Is she ready to skip night feed? (Updates)

Night Number 2:     

She didn’t have her good long nap in the afternoon, not a good start for new schedule. As predicted, she was very drowsy by 6.30 pm, so I had no choice but to feed her early and let her sleep at 7 pm. At 2.14 am, I heard her cries. I went to her room and started my assuring techniques. I stopped patting her moments later when her crying ceased. I thought, “Hah, that was easy.” I was wrong. She did not cry alright, but she did not go back to sleep either. She sat up and played with her lovey while babbling to herself for the next 30 minutes.(The next morning, her daddy said she was not babbling to herself, she was trying to tell mama that she was hungry. He claimed that she cried after 30 minutes because she was starving. 爸爸好心痛！) When she had enough of that, she started screaming and crying on top of her voice. I continued to assure her. Finally after an hour, around 3.30 am, she was sound asleep. (See, if she was so hungry, she wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep!) She woke up for milk at 6.15 am and went right back to sleep after milk, until 8 am.

Night Number 3:

It was a good day, she had 2 long naps during the day, which means I could probably make her stay up later. I fed her milk at 7.20 pm. At 7.45 pm, I put her in her crib. I woke up at 3 am and 5 am, straining to hear if she was awake. Not a sound, I could hardly believe my ears. But it is true, she slept through the night for the first time in 9 months! She did not wake up for milk until 6 am and slept for another hour after that. The first night of success.

It is too  early to celebrate our victory, not until we have at least one week of success. But it has been an encouraging start so far.

Is she ready to skip night feed?

Netanya turned 9 months old! She went for her well-baby checkup and the doctor said that she’s gaining weight just fine and her development is on time. Good news. Better news? She assured me that Netanya is ready (physically), to skip her night time feed. Hmmm….I’m not quite sure about that personally.

You see, Netanya takes her dinner ( a bowl of cereal) at 5.30 pm and her last bottle of milk at 7 pm. She goes to bed at 7.30 pm and usually wakes up around 6.30 am. In that 11 hours, she will wake up once, between 3 to 4.30 am, and I will routinely give her 3 to 4 oz of milk. I just assumed that she is hungry, and besides, giving her the bottle is the easiest way to get her back to sleep. I am very comfortable with this routine by now and am very hesitant to change it, knowing that any changes will mean a few difficult nights for us. I considered for a few days and finally decided to give it a try. Experts say that 3 oz of milk is actually more of a clutch than fulfilling nutritional needs. And her pediatrician added that if she can skip her night feed, she will wake up hungrier and will eat better during the day. 

Last night was the first night. I heard her cries, checked the clock, it was 2.40 am. Went to her room, sat by her crib and started patting her. For the first 3 minutes or so, she was wailing on top of her voice. She doesn’t understand why mommy isn’t picking her up and offering her the bottle. I persisted. I told myself to try for 20 minutes. I offered her the lovey, assured her with my voice and continued to pat her. Miraculously, about 10 minutes later, she settled down and moments later went back to sleep.

This morning she woke up at 7 am, gulped down 6 oz of milk and even ate some breakfast. Wow, she’s really hungry! It’s a great start. To be able to sleep through the night without waking up to feed her, that is really something to look forward to.  

Childhood ambitions

A year ago if you were to ask Russell what he wants to be (when he grows up), he’d probably tell you he wants to be a GM. Oh no, not General manager of a fortune 500 company, he wants to be a Garbage Man! He used to wait in anticipation, twice a week, for the garbage truck to come to our neighborhood to collect trash. He loved to watch the garbage men jumped off the truck, flexed their muscles to lift up the heavy trash bins, emptied them and jump back up the truck again. To him, it was like the coolest thing he’s ever seen, day in day out he would use anything he can find in the house to pretend to do the job of the garbage man.  He would empty his toys from his toy box, threw the box on the floor and announced “Pick up your bin, mama. It’s empty now.” 

A few months ago, he was no longer interested in emtying trash cans, he became extremely interested in cooking. He is the number 1 big fan of Emeril Lagasse. Every night 7pm without fail, he will watch Emeril Live on Foodtv. Morning, noon or night, he would be cooking up a storm (with his toys, of course). Whether he’s playing at the sandbox, playdough or other toys, he’s always pretending to cook, “BAM! BAM! One teaspoon of salt, some pepper and lots of parmesan cheese. Stir it, cover and let it simmer. Then add sour cream and BAM! Stick around! Kick it up another notch!” He has memorized Emeril’s script. Sometimes he even got me involve to be a participating audience, “Come, stir this. Okay, you can go back to your seat now.” Maybe my son will become a chef next time.

Just a few weeks back, he said he wanted to be a pilot. Eversince then, whatever he does (or whatever we want him to do) is so that he can be a pilot next time. If he drinks milk, is so that he can be strong and be a pilot. He learns his alphabets and numbers because a pilot must be able to read and count. He eats lots of fruits and vegetables because a pilot must have very good eyes. Of course his daddy is more than happy to play along this time round, he would rather his son be a pilot than a chef or garbage collector. Moreover he (dad) said, “Pilot gets all the girls!”  -_-

So now everything evolves around this, at the moment, until Russell changes his mind again.