I put the girls down at 620 last night and they slept until 730 this morning (almost an hour later than usual). They got up 3x to eat (approx every 4hrs) and a few other times as well (ugh). Naps went pretty well today. They napped for an hour on their own for nap #1, then at nap #2 they woke up after 30mins fussed for a few mins then went back to sleep for almost an hour. Nap #3 was not as successful... Sofia fought for 1/2hr to go to sleep then only slept for 30mins and woke her sister, I got them up because it was almost 4 and I wanted to do 6pm bedtime again. We did our usual bedtime routine and the girls went down by 615. Sofia woke up 35mins later and screamed. I went in at 7 (after 10mins of crying) and nursed her back to sleep, she woke up as I was putting her down and screamed till almost 745! (I checked on her twice to make sure she hadnt puked or anything) So apparently I am starting CIO tonight.... Do I just do it for bedtime and still nurse her to sleep for naps (to ensure she is getting some sleep then do naps) or do I just full blown CIO, put her down at naps and bed and let her cry??? (I dont know why its so hard with her! It wasnt this hard with Maia, I just did it and she 'got it'!) ETA: Until a few days ago I could always nurse Sofia to sleep, but she has even been fighting that!
It sounds like she may be overtired maybe from not getting the third nap in today. Maybe you could do an earlier bedtime. Maybe she is teething or something that is agitating her at night. How about giving her a paci when she awakes and night and see if that soothes her, or maybe some white noise in the bedroom?? Maybe try and set a feeding schedule in your head like every 4 hours and if she awakes at 3 hours try the paci or some bum patting and shushing?? At that age we were just getting a bedtime and our boys could not go any longer than 5:30pm. IMO, I would be careful doing a full blown CIO at 4 months. That is pretty young. I realize the frustration with getting up in the middle of the night. Mine were 8 weeks early and did not STTN until they were 9 months old and we had alot of bumps in the road to get there but we got there and you will too!!!
Oops, I didnt mean full blown as in not feeding her at night. I have no problems with that, I feel if they are waking to eat then they need it. I meant full blown as in putting her down awake at naps AND bedtime and letting her cry. I tried it a few weeks ago and gave up after a week but it did work for her sister. What I cant do is spend HOURS 'putting her to sleep' 4 times a day. She needs to learn to do it herself, and I know she can because she goes right back to sleep when she gets up to eat in the night and when she wakes after 30mins of napping and I dont pick her up. But she fights going down initially.
Letting her cry herself to sleep at night and naps is still a CIO (JMO) and at 4 months even though it worked for her sister, she is probably not ready for it. I understand about not wanting to spend hours getting her to bed, but instead of CIO is there something else that you can try like a swing, noise machine, sling, etc. Do you have Weisbluths Healthy Sleep Habits book?? It was really helpful to me with my boys. He recommends no more than 2 hours of awake time between naps at that age and that greatly reduced the agitation at nap time and bedtime and we did a super early bedtime at 5:30 to head off some of the frustration of getting to sleep once they dropped the third nap. Hope this helps.
I can understand your frustration! I think whatever you decide to do, you should be consistent. So, if you decide to try letting her cry at bedtime, I would do it for naps, too. It might confuse her if you nurse her sometimes, and let her cry other times, kwim? I am trying really hard not to nurse the baby to sleep this time. I did ALWAYS nurse my twins to sleep, and they never learned how to put themselves to slepp. The still have problems now at age 4! Anyway, I'm trying to establish a routine that is eat/ play/ sleep rather than eat/ sleep/ play, and it seems to be working better. I try to put the baby down when she is very drowsy, but still awake. As soon as I put her down, she wakes up, just like your little girl. It's crazy! Then she appears to be wide awake, even though I KNOW she's tired! Also, not to hijack, but how do you establish no more than 2 hours awake time between naps if they simply won't sleep? Even if I put her sown earlier, look for sleepy signs, ect. Sometimes she fights it and just will not sleep for several hours. Even if she is over tires. So, I "get" that they need the sleep between 1-2 hours awake, but often it just doesn't happen. What to do? Again, sorry for the hijack! Good luck!
I would try and put them down earlier - my girls always go down better when they aren't overtired. And if you can get the third nap in all the better
QUOTE(Mel G @ Mar 3 2008, 11:41 PM) [snapback]651529[/snapback] I can understand your frustration! I think whatever you decide to do, you should be consistent. So, if you decide to try letting her cry at bedtime, I would do it for naps, too. It might confuse her if you nurse her sometimes, and let her cry other times, kwim? I am trying really hard not to nurse the baby to sleep this time. I did ALWAYS nurse my twins to sleep, and they never learned how to put themselves to slepp. The still have problems now at age 4! Anyway, I'm trying to establish a routine that is eat/ play/ sleep rather than eat/ sleep/ play, and it seems to be working better. I try to put the baby down when she is very drowsy, but still awake. As soon as I put her down, she wakes up, just like your little girl. It's crazy! Then she appears to be wide awake, even though I KNOW she's tired! Also, not to hijack, but how do you establish no more than 2 hours awake time between naps if they simply won't sleep? Even if I put her sown earlier, look for sleepy signs, ect. Sometimes she fights it and just will not sleep for several hours. Even if she is over tires. So, I "get" that they need the sleep between 1-2 hours awake, but often it just doesn't happen. What to do? Again, sorry for the hijack! Good luck! You know I broke the nursing to sleep habit a couple of weeks ago but when she started fighting naps I reverted back to it just because I wanted her to sleep. Now that doesnt even help! I have been thinking maybe I should try switching to eat/play/sleep, so that they dont associate eating with sleeping and maybe they would eat better too. I look for sleep signs and dont let them go past 2 hrs of awake time, most of the time I am getting them ready for a nap at 1.5hrs and they're down by 1.75 but with Sofia its an additional 30mins of soothing to have her wake as I put her down then her sister is ready to get up! And I am not reverting back to the swing, thats regression. I spent a couple weeks transistioning them from the swing and bouncer to the crib right before the 3month mark. I just put her down 'sleepy' for her nap and she is whimping right now. Not crying, just making a 'sick dog' noise! :unsure: I just dont know what else to do, I cant have her fighitng sleep ESPECIALLY when I KNOW how much she loves it and needs it!!!
Hopefully you dont think I am stalking you and this post but I just noticed in another post from someone else that you posted about reflux. Maybe her reflux is aggravating her??? I know that sleep was a huge issue with reflux. Just a thought?? I hope she is giving you a good nap this morning. I know all about the frustration of just wanting them to sleep. I am sorry that you and she are having a rough time.
QUOTE(DATJMom @ Mar 4 2008, 10:28 AM) [snapback]651991[/snapback] Hopefully you dont think I am stalking you and this post but I just noticed in another post from someone else that you posted about reflux. Maybe her reflux is aggravating her??? I know that sleep was a huge issue with reflux. Just a thought?? I hope she is giving you a good nap this morning. I know all about the frustration of just wanting them to sleep. I am sorry that you and she are having a rough time. Thank you!! I did think about the reflux and actually had her dosage adjusted at their 4mo appt. Hers is not as bad as my Maia's, she was actually just put on prevacid and that seems to be making a WORLD of difference! Sofia actually fell asleep in about 15mins of whimping! I am just hoping that she continues this because she needs the sleep. They are both such happy babies when they get their sleep and I want my happy babies back!!
Prevacid was a miracle drug for both of my boys. Hang in there. This is a pull your hair out age where the sleep deprivation for everyone I think catches up. The good news is you will sleep again...I know thats nothing right now but it will happen. FWIW the morning nap was the first to emerge as a true naptime about 1.5-2 hours after they got up for day. I stayed consistent on that one and the rest eventually fell into place.
QUOTE(cohlee @ Mar 3 2008, 06:38 PM) [snapback]651305[/snapback] I put the girls down at 620 last night and they slept until 730 this morning (almost an hour later than usual). They got up 3x to eat (approx every 4hrs) and a few other times as well (ugh). Naps went pretty well today. They napped for an hour on their own for nap #1, then at nap #2 they woke up after 30mins fussed for a few mins then went back to sleep for almost an hour. Nap #3 was not as successful... Sofia fought for 1/2hr to go to sleep then only slept for 30mins and woke her sister, I got them up because it was almost 4 and I wanted to do 6pm bedtime again. We did our usual bedtime routine and the girls went down by 615. Sofia woke up 35mins later and screamed. I went in at 7 (after 10mins of crying) and nursed her back to sleep, she woke up as I was putting her down and screamed till almost 745! (I checked on her twice to make sure she hadnt puked or anything) So apparently I am starting CIO tonight.... Do I just do it for bedtime and still nurse her to sleep for naps (to ensure she is getting some sleep then do naps) or do I just full blown CIO, put her down at naps and bed and let her cry??? (I dont know why its so hard with her! It wasnt this hard with Maia, I just did it and she 'got it'!) ETA: Until a few days ago I could always nurse Sofia to sleep, but she has even been fighting that! I still nurse my girls to sleep at nap and nighttime, and the CIO Is going very well for us, BOTH times we have done it!
