Lots of sleep questions

Re: Lots of sleep questions

• lilrunner

  June 2010

  Does sleep REALLY beget sleep??  I'm not so sure yet... Does that only apply to babies 4+ months?  I think it does, to a point.  I think it's too soon for you to really figure it out yet, but you'll be able to tell how much sleep your LO needs soon.  Every child is different. 
  

  How do/did you do eat, play, sleep?  Gradually.  You don't have to keep them up much those first few weeks.  Just 5 minutes at a time if you have to.  (So baby wakes, feed, then keep awake for 5 minutes if that's all she can take, then back to bed.) What if LO falls is falling asleep at the bottle/breast, do you automatically just put them down?  I don't.  I always woke them up when / if they fell asleep during a feeding.  With DD that was VERY hard, but after a while, she finally got it.   If you do play, do you stop as soon as you get sleepy cues?  What if they don't show any or they show cues but don't seem to want to relax enough to get to sleep? It's tough to tell the cues at first.  I think in those first few weeks, I waited until I saw a yawn.  "HSHHC" says that they should be up no longer than 2 hours at a time... sometimes DD just doesn't want to settle down to sleep.  Typically, HSHHC is right.  But remember that a book is just a book.  You have to go by what you are seeing. 
  

   If you aren't suppose to start any kind of sleep training (CIO methods) until 4 months. And they don't start forming habits the first 2.  What do you do in the 3rd month to get them to sleep *without* forming bad habits?   Just as an FYI, I'm not sure how I feel about the CIO methods.  I'm not against them but not sure yet if it is right for us.  Only time will tell.  Don't worry about that right now.  In month 3, just do what you have to do.  Books are just books. 

   I've been reading the "healthy sleep habits, happy child" and I guess I have a lot of questions.    Thanks for reading through all of them.
  

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• Faon

  June 2010

  Certainly I'm no expert yet and we've still been having a lot of trouble with naps, but I've been reading a ton (not the book you are reading yet) and naps did go very well today! Plus, since our LOs are close in age, I'll share what I've been doing since that's what's "supposed to" work and sometimes does. 

  Also, my DS cried almost all the time until I learned about the Eat, wake time, sleep order. Keeping him up a little while after eating made a world of difference and I was able to see that he is usually happy at that time. 
  

  Spanishbeauty:

  How do/did you do eat, play, sleep?  What if LO falls is falling asleep at the bottle/breast, do you automatically just put them down? 

  I make a habit of changing his diaper when he's done eating, which helps wake him up if he's drifting off. I have a unique method of burping I sometimes use too (Saw it on "Baby Language" dvd) that helps him wake up. After the diaper change, he's usually more awake and we interact until I see sleep cues.
  

  If you do play, do you stop as soon as you get sleepy cues? Yes. Supposedly, there is a pretty small window during which you need to put them down, or touchier babies (like mine I guess) can have a major meltdown once they become overtired.
  

  What if they don't show any or they show cues but don't seem to want to relax enough to get to sleep? If she doesn't show any and it's been a while, it's probably time when she gets fussy. If she doesn't want to relax to go to sleep (this is exactly how my little guy is), I learned that it's important to not continue to stimulate them and to do a sleep ritual. For naps, we swaddle and then rock him a little bit, but not until he's all the way asleep. The Baby Whisperer lady (I only like some of what she says) recommends closing the blinds in the nursery to help create that sleep atmosphere. I sometimes do, sometimes don't.
  

   If you aren't suppose to start any kind of sleep training (CIO methods) until 4 months. And they don't start forming habits the first 2.  What do you do in the 3rd month to get them to sleep *without* forming bad habits?  Good question!
  

  
  

  
  

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• smb29

  June 2010

  I also had the quandry of what to do between months 2 and 4.  We just started working on good habits but still did what we needed to do to get him to sleep.  We started a bedtime routine (eat, bath, book, eat, sleep).  I can't remember when we gave him a lovey (probably around 4 or 6 months), but that is also part of his sleep routine.  He isn't attached to it but he only gets it in his crib and its one of the signals its time to sleep.  I had a general rule of trying to get him to sleep in his crib, and would try 3 times (if he cried) before I gave up and went back to whatever it took. 

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• ebat

  June 2010

  EPS- we just formed a habit of feeding her right after naps,  that way she never fell asleep.

   We tried to put her down as soon as we tought she looked tired,  first we'd try to relax her a little,  then swaddle then rock.

   

  As for the habits,  the first 2 months I let her sleep where ever she wanted,  ie I held her for all her naps.  After 2 months I would put her down in her crib for all naps, and we started a bedtime routine(bath, swaddle, nurse, burp, rock.)  Additionally at maybe 10-12 weeks we started putting her down drowsy but awake,  if she did more than a little fussing we'd go back in and pat her tummy, if she still fussed we'd pick her up, and try again.
  

  

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