Another Ferber Post: Update and a Question. Naps?

kiarox2002

So Ferber was going pretty well for us on nights 2 and 3, but tonight has sucked.  She was going to bed after only crying for a few minutes (2-3) but tonight she cried for an hour and a half...    She was also sleeping pretty much through the night, but tonight has already been up twice crying.  Hens my post at 2:45 AM...

I think that a big part of the problem is that she is standing up in her crib.  Not sure how to fix that one though.

Also, naps...  Naps were a big part of why I agreed to do Ferber at all.  Background, Kate just doesn't sleep.  I was spending all day every day trying to get her to take a nap.  (Literally several hours a day.  At least.)  Nothing worked consistently.  I was willing to drive her around or nurse her to sleep and let her sleep while I held her but she still wasn't napping.  It was making me crazy.  We have been trying the Ferber thing with naps, but she has been screaming for the entire 30 minutes.  So on day 2 she slept about 45 minutes total in the car between 4 car rides and on day 3 she slept about 15 minutes total in the car.  Today we didn't go anywhere (though I was tempted to cheat and make up an errand so she could fall asleep in the car) so she didn't nap at all.  Nothing.  All.  Day.  Long. 

Please tell me this gets better.  I hate it, but I agreed to give it a week.  Also, I am at a loss for what to do about the naps.  Kate needs the sleep.  Even if we abandon Ferber for naps I need something.  I cannot continue to live where my entire day is focused on getting Kate to nap.  It was making both of us crazy. 

ETA:  I thought she was sleep so I went in to check on her.  She had stopped crying about 10 minutes ago, but was still sitting up in her crib.  I laid her down, but of course me going in there set her off again.  Do your kids just fall asleep sitting up?  How do I get her to lay down so she will actually fall asleep?  I'm sure she's already sitting up again if not standing up in her crib.

This is super frustrating.  I was getting more sleep when she woke up every hour to nurse... 

ETA: So after an hour I went and woke up DH.  This was his idea after all.  2 hours later he came and woke me up and here I am again.  I really thought that things were going well until tonight.  Do some children just not respond to Ferber?  What do you do in that case?  Give up and go back to what you were doing before?

mcurban

If it were me, I'd cut out going places during the day until her nap schedule is more in place. For Tommy, that took us a good week to figure out. During naps, I would do the incremental check ins for 30 minutes and then take them out if they weren't asleep. We would just play downstairs or go outside (not in the stroller b/c they would crash) and then try to nap again about 45 min to an hour later.

If she is used to going to sleep in the car, then it's just confusing to her to be put in her crib to cry for 30 minutes and then be taken out to go nap during errands, kwim?

As for the standing up- w/ both Jack and Tommy, we had a rough patch when they learned to sit up on their own and then again when they learned to pull up. It passed. Jack never fell asleep sitting up, he would always eventually lie down on his own (after several trips of me going in there to put him back down on his tummy). Tommy, however, was perfectly content to fall asleep sitting up w/ his head against the crib rails. 

smb29

When ferbering we always have a bad night after a few good nights, then it gets better again.  Don't give up yet.  She has been getting up every hour for months, its going to take more than a couple of nights to get those new habits going.  For naps, try to get a routine going.  Even do something similar to her night routine if you can, so she knows it signals time to get in the crib and go to sleep.