Light at the end of the tunnel? A plan for sleep

Last week I wrote about how it was time to think about a plan to get sone more sleep for my while family. Grapie has been teething all week but the time has no come to introduce some changes. I am using Elizabeth Patently's book, The no cry sleep solution as a guide. This is what i will be trying:-

• Introduce a lovey- I tried doing this when I first got the book, we took her to a toy shop and got her to choose a cuddly toy, the one she was most attrated to. She chose a duck and is becoming more and more attatched to it but not to the point where it comforts her a night yet.

• Introduce a song as a sleep association- we already have this, I sing her twinkle star

• Bedtime routine- we alreadt have a bedtime routine of bath, milk bed but I am starting to tweak it a bit to make sure that it works for Grapie as well as Princess. I have introduced a little baby massage with some lavender lotion, and a story in her room.

• Change the sleeping environment- at the moment Grapie has her milk and falls asleep on my bed, then I put her in her cot when she is asleep. After that she comes into bed with me when she wakes up and often doesn't go back to her cot. But today we have made a big change. We have taken down her cot and she will be sleeping on her matress.  We have got a special bed guard for the side and a gate for her door to prevent night wandering. And tonight she had her milk and fell asleep in her own bed. The plan is that she will gradually spend nore and more time in her bed and eventually get used to sleeping on her own.

So, according to the book, we should carry out the changes for 10 days then do another sleep log to she if there has been an improvement. So I will report back in 10 days with my results. In the meantime, wish me luck!

#BEDN

Yummy oaty biscuits (and sugar free too!)

Today we made some yummy oaty biscuits for the girls, which are packed full of energy boosting ingredients, are sugar free and suitable for baby led weaning. The recipe is loosely based on one I saw in a BLW book I borrowed from the library, but I couldn't remember it properly, so I made it up.

Ingredients
50g butter
75g porridge oats
25g raisins
5 dried apricots (chopped)
Orange juice

Method
Put the dried fruit in a saucepan and put enough orange juice in to just cover the fruit. Cook on a low heat for about 5 minutes, until the fruit goes all squishy and has absorbed most of the orange juice.

Give the fruit a bit of a mash with a fork then add the butter and stir until melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the oats.

Allow the mixture to cool slightly before forming into balls. Flatten the balls of mixture down and place on a baking tray. Pop them into the oven (preheated to 180) for 15 minutes or until they turn golden.

Allow to cool and enjoy!