We're not doing much of it around here lately.
Our fantastic sleeper used to go 10-12 hours a night without a peep, then she would wake up once a night to eat and go right back to sleep. Now she is suddenly waking up every 2 to 3 hours and not wanting to go back to sleep.
I don't know what changed.
We still put her to bed at the same time. We feed her cereal and a bottle before she goes down. We have a bed-time routine. She has her blanket and puppy. We've tried the "Sleep Easy Solution" that promised fail-proof results, but I think it screwed her up even more.
She was taking one 2 hour nap a day and two 1 hour naps. Now I can barely get her to take two 1 hour naps. She wakes up and won't go back to sleep but I can tell that she's still tired. I miss my constantly happy baby. She's still been pretty good, but a lot more whiny.
We've wondered if she doesn't feel well, if she's teething, if she's too hot or cold. We just don't know.
Any ideas or suggestions?
I know we don't really have it that bad. I shouldn't complain. But we're all tired!
4 comments:
You probably don't want to hear from me again--but if you want that sleep book that has helped me, I'll bring it out to you. And don't worry too much, all my kids have gone in and out of sleep schedules and it won't last forever. I noticed a difference after they started crawling/walking, it's like they tired themselves out more and didn't need bottles so much and they had matured a bit. Let her come out here and you can have a nap!
We've always had to resort to crying it out eventually. Give it a week and see if anything changes before you try anything big would be the best thing I could say.
Peter still doesn't consistently sleep through the night and he is 16 months... I know what you mean about being tired!
I read Solve you Child's Sleep Problems by Ferber and it didn't completely fix the problem but he is sleeping better! If you find out any miracle cures please share!!
I would bet on a few things... #1 - teething. Even when I couldn't see an actual bud, Grant's sleep patterns (as awful as they were) would go out the window for weeks at a time, and in our case, the only thing that really helped was a dose of Tylenol or Motrin close to bed time. I could tell when it wore off cause he would wake up again. Is she drooling a ton and wanting to chew on everything?
#2- Age. She is reaching the age where most babies don't need as much sleep which might explain her trying to give up a nap. Try keeping her up longer between and switching her to a two nap schedule for a week and see if napping improves.
#3- Reassurance. She is probably reaching a developmental stage where she wants a little more connection from mom and dad and when she wakes in the night, she might just be wanting a little connection. Be careful though to give her a lot of interaction in your middle of the night rendezvous. Check on her, make sure she is ok, and then put her back in bed and walk out. Crying it out is no fun in the middle of the night for anyone, but she will get the message. Does she sleep with a white noise source (a fan, sound machine, etc.) She might be waking to external noises and this can help lull her back to sleep.
Good luck! It has only been since Grant is past all his surgeries, done with teething, and able to find his own binky in the middle of the night (though we help him by putting 10 in bed with him) to finally have him sleeping through the night! Being without sleep is awful. You might need a fan for your room too so you don't hear her every waking and maybe she will start to soothe herself.
Are you coming to IF for Thanksgiving??
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