COLD TURKEY

Today was Annabelle's 4 month doctor's appointment.  She is a healthy baby girl weighing in at 12lbs. 13oz. and is 25.3 inches tall.  She is in the 30% percentile for weight and 82% for height, so she remains on the tall side.  In the words of Aunt Ade, "no front row for her!" 

The pediatrician kicked off the visit by asking us Annabelle was sleeping through the night.  Though she has always been a good sleeper, she recently has been waking up at 4:15 every morning like clock work for a feeding. The doc asked if I ever attempted to NOT feed her at 4:15 and let her try to go back to sleep herself.  "Ummm, no."  To this day we have not let her "cry it out".  The doctor felt though, it is time to try to work through the 4:15 feeding.  She insisted that Annabelle is old enough and weighs enough to make it a full night and recommended that tonight we give it a try and not feed her until 6:00 am.  She also recommended that we don't sleep in the same room as Annabelle for a few days since she can smell us and sense that we are there.  Lastly, she confirmed what I read in an article: that we should no longer be swaddling her.  Supposedly we are inhibiting her from utilizing her muscles and her ability to self-soothe.  So tonight we go cold turkey - no swaddle, no 4:15 feed.  It will be tough, but I am willing to give it a shot.  The idea of not feeding and then pumping in the wee hours of the morning sounds like a dream come true!  Since Nate and I will be having a sleep over in the living room, I am thinking we will make a night of it.  Pull out the sleeping bags, pop some popcorn, and put on a movie.  I'll let you know how it goes.   Keeping our fingers crossed that Annie E pulls through with flying colors.