Photo Updates

2nd 6-in-1 Vaccination

Brought Zach for his 2nd 6-in-1 jab.

He develops a slight fever in the evening.

At 1.5 months, he weighs 4.95kg and is 58cm tall.

One Month Assessment

Dr Ang said that Zach is growing very well. He has gained 1.5kg in a month. On average, newborns should grow by 5cm in height and add about 1kg of weight each month. We were told not to feed Zach excessively. To feed on demand based on his hunger pangs.

Zach's rashes and his blocked nose developed probably because he is allergic to my breastmilk. Dr Ang told me to cut down on chocolates, seafood and dairy products. He was given a cream to apply twice daily.

it's time to sleep

Ever since we returned from hospital, Zach has been sleeping by himself in the room next door. Rather, it should be that he has been sleeping in his cot with the company of the confinement lady, who has to wake up 2/3 hourly to feed him.

After the CL left, Zach has been sleeping alone. We placed the baby monitor in his cot so that we could hear his cries.

Josh is now 3 and is still co-sleeping with us. Sometimes he will wake up in the middle of the night and look for me. And I had to sleep beside him until he fall asleep before I can sleep on my own bed. This has become a bad habit.

For Zach, we hoped to establish a sleeping routine which will help him to sleep independently. It will benefit both Darren and I once we started working.

For the past few weeks, Zach is able to fall asleep on his own either in his cot or bouncer. I found out that he fall asleep much easier with the noisy fan on. Think he is used to the constant noise. Sometimes, he fell asleep while watching the musical mobile.

Article - Why Some Babies Have Trouble Sleeping

(Extracted from www.huggies.com.sg)

Why Some Babies Have Trouble Sleeping

We all sleep in cycles consisting of blocks of:

• Light sleep and
• Deep sleep, where we wake and are able to resettle ourselves.

Babies who have trouble sleeping are generally unable to resettle themselves after waking from a deep sleep. This will almost always occur because of the way they have been put down to sleep to begin with.

Babies can be put to sleep a number of different ways.

• They can be placed in their cots awake and allowed to fall asleep by themselves.
• We can rock them to sleep in our arms, allow them to fall asleep at the breast, rock them in the pram or have them fall asleep in mum’s bed.

In these situations, once the baby goes off to sleep they are transferred into their cot. They then wake with a fright not knowing where mum and the rocking has gone to. Imagine yourself being all cosy in your own bed and you wake up and you’re sitting in the bathtub, you’d get a bit of a fright too.

At about 8 months old a baby’s sleep cycle changes to around 60 minutes. They also experience what we call separation anxiety, where if mum is not around they become quite anxious.

If these babies are being rocked off to sleep in mum’s arms and resettled sleeping into the cot, they will wake up in 1 hours time, with a huge fright because mum is not there. They cry out, mum goes back into the room and not knowing any other way of resettling the baby, will pick them up, rock them back off to sleep and put them back into the cot. These become bad habits and they are called sleep associations.

Routine

In the evening, after dinner or a feed, replace play time with a relaxing bath. Have some cuddling time and perhaps a story or two. Massaging your baby with baby lotion can also be very useful for relaxing your baby. Never over-stimulate your child before bedtime or think that the longer you keep them up, the more tired they will become and the easier it will be to get them off to sleep. An overtired baby is always harder to settle.

A regular routine is the surest way to get a baby or toddler to sleep independently. Babies respond well to a familiar pattern of events, and sleeping in the same environment each night offers them a sense of security and comfort.

Establishing a bedtime routine will not only benefit your child, but also you and your partner. A good night sleep works wonders for tired parents and allowing yourselves a bit of ‘quiet adult time’ together at the end of the day will be just as beneficial to your relationship.

You can begin to establish a routine as soon as you bring your newborn home from the hospital. It is important to encourage a pattern with your newborn. This in turn will become a routine, and babies learn from repetition. Keep in mind that it only takes 3 days to create a habit.

When bringing a newborn home it is very easy to get into the habit of passing baby around from visitor to visitor, everyone wants a cuddle. If your baby is obviously in need of some sleep, or sleeping in their arms, rather than feel rude in whipping baby from under them, encourage your family or friends to watch how you settle them into their cot. After all, they could be potential baby sitters at sometime and wouldn’t it be great if they could settle them off to sleep too.

The best way to establish a routine is using the Feed / Play / Sleep method. During the day when baby wakes, first feed them and then place your baby on the floor for some playtime. The age of your baby will determine how long they will play before showing tired signs. Watch for the tired signs and then act on them by implementing the settling techniques.

Settling your baby

The Feed / Play / Sleep System

Feed / Play / Sleep is an important part of establishing a good routine. The 3 steps need to remain separate.

• Feeding is in your arms
• Down is where you play
• Sleeping is in a cot

Establishing the Feed / Play / Sleep routine will enable you to watch for and recognize tired signs. When you see tired signs and you know that baby has already been fed, you should implement the settling techniques straight away. Do not wait until your baby is already hungry, tired and grumpy, thus allowing them to fall asleep in your arms.

This does not however mean that love and cuddles are sacrificed. These should be incorporated into their playtime as much as you wish to, and don’t forget that you are still feeding in your arms, the only difference is that you are not letting them fall asleep in your arms.

How to recognise tired signs

Tired cries are different to hunger cries. You will often notice your baby will be playing happily on the floor one minute and then for no apparent reason will start to yawn, grizzle, rub their eyes, or arch their back. These are classic tired signs.

Other signs are: not wanting to feed, not happy when picked up and not happy when put down. In an older child they can become nasty. These are all tired signs and when these signs are shown then settling should begin.

Newborn - 6 months

SIDS and Kids Australia recommend wrapping a baby1 and sleeping them on their back. We always recommend that all parents follow SIDS guidelines when your baby is asleep. During the program we use a technique of settling a baby on their side, however you should never leave your baby to sleep in this position. Follow these steps to settle your baby:

1. Wrap your baby firmly but not tightly in a lightweight material, cotton or muslin is ideal. This will help him feel secure and take control of his hands, stopping him from catching himself on the face if he flails around. Once baby is sleeping we will then loosen the wrap and roll baby onto their back. Always ensure wrapping is well secured and unable to cover your babies breathing passages. Wrapping is not required after the age of 3 months.
2. Place him in his cot on his side, facing away from you, and with his feet close to the end of the cot. This is to avoid any eye contact.
3. Make a note of the time: you’re going to give him 15 minutes to settle. Place one hand on his shoulder and with the other hand pat his bottom. He will probably be crying at this stage but keep patting. When the crying stops then stop the patting. The aim is to get him to fall asleep by himself not pat him off to sleep. If the crying starts again, start patting.
4. If after 15 minutes he has not settled, pick him up give him a cuddle to settle him down (be careful not to rock him off to sleep) then turning him onto his other side (you will need to go around to the other side of the cot) begin the settling again for a further 15 minutes. You can settle for up to one hour, but after that you should offer a drink.
5. Once he is sleeping you can then roll him onto his back and loosen and secure the wrap.
6. Anything under one hour is considered a catnap and you should use the settling techniques to resettle without picking them up first.

Helpful Hints to Encourage your Baby to Sleep Well

Encouraging your newborn baby to sleep is a process of elimination. It is a process by which eliminating most factors preventing him from sleeping you will gain confidence to help you deal with your baby’s normal behaviour when he is trying to settle. It can take a newborn sometime up to 30 to 60 minutes to achieve deep sleep and it is good to know that sometimes even after you have attempted to eliminate all negative factors the behaviour and unsettledness your baby is experiencing is quite normal.

A Dialogue between Brothers

Zach: whaaa......whaaa....whaaah...

Josh: ok..nevermind...nevermind...

Zach: whahhhh.....whhaaahh...

Josh: ok...nevermind, nevermind. Don't cry...(pat his hand softly on Zach's stomach)

Daily Routine

06:30am - drinks milk then to dreamland
08:30am - bathing time
10:00am - drinks milk then to dreamland
01:00pm - drinks milk then to dreamland
04:00pm - drinks milk then to dreamland
06:00pm - bathing time
07:00pm - drinks milk then to dreamland/or stays awake
10:00pm - drinks milk then to dreamland
03:00am - drinks milk then to dreamland