Shhh...

Barely 30 minutes after posting about my after hours, I went in to do my final check on him and happened to see him jump on hearing Sito's sneeze. He calmed down straight away but when the second sneeze came, he jolted awake and cried so tragically! Since it was almost three hours since his last feed, I nursed him back to sleep.

Last night, he woke at 1 am, fed, and slept for 20 min before suddenly crying out again. We let him cry for five minutes, visited him to calm him down, let him crying for another 10 min, and visited again to calm him down again. Silence as I left his room. After some rustling through the baby monitor, he fell asleep until almost 6 am.

Now, he's peacefully napping on his bed. I think I've figured out a way for him to nap on his bed without me. It worked three times yesterday. He slept for 50 min for his morning nap - not a lot but it was significantly more than his usual ~15 min on his own!

So, first, I nurse or rock him with a pacifier until he's asleep. Then, I put him down on the bed. He will surely stir. I'll pin his arms down! Or go to the pacifier step. He may even wake totally. If he wakes, I'll sing 小白船 endlessly!!! Or if he wants to play, like just now, I'll sit back and let him play a bit. When he starts to whine, it's time for the pacifier.

I pop the pacifier in, and start my endless "shhh" - it must be a looong "shhh" - and pat his chest simultaneously. Got this idea from here. I think my lips may stay seriously pouty if I keep going "shhh" all the time *.* But that seems to make him drowsy. In fact, just shhh-ing alone will work once he gets drowsy. When he closes his eyes, he may still jerk awake a little. Nvm, I just keep shhh-ing and guess what, he'll shut his eyes again! Then I can leave him.

And if he stirs later or open his eyes, I make sure the pacifier is in and shhh him again. When he's very very asleep, he'll drop the pacifier or loosen his bite so that I can easily remove it. No fear of having to replace it throughout the nap! Actually he doesn't seem to have formed a sleep association with it but to be safe, I don't use the pacifier for night time.

23 continuous minutes now! Mama is happy that ZK seems to be on the way to good naps :)

Papa has gone to rehearse a dance for his company retreat. I'll bring ZK to swim when he wakes. Then, it's family lunch! :)