Looking for advice.... tired momma
mcanant
member
My 11 month old has never been able to soother herself back to sleep. Co-sleeping or not. We have tried to leave her for five min at a time when we thought a more comforting version of CIO would work (we are AP friendly but last month were exhausted and tried this for two nights). Our child can get from lightly crying to hysterical, make herself sick crying in five minutes. Happened every time. Clearly not the right method for her. We are pretty tired, as she wakes about 4 times a night and is not hungry at all except for the 4-5am waking (she's clear then and signs for food). Pick up put down also has no effect.
We are so tired. my husband sleeps with her in her room where the crib is, but even when we breakdown and let her sleep with us, she is still up and being near us doesn't help. She wants to be picked up and walked around. it takes about 20 - 40 min each time to get her to go to sleep. She only naps for about 2.5 hours everyday max. At night we are lucky if she is getting 7 hours total. Is our only hope at this point some hardcore sleep training (that does not involve CIO- I am not against the method with frequent checks and comforting, but clearly does not work for my daughter- who gets sick and chokes from crying so hard. so quickly)
TIA for any advice
Re: Looking for advice.... tired momma
I'm sorry mama. My ds has always been a crummy little sleeper. He is15 months now and he has improved so much but he still usually wakes once a night.
I def agree with consistency. Not just with the sleeping but with everything. Daytime routine, naps, bedtime and bedtime routine and how you respond to her at night time wake ups.
Some things that have helped us are introducing a lovie. we use a small blanket and I would just lay it on his lap before we would rock to sleep and say "time to snuggle up". This has really helped I think. he calls it his "snuggles" and it really helps him to understand that it is time for sleep.
I also did the jay Gordon method of night weaning at 11 months and that was a huge help. I usually would offer a sippy of water if he seemed thirsty and sometimes I think he really was!
These things plus a very consistent routine have SLOWLY helped us get more sleep. If he gets out of his routine I know I'm gonna pay for it at night.
I also recommend "the no cry sleep solution" and dr sears' "the baby sleep book" there is no magic bullet in either of them, but I found reading both to be extremely encouraging during the really rough patches.
Also, I agree with PP. Not all CIO methods are "extinction" methods. Most have graduated check systems. I tried everything to get DD to sleep well, and we ended up doing a graduated check system for CIO, because the NO Cry sleep solution did not work for us, and just ended up confusing DD. I say give it a week, if it doesn't work, then try the sleep therapist that another PP mentioned, at least this way you will have exhausted your other options. A week is long enough to know that it doesn't work, and also not long enough to damage your child.
Good Luck!
PS... Consistency is key no matter what you decide to do.