Sleeping Through The Night
Casper's Sleep
It's been a while since I have been able to sit down and document what's been happening in our life. It has been on mt To-Do list for months now but I really struggle to find the time to sit down and commit to writing but here I am, finally giving myself some time to update you all :)
Casper is now 9 months old - how crazy is that? As cliche as it sounds these past 9 months have absolutely flown by..but also gone very very slow (thanks covid).
Casper is so much more settled now. His day sleeps are amazing, he has a small morning nap and a long afternoon nap with bedtime around 6:30/45 pm.
Through the night he is sleeping through without a feed. He has been doing this for about a month now which is a huge relief - as many of you know, we had quite a rough time with him for a while there. His poor belly was so sensitive however now we have built up his gut flora and his digestive system has had time to mature.
Casper's Solids
Casper looooves his food! You cannot put him in the highchair unless you have his food ready to go because he will crack the shits at you if you make him wait haha.
He is doing so well with the allergen foods. So far he has had salmon/sardines, peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, ghee (dairy) and eggs.I have been consuming soy and gluten again which he is fine with. I haven't given them directly to him but I am sure he will be fine once I do.
I originally started Casper on puree's but he mostly has finger food now. Sofy steamed veggies, pulse pasta, mince patties, fish, fruits, dahl etc.
Casper's Skills
This kid is a little go getter!
He is crawling all over the house now. If you place him in the lounge room, within a few moments he is in the kitchen or in Otis's room haha.
He is also pulling himself up on all the furniture to stand and walk along.
He says 'Mum, 'Dad' and "Nan' which is adorable.
The squeal on him could break a window! He and Otis get into these hilarious squealing matches that are just deafening - super cute though.
Otis
Ahhh our little tornado Otis haha.
Gosh this kid is a crack up. I honestly cannot believe he is 3!!
About a month or so ago, I played around with dropping his day sleep but I very quickly realised he was not as ready as I thought he was. He's now having just 20-30 minutes a day, if he doesn't have this he is miserable by 5pm.
I will just keep monitoring how he goes and watch for more signs he is ready to shorten his nap even more,
You might have seen on my instagram stories that Otis had been coming into our bed most mornings. We allowed this to happen for a few weeks until it started to get to the point where he wasn't actually falling asleep, he was wanting to play and poke us in the mouth haha.
Because his quality of sleep was being compromised we decided to get him sleeping in his own bed all night again.
We used 'Sam the Sheep' as a tool to teach Otis to stay in his cot all night. The reason we chose to go down this path is because he will probably move to a big boy bed in the next 6 months and so we will continue using this light to then teach him to stay in his big boy bed all night.
He responded really well to the change. The first two mornings were tough, in particular the second morning, but the third was a lot easier. We remained firm with our boundaries about him staying in his bed and this is what really helps this kind of process - it's all about consistency.
Now each morning once Sheepy is green he calls out 'I'm awake now?' haha.
We have enrolled Otis into ELC next year. He has never been to childcare however he goes to kindergym and playgroup each week. I am both excited and sad - he is SO ready for it. I have noticed a lot this year that he needs more and more stimulation that I struggle to provide him. He is already such a social little dude so we have never been worried about that, we just want to slowly start to prepare him for Kindy the following year as well as giving him more learning opportunities that I just can't provide at home.
We have started telling him about 'school' next year and he's excited because I told him it's like when Bluey and Bingo go to school haha.
Work
I have been SO busy in the past 6 months, when Casper was born I took some time off consulting then I slowly built back up again. I am the busiest I have ever been which I am so grateful for. At the moment I take on 4-5 clients a week which certainly keeps me on my toes.
I decided to take two weeks off over Christmas - since starting Holistic Sleep Mumma I haven't taken time off over Christmas so I am excited to take a break to be with Paul and the boys over the Christmas break. I will still be supporting current clients however in those two weeks I will not be taking on any new clients.
As it stands right now, I only have 3 available appointments left for 2020!
My placenta arts and preparation study is almost complete which is really exciting. I have done my first practice client. I turned her precious placenta into capsules and turned the cord into a love heart keepsake. It was such a special process and I am very very glad I have gone down this path. I want to bring more awareness about this service and how beneficial it can be to postpartum Mumma's.
​