Okay. Help Me, Please.

MamatoJackson · July 2010

I have figured out what Jackson's problem is - I just don't know how to fix it.

He will NOT stay asleep during his 'transitional' REM sleep phase. Sometimes this means that he naps for ten minutes and is up because he never made it to the deep sleep.

Sometimes it means that I can rock him into the REM stage but once he gets back to it, he's wide awake. Even if I am in there soothing him, if I have him sleeping in bed with me, it will not help. He is up.

This isn't a problem at night - He sleeps from 7:30 to 6a.m. Why is it a problem during the day and not at night?

We use a white-noise machine - It's on full-blast all night and for every nap.

Any tips, please? I can't get anything done and by the time he goes to bed at night, I'm absolutely exhausted.

HarrietNJMommy · July 2010

Would you consider letting him CIO? At his age, most peds will okay it.

For naps, I would leave my kids in their room for 1 hour. If they didn't fall asleep, then we just continued the day. If they did, great! Took a week or two for them to settle in.

Also, do you wear him in a carrier? That might help you get errands and stuff done.

If you don't want to go the CIO route, then read the book "The No Cry Sleep Solution" - it works but takes a LOT of time and patience to implement.

GL!

HarrietNJMommy · July 2010

Also, with a new baby on the way, you REALLY want to get him into a routine. It'll make things MUCH easier for you......

MamatoJackson · July 2010

Think I'll pick up that book... I'm just not at a point where /i'm comfortable with cio.

Have tried carriers but he screams when he's in them. Moby and Bjorn.

Agreed on needing to get him on a scherdule before #2. I'm really frustrated...

HarrietNJMommy · July 2010

Have you tried all different positions in the Moby? Sometimes some kids like to face in/out, etc.

zeesbride · July 2010

I had good luck with the NCSS around 6 months or so. It took us about a week to get it down pat. GL!

Stacyc625 · July 2010

How many times a day would you say he is tired?

post an average day schedule? when does he get up- eat- nap- etc.

is he taking more than three (although 10 min) naps?-

also- try turning off the white noise for the nap- can't hurt he isn't sleeping anyway. see if maybe that is bothering him vs helping him. (so much of mommyhood is playing detective)

do you put anything in his crib with him- to use as a soothing object?- gisele had the FP seahorse- and that thing was freakin magic. don't know why. but she would curl up with it and listen to it and she would just drift off.

he is probably napping crappily because he is overtired. once you get a couple of days of good naps- i think you will find it easier. you just need to find what works- and stick with it.

themrs830 · July 2010

MamatoJackson:

Think I'll pick up that book... I'm just not at a point where /i'm comfortable with cio.

Have tried carriers but he screams when he's in them. Moby and Bjorn.

Agreed on needing to get him on a scherdule before #2. I'm really frustrated...

I know you said you don't want to do CIO, so I don't know if this counts- my DD used to scream when I put her in the Moby (maybe she thought it was a torture device? lol) but I would pat her bottom and do a little bounce like I do when I hold her and now she's fine in it. Just because she screams, I don't pop her out of it immediatly anymore and she's doing much better with it.

Maybe he's just scared or its too tight on him? If you haven't already, maybe try giving him a couple minutes to adjust to it and maybe he won't mind being in a carrier soon.

If you've already tried that, sorry! My LO is still little so I don't have a lot of experience with that! GL!

littlemermaid · July 2010

Do you have room darkening shades in his room. If not, you may want to consider them so it's dark in his room for his nap.

EveryNameIWantIsTaken · July 2010

We had a ton of sleep issues from 6 months up until 16 months. Most of our problems came at night though and the naps were ok. He has a rain forest soother on the side of his crib that he can push the button himself and that really helped around that age because he would turn it on, watch it for a while, then it would either already have put him to sleep or he would hit it again until he did fall asleep. That worked miracles.

Also, as pp mentioned, dark curtains helped too.

MamatoJackson · July 2010

Alright, ladies! You've inspired copious amounts of hope which is all I really needed.

I went out tonight and picked up a copy of "The No-Cry NAP Solution" - Interesting that they have this because he has no problems sleeping at night but naps are an entirely different story.

Also picked up some room-darkening curtains that we're going to install this evening.

We'll see.

Here is his schedule currently:

6a.m. - Wakes up

8a.m. - Naps for 30 minutes

10a.m. - Naps for 10 minutes

1p.m. - Naps for 10 minutes

3p.m. - Naps for 10 minutes

5p.m. - Naps for 15 to 20 minutes

6:30 - Start Bathtime, leads into bedtime routine

7:00p.m. - Asleep

7:45p.m. - Wakes to eat more, goes back to sleep

Stirs a couple of times in the night but puts himself back to sleep.

EnglishMajor03 · July 2010

littlemermaid:
Do you have room darkening shades in his room. If not, you may want to consider them so it's dark in his room for his nap.

We've had good luck keeping Parker and Rowan sleeping longer in the morning with dark shades. A Godsend!

MamatoJackson · July 2010

EnglishMajor03:
littlemermaid:
Do you have room darkening shades in his room. If not, you may want to consider them so it's dark in his room for his nap.
We've had good luck keeping Parker and Rowan sleeping longer in the morning with dark shades. A Godsend!

Glad to hear this. Unfortunately it appears that someone swiped our step-ladder off the back patio. Sooo... they'll have to wait until tomorrow. Nice.

Temp174496125006552 · July 2010

littlemermaid:
Do you have room darkening shades in his room. If not, you may want to consider them so it's dark in his room for his nap.

This was my first thought too. And that he may be overtired.

Kitten80 · July 2010

I wondered if he was waking during that transition...DS did that too, I think. Especially if I had caffeine (see my reply in our conversation from your post the other day). I hope darker curtains will help you. My other suggestion is to make sure you keep the same sleep cues he has at night - night light/sound/comfort object/etc. We even started doing PJs for nap when he wasn't napping well but sleeping well. We wanted him to associate the sleepy things with sleep at nap too. They have sleepy sacks that have no sleeves which works well with going over onsies/etc. I adjust the volume on his noise machine - sometimes he seems to need it quieter during naps.

Other ideas: I had to learn DS's early sleep cues, which became more obvious when he got a little older (rubbing eyes, babbling more) and make sure that I got him down at those first signs, if I waited even 15 minutes he would be overtired and not sleep well. I also heard mommy friends say their pedi told them 2.5 - 3 hours from one sleep to the next so I started really watching the clock & would put him down at that time period - acting tired or not. I could tell with in the first 10 minutes if it would take or not - if so, great. If not, I got him and we went back to play, nursing, or whatever was next on our schedule. Then I would try again in 10 - 30 minutes. It seems Jackson is cat napping every 2 hours so investigate - try putting him down sooner to see if he is over tired and if that doesn't work after a couple days or tries then see if you can do something exciting around the time he would normally fall asleep to stretch it to the 2.5 or 3 hours and see if he naps longer? GL! Who knew how much guess work, luck, and instinct went into mommy work like naps.

axr8111 · July 2010

Yep room darkening shade have really helped especially as the days got longer in summertime.

Also what I was thinking was, have your tried to force him to go past a nap. I know that's against what is generally thought, but at this point you may try it. Meaning, don't allow him to fall asleep at the 8am nap but then really try all the soothing techniques for the 10am nap and go every other nap. Maybe you'll get fewer naps that are much longer. Although for me, nothing really helped until I actually let my boys CIO. I know, it sucks, but it works. Good luck! Hopefully you don't have to get to that point if you're not comfortable wiith it.

jenifairies · July 2010

I agree with the others about the overtired thing. And with stacyc about the lovey - DD has a fisher price seahorse, too. Two actually, and she demands them both.

Anyway, I think I'd shoot for 3 naps. GL

Oh and I LOVE your new pic. He's so adorable.

amm826 · July 2010

I would try stretching the time between the 8 and 10 a.m. nap, see if he could make it until 11 and then put him down. Are these naps all at home or does he fall asleep in the car for some of them? And is he falling asleep on his own or with a bottle/BF? I found that if DS fell asleep while I was BF he wouldn't nap as long. And he tugged his ears when he was tired at that age.

kimilane · July 2010

Can I recommend trying to put him down at 7:30 for his first nap of the day? DD wakes up at 7am and needs her first nap of the day at 8:30. For the rest of the day she's good for 2 hours, though. Just a thought that sort of goes along with the over tired statements of PPs. Also, ditto the room-darkening shades. They helped a lot with DD's napping issues. We also ended up doing CIO, though. Sorry.

Sweets2005 · July 2010

Sounds almost like the "45 minute intruder" which my twins still get sometimes. I just let them CIO because it usually isn't much crying, just being awake and sometimes whiney and they go right out. Plus if I go in there, then they get all excited which stimulates them more awake. I would say let him figure it out on his own and see what happens! Good luck!

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