Every Trick in The Book

Last night, we pulled out all the stops. Dustin and Heather, Nathan's brother and wife, were visiting with their four children and decided to help us in our time of need. Survivors of a colicky child themselves, they offered some of their expert knowledge. Dustin suggested we keep the babies awake in the afternoon in order for them to sleep better at night. After reading "Healthy Sleep Habits," I was hesitant to follow this advice. Dr. Weissbluth, the book's author, states that "sleep begets sleep," so waking a sleeping baby is not recommended.

By yesterday, though, Nathan and I were willing to try anything. We took turns playing with Elliott (who actually wasn't interested in playing at all)...

and Dustin tried his best to entertain Ezra.

The boys were definitely tired and keeping them awake required a significant amount of effort.

The extended play time was coupled with a change in diet as well. Since Thursday, Ezra and Elliott have been drinking a mixture of breast milk and goat's milk. I thought my breast milk could be the culprit due to the copious amounts of milk and other dairy products that I consume. Because it takes up to two weeks for all the cow's milk proteins to leave one's system, we have been diluting the possibly "tainted" breast milk with goat's milk. As of yesterday, nothing had changed. I was (somewhat) hopeful that the milk solution just needed more time to work.

We gave them baths and rubbed them with "calming" lotion. We fed them, swaddled them, and blared white noises of crashing waves and blowing winds.

AND....

They slept!

Elliott slept from 1 AM to 3 AM, woke up and ate, then fell back asleep from 4 AM to 10 AM. He slept for SIX hours straight--the longest stretch of sleep in his lifetime outside of the uterus! Ezra was a bit more difficult, but managed to sleep a 3 hour block and then four hour block after some coaxing.

We were tremendously pleased with the results. Today, they have been incredibly tired. Instead of eating every two hours, Elliott slept for another 6 hour block. Ezra was close behind him with nearly a 5 hour stretch of sleep. I really hope this isn't a fluke and that they continue to sleep during the nights.

I'm not sure what exactly did the trick, but we are grateful for the rest. I've been dairy free for four days now, so we are going to go back to strictly breastfeeding. I'm sure any residual amounts of dairy in my system are very minimal. We're praying all goes well!

It's amazing how just a few hours of sleep makes me feel like a new woman!