HELP..........DESPERATE............

My daughter has 10month old twin girls. Although neither is a great sleeper, baby A DOES NOT want to sleep and WILL NOT sleep. One 30 min nap a day if lucky and my daughter spends anywhere from 30-60 minutes in order to accomplish that
DESPERATELY NEED IDEAS

1. She is not opposed to CIO. In fact has tried it on several occasions.
Two problems: how to keep from waking baby b up if doing CIO with baby a
secondly if you let her cry full force for more than 2-3 minutes she is going to puke up everything she
has eaten. Happens every time. Even happens when CIO is not involved and she is upset about
something. UPSET BABY=PUKEY BABY
2. This baby prefers motion. When younger always slept better in either the bouncy seat or swing.
BOUNCY SEAT- obviously at 10 months she no longer fits. Is there something out there for older babies or is there
something that can attach to the crib that will vibrate it
SWING- although she still fits in the infant swing the swing is not designed for an active child. Her greatest thrill is to see
how fast she can get it going on her own to point where legs of swing come off floor. It is the swing with the Aquarium
ball and fishes on top. Is there a swing out there designed for older babies?
3. The music from the mobile over her crib seems to soothe her. Often she will wake up within minutes of the mobile stopping. Is there a CD player out there or anything that makes music that you can put on repeat and it will keep going til
naptime or bedtime is over?

Neither baby is sleeping through the night. Baby b was but she is waking for one feeding again now.
Baby A( the real problem sleeper) usually wakes 2 or more times a night to be fed and will often waken in the middle of the night and refuse to go back to sleep for 2-4 hours

TIA

 

Wow! That's a lot of being awake for a 10 month old baby! :wacko: Is she putting them down at the same time everyday? Here is a link to schedules, that might help. [Wiki]Sleep_Schedules[/Wiki] The only thing that I can really think of, is that she is overly tired, and is not sleeping soundly because of it. I would put them on a strict schedule and stick to it, and see if that helps. I did CIO with my non-sleepers, but never had a puker.
QUOTE
Is there a CD player out there or anything that makes music that you can put on repeat and it will keep going til
naptime or bedtime is over?


Yes, in fact, most of them have a repeat button I believe. I have a sound machine in the babies room to drown out the noise in the house. It is made by Homedics, and has rain, waterfall, etc., settings. I leave it on, all the time, fairly loud.

:love0028:

 

I agree with Becky. Find a schedule and stick to it. It sounds like she is way overtired and the only way my overtired children will ever go to sleep is to CIO. What time is bedtime? Mine go to bed usually by 6:30pm sometimes earlier depending on when they wake from their PM nap. Are they taking 2 naps a day? Sleep begets sleep!!!

As for waking at night to be fed. I would either wait a bit longer to go in and see if they can settle themselves or feed and then just start reducing the amount in the bottle (if bottle feeding) to the point where it is not worth it for them to wake to be fed. Or you can just go cold turkey and offer them water for a feeding. Mine are 11 months and we still have a night waker on occasion in our house. I give them 2 ounces of formula, change their diaper, and lay them back in their crib awake. They might babble for a bit but they go back to sleep without any help from us.

Most CD players have a repeat button on them these days. We also have a noise machine from Brookstone. Plays all sorts of sounds. Hope you all get some rest soon.

 

Target sells white noise machines too. My sister had a crier/puker. She evendtually had to let him cry until he puked and then she cleaned it up and let him CIO the rest of the way. Not ideal, but it worked. It sounds like that baby is overtired. As soon as she gets on a good sleep schedule that allows her to sleep 14-16 hours she will be a better sleeper.

 

We keep a CD player going all night long in the girls room. It has a repeat and it plays over and over and over all night long. We got a spa/meditation cd a target and use that, it's very soothing.

 

I agree with everything the pp said. Sounds like she is way overtired and now its hard for her to fall and stay asleep (vicious cycle). I've had to separate my girls for naps in the past. We have pnp's set up in our bedroom and the cribs in the nursery. So if one is particularly grouchy and I know its going to take some crying for her to fall asleep, they get separated. We haven't had to do any formal sleep training like CIO, but if we did I would do one baby first (the more difficult one probably) and then the other.. keeping them separated until they are better at falling asleep on their own. If she hasn't already, your daughter (or you!) should take a look at Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth (I hope I spelled his name right). It was amazing to me that most babies should only be awake for 1-2 hours at a time. That revelation has really helped the amount of crying we experience in our house. Some days I do feel like all I do is put them down for naps, but they need the sleep and are happier babies for it. GL to your daughter... what a lucky woman to have a mom who will come on here for her

-Leighann

 

I kept waiting for my DD to fall asleep when she was a newborn. She simply has never been into sleeping. I remember them being 6 weeks old and I would call my mother and say "it is now 4pm and DD has not slept since 10am this morning" Once she was aobut 3.5 to 4 months old I learned to just lay her down withing 1 to 2 hours of being awake (Weissbluth as pp mentioned) and let her cry and fuss until she fell asleep. This is the ONLY way I can get naps out of her. If I picked her up everytime she fussed or even screamed she would never be napping. All babies are different. My DD will not sleep in our arms, a stroller, or a car seat. Only in her cribs for nighttime or the pnp for naps. She is now 5.5 months old and will actually go down for about 1.5-2hrs. at a time. Most of her naps still require her to scream a bit before she sleeps but that is just the way she is...whether I put her down at first sign of tired or at the last, she always puts up a fight. Again, the only way I have been able to get her to nap well is to put her down at the appropriate time and let her cry until she falls asleep. Sometimes it is 2mins, sometimes it is 20mins. Anyway, I just wanted to share what works for me and my "napfigher"

Amy