Need advice

mrscalkins

For the past month/month and a half, Maggie has been crying unless she's being held.  She no longer sleeps on her own and it's a constant fight every night to get her to sleep.  It takes an average of 3 hours to get her to go down, usually longer.  We've tried two types of swings. bouncers, the pnp, her crib, her carseat, even a laundry basket with a firm pillow.  She absolutely refuses to sleep on her own.

I don't know how much more of it we can take.  I hate weekends cause it means two whole days of fighting with Maggie for naps and sleeping.  Absolutely nothing gets done around the house, our kitchen sink as been leaking for two days onto the floor and we don't have the time/energy to deal with it.  We're falling asleep at work and getting sick from no sleep and not being able to eat because of dealing with these two.

 Please, any advice?

Pixie4199

Wow, it sounds like you guys are having a really tough time.  It must be so hard!  It sounds like you've tried a lot...

I don't know if you read happiest baby on the block, but it really helped us A LOT!  I know you don't have any time to read it now, but they do have a dvd, and you can google for the website (Harvey Karp is the author).

They have some strategies to calm and soothe babies.  The one thing that I thought of that might help you is swaddling.  Do you still swaddle the babies?  If she likes being held she might like being wrapped tight.  They sell swaddling blankets (some moms swear by the miracle blanket but it's pricey...we use kiddopatamus swaddle me. It's in two different sizes and it's only 10.00. You can find them at Walmart or BRU). 

Also, to be able to get things done around the house, have you considered slinging her or wearing her?  One of my guys was like that, and I would put him in the sling with a binky and he loved it.  I could do the dishes, fold laundry, etc. with him in the sling. It made us both happy.  Or a baby bjorn might work, too.

You can put her to bed swaddled, might help her sleep better.  Also, put a fan in the room or play a radio station that has static.  The white noise sound will replicate the womb sound for her. 

Basically babies in the first 3 - 4 months of life cannot soothe themselves and we have to teach them how. Oh, a binky, will she take a binky?  Try that, too. 

Once she is four or five months old this should pass, hopefully.

 I hope some of this is helpful to you!  HUGS!

(P.S...and maybe, if you can, have someone sit for the twins so you and your hubby can go to dinner...or get some uninterrupted sleep!)

Rachel

VCMCG

This may be a ransom question, but could she be teething?  I ask b/c my DD was an early teether (first two teeth by 3 months) and for a few weeks before they popped through, she was a bear to get to sleep. It was horrible.  Once the teeth broke through, she was much happier.  If her teething seemed particularly bad, we would give her tylenol and that seemed to calm her down.  Also, can you and DH take shifts with her so you get more sleep?  I find I am particularly short fused when I have had interrupted sleep and a good night of sleep can do wonders.

 

Good luck! 

mrscalkins

I definitely want to look into the Happiest Baby book, I was also recommended the Healthy Sleep Habits book. 

We used to swaddle her and some nights it works, other nights she's managed to break her arms free.  Lately she's still upset when swaddled so we take her out of it.  I had thought the same as you, that swaddling would give her that close held feeling but so far, no luck : (. 

I've used the sling and she does like it.  I can usually get an hour or two out of her with it.  I dread the day that she gets too big for it.  She does take a binky sometimes but will spit it out almost immediately when she's upset. 

 I'll try the white noise and music next.  Ha ha, the white noise of her brother snoring should be soothing enough, guess not.

 I guess one of my biggest worries is that she will get used to or learn that the only way to sleep is being held or in our bed.  I really don't want to be that parent with her kid still sleeping with her when she's 7 or 8.  (I'm sure I'm exaggerating but...)  Is she still too young to learn this/form the habit and we should work on breaking it?  Or are we okay with keeping her close for a little while longer and slowly working on getting her to sleep on her own?

 Thank you for the advice and if anyone has more suggestions, keep them coming!  Just hearing from other moms helps, knowing we aren't alone in this.

  

mrscalkins

Funny you should mention this, MIL also suggested that she might be teething.  We did offer her a cool teething ring the other day and she wasn't interested. Of course, that doesn't mean a thing : )   She has been drooling a lot.  We've been taking turns on working with her at night, good thing that Ryan is a good sleeper.  Plus, our families are really pitching in to help out, MIL is going to take them one evening a week so we can get things done and some friends are organizing weekend days that they will take the twins to give us a break. 

coffee bean

Question for you....is she sleeping on her back or her tummy?  I know everyone recommends sleeping on their backs due to risk of SIDS, but we've been letting our girls sleep on their tummies since they were 6 weeks old and it made a huge difference.  We don't have any of the other risk factors for SIDS and decided to let them sleep on their tummies and take the teeny tiny extra risk since they slept SO MUCH better.

Just a thought.