A Good Night's Sleep

Kimberly tried a new technique with Catie last night, and all of us benefited from a good night's sleep. We decided to give Catie more time to eat rather than just stopping when she first resisted the bottle. We gave her little breaks after each ounce or two and then offered her the bottle again. She gladly took it and downed 5 ounces before falling asleep. She had never taken more than 3 ounces at once and typically had only 1 to 2 ounces.

The theory: Put her to bed with a completely full stomach so she would sleep longer. It worked brilliantly. She slept four hours to start and only woke briefly at 1 a.m. She did not require another feeding and diaper change until 4 a.m. That meant seven pretty solid hours of sleep for everyone else in the room -- and then Catie went back to sleep until 7:30 a.m. All of else, especially Catie, felt well-rested when we started the day. She was still a little fussy at times but not nearly as much as she has been the past week.