4 months is the time when we started having our baby girl sleep in her nursery. The first night was the hardest because I kept getting up to check on her because I was convinced she wasn't ready to be in her room on her own (even though I had the monitor right next to me). My husband pretty much convinced me that it was time, and he was right! After the first night it is much easier. She didn't even seem to mind – she was sleeping through the night in no time.
Also, something I found that helped in the self-soothing department was putting her in her crib during the day just to play or nap. It seemed to help her know that the crib was not just for being put to bed. She is 8 months now and we put her to bed often before she is quite asleep. We hear her in there gabbing to herself to sleep for about 15 minutes or so and then she's out.
I don't think there is a wrong answer though – just whatever works for you!
What a cute pie Ava is! Love every inch of her!
We weren't ready to transfer little L to a full grown crib yet so we are currently using the pack n play and still put it next to our bed so we get plenty of cuddle time! Honestly, I wouldn't mind if he slept in our room for the rest of the year! Haha. I get sad just thinking about moving him to his own room away from us. Plus I just recently went back to work and I want to be near him as much as possible when I'm at home so I can nurse him often. This may or may not affect his sleep routine (last feeding around 11 and he either wakes up once or sleeps through the night until 6-7am). We'll see!
Just when you get used to one routine and think you have the hang of things, they go and change it up on you! 🙂 But I'd go through all that chaos and more just to hear his little giggle. 🙂
Good luck, you seem to be doing a great job so far! She is absolutely darling!
She is so cute:) Reminds me of my little guy at that age…such a rolly pudge!!!! At 6 months we did some sleep training (Ferber) which was tough but worth it. Our situation was a little different though because my guy was waking up like 3-5 times per night and wouldn't go back easy. I would just keep doing what works. If she's just waking once at 4 months, I would say that's awesome!!!!!
thanks love! I def hope some of this sleep training works out!
Babywise! It was highly recommended to us and even though I didn't start reading it until after our little chunky monkey was born, it has reinforced our parenting instincts! She's 10 weeks and has been sleeping 6-9 hours since 6 weeks old!
We begin her night time routine between 8 & 9…bath (which she LOVES), a little rub down with lotion, jammies, then a warm bottle (I do 1/2 formula and 1/2 breast milk). She goes down pretty easily but we rock her occasionally. I think that's fine especially since that sense of security is the last feeling they have before going to sleep =)
We give her a bath every other night, so the nights we skip a bath, we just rub her with lotion. Also, make sure she's getting enough play time during the day!
i just ordered baby wise and can't wait to start reading it!
Hi Andee,
She is just such a little dream!! Gorgeous!! I found this article on "Babywise" that I thought you should read : http://www.bellybelly.com.au/baby-sleep/babywise-dangers-warnings-parents-need-to-know
My son is 9 months, and I've never really had a routine with him as he is exclusively breastfed but he has worked on his own routine and he has been sleeping through the night (sometimes! He has phases where he sleeps through sometimes even 10-12 hours most mostly 8 hours to waking up for 1 feed during the night) since he was about 3 months old.
Every baby is different so my biggest advice is to go with the flow 🙂 Follow her prompts and design your own routine and what works best for you and little Ava.
thanks so much Eliana ill def check out that link!
She is adorable! We have been trying to get our little guy to self-soothe (he is two months older) and it is definitely rough. We started him in his crib at two months because we let our daughter stay in our room much longer… and she is still there most of the time 🙂 You need to do what works for you and what feels comfortable for you! Every baby is different and every family is different and by the looks of those adorable chubs you are doing an amazing job! xo
thanks love! Totally agree every baby and parent are different and what works for one may not work for another.xo
Wow, she is so cute! I have 2 boys with a 9 yr difference between them, and they both were very different. With my younger- I got a video camera monitor which has been great. It let me check on him without having to go in there and disrupt his sleep even more. When they hear or see you, sometimes it can keep them up. If I heard him crying, as long as he was fine, I let him cry for no longer than 10 min. If it went beyond that I would just rub his back and say shh and usually he would go back to sleep. No picking up unless absolutely necessary- it will help them self soothe better.
i think that is kind of what we are doing now. Ill let her fuss for a bit in hopes that she can put herself back to sleep. Sometimes it works and sometimes she still needs to be rocked. Keeping my fingers crossed shell learn to do it on her own.
Those rolls are so stinkin' cute!!! Happy 4 months to baby Ava!
What a cutie pie! I just adore reading your blog, especially all the new mommy posts. It makes me so excited to be a momma some day. 🙂
aww thanks so much Leah thats so nice to hear!
I love her rolls! Such a beauty!!
First, I say do what feels right for you and your hubby!! Olivia came home from the NICU at almost 3 months and we moved her to her crib around 4.5-5 months. She found her thumb around 5 months as well and has been a thumb sucker ever since. Olivia was originally very into her pacifier but once she found her thumb it won! Haha I think being a thumb sucker is fine, I'm sure it will be a hard habit to break but it helps her self soothe and she stopped waking up in the middle of the night once she started sucking her thumb. Minimum she sleeps 10 hours a night,sometimes 12!! 🙂 good luck!! 🙂
im kind of hoping ava discovers her thumb because once the paci falls out she wakes up! She's found her thumb but i should say I'm hoping she becomes more efficient sucking it.
She is so adorable,i have 2 boy's myself(11 and 9 years old now)i didn't really notice anything different about there sleeping habit other than they would rather sleep during the day than night so that was hard for a couple months for me but everything went to back to normal right around 4-6 months.
My little guy is 10 months old and I still nurse him one or two times a night. Goes down at 8pm and wakes at 11pm and at 2am and then is up at 6am. I have a hard time letting him cry and now when I go in there he is standing in his crib. It's so cute but sad at the same time since he is crying. I would love to get him to not wake up but I struggle with the cio method. Luckily he goes down fast when he wakes. My sisters kids were eventually able to soothe themselves to sleep and didn't need to use any method. Sorry I guess I'm not really a help, but that's where we're at with our little guy.
i definitely struggle with the CIO! Lately I've been letting her fuss for about 5 mins and if she gets hysterical ill go in and pat her back and shush her sometimes she goes back down and others I have to pick her up. Hoping as she gets older she won't wake up for middle of the night feedings!
Ava is so soft and chunky so perfect she looks like those babies from the stock photos. Enjoy her.
thanks love! she is one chunky babe!
I can't believe its been 4 months already! she is out of this world adorable and you look amazing mama!
thanks so much Jennifer! i know the time is just flying by!
She is precious!
I have a 3 month old little girl and she's still sleeping in the pack n play next to our bed~ We have tried the crib,but as soon as she realizes she's not next to mommy and daddy, she has a fit. So kudos to you if the crib works out! We're having a rough time, so please post if you find a great solution! She is also interested in the thumb, so everytime she goes for it we replace it with the pacifier 🙂 I've just heard horror stories about trying to break a kid from thumb sucking… so we are trying to keep her from getting in the habit!
we just moved our pack n play in our room tonight so well see how it goes!
Oh my, look at those arms and legs. I want to squeeze her and give her hugs. :)I love chubby babies!
She's adorable!
I highly recommend the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Mark Weissbluth. I read it and within 2 days my daughter, Sloane, was sleeping through the night at 12 weeks – from 6:30 PM-7:30 AM. I used the book again when she was 4 months old to put her on a napping schedule. She is 13 months old and still takes two 2 hour naps a day and is still sleeping from 6:30 PM-7:30 AM. The book is amazing 🙂 It gives you different methods and you can pick the one that works best for you and your family. All my friends have used the book with success too! Good luck! And feel free to email me with any questions 🙂 – kellylynn.bretz@gmail.com
SOLD! I just purchased Babywise but ill be purchasing your recommendation too!
Good Luck! 🙂
It was life changing 🙂 I could go out to dinner with my husband or grab a drink with friends and not feel guilty or like I had to rush home, because I knew she was asleep for the night. I had a happy, well rested baby AND I was a happy well rested mommy 🙂
Our little man will be 4 months this week and is quite the chunkamonk as well. Cheers to well fed breast feeding babes! We are on the same sleep schedule as you too, I'm not worrying about the one wake up a night, I thinkminwill honestly be sad when he stops wanting that.
Hi, I just found your blog and I think you're fabulous and so petty. Here's what I did with my son. At 4.5 months I knew I needed to break him of the 3am feeding. According to his weight, he no longer needed it. I could handle rocking him to sleep, but I couldn't do the night feedings anymore. I knew the only way he would sleep through the night was if he could self sooth, so I let him CIO. The first night was hard. It took 1 hr and 15 mins, but that very night he slept through the night. I continued to let him CIO and each night he cried for a shorter amount of time. Some nights he woke, but I let him sooth himself back to sleep, and he soon was sleeping through the night. Soon I had family come into town and I didn't want him CIO while they were here, so I went back to rocking him to sleep, and realized he still slept through the night even when I rocked him. He is now 7 months and I'm rocking him to sleep and he is sleeping straight through from 7:15pm to 7:20am. I know that CIO was what made this possible. Some nights he wakes and rolls around a bit, but puts himself back to sleep. So if you enjoy rocking your baby to sleep, as I do, then maybe you can go back to it once you teach her how to self sooth. Another thing I've learned about putting a baby to sleep is TIMING IS EVERYTHING! I know that my son will conk out at 7:15, so putting him down at that time would result in little crying because he naturally wants to go to sleep at that time anyways. Hope this helps. Sorry so long,
Hi Andee.I would like to know which sleep training method do you use for Ava?I'm also not so good to let her fuss…so i would like to know which one is working for you.I tried few…but nothing yet.Thank you for your help.Erika from Hungary