I should have left well enough alone.

dana316

We had the worst night imaginable last night.  I think we might have slept three hours...total. 

It was bad.  She slept from 730 to 1030...then all hell broke loose.  She would not go back to sleep.  Everytime we would get her back to sleep, we would lay her down and she would wake right back up.

Fortunately, she wasn't really unhappy.  Her parents were...but she wasn't. 

Steven finally got her down at 2:45 this morning, and she was back up for the day at 5:00. 

I wish I had left well enough alone.  If I hadn't tried to break the swaddle, then given up and gone back to swaddling, we all probably would have slept last night.

I'm failing at this sleep thing...and I'm not sure what our next step is...I'm not doing her any favors by doing something different every night, that's for sure. 

I'm guessing that Monday night (after my husband works off for a few days), that we'll transition her to her room, and take the swaddle away again...but I don't know.  I'm thinking of doing the Sleep Sense program....I can't leave her alone to cry in her room, but maybe if one of us is in there with her, she'll have at least a little comfort.  I don't know anymore.

Anyway...happy Saturday!

 

 

kimarino13

I am going to be going through this tonight.  Sophia now rolls onto her stomach while swaddled, so we're going cold turkey.  It hasn't worked for naps today so I imagine we have several sleepless nights ahead of us. 

dana316

kimarino13:

I am going to be going through this tonight.  Sophia now rolls onto her stomach while swaddled, so we're going cold turkey.  It hasn't worked for naps today so I imagine we have several sleepless nights ahead of us. 

I'll be sending good thoughts your way...I hope you get some sleep...

 

qtpa2t

Curious about something - do you lay her to sleep on her back only?  I know one thing that has worked for our LO post-swaddle is (occasionally) to lay her to sleep on her belly.  If she has any gas, it'll work itself out more easily, and for what ever reason, she gets into a deeper sleep.  Then we flip her back over before we go to sleep.

dana316

qtpa2t:

Curious about something - do you lay her to sleep on her back only?  

No, she always goes down on her back.  We've tried to put her down on her belly, but she screams.  She has slept on her side once or twice, but other than that, she is a dedicated back sleeper. 

 

qtpa2t

Oh, well.  I know the only times our baby screams on her belly is when she isn't ready to go to sleep.  I just know she sometimes get startled or something like that when on her back and will wake herself up.

skoorbnibor

We had success with the pick up, put down method at about that age. It is the baby whisperers, and basically, it is this:

Start a bedtime routine...  We did bath, bottle, book, bed

then put the baby down awake. kiss her, or sing,  or whatever, then leave, telling her you are leaving. 

if she cries, go right in, pick her up, soothe her, put her down. 

if she cries, go right in, pick her up, soothe her, put her down. 

Lather, rinse repeat. 

Night 1, I picked up Ethan about 42 times. Night 2, I think 18 times, night 3, twice. Night 4, twice. Night 5, ZERO!  

We had to redo if after vacation, same results. 

GL!!

epphd

Oh hon, that sucks   I really think you're going to be surprised with how she does in her own room.  I would recommend that for a week or so while she adjusts, swaddle her if that's how she sleeps well.  Then you can work on de-swaddling.

We moved Sam to his own room when he was waking up 4 times a night in the PNP in our room.  We also did it so that we could stomach CIO - we knew that he would be safe in his crib and we knew that it would be better for him to learn how to self soothe a bit.  The first night, he slept three hours like usual, nursed, slept 2 hours, then woke up again.  I knew he wasn't hungry, so we tried the dreaded CIO. 

It took 20 minutes and we sat there staring at the monitor, but he went back to sleep.  And he never really LOST it, know what I mean?  He slept 4 more hours, then was up for the day.

The next night, he woke up twice and ate.  The next night, once.  And really, that's been that.  He's now waking up twice, but I really think he's having a growth spurt and it's all about food. So - to bed at 8, up at ~1, then up at ~5:30. Previously I would just assume that he was up, but now, I go into his room (with blackout shades),  feed him and put him back down then to sleep while I get ready for work.  Then he awakes or I wake him up around 7:30. On the weekends he actually will sleep until almost 9! 

Long story short - I really think her own room will help!  And I know that CIO isn't really for everyone, but at least according to Weissbluth, it is the fastest and most effective way to deal with serious sleep troubles.  If you can stomach it, it might be worth a try (within limits, of course).

Hang in there!  I hope you hit on a solution.

SS091506

We were in a very similar boat at 8 months.  We finally decided to move her to her crib in her room.  We were in the habit of feeding her and rocking her sleep for bed and naps.  We would also repeat this process when she got up in the middle of the night.  I never thought we would be able to stomach letting her CIO.  My husband slept on the floor in her room the first two weeks after we moved her in to her room.  What finally broke the cycle for us is one night my husband was away on business.  She was exhausted.  I did her bedtime routine.  She pushed away the bottle.  I tried to rock her.  She continued to cry and arch her back.  I brought her downstairs to see if I could get her to play and calm down (my plan was to resume the feeding and rocking routine once she calmed down).  Well, she continued to cry.  I had no other options. I didn't know what to do.  My poor baby was so tired.  I finally just kissed her goodnight, told her I loved her and it was sleep time.  She ended up crying for 12 or 15 minutes and finally fell asleep.  Those seemed like  the longest 12 or 15 minutes of my life.  After that night, we let her CIO.  Most nights she doesn't even cry.  Sometime she will cry for 10 minutes. I feel good about it now.  I am happy she can put her self to sleep or back to sleep if she wakes up in the middle of night. 

dana316

Thanks again for all the support.  I would not be doing as well as I am with all this if it weren't for you guys.

I am getting closer and closer to being ready to move her to her room.  She slept great last night (swaddled), but my husband's stupid alarm clock woke her up at 4:30 this morning and he tried to rock her back to sleep but it wasn't happening.

Even though she is in her mini crib in our room and not in our bed, I am really wanting our room back.  We have to be very inventive when we get ready for Mommy and Daddy time...and between Caroline in our room, and the dogs in the living room...well, it gets difficult, lol.

My husband works off Monday afternoon for a few days, so we are going to have to have a sit down discussion about our sleep related plans for Caroline.

Thanks again!!

 

marcuej

I agree that moving her to her own room might make all the difference in the world.  It may also be that Caroline just isn't ready to be de-swaddled yet.  We tried a few times unsuccessfully with Stella.  She let us know she wasn't quite ready yet.  All of a sudden, when we tried at 8 months she was totally ready for it.  I wish I wouldn't have stressed myself out about it so much before that! 

cape05bride

When we weaned Liam off the swaddle, we did it gradually.  I left one arm out for about a week or so.  Then left both arms out but still wrapped him in the swaddle.  Then we moved to no swaddle for naps and then finally weaned at bedtime.  It took about a month total of going slow.  We tried cold turkey at 3 months and he was up every hour!