Erin, in the Swing, with the Pacifier

Erin went to the doctor yesterday for a check up. She's almost back to her birth weight, she's up to 6 pounds 5 ounces. We are happy to see that, since three weeks ago she was still below 6 pounds. She is also an inch and a half taller.

A while ago, a friend mentioned to me a video she watched called The Happiest Baby on the Block. It's how to calm a crying baby. There are certain things you can do to trigger the calming reflex (swaddling, holding them on their side, shushing, swinging and sucking a pacifier). Some babies need these steps all at once, some only need a combination of them.

As I mentioned before, we are doing the Healthy Families program. Danielle is the one who comes out to see us, and she had that video for us to watch. We tried out the technique last week and it didn't work too well. When she came back yesterday, we tried it again and we got Erin to fall asleep in her swing for about 3 hours or so (this is a miracle because once you put her down, she wakes up within 10 to 20 minutes).

So last night I sacrificed a little sleep and tried to get her to sleep in the swing on her own after her midnight feeding. She woke up once or twice at first, but she was able to go down for a couple hours while I slept on the couch.

I think we are making definite progress, she is asleep in the swing right now. It would make life a lot easier if she didn't have to be held 24/7. So the winning combination is swaddled in the swing with the pacifier.