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Attachment Parenting
Repost from 0-3- Really need sleep AP advice...
DS has been a great sleeper for the most part for a long time. He would nap well and go to sleep easily.
Recently he has not wanted to nap after 3/4 pm and if he does, it's for 15 min at 6ish. Bedtime routine starts at 7 and he is out after bath, massage, book and nursing. I lay him down at 730/8. I call it a "routine" because this is when he has been tired for the night, therefore this is when I've been puttin him down for weeks.
The last 3 days he is up a half hour later. Soothed back to sleep. Up 15 min later. Soothed.... Up 15 min later.... And before you know it it was 845, 9 and tonight, he's still up. Grouchy, crying, unable to be soothed back down with periods of laughing and smiling. Before I had to go back in and sooth him once or twice, but this 5, 6, more times is rediculous.
I'm at a loss. I can't let him CIO when he wakes up after initially going down, but I feel like my constant soothing him back to sleep is only making the situation worse. I let him fuss for 5 min but then it turns into all out screaming. Patting his bumb, rubbing the back, even nursing back to sleep didn'twork....
AP advice?
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Re: Repost from 0-3- Really need sleep AP advice...
congratulations! you've hit a developmental milestone and the world is now very interesting. specifically, his eyes "turned on" and now he can focus, see color, and is starting to process what he sees.
continue being consistent and he'll settle back down. he's getting stimulated and overtired for now - so cut out the talking and laughing. you should basically be as boring (but loving) as possible after bedtime.
and you're right: he's WAY too young for CIO. If he's crying, he's trying to tell you something.
good luck!
I don't have an answer for you since Livy is a terrible sleeper due to health issues. However, I did want to say that even though you may be frustrated and exausted, your baby is FAR to young to CIO. Even those who advocate CIO (and I don't at all) say that you should never do it as young as your baby.
You wouldn't expect a 2yr old to ride a bike without training wheels. This is kind of similar. You have a very young baby who is learning to set a schedule and sleep like we do...
Good luck and take any help you can get. See if there is a family member or friend who would be willing to rock your LO while you get a nap. Or nap with your LO.
I'm not going to assume you're doing what we did, but I seem to recall going through something similar with DS around that time. We had been used to passing the time while trying to get him to sleep by having the TV on, using the computer while I nursed him, etc. That all had to stop around then, unfortunately. It was way too much stimulation. It had to be dark and quiet if he was in the room. Even us talking to each other got his attention--it was like he was afraid he'd miss something id he slept!
Other than keeping things really dark and quiet, I can't offer much help. Unfortunately, DS has been a horrendously bad sleeper. He was still waking 6-8 times a night at 8 months. I can tell you that (knock on wood!) he's doing much better at 10 months.
Good luck!
Naps stink. Again, he used to nap well. After about 1.5/2 hours he needs a nap and we'll go down for maybe 15-30 min, although he takes a good nap in the morning about an hour after he wakes up.
As for switching, I can't because DH works at night, from 4-12ish. So I'm on my own. Which makes it that much worse because I feel like his sleep at night depends on me. It's a lot of pressure.
Routine earlier??? Putting him down to sleep at 7? I'll try it but it seems SOOO early.
I'll try the routine earlier. Who knows? Maybe it'll work.
He nurses to sleep. I keep him with me for a bit, until he's sort of snoring and his limbs are limp. I lay him down and he wakes up half hour later. Without fail.
And I know he'll have changes. I wouldn't mind if he stays up or changes but damn, he gets cranky. I listen to his signs and go from there. I guess I should count my lucky stars that he sleeps for 12 hours basically, with waking only once to feed. Last night he went down at 11:15 and he woke at 7am to eat, and went right back down till 1030. Be happy with what you have I guess. lol
Oh I know. I don't think I would do CIO even when he's old enough. I can't stand to hear him cry. It makes my heart and boobs hurt. lol
Well he's almost 11 weeks but you're right, weeks 5 and 6 were awful!!! He screamed from 8-11 every night. All of a sudden, it stopped. So I hear ya.
it seems that way, but it's not. Sleep begets sleep. The better he naps, the better he'll sleep at night. I actually think around that time I started wearing bunny and walking him down (which still works - he slept through our grocery shopping yesterday) or going for long walks in the stroller - anything to encourage long naps.
it's also possible that he's transitioning off of the 90 minute sleep/awake cycle, which is disruptive, but temporary.
Good luck, mama! It gets better when you find your rhythm, promise!
This!
I think at the 2 month mark I was the nearest to crazy. I felt like DS just would not sleep overnight. Now, I know: this is pretty normal.
Where we screwed up was we would have my DH take him until 3am in the living room with lights on and TV or music playing. Mistake! Things got a bit better once we kept DS in our dark room, avoided diaper changes overnight if possible and just nursed, nursed, nursed as he needed. He started going back to sleep faster and had fewer wakings.
your baby is too little to really be a "good" or "bad" sleeper yet... so just keep rolling with the punches. You can definitely put routines in place to help sleep be easier down the road, but it's not set in stone now by any means.
Oh, and my DD is 13 months now and (finally) STTN.... she sleeps from 7-7. 7pm is actually a pretty common bedtime, for awhile she was going to sleep even earlier around 6pm or 6:30. Sometimes it's still earlier. For a time we tried keeping her up later to see if we would be able to sleep in later, but it didn't work like that. Sounds like once your LO hits that deeper stage of sleep, he's down for the count... be glad that you get that solid stretch of sleep for yourself! At least all his soothing needs happen when you are awake anyway
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