Nap Nanny

FedEx delivered the Nap Nanny yesterday morning. Our first attempt using it that afternoon wasn't a success. He did last for maybe 20 minutes (as long as I kept his pacifier in his mouth), but then even with the pacifier he started screaming, and unfortunately that woke Nadia up. We had Ian in the pack 'n play in the living room instead of his bedroom, but that still didn't prove to be far enough from her bedroom. I have learned not to go get Nadia right away. In the past I used to go get Nadia if she was crying, particularly if she was standing in her crib, even if her nap wasn't anywhere near as long as usual. Now I let her go for a little bit, and usually she falls back asleep although that didn't work this afternoon. She did fall back asleep yesterday afternoon. We decided to wait until after Nadia was in bed to try out the Nap Nanny again, and I asked Paul to move the pack 'n play to the family room in the hopes that Ian's crying wouldn't wake Nadia up during the night. I asked Paul to keep Ian's pacifier in while I slept a couple of hours while Paul was watching tv, but he decided to just hold him. I nursed him and then from 12:30-1:00am I stroked his head whenever he started to fuss and popped his pacifier back in several times until he fell asleep. I went upstairs, and he slept until 2:15am! YAY! He didn't sleep much in it the rest of the night. Paul took a turn for me at one point in terms of staying downstairs and keep the pacifier in his mouth. Nadia loved to be swaddled as long as we kept her arms free. So from the start I didn't swaddle Ian's arms. However he does seem to wake up through being startled (his arms jerk); so I have started even swaddling his arms, and that seems to help.

I made it to Sunday School on time this morning! Because of church Ian didn't go back into the nap nanny until about 2pm. He slept in the ultimate baby wrap at church. I was pleased with how well the nursing session went at church - MUCH better than last week. I am a boppy lover. I even took a boppy with me to ladies Bible study last Tuesday, but I feel funny bringing one on Sunday morning. I usually have a hard time nursing without a pillow. We did pretty well today! What a difference a week makes. Last week I was thinking I had to throw in the towel with nursing due to Ian not gaining enough weight, but now he's doing just fine! What a relief!! Most of the time latching on goes much more smoothly also these days. Every once in a while he screams, but usually it's easy compared to how much of a struggle it used to be. I decided to postpone working on getting him off the shield. I decided getting him to sleep somewhere other than our arms was more important.

He fell asleep a couple of times this afternoon in the nap nanny but never stayed asleep for more than a few minutes even with being tightly swaddled. I still think that we're making progress. I hope that if I just keep helping him by keeping the pacifier in, stroking his head when he gets upset, etc. hopefully he will learn to sleep in the nap nanny. A woman at church today recommended the "miracle blanket." I looked it up online, and it's a special swaddle blanket. I think we have enough swaddle blankets, and I do plan to keep using them. I also think that sometimes when too little time passes in betweem feedings he doesn't consume enough. I think he sleeps better when his belly is really full. I want to work on that also. Speaking of feedings he didn't have any bottles yesterday or today. Here's to hoping that Ian sleeps in the Nap Nanny more tonight than he did last night. I would love to spend more time in my own bed, and I've decided he isn't going to be sleeping in our bed any more.