He was allowed to breastfeed after he came home. The formula was half-digested so it tastes nasty and it would take him an hour to feed and another hour to burp, meaning he was being held 2 hours out of the four-hour feeding cycle. He became super dependent on pacifier, holding, rocking and then nursing. My old age must have gotten it to me but it has become impossible for me to put him back to his crib at night so he would move to our bed at the 1 or 2am feeding and stay there for the rest of the night. Lately, he has been waking up every 30 minutes and I would need to nurse him back to sleep. This week, despite all the efforts by us and the nanny to try to train him to fall asleep on his own, his sleep pattern has gotten worse. He would only take cat naps (max of 20 minutes) during the day and night. Jaime and I have become really concerned that he is not getting enough and quality sleep for his brain development. I also miss my sleep so much that my brain is starting to show early signs of aging (the other day I put the milk back to the cabinet thinking it was the refrigerator; by the time I found it again 8 hours later, it was already spoiled).
Today, we decided that we would put Javier on Crying-It-Out this week (it took us 9 months to do it for Joaquin and we are doing this for Javier at 3.5 months -- I guess second-time parents know better). Being on C.I.O. is like being on an anti-biotic course, you have finish the 7-day prescription for it to be effective. We started putting Javier down after some gentle rocky and singing for 5 minutes. He cried of course. Second time around for me but it stills hurts. Jaime is distracted by Joaquin who now requires an adult to sleep with him. I went inside the room and picked Javier up and sang him another song after 5 minutes and then put him down for another 10 minutes. Still howling. This is one stubbord child. I went in again and sang him another song and rocked him gently in my arms until he calmed down. Put him down for another 15 minutes. He cried for the whole duration. I went inside and picked up Javier who is now full of tears and sobbing in my arm. Put him down again after he calm down.
I'm now writing the blog after Javier has finally fallen asleep. 50 minutes in total is what he took, 5 minutes longer than Joaquin on Day 1. I hope Javier can progress as fast as Joaquin did, who by Day 4 didn't do much crying before falling asleep on his own.
- Joyce
Meanwhile Joaquin: he's been used to sleeping with an adult rotation ever since he's been on a standalone bed and can get out of the room by himself. We can't even trick him by saying "I'm going outside to get something". Today I tried to do that, and after going back 15 minutes later to check on him, he was still awake, and asked me suspiciously, "what did you go get?". "Uh, something for Mama". Again, "what did you go get?". "Uh, something...". Skeptically, "Papa went to go get something". Might have to do CIO again on him.
- Jaime
