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Babies: 3 - 6 Months
Pelusa214
member
"drowsy but awake" - how do you GET your baby drowsy?
Pelusa214
member
This works at bedtime, but the ONLY thing that gets my baby drowsy is a bottle. Naps are a nightmare. NEVER more than 30 minutes, sometimes not at all. She literally starts crying when I get to the top of the stairs & walk toward her room. She immediately breaks into the most ear-piercing scream you've ever heard. Won't be calmed by anything. She screams so hard she chokes....WHILE I'm holding her. IF I finally get her to sleep (it always requires at least 30 minutes and includes some sort of rocking or shushing - I've tried putting her in the crib & just gently talking to her or patting her belly, but the screaming just gets worse), she never sleeps for more than 30 minutes, despite the fact that I can put her down sleepy (albeit VERY sleepy, she's still awake) at bedtime, and that sometimes if she wakes in the early morning she will put herself back to sleep.
This PU/PD crap seems like BS to me - has it actually worked for anyone? (and anyone with a "spirited" baby in particular)? Every sleep book says something different, and the worst part is that they ALL say that if their method doesn't work, it's your fault because you're doing it wrong.
So, HOW do you get your baby drowsy if, despite a wind-down of quietly walking around the house, shutting the shades, reading a quiet book, singing while walking with her, white noise, dim lights - all does nothing except to get her more & more agitated because she KNOWS that I'm going to try & put her down for a nap? I know the bottle has become a so-called "prop", but I can't figure out hth to get her drowsy any.other.way.
ETA - I've tried every possible "sleep window", anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 1/2 hours. It doesn't seem to make any difference.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: "drowsy but awake" - how do you GET your baby drowsy?
Every baby is different, but my baby doesn't need me to wind him down - he gets tired and rubs his eyes and gets cranky, I give him a bottle and he falls asleep. Sorry, he is a very easy baby!
But, to answer your questions - why don't you try a car ride or a stroller walk? If my baby falls asleep in the car, and I get home, I will leave him in his carseat and he'll sleep for a good 3 hours. He's still small enough that he LOVES the coziness of the carseat.
For nighttime, routine, routine routine. Bath, pj's, read a book, bottle, he gets tired, put him down. Don't deviate from your routine too much, and your baby will come to expect it. Don't give up!
Hey Pelusa! I was thinking about you (and paged you) but I know you've got your hands full.
With Abby I "snuggle and squish her" . Usually we get close and I kiss her face, whisper and snuggle until she is out. We've had some success with drowsy laying down, but only at night. Maybe the walk up the stairs and into her room sets off some separation anxiety for your LO? It sounds like she might just be high needs. I don't really know.
She could just be a cat-napper. I'm so sorry mama. My good friend's son WILL NOT nap. I am talking he will go the entire day without one, and be a wreck, but trying to get him to nap is such a battle. Your baby may be much the same, I hope she grows out of it.
If I were you I would see if you can hold her and sit in a rocker/recliner or something-- getting up might wake her. Mmm.
I would take what you can get with naps at this point. I know its driving you crazy, but you may have to make your peace with it.
You might try not trying so hard? I know it sounds weird, but maybe sit back with her and watch some TV or listen to music. Abby naps while I watch TV (it serves as a sort of white noise). She doesn't like being in a separate room from me, but she will hang out and eventually nap if I just talk to her.
I really hope it gets better.
DS only started doing drowsy but awake recently. Before that, I had to hold/rock him. I find that he is drowsiest after BF which isn't ideal. Besides BF, I've found that lots of play helps! I like to try to wear him out with tummy time, his kick toy, the activity mat , dancing and singing, and his bumbo...usually after an hour of all that he starts to get tired. I use white noise when I put him down which I think helps keep him asleep longer.
Edit
<<I also use the car seat. If he won't go down for a nap at all or only catnaps, I put him in the carseat and we walk the mall or if it's nice out, take a walk outside. I'm guaranteed at least an hour nap this way.>>
My LO is also, shall we say, spirited. (Heh. I like that term.) I did the same nap routine every day for 30 days and it worked, oh, once or twice? Half the time, he didn't even close his eyes! And I have read all the sleep books and after a while I just started scratching my head when the sleep expert would say, "Put your baby down for a nap" as if all I had to do was plunk LO down at the right time and the nap would just happen. I have also tried all of the sleep windows.
I do think there is a danger of creating a negative association with a certain routine or a certain element of a routine. My DS started realizing what it meant when I would take him to his bedroom at 9-ish AM to try to get him down for a nap. He would also start screaming as soon as I started rocking him in his room at that time of day. He KNEW! Clever kid. I started having to rock him in the master bedroom, but he figured that out too, and so the routine was becoming more stimulating for him than relaxing. At that point, I think changing up the routine is better than doggedly sticking with the routine, or at least it was for me.
Will she sleep on you? That's pretty much the only way we're getting a morning nap out of DS these days. Basically, whoever's with DS that day (me, DH, or the sitter) feeds him and burps him, and while he's still in the burping position on that person's shoulder, he gets drowsy. He doesn't nap for long (30 - 45 minutes) but it's better than the total lack of naps we were getting before (from 3 months - 4.5 months). I know it's not an ideal napping place, but I hope it's at least teaching him that sleeping isn't scary and makes him feel better than, you know, NOT sleeping. Plus, getting that short morning nap makes him more likely to go down for an afternoon nap, usually either on DH or in the carseat, but we'll take what we can get.
Best of luck. I know how frustrating it is (especially if you, like me, have well-meaning friends who say things like, "Have you tried white noise? I just put on a sound machine and my baby sleeps for three hours every morning!!").