No longer able to self-soothe?

hsuxx064

Hi Ladies,

Thank you for your previous advices on my questions regarding Ferber and nanny.

Since we Ferberizing DD (she will be 8 months old on the 26th), she's been able to put herself to sleep/nap. She even slept through the night for several days.

However, things began to fall apart recently. She is no longer willing to put herself down for nap/sleep. She constantly wants to suck something to calm down. She also fights sleep/nap like it's her job. Consequently, she's overtired and cranky. So in short, she refuses to self soothe altogether. It's like her old self again. Once in a while, she is able to be rocked or nursed to sleep. Although during the night, she doesn't wake up too often, just once, and after nursing, she falls asleep on her own without a peep.

My question is, is this caused by separation anxiety or it's wonder week that kicks in? Should we referberize her now? Or is it too cruel to let her cry? If so, can we do whatever it takes to make her sleep/nap?  Once this phase is over, will she be able to self-soothe again?

Thank you so much for your advice!

kjsmith9

You say she wants to suck something all the time?  Does she do a paci, or are you not wanting her to use one?  If she was sleeping terribly, I would do what it took to get her to sleep.  But I'm a terrible tired person and I work full time, so yeah - we do what we have to do...

DD uses a paci to sleep, but she's starting to want it during the day now too - I'm trying to head that off before it becomes a habit.  We're trying to make a conscious effort to keep the paci in the crib 95% of the time.

Addy1227

My LO used to self soothe and sleep like a champ, now he's just a mess; won't sleep and cranky all the time. I believe it's from teething, his first two are cutting through, separation anxiety because he's fine if I'm holding his hand and possibly a wonder week. I personally let him fuss for a minute and then go in to soothe him. Since he is so cranky and over tired though I do anything to help him sleep because the more tired he is, the harder it is to get him to sleep and to stay asleep.

If you want to do the ferber method still maybe do a modified version of it, like don't wait as long to check her but still don't pick up or feed her? Since it's possibly a phase I would do whatever it took to get her to sleep and then referberize if needed once the phase has past. 

And I also use a paci just at night and that seems to help him, he either uses it or plays with it but either way it keeps him happy.

hsuxx064

Thank you for all your advice! DD does not take a paci from the beginning. Today is a much better day. We do whatever we could to make sure she gets her naps so she is not overtired. Consequently, during the majority of nap time and bedtime, we are able to put her down to her crib and she falls asleep on her own.