December 2013 Moms

Getting LO to sleep

My daughter is 6 weeks old and we are having a time getting her to go to sleep at night. Once she is asleep she will sleep for 5 - 6 hours, wake to feed, and then go back for another 3 - 4. We have had a bedtime routine for a long time now (bath, lotion/massage, bottle, quiet time). For a while we were keeping her up and starting bedtime routine around 10:00, but she was getting so cranky around 7 or 8 that we moved bedtime up. Now we start bedtime routine around 7 or 8. She will go to sleep, but sleep for 20-30 minutes and wake up crying. We let her cry for a few minutes and then go get her and settle her back down. This happens usually 3 or 4 times before she is finally out for the night. Is this common or does anyone have any advice?

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Re: Getting LO to sleep

  • Our son does something similar. I started finding that if I calmed him and put him down he would keep waking up several times like you mentioned. I started having my husband rock him and put him down instead which works so much better. Maybe because he can't smell me? I don't know...but maybe give it a try?
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  • When mine does this, usually he has a burp trapped. Usually just picking him up releases the burp and he goes back down if he didn't get fully waken from crying.

    We also use a white noise machine that we start a few minutes before putting him down, as it will calm him and signals to him that bedtime is near.

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  • I would try to get to her before she starts crying- I.e. Not crying it out. Once she's full out crying, she's awake. It's a lot easier to soothe a half-awake baby back to sleep than one having a meltdown.

    This is so true as I've tried both. I've found if you can catch it early you can get them to sleep much quicker.
  • Everyone has good advice, but also yes, some babies just do that. My first did, it sucked and was stressful. Sorry.
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  • Maybe she's not ready for bed that early. Just because she's getting cranky at that time doesn't necessarily mean she's tired. Just a thought.
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  • No advice, just wanted to mention that most babies have a "fussy time" of day, usually in the evening. Sounds like yours is around 7-8pm, so there may not be much you can do to prevent the crabbiness and waking. I would probably do the same thing you are doing, although the advice not to let the cries get full-blown is good. I have also had luck with my DH doing the soothing, since when I do it all my kids wants to do is eat. :/
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