fighting sleep

zbeesma86

DD fights sleep like crazy- her little eyes get red and she rubs them and yawns and is uber cranky. All she wants me to do is hold her- no swing, no sitting up, no playing. Yet when I lay her down, SHE WON'T SLEEP! Even after rocking her for 10-15 mins- she will be fast asleep in my arms and once I put her down- BING! Her eyes pop open and she starts whining-- WHHHYYYYYY?!

I feel so bad for her- I can see she's tired. I just have no idea what to do- I've tried everything.

Anyone have any suggestions or are going through the same thing????

LMK- PLEASE!

 

Starbear06

My DS is the same right now. He fights naps. Cries, rubs his eyes, has his pacifier, but just cries and fights it. He used to fall asleep by himself when he's tired all the time. Now he seems to have to cry a bit and after a bit of soothing finally let's himself fall asleep.

mjledwith

A few things that have worked for us- I am no expert but these work for my family.

1. Write down the times of day when she is rubbing her eyes and fussing once you have a general idea of those times put down 15 min or so before then. Usually eye rubbing and fussiness means they're overtired.

2. Move bedtime 20 minutes to 30 earlier. We just recently did this as we found ourselves fighting to keep our son happy 30 min before bedtime til we looked at each other and thought why don't we just put him to bed? Ha. Bonus he actually has been sleeping in an hour later in the morning!

3. It may just be a phase. Lately DS has been hard at naps too only wants to sleep on me. So you just have to pick your battles and maybe ride it out. The only other advice I have is maybe try rocking longer- I take the iPad with me and rock my son for about 30-40 minutes til I know he is asleep. 

jenosbo

My ds has been like this lately with nap times only. I tried the whole rock him longer but no matter how long he screams once laid down so what I foud works is still rock and lay down but as soon as I lay him down I have one hand on him while shhhh Ing and the other is bouncing the mattress after a few seconds he is as good as out. I know that wont work for everyone but I just had to try different things to calm him once he was laid down and that one did the trick. Hopefully you can find something that works for you

Suzanne68

I have been going through the same thing for the past month. She fights all naps and if I am lucky enough to get her to nap a whopping 20 min it's either in my arms, stroller while I am out or in the car. Nights I am lucky if I get a 3 hr stretch the fist part of the night then awake every 2 hrs or more. I have tried everything and am sure it's not teeth or her reflux. Sorry I have no advice just thought you may feel a tiny bit better knowing your not alone. 

jasrun80

mjledwith:

A few things that have worked for us I am no expert but these work for my family.1. Write down the times of day when she is rubbing her eyes and fussing once you have a general idea of those times put down 15 min or so before then. Usually eye rubbing and fussiness means they're overtired.2. Move bedtime 20 minutes to 30 earlier. We just recently did this as we found ourselves fighting to keep our son happy 30 min before bedtime til we looked at each other and thought why don't we just put him to bed? Ha. Bonus he actually has been sleeping in an hour later in the morning!3. It may just be a phase. Lately DS has been hard at naps too only wants to sleep on me. So you just have to pick your battles and maybe ride it out. The only other advice I have is maybe try rocking longer I take the iPad with me and rock my son for about 3040 minutes til I know he is asleep.nbsp;

This exactly here too. I was definitely going though this for ALL sleep times but now I have found the above was just what my lo needed for naps and especially at bed. Bedtime was taking me like 2 to 3 hours until I was a lunatic and made my husband take over... Getting her down before she's overtired is key,,, once you establish confidence there,,, even when you occasionally miss that doorway, it's still easier than where you are now... I feel you. I bet she's overtired or a phase! My lo doesn't nap well on her own but I wear her often or rock and sneak her into her swing here and there ,,, finally I'm able to do this but couldn't before... Now that she is learning that sleep is good/necessary/inevitable, she tolerates my attempts much better as long as I haven't pushed her limit...
Tough stuff isn't it!!!?

mkflower3000

Have you tried letting her whine a little after you put her down? Maybe being set down wakes her up for a minute, but she just needs a little time to settle down again?

Jinnifah

We're going through the same thing with ds. I'm lucky naps out of him during the day any way but in the car. Yesterday I spent an hour trying to put him down only to get a 20 min nap.

At night what helps keep him down when I'm transferring him to the crib is if I hold his hand on his chest and shush him or sing. It'll usually calm the crying if I'm really quick. Then swaddle while keeping his arms still

Scorpgirl444

The twins are doing this now.  They are 15 weeks.  They will fight an fight and fight.  DD cries...more like screams instead of sleeping.  DS literally fights.  He flails around, grabs at everything around him and bangs his head into me.  I try to hold him to get him to be a bit more calm but it's not working that well.

 I'm assuming this is a phase that will pass.  The only thing we can do is soothe them, put them down and stay there while they calm down.  If after they aren't flailing around anymore, they are still noisy...we let it go.  We know they need to learn to self soothe and so far it's been working pretty well.  The crying starts out pretty loud but we know the ques for when they are going to calm down and start to go to sleep.  They will continue to cry while going down but the time between the cries gets longer and longer as they go to sleep.  

I know it sounds awful to just let them fuss but we also know that if we run in there whenever they cry because they don't want to sleep, that it will be a hard habit to break.