Sleeping Through the Night! Yay!

Ariella has been sleeping through the night for the past 5 nights! It's been super nice with the 4th of July holiday. I've been able to nurse rather than pumping (although I've been pumping once early each morning when she stirs (around 4:30am)). But, I stick the pacifier back in her mouth to keep her sleeping until around 5:15-5:30am. She has been having her last feeding between 8 - 9pm. Sometimes she is even sleeping before that, but I make sure to get her up to feed her one last time before she's asleep for the night.

I don't think it's anything that I did specifically. I think she just became ready on her own. I am doing one thing differently, though. I'm making sure she eats more during the day. Maybe the crazy night after she had slept through the night twice in a row was because she was hungry after two days of not eating enough! So, while I've been home, I make sure to nurse her on both sides at all feedings. Even if she falls asleep on the boob, I make sure to take her off, burp her (which wakes her up), and then I offer the other side (which she almost always takes). Then, a lot of times she'll fall asleep on that side as well after actively eating for a while.

Now that I'm back at work, I've increased the amounts that I leave her for during the day. I had been leaving 3 bottles (5oz, 4.5oz, 4.5oz). I had upped that to 3 bottles (5oz each). Now, I'm leaving between 5.5-6oz per bottle. So, between those 3 bottles, 2 nursing sessions in the morning (5:30am and 7:30am), and 2-3 nursing sessions after work, I'm hoping that will be enough. It was a lot easier when I was home all day. I made sure to feed her every 2-3 hours if she was interested, and I tried to feed her when she first started acting hungry (not waiting until she would cry). I'm hoping she'll have enough to eat while I'm away at work, though. I don't really want to have to try to leave an extra bottle (and my bottles only hold 6oz when they're filled almost to the brim, so I can't go any more than that without buying bigger bottles). Plus, it would be a lot of pressure on me to be able to pump an entire extra bottle for the 4 workdays away from home. At least she'll be starting solid foods at 6 months. That can hopefully add a few calories for her during the day.

But, I'm very excited! What a milestone! Keep your fingers crossed for me that she can keep it up!