I think the cognitive development that occurs in very young children within such a short time period is just downright amazing. Language development is the most profound. I look forward to discovering what words are in her receptive vocabulary and then later hearing her use more and more new words in her expressive vocabulary. Even in these four months I have seen evidences of her cognitive development in terms of things such as cause and effect. One example would be that for the last couple of months if I say "Mommy's coming" when I hear her stirring in her crib, then usually as long as I don't dilly dally (I usually go to the bathroom before I go in to nurse her), she doesn't cry. She knows I'm coming. I'm not saying she understands the words I am saying, I fully realize she just recognizes my voice and has figured out when she hears my voice I'll be there soon. There are many other examples I could give. The first one that I noticed when she was only a few weeks old was that she'd blink when I made a certain sound which I usually made before I kissed her on her cheeks. She was reacting ahead of time to my face coming in close to hers.
Last night was the first test of my plan to only nurse her twice during the night. The other nights she had only awakened twice. Last night she woke up at 2:11am which was only about 2 hours since I had finished nursing her after her first awakening. I let her cry. It was really hard to do as she cried for 40 minutes. I know some of you probably don't agree with my decision. I hadn't let her cry more than 20 minutes in over 2 months. She did fall back asleep eventually and then slept until 4:55am when I was happy to nurse her. She got up for the day at about 6:30am. So she got about 10 hours sleep last night instead of her new usual of 11 hours since she was crying for 40 minutes in there. Hopefully that won't happen often as it was hard for me to hear her cry that long and not go feed her even though I know at 4 1/2 months old she can go longer than 2 hours between feedings.
This morning she took her usual 45 minute nap, and then I took her to the Toyota dealer as I had gotten a notice more than 6 months ago about a recall of some bolts. She was a very good girl while we waited for them to replace the bolts (took more than an hour). I was going to do a little Christmas shopping afterward as the dealership is right beside a mall, but she fell asleep as soon as we got in the car so I didn't have the heart to take her shopping. We went straight home instead and even with me transferring her from the carseat to her crib she slept a total of 90 minutes which was amazing! This afternoon she only had one 45 minute nap so I guess altogether she got the same amount of total sleep from her naps (3 hours).
Well I have 3 more grants to review (17 done thankfully), and I am not going to bed until they're done so I'd better get back to that as I don't want to stay up late. Tomorrow will be a busy day as I'm teaching in the morning and then coming home and then going back for interviews from 1:30-4:40pm (which means I'll be gone from 12:45-5:25). Paul's parents are coming up after his mom's radiation treatment to watch Nadia for me until Paul gets home from school (about 3:45pm). The next 8 days are going to be hectic, but hopefully after that life will calm down some. One thing that will be a challenge is the nursing. It's a challenge to pump at work when I have a meeting that lasts from 1:30-4:40 straight, and it's not like I want to delay my arrival back at home by pumping at the end of the meeting. I am finding that nursing plus working outside the home is a tricky combination. My milk supply is not up to Nadia's needs. Unfortunately she now needs 12 ounces a day of formula. :-( We are already on the last can. So my plan not to buy any more is out the window. Well I just keep reminding myself that she's getting a lot of her milk from me, and that's a good thing. I'm doing the best I can with all I am juggling right now. Hopefully once the semeseter is over I can get my milk supply up as she won't be babysat by others very much at all during that month and only two days a week once the new semeseter begins. I have been drinking a lot more water, but it hasn't seemed to help yet.
3 comments:
For what it's worth, I think it's fine that you let her cry during the night. She knows she's loved, so it won't harm her in any way to have to learn to settle herself down. And at her age, I wouldn't think she'd still need to eat every 2 hours ... she's obviously healthy and growing. You're doing a great job! Don't worry what anyone else thinks ... you're her mom and you know what's best.
I think you're doing a great job!!! Like Lisa said, she definitely knows she's loved and letting her cry a little bit won't hurt her, and she went back to sleep which means that she was just awake for the sake of being awake. Way to go mom, you're doing awesome!
P.S. I tagged you on my blog :)
Can you email me your new address? And if possible, I'd love to have the addresses of your sisters as well. I'm working on my Christmas card list. Thanks!
jlharstine@hotmail.com
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