Nanny 911!!!

A few weeks ago, I was an exhausted triplet mom just getting by on what I was reading on how to parent my three precious babies from books and the Internet. What was left of my rope was slowly starting to unwind when Brent mentioned looking into getting a night nanny or a nighttime sleep specialist. Where would we find such a person, who we could trust, in Waco? Pft...nowhere. Through my sister, Missy, my mom and I were put in touch with a nanny agency out of Dallas who then put me in touch with Christy, my savior :). Check out her website at http://www.sweetbabydreams.net/ Christy called me and we spoke for a long time about what I was going through with the girls so far, their development, etc.

Christy with Baylee during playtime...

She has 16 years of experience as a night nanny and nighttime sleep specialist and she knows her stuff! I immediately felt so much better just after one conversation on the phone. She suggested some products for us to purchase to help with Baylee's reflux and make our lives easier and more sane all around. Christy wasn't booked for two weeks in December so she graciously agreed to come stay with us and help me get on track. I honestly didn't know what to expect to begin with, but I was hoping for a complete 180 from what I was going through each day. My days were spent stressed out that my babies, all three, were crying and I didn't know why, Baylee was always upset (I thought) about something and I didn't have time to eat, shower or do anything productive around the house because I was forced to hold her all day to soothe her crying episodes.
This has all changed in just the short time Christy has been here. She implemented a schedule that she and I agreed upon to be the most beneficial for our family and the girls. She also started a nighttime routine for them that I think worked wonders. Most of my nights were spent in the living room with Baylee trying to get her to go to sleep, now she gets a bath, gets swaddled up all nice and cozy, snuggles into her nap nanny, has a bottle and bing, bam, boom...she's asleep. Awesome, right?!

Addison, having a bottle in her nap nanny this morning...

She might fuss a little and Christy showed me how to use the "Shush-Pat Method" to calm Baylee down enough to soothe herself back to sleep. She also has taught me so much on how to feed the girls and burp them. Before it was like a relay race trying to rush to get everyone burped and back to their bottle to finish in a timely manner. Christy has taught me to slow down, don't get in a hurry and give the girls time to chill out and breathe while feeding. She lets them suck on their pacifier a little while feeding to get everything down to their stomach for digestion. She explained that this will help prevent everything from coming right back up when you go to burp them, which has happened so many times. Also, she is working with Miss Priss (Baylee) on being patient and not needing to be picked up and held all day. Baylee is such a toot. She will cry and cry and once you pick her up she stops and she is happy as can be. Nothing is wrong with her, she just wants all of your attention. Well, this is something that we have to work on because I can't carry her around all day or hold her and no one else. She is already getting better with her fussiness. During playtime today she was just hanging out looking around no fussing at all. I was shocked.

Miss Priss herself, Baylee boo

Addison and Reagan playing together last night before bathtime...

I also got to sleep through the night myself last night, which was very much needed.

We have the girls on a 3 hour cycle schedule to get them in tune with their natural sleep cycles. We go in at 8 am and open the blinds to let the light in, turn on some peppy music and let the girls gradually wake up. Once they start waking up we change their diaper and feed them in their nap nannies. After that it is floor playtime. They lay on their tummies for tummy time and stretch and we do some baby exercises with them. Once we get the hint of sleepiness from them, it is time to go down for a nap. The girls only last about an hour and fifteen minutes from the time they wake up until they need a nap. We change their diaper again if needed and swaddle them up and give pacifiers and they go down for a nap. This cycle continues through the day until their 5 pm feeding. At that time, we will bring them in the living room for their bottle and then floor playtime while I get dinner ready and Brent and I have dinner. After dinner it is time for either cuddles and baby massage or baths, depending on the night, and then they get swaddled and go to bed at 8pm. At 10 pm we will go in and "dream feed" them. Basically, you don't really wake them up to feed them, you keep the lights down and they wake up just enough to take another few ounces of feeding and then they go right back to sleep.

I think every new mother should have someone like Christy come in and show them all the tips and tricks that no one teaches you like baby language, sleep signs and baby sleep science. It helps so much to have someone here telling me, yes this is good and no, you might want to try this and which products to buy and what to not waste your money on because they aren't beneficial or don't work. It just helps calm your fears and insecurities to have someone telling you that this will work, don't second guess yourself. Christy will be here with us for the rest of this week and she will be back next week. She will also be coming back when the girls are around 6, 8, 10 and 12 weeks adjusted to help me transition them to sleeping fully through the night without any nighttime feedings.

I think I might cry when she leaves and chase after her car out of the driveway :). But, I will be comforted to know that she is an e-mail or phone call away if I just can't figure something out and she will be back to help me get them to fully sleeping through the night which, when that happens, we are going to have a little party to celebrate.

Love to you all!