Parenting after a Loss

I've been away... (Update and a Q by ct103)

Hi ladies! Please excuse my absence, life is busy! Happy Thanksgiving to all of you, hope it was lovely. Congrats to all of the new intros, and hugs to all who need them.

DD is nearly 8 months and doing amazing. She's eating like a big girl and is about to close the deal on crawling. She "talks" all the time with "ba ba" "mama" and "ga ga". She gets to sit in restaurant high chairs, and just today we tried the child seat on the shopping cart; it was a big success and she socialized with all the other shoppers! DH and I are doing well too; he got a new job a couple months ago with better pay and benefits. Always a good thing!

Now, my question is regarding sleep. DD is generally a good sleeper, and I know how lucky I am. But for the last week or two she's been habitually waking sometime around 12am-2am, and she is WIDE awake and it can take 1-2hrs for her to go back down. She's not fussy, and only starts to whine/cry when I've been out of the room for 20 mins or more. I always make sure the basics are covered of course; right temperature, change into dry diaper, offer a bottle (she usually doesn't want it, hunger is rarely the cause). I used the PUPD method between 4-6 months and had pretty good success with it in that she has a very positive sleep association with her crib and goes down very easily if she's sleepy. But during these MOTN's she's not sleepy! I've been guiltily rocking her for long periods of time to attempt to get her back to sleep, and I have the aching back to prove it :(. What would you do if you were me? I can't just leave her to party in her crib because it always escalates to fussing/crying after a while, and I do not intend to use a CIO method. What ends up happening is that I stay up folding laundry or putting dishes away until she needs me, and we both end up awake for a long time :(.

What would you do if you were me? Try more PUPD until she's really good at putting herself to sleep? Adjust her waking hours (within reason)? Her bedtime is between 7-8pm and she usually takes two naps per day, ranging 45mins to 2+ hrs. She's definitely getting her recommended hours of sleep per 24hrs, but I just want to fix these midnight parties! Any input would be appreciated, thanks!
Warning No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml

Re: I've been away... (Update and a Q by ct103)

  • Oh man, I wish i could help you but I know nothing about babies and their sleep. :( All I can offer are my hugs and some good vibes that L snaps out of this funk and starts STTN. Miss you lady!
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
  • Loading the player...
  • Oh man, I wish i could help you but I know nothing about babies and their sleep. :( All I can offer are my hugs and some good vibes that L snaps out of this funk and starts STTN. Miss you lady!

    Thanks MNM, miss you too! Been enjoying all the pics of baby C, keep em coming.

    After this evening, I can tell it most certainly is a funk. She suddenly started having teething symptoms and was pretty miserable right before bed :(. Here we go again. We better get a stinking tooth this time for all this effort! I'm sure there's more than just teething going on, but when she's uncomfortable all my sleep training tricks go out the window and I just focus on comforting her.

    Warning No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
  • DD was doing the same (waking up, not hungry, just waking up to play or cuddle, taking about 60 minutes to fall back asleep) and she had a mild ear infection.  There was some extra fussiness and eating problems at the same time, but we thought it was teething since she didn't sustain a fever.  Just a thought?

    Hmm, interesting. I'll keep that in mind this weekend. I work in an ENT clinic so getting her ears checked is no big deal. Thanks for sharing!

    Warning No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
  • mkc5869 said:

    ct!  It's so good to see you around :)  I was just thinking about you the other day and was wondering what happened to you.  I can't be much help on the sleep.  Usually if M wakes up then she needs something and goes back down really easily once everything is right with her world again.  She does have really bad sleep when she is teething though.  She will hang out in her crib at night like she is wide awake instead of going straight to sleep and she usually wakes up more during the night and gets up extra early.  Hopefully it's just teething and it gets better for you soon!

    Thanks mkc! Good to see you too. She's definitely going through something, hopefully it becomes more clear. Last night and today her sleep was better, but she refused bottles all morning.
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
  • Gosh, I wish I had some good advice, but our sleep issues were totally different. I think you might be on the right track with bedtime adjustment, though. I liked The No-Cry Sleep Solution for some practical, gentle methods to deal with sleep challenges.
    image

    imageimageimageTTC since 07/11 | natural m/c 08/11 | BFP 12/6/2011 | Elinor Anna born 8/18/2012 | BFP #2 1/16/2014
    Lilypie Third Birthday tickers
    Pregnancy Ticker
  • Good to hear from you, CT!  Phoebe has done this a time or two.  Usually I'll just put her in bed with us if this happens.  It really depends on the time though.  If it's close to midnight, I continue with the PUPD method, but if it's after 3am I put her in bed with us.  She'll lay there and babble and play but with us being super quiet and peaceful it seems to lull her back to sleep.  If I'm up getting things done because she's awake, then she thinks it's time to be awake too.  So maybe keeping things dark and quiet will help her get back to sleep?  I hope it's just a phase and she goes back to normal sleeping habits soon.  Good luck!

    And... we need pics of your little sweetie!  :)

    *** aka: andreahshields ***

    *** July Siggy Challenge - Cake Wrecks ***

    image

    BFP#1 3/8/12; diagnosed w/ Anencephaly at 12w6d; D&C 5/9/12
    BFP#2 7/18/12; A/S 10/26/12 It's a Girl! EDD 3/29/13
    Phoebe Jordan Born 3/20/13

    imageimage
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards
"
"