Yay for milk and sleep!

I am having such a good day today and it is only 7 am!

Last night Max slept 8 hours straight! I woke up several times to make sure he was breathing (he is still sleeping right next to me) and everything was fine. Anyway when he woke up he was obviously hungry. I put him on my side that normally produces more milk. Well he got his fill from just that one side! Well that doesn’t help mommy who is still engorged! So I put Max in his crib (a play place sometimes for him) and dug out the breast pump. I pumped about 20 cc (a little over 1/2 an ounce) off the side that he fed at, and I pumped over 3 oz on the side he didn’t touch!

Now to most of you this may not sound like an accomplishment. However you need to remember that I pumped for 5 months for Emily and the most I would EVER get (and this was only after I slept the whole night and everything) was 2 oz from both breast total! So for me to get 3 oz from one breast was VERY shocking!

If that were not enough about 45 minutes after I finished pumping, Max decided he wanted more. So I then nursed Max and to my happy surprise he was actually drooling milk!

Okay so then I try to keep Max awake for 3 hours so that I can try to put him to sleep in his crib (I am trying to get him used to it since he is so tall it will not be long before he HAS to sleep in his crib). Well Max really wanted to go to bed after 2.75 hours so I then swaddled him and put him in his crib. He fell asleep and I left the room. About 3 minutes later he woke up cried mildly then looked around and fell back to sleep ON HIS OWN!!! He has now done this (wake up, slight cry, go back to sleep) about 3 times (in the 30 minutes since I put him down) and it is working perfectly! Only yesterday I couldn’t pay him to go to sleep on his own in his crib!

I did do a few things differently this morning. I took a flannel receiving blanket and slept on it last night on my pillow. Then I took that blanket and spread it under where Max’s head is now in his crib (don’t forget he is swaddled and both hands are down at his side so he can’t pull this up). I also took a black, white and red boarder that he has had in his bassinet and put it in his crib so that the crib appears smaller then it actually is… at least from his vantage point. That is all that I did differently. I have a video monitor on him so I have been able to keep a close eye on him and not be the the nervous mother that I am with him.

I just had to share!
Jennifer

UPDATE:
Well I put Max down 2 more times since this posting and both times he slept in his crib with very little complaining! Yay! I don’t know what I did to get God to bless me today but I am sure it must have been good!