Sleep!?!

Re: Sleep!?!

• jcsumm0 member

  April 2012

  A very consistent bedtime routine was helpful for my LO who fought bedtime.  It probably took a month of doing the routine before it really was effective.  I also use the pantley pull off.  I still nurse her before bed, most of the time she nurses to sleep fairly quickly, occasionally she doesn't fall asleep but will fall asleep on her own once I put her in bed.  Maybe once a week or less she doesn't fall asleep, I put her in bed and she fusses/cries for 10 min and then I go back in and nurse her to sleep.  I don't like to hear her cry but it really is the only thing that works sometimes and I don't think 10 or 15 min of crying is going to harm her.

  You also might want to look at the timing for bedtime.  If they are overtired or not tired enough, they will fight sleep.  It might be helpful to either start the bedtime routine at the same time every night (you might need to wake in the morning/from naps at the same time) or what I do is start it always 4 hours after her last nap.  If her last nap ended at 2:30, bedtime at 6:30.  If it ended at 3:30, bedtime at 7:30.  You'll have to experiment to see what the optimal time is for him.  I know at 6 months DD couldn't have stayed awake as long as she can now.

  I hope some of that helps.  I have been there with the hours of nursing, trying to put down, waking back up, etc, etc.

   

  Report0 Reply
• wendyll64 member

  April 2012

  We do keep a pretty consistent bedtime routine. Bath, lotion, then off to bed. The time is fairly consistent, too. I try to get him in that sweet spot between getting tired and overtired. I find that a 4 hour stretch still kind of pushes him and he usually takes a late afternoon catnap. I'm also still struggling with naps- he has the worst time napping on his own. If I lay down with him, he'll nap for hours. If he's alone, he'll dobmaybe 45 minutes.

  Warning No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml

  Report0 Reply
• Loading the player...
• jcsumm0 member

  April 2012

  I do think a lot of it is developmental.  I mean, it is easy for me to give advice now, when she is sleeping decently, but at 6 months I was still holding her for all of her naps and spending a looooong time getting her to bed.  I got really good at playing tetris on my phone. 

  Have you tried wearing him down?

  Report0 Reply
• nosoup4u member

  April 2012

  wendyll64:

  We do keep a pretty consistent bedtime routine. Bath, lotion, then off to bed. The time is fairly consistent, too. I try to get him in that sweet spot between getting tired and overtired. I find that a 4 hour stretch still kind of pushes him and he usually takes a late afternoon catnap. I'm also still struggling with naps- he has the worst time napping on his own. If I lay down with him, he'll nap for hours. If he's alone, he'll dobmaybe 45 minutes.

  Ugh, six months is always sorta crappy with my kids. Can your partner/DH help out? We would switch DS1's bedtime routine around when the usual routine seemed to stop working - we'd switch who rocked him to sleep, or where we'd read books, etc. 

  Maybe try putting him to bed later, or if he's not asleep in 20 minutes, then go do something else and try again later. Life is too short to stress yourself out with a baby that isn't falling asleep! He might be napping too late in the afternoon, too.

  As for naps and wanting to sleep on you, getting a floor mat or putting a mattress on the floor might work - you can nurse him down and then sneak off. I know both my kids really liked sleeping near me at that age, but eventually grew out of it! You could also try wearing him in a carrier during the day, so you can at least move around while he's sleeping. Hang in there!
  

  DS1 - Feb 2008

  DS2 - Oct 2010 (my VBAC baby!)

  Report0 Reply