Slaves to the pacifiers

Okay- we're about at our wit's end right now! We have 13 week old LO's (born at 36.3 weeks) and the not sleeping hardly AT ALL at night killing us. They seem to be up at least every hour. We swaddle them, give them pacifiers,.. everything we can do to soothe them. The problem is that the minute the pacifier falls out of their mouths they SCREAM! HAs anyone else successfully weaned their LO's off of pacifiers- at this age? I'm going back to work in a month and I'm terrified of not sleeping at that point! Our girls are really good nappers in the swings, but at at night they scream even when they are in the swings!

One last question/dilemma...

I've been reading the Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child book and it says to let them cry.. it turns my stomach to think about but I'm wondering if maybe we should just do it and get it over with. I wonder if this is too young to let cry. Thoughts???

 

We got rid of the pacis around 6-8 weeks for that reason. We stopped giving it to them and they slept better. You have to make the choice. Mine fussed for less than a minute and went to sleep so I think I had it easy.

 

be careful with healthy sleep habits happy child. the book does not recommend letting such young babies cry. the general consensus is that 5 months is probably the earliest you can expect them to self-soothe. i used HSHHC and recommend the book to everyone i know, but you definitely need to make sure you're clearly understanding the guidelines before you try anything.

we didn't wean from pacis that early but around 4 or 5 months we decided to help the boys kick the habit. we had a rule that we would replace the pacis twice but the third time it dropped out they had to get to sleep on their own without it. it's up to you to decide if you want to do that at this point. it will mean you'll be doing the soothing instead of the pacis, so you may be in for a few rough nights. have you tried getting them to sleep without pacis to see if they'll adjust?

 

There is a book I really like called the No Cry Sleep Solution,and it has a lot of the same information from the HSHHC book about sleep patterns and that kind of thing.

It has a lot of great information for ways to help them sleep without doing cry it out. The methods described in the book do take longer than cio (cry it out), but if you don't want to do cio it's a good option.


One thing that helped us at that age---an idea we got from the No Cry SLeep Solution--- was to have nightly rituals that would help the boys understand it was bedtime. We made a sleep mix of soothing songs we would play every evening near bedtime, dim the lights about an hour or 30 mins before bed, and then turn on the white noise. Over time I think those things began to cue them that it was time for bed. Then in the morning we would make a big production of it being daytime--open the curtains, turn up some lively music, say "Good Morning!" a lot, and that kind of thing.

I hope you get some sleep soon! That age is a hard one.

 

We only used pacis for the first 4 months or so, and even then we usually only offered them when the boys were fussy or upset (which was often during those colicky days!). If I was trying to console a screaming baby I would give him the paci, but as soon as he calmed down and fell asleep in my arms I popped it out. And at night we never even tried giving them pacis because we knew they would just fall out, so we just didn't get in the habit. And once our boys got past the colicky/cranky stage they stopped "demanding" pacis and we stopped offering them and the boys just totally forgot about them. If it were me I would probably try and break the paci habit sooner rather than later. I've heard of moms doing the paci shuffle at night even after their babies are 6 - 7 months old. GL and I hope your babies start sleeping better soon!

 

I was going to suggest letting them sleep in the swings, but you already do that and its not working. Sorry not much help.

 

Does anybody have any insight into why they wouldn't be sleeping past their 2-3am-ish feeding anymore? I would SO not be complaining if we could just catch a bit more sleep at this point at night! They are not hungry, not wet, they are swaddled and the swing is not helping!!!

 

I second the suggestion that you try out some tips from Elizabeth Pantley's The No-Cry Sleep Solution. I also agree with Sara that it's too early to try the CIO method. Pantley has some tips on weaning your babes from the paci - if you are interested and don't have time to get the book, PM me and I will give you the gist of her suggestions. Good luck!

 

I don't know why. My boys were the same. I almost lost my mind! I went back to work when they were 4 months, and I was still having a bunch of rough nights. They really didn't get the night-sleep thing until they were about 5 months old. Like a PP said, they started to learn to sooth themselves in new ways, like rubbing their crib sheet, or playing with their hair. I agree too young to CIO... but that was me. I was willing to almost lose my mind from lack of sleep. It was very hard. Oh, but can I tell you, even though going back to work on little sleep was hard, I found a lot of good support from myh girlfriends at work. It helped me to laugh about it. I'd roll in with dark bags under my eyes, and all my friends would be like "oh, boy, rough night!" So, don't be too worried. Good luck!!