I've created a monster, advice please
mrsshawnavanb
member
I'll try to make this as short as possible. DD has always slept in a RNP in our room since day 1 (I bf so this has just always been easier). I've tried to get her to nap in her room in the crib but have rarely had any success with this. She will occasionally take a 20-30 nap in there but usually wakes up screaming the minute I put her down. If I put her in her RNP, she'll nap for a good 45 mins. Problem is that she's 95 % for height and just too long for the RNP at this point, I dont think it's safe.
A month or so ago, we set up the PNP in our room with hopes that she'd sleep there until we moved her into her room. It has been awful. She will sleep there when I first put her down to sleep but then after about an hour or two, she'll wake up and I'll rock her back to sleep then every time I try to put her back down she'll wake up screaming. I eventually give in and just lay her in bed with me while I cradle her, halfway sitting up, and I do not sleep well at all.
My child is not soothed by shushing. When she wants picked up and I try to give her the paci, she will fling her head from side to side. If I dont' pick her up she will start throwing her legs up and down and thrashing around while screaming louder and louder. I'm not a fan of CIO but I have let her cry for 10 minutes once or twice and that did not help the situation. We have a small fan in her room, the humidifier going and the sleep sheep. All of the same noises she was used to in our room. I've tried to wrap a shirt I've worn around the crib slats so that my smell is close to her. I am so lost on how to get her to sleep in her room.
I haven't had a good nights sleep in I dont even know how long now. I plan to go buy the no cry sleep solution today but I have the next 5 days off work and really want to try to work on this. Someone tell me there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Advice is desperately needed and appreciated.
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Re: I've created a monster, advice please
My middle was the same and around 14 months he started sleeping in his crib no problems, it started when I'd put him down awake and he'd put himself to sleep.
No advice it may be a long tunnel but there's a light at the end
LOL thanks dear!
I did Sleep Easy after that and my wake up every hour needing to be soothed back to sleep LO actually became a STTN baby who soothes herself back to sleep when she wakes in the MOTN.
I wish I hadn't wasted all that time on the No Cry stuff. All it did was make me feel like a failure when I couldn't make it work with DD.
Ok what's the basics behind sleep easy?? You have my attention!
It's a modified Ferber type CIO plan that involves gradually increasing check in times and also includes gradual night feed weaning schedules, which I really needed with DD. The basic idea is to give your LO a chance to learn self soothing and how to put themselves to sleep, while still reassuring them that you haven't abandoned them.
I'll be honest, the first few nights were tough because DD is so stubborn. Some babies take to it quickly within a few nights. DD took longer, but now if she isn't ready to sleep she'll practice rolling and babbling until she falls asleep. It's actually fun to watch her on the monitor!.
DS never had a problem sleeping in his crib until about 5 months old, and then he would scream and wail if he was put down to sleep and would only fall asleep in our arms or snuggling with us in bed. It was fine for the first few times, but I don't sleep well either with him in our bed, and I knew that we needed to break the habit. I did not want to do CIO with him but we would let him fuss it out, but fussing would turn into screaming bloody murder which would not cease unless he was picked up. Once he was picked up he'd immediately fall asleep, and even in a dead sleep if he was put down he'd wake up and scream again. He doesn't suck his thumb and has no interest in a pacifier so he would end up sleeping in our bed yet again.
To wean him off of relying on snuggling with us to be able to sleep, I started rocking him to sleep every night and then I'd put him down in his crib, but on his side. He'd start to wake up as soon as he touched the mattress, and I would put one hand on the top of his head and the other hand on his bottom and rock him on his side, getting slower and slower and gentler and gentler as I did so until I could eventually stop without him being startled. I ran the white noise machine as I did this and it helped not to startle him when he didn't have the rocking motion to lull him anymore. Sometimes he'd wake up a few minutes later and I'd just go back, pick him up, and repeat. Soon it got to the point where he'd wake up and he didn't need to picked up, and I could just put my hand on him and he'd settle back down. Now more often than not if he wakes up, he is able to put himself back to sleep. It seems to be that he just needed to be put down in the same position that he fell asleep in, where he was comfortable, and to be reassured that if he needed comfort, someone would be there.
It took a long time and a LOT of patience, but now finally at 8 months he can put himself to sleep in his own crib with very little fuss for naps and at bedtime. He will always flip himself onto his stomach and sleep with his legs tucked up underneath him, and sleeps soundly that way but if he is on his back he will wake up hollering. Perhaps your LO also just needs to find the position that she is comfortable in.
Corbin | born 4.19.12
Baby boy #2 | due 4.13.15
pickles,maybe so...she does sleep on her side in our bed. I'll try that, thanks ladies!!