The bedtime blues...

michelleb729

Every night, I dread putting DS down for the night.  DH and I usually alternate who will rock and feed him (he's EFF) and put him to bed.  It seems that no matter what we do, it takes at least 30 minutes to initially put him down and then we end up having to go back into his room sometimes 2-3 times to rock him (he's in a RnP) to get him back to sleep because he starts fussing.  We have white noise, a very dark room, we've swaddled with arms in and arms out, tried putting him down earlier and later, none of it seems to matter.  On a bad night, we'll start this process at 7:30 or 8:00 and it may take up to 2 hours before he's asleep for the night (well, until 2:00 or 3:00 or so anyway).  DS is 8 weeks old tomorrow.  

I am getting so frustrated that it is such an ordeal every night, and I don't understand why it isn't getting any easier.  I seriously feel like I am doing something wrong or just don't have "the touch" to be able to get DS to sleep.  He's also not a great napper.  He's already in his room, but we wanted to transition him to his crib soon and I am just dreading that even more now!

Is this normal for an 8 week old? Bedtime and naptime seriously make me feel like a failure.

kmornelas29

It is harder for me to get LO to sleep when she hasn't napped well during the day.

On good days it takes about 1.5 hours to get her to fall in a deep sleep.
Bad nights it can take 3.5 hours! You are not alone. She fights it some nights too. Maybe just the age?

I know she shouldn't soothe on the boob either, but for her last night time feeding I let her. It helps make her happy n gets her to sleep! Whatever works :

michelleb729

Yeah, I definitely think DS is overtired which is contributing to our bedtime problem, but I really don't know how to solve he nap problem.  Today he refused to nap without me holding him.  I held him for an hour long nap this morning, then another 30 minute nap, then a 20 minute one, and then this evening I held him while he napped for 20 minutes and finally was able to transfer him to the bouncy seat where he slept for another 30 minutes.  He used to take 2-3 hour naps.  Those days are gone!  

darcy1225

Your not a failure. We go through the same thing every night too. Im pretty sure its the age. Look up the wonder weeks; thats what I contribute a lot of DDs behavior to. She seems to follow the chart perfectly.

cottingham3

You are deffinently not a failure! I am going to make a suggestion but I know very little about you and DH's routine with work and such but this is what we do.

First we have older kids who go to bed at 8pm. Pre baby dh and I would stay up until 9 or 10 talking watching tv and such.

Now that LO us here we would love to put him down at 8 also...but he is not ready yet. He is fussy from about 7 till 9. He usually eats around 8pm. Sometimes he will nap after this feeding sometimes not. By 9 to 930 He is acting like he is starving. At this time we bathe him, use lavender lotion and swaddle him. We feed him about 10pm and he is ready to go down for 4 to 5 hrs. Eventually, he will drop his 3 am feeding and sleep all night. Then we will begin to move his bedtime routine up closer to 8. This is what we did with our older kids and they did well.

It swems like you are already staying up till 9 or later to get him to sleep. Maybe you could hold or rock him during that time but not actually put him down until later.

I know there are a lot of factors that go into a night time routine and every family is different. I just thinknit you must be up those last few hours ut would be better if they were calm and not stressful as that will make you feel worn down quicker.

Good luck!!

jdveatch

We do a feeding around 6:30 but just keep him with us on the main level.  He usually sleeps so we more or less "count this" as putting him to bed. Then between 9:30-10, we do another feeding and take him up to bed with us for the official lights out.  (he's in a RNP there)  Does he like a swing?  Sometimes that works for catnaps with our LO.