Moms on Call

I'm not sure where I very first heard of the Moms on Call program--several bloggers have raved about it. I finally looked into the program and saw that you should/could start at 2 weeks old.

Eloise at two weeks. Photo by Mona Lisa Photography

For the first two weeks, E was sleeping ok. Some nights for four hours in a row, and some nights waking every hour, on the hour to feed. There was one night where I did feel at my wits end with her. She was so fussy and wanted to feed but was hysterical at the breast and I knew there was just nothing left in there for her. It was rough, but it was just one night. But it made me think to look into the program.

I started out watching their youtube videos, and reading information on blogs and other websites. I wanted to make sure this was something I would follow through and do. Something I believed would work. I was convinced and a few days later I purchased the Moms on Call online seminar. It is a very comprehensive program-and has you schedule your entire day and night, promoting good sleeping and eating habits. They, and the bloggers I've read, advocate that you must follow the program to the T in order for it to work. I was so hesitant. I did not want to let my baby cry at all and also did not want her in her own room. I'd been so paranoid since she was born that she would stop breathing, or spit up and choke. I couldn't imagine not having her bedside.

We finally bought a video monitor and were willing to give it a try. I will admit it has not been easy on me, or B. We felt really guilty for putting our 14 day old, precious baby on a "schedule". I wrestled with it for the first two days, even though it was clearly working. No more waking up every hour at night. She was napping very soundly during the day, and also very alert during the designated "awake" time.

But my mommy heart just felt bad. I wanted to be holding her all day. I wanted to rush to her side at night and feed her. Moms on call says to let them "cry it out" for 3-5 minutes. And those few minutes just felt like an eternity. B could barely stand it, which did not help me at all as I already felt so guilty. But, it worked. She stopped crying on several occasions and put herself back to sleep.

Now that it's been a week, I am feeling much better about it. I do hold her for a nap or two a day to get my snuggle fix in, but when she's in her own room sleeping peacefully for two hours, I am actually able to get things done. I don't feel like I'm just watching the days go by. We've also been able to go to lunch, run to home depot, etc during her nap times because we know she will sleep. (Now that it's been two weeks on the program-I highly recommend it and recommend the monitor we bought-it's been a lifesaver for me).

As for night time, she's improving but still not sleeping through the night. We are getting 5-6 hour stretches which is awesome. I want to buy their book soon to get even more information since I really like their style. I even got some tweets back and forth with Laura, one of the two pediatric nurses who started the program and wrote the book.

I can tell that some of my friends who are veteran moms are skeptical of this program and probably find it humorous, since it's pretty typical of my personality to think I can schedule my baby. But when I got together with the girls last night, and casually mentioned she'd slept 6 hours the night before, and then gone back down for 3, I could tell they couldn't believe it. B has come around and admits it must be good for her because she is getting really good sleep and so are we.

Mona Lisa Photography

I'm not sure how we will have to adjust once both B and I are back at work, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it. Now, I have to get to work on introducing a bottle to my baby so that I can leave for work in a couple weeks. Again, my mommy heart is so conflicted and sad. I don't want her to be bottle fed. I never, ever thought I would be so sensitive and hard on myself, but all I want is to be with her and not have to worry about real life. Thank goodness E is such a good baby, she hasn't added any degree of conflict, just me.

I started writing this post a week ago, and am just now finishing. E is still doing great on her schedule. We are able to tweak it here and there and she is pretty cooperative. Still not sleeping through the night at 4 weeks, but almost there! I'll update as we progress!