anyone still rocking LO to sleep?

Turtle143 · August 2012

That's us. Back in the winter, we Ferberized and had some success after about a week or so. Then teething happened and I just felt bad about not holding her through her pain so we went back to the old holding her until she's asleep. She's usually good though after we put her down around 6:30 to 7:30, she STTN until 6:30ish. Except when she is sick. I don't mind rocking but these days it's taking 30 to 40 minutes to get her down and I just feel exhausted. A few weeks ago after her birthday, we actually tried Ferber again but she threw up. Turns out she had some sort of a virus. She was sick for a few days so lots of holding and getting up at night every 2 hours. When she got better, she was STTN again, and now back to the old grind. Sometimes though, out of the blue she'd wake up in the middle of night wanting to play or something, anything else but go back to sleep. I feel like it pits DH and I against each other and I feel bad because I am the one SAH so if he is working, I get up for Liv. I am just exhausted. It's not like this all the time but I feel like it shouldn't be this way. And I don't know what to do with it. She's louder now too when she cries and more stubborn and when I do let her CIO for a few minutes I just end up getting knots in my stomach. It just doesn't feel right letting her cry.
Ugh! Plus I keep thinking if I do Ferberize again, will she remember it later since she's now older? What about separation anxiety? Teething? I feel like it's not really her fault she is experiencing those so why should I let her CIO?

I'm just rambling now. Any advice? Anyone else? Seems like all the other babies I know IRL don't have a hard time sleeping like Liv. I know each baby is different but still... Sad

nic5606 · August 2012

im right there with ya. Actually, worse, i think. B has only sttn 3 times EVER. He still takes a bottle to fall asleep and then wakes up every 3 hrs or so, for another bottle. He goes right back to sleep, but clearly this is a problem. I am going to try to get rid of these overnite bottles n hope his sleeping issues resolve. if not, i do not know what i will do. I feel for you. I have not slept for longer than 3.5 hrs in a row in 14 mmonths. Im sooooo tired toooooo.

JuneBug0611 · August 2012

We still rock LO to sleep (it also sometimes takes 30-40 minutes now, though sometimes we can get her down in 15), and she still doesn't STTN most nights (if STTN means absolutely no wakings... she goes to bed around 7:30 or 8, then she'll wake up around 1 a.m., then we put her in bed with us, she nurses a bit, and falls asleep again until around 6 a.m.... occasionally she wakes up in the middle of the night and wants to play, but usually she stays asleep as long as I let her nurse and cuddle when she first wakes up). The pedi thinks we're insane ("I don't know any one-year-olds who are still being rocked to sleep," he said), but he didn't see anything WRONG with it... just thought we were making our own lives more difficult than we needed to by not sleep training her.

I've never tried sleep training. It just doesn't feel right to me... not for me, not for this child. She's doing pretty well sleeping now, and is sleeping much better now than she used to. My mom never made us CIO, and my sister took the longest to STTN (18 months), but my brother and I both STTN around 14 months, she said.

You're not alone!

hajski · August 2012

We have this whole routine that ends with a prayer. She knows it is time to sleep and goes right down. But the molars have changed all of that. We still go through the routine, but 5 out of the last 7 nights she has woke up screaming about 5 minutes later. One of us has to go up to help her back to sleep. We don't talk to her. We just find the binky, pick her up and snuggle her until she relaxes and lay her back down. It has been like this all through teething. A stretch of 2 weeks of great sleep. One bad night. 1 more good week. A new tooth coming and 1-2 bad weeks of snuggling to sleep. I sometimes wonder if I should just give her tylenol for the pain, but once she is asleep she is asleep for good. We try not to do anything special but hold her after we have already done the good night routine. No rocking. No singing. No sushing. Just hold her while we sit on the floor or chair. Have you thought about maybe backing Liv's bedtime up? Maybe she just isn't ready to go to sleep yet.

jcsumm0 · August 2012

I nurse LO to sleep most of the time. Sometimes she will still be awake when she's done nursing and i just put her in bed and she falls asleep, no problems. She nurses for a loooong time some nights, like 45 min but sometimes it is only 15. She was doing much better and was STTN at least a few times a week, and then we went on vacation, now she is working on molars and has a cold so she's been waking 2 or 3 times. I still feel like CIO is not for us and most of the time I believe she'll STTN when she's ready. It is tiring though.

If you are ready for things to change, perhaps you could read The No Cry Sleep Solution or try the Sleep Lady Shuffle?

Sunidaze · August 2012

I do. I need to break that habit, but it is so hard. The thing is...quite often she falls asleep, right away, and I take my sweet time putting her in her crib.

dannie2011 · August 2012

I either nurse her to sleep in my chair or in the bed. I don't like CIO and for Alexis it will not work, she is very much a high needs baby. We were asked once by not our regular Pedi if she ever lost consciousness from her breath holding. When she gets mad she gets mad, well she hasn't because I don't let her. She bed shares and wakes a couple times a night, she is now teething so last night she woke up a bit more.

Anyways I am doing night weaning from https://drjaygordon.com/attachment/sleeppattern.html

This is very much what I need to read and do, I have altered it a bit making each step a little longer in days so I don't keep my husband up during the week when he has to work. And since we bed share it also makes it easier on Alexis going slow. It is working so well I don't even think Alexis has noticed.

Oh and really the term sleeping like a baby means that the baby wakes up every 2 hours. STTN is not normal even at this age. Their just have been too many doctors pushing it, if it was normal why do you have to redo sleep training? That is why teething, or any changes to a sleep trained baby sets them back.

Turtle143 · August 2012

Sorry you all are having to deal with it too. And I guess we don't have it too bad. Sorry for those whose LOs are still up every so often at night! Nic, that only happens to us once in a while but it's brutal when it does. Poor mama. Sounds like you already know it's some sleep association with the bottle. Sad For Liv, it definitely seems like the hundreds of lullabies I sing to her at nap and bedtime.

We've also tried letting her in the bed with us which was a disaster because she's standing up the against the headboard or trying to climb down the bed. She does not know how to sleep with us which would be preferable over being up in the middle of the night.

Thanks for the suggestions, ladies. I might try reading The Lady Shuffle again. The NCSS was a bit vague for me when I did read it.

Melissa2216 · August 2012

nic5606:
im right there with ya. Actually, worse, i think. B has only sttn 3 times EVER. He still takes a bottle to fall asleep and then wakes up every 3 hrs or so, for another bottle. He goes right back to sleep, but clearly this is a problem. I am going to try to get rid of these overnite bottles n hope his sleeping issues resolve. if not, i do not know what i will do. I feel for you. I have not slept for longer than 3.5 hrs in a row in 14 mmonths. Im sooooo tired toooooo.

This is pretty much us too, although he sometimes goes longer stretches without a bottle--as much as 6 or 7 hours, but he usually still wakes up at the 3 hour mark and then I just give him his paci and he falls asleep easily.

I don't rock to sleep at night, but I usually rock him to sleep for naps. This is mostly because I just love snuggling with him. Embarrassed If he doesn't fall asleep with 20 minutes or so of rocking, though, I do CIO (which I'm currently doing as I type). Time to go lay him back down...

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