I'm at my wit's end!!! (sleep related)

MadameFancyPants

DS goes down for naps super easily.  Fresh diaper, paci, plop him in his crib and he is out!  He only sleeps for 30 minutes, but that is a different story.

Night time rolls around and we both end up super frustrated.  I follow the same cues, same routine, but when I but him in his crib, the skrieking starts.  We will fight for 2 sometimes 3 hours until he *finally* goes to sleep.  

If I cradle him and rock him he punchs and kicks while spitting out his paci and screaming.  If I hold him upright he trashes around and slams his head into my nose and collarbone making matters worse.  He gets himself worked up and then he's hot and that doesn't help.  He'll drink a bottle, but he won't stop.  Tonight drank 15 oz in a matter of 30 mins, but most of that was running out the side of his mouth.  I'm thinking he was trying to cool off from his rage. 

He'll quite down for 10 minutes and just as soon as I go down stairs the screaming starts up again.  Tonight I gave him teething tablets and mylicon just in case... and now he's asleep laying on his belly (which is scaring me!)

It's 8:15 right now and we started the fight at 6!

AHHHHHHHHHHH!

MamiJam

Could it be that he's overtired from not napping well during the day?  Or that he's eating too much from the bottle and it's causing to have a tummy ache?  Not sure if you've read it but I'd recommend the No Cry Sleep Solution.  The author mentions that sleep begets sleep so if LO started napping longer that might prevent him from being overtired at bedtime and he won't fight sleep so much.  We've been there, it sucks but hopefully the book will provide some helpful tips for you!

Quazel

This sounds pretty serious to me.  Is there something different at night like maybe he has a bad reaction to his pajamas or he is scared of the dark?  Do you respond quickly to him at night?  Is he scared to go to sleep?  I would actually suggest making sure there is nothing going on like an ear infection (I know that doesn't gel with the napping but just in case).  Definitely read NCSS but I would also check everything to make sure there isn't an irritant and check in with the doctor.  GL!

MadameFancyPants

I borrowed NCSS from the library a while back, I'm going to go borrow it again.  Now that I have a "need" to read it, I'll pay more attention.

I fully believe in the little saying "energy begets energy, and sleep begets sleep" so maybe his lack of real napping (unless we are in the car) so I'll try to check out the NCNS book as well.  I'd love for him sleep longer during the day!

We were just at the doctor's today and she said his ears were fine.  We have a lamp on near his crib for light.  It's fairly bright, but I'm wondering if I should try leaving the big light on for him.  He is wearing the same PJs that he wore all day, just in a different color, so I'm fairly sure it isn't his clothing.

 If he is fussing, I don't respond quickly in hopes that he will settle back down, but as soon as he increases volume from a whimper, I'm in there.  I don't want him to get to full blown crying but it seems to happen anyway. 

 

lspinman

We had a few weeks of that exact thing!

I think you may be on to something with the sleep begats sleep idea.  In our house that is so true.  NCNS has some great tips for daytime sleep.  

My other thought is could he be starting to teeth?  S has teeth buds showing and her night sleep has been worse the last week since we discovered them.  I dont know your little man's normal tempermant but S is an easy and happy (but busy) baby.  I think that her teeth bother her more at night and laying down b/c she has been busy and in go go mode all day.

AllisonLeigh

Maybe you areputting him down too early (time). I can only speak from experience  and  whenever I tried to put babedown at a reasonable hour we would fight for about 2 hours but when I put him down an hour or so later he didn't fight  it as bad. Just a thought

otc

I went through a week or so of similiar behavior around that age.  I recall one night when he was almost 6 months that I was out in the neighborhood strolling at midnight because he would not fall asleep.  I remember if not so fondly because it was Halloweenish and he had on his glow in the dark polar fleece outfit and when he finally fell asleep and I carried him up to bed his skeleton outfit glowed for hours.

What I started to do was the 2 hours up and then nap rountine.Up at 6, down at 8, and repeated all day, no matter how long he slept or didn't sleep during that nap period..  He started to sleep better at night and his last wakefull period he was up 3-4 hours before he went to bed around 7ish or.  I didn extend it to 3 hours up when he was around a year until he dropped to 1 nap a day around 20 months. 

Some people do it 2 hours, 3 hours and then 4 hours until the next nap or bedtime.  Mine did better with every 2 hour naps.  You'll have to experiement.

It sounds like he is too wound up, overtired like mine was for the brief period that seems like forever.  This too shall pass and just be a blur in the parenting adventure.

HTH!

MadameFancyPants

fredalina:

Have you tried turning the light off?  i found if i used more than a little night-light, D wouldn't want to go to sleep and wouldn't want to stay asleep, but when it was nearly dark, she did way better. 

Also, how old is your LO?  That 3-4 month age was the worst for getting her to sleep at night.

He is 5 months.  

I'm adding "make the room dark" to the list of things to try.  Along with reading NCSS again, I'm making a list of all these suggestions.  I'm just going to start down the list!

Thanks

MissViolet

At that age I think the ONLY way I could get DS to go to sleep at night is by poppin him in the ergo and pacing the house or walking the neighborhood.