She had a meltdown around 5:30 when I had to pump but I just let her cry. I was so tired and I had to pump and make bottles - she cried for about 10 minutes, the longest I've ever let her cry.
Finally at 6, at the end of my rope, I just put her in bed next to me after the third time she'd woken up since 5. She slept until 8 so that gave me a much needed rest and allowed me to start my day on a better note.
I was reading in the Weissbluth book and he said night wakings are caused by poor napping during the day. Yes, I agree that the past few days she has not been napping well at all. But it's really hard to get her to nap! I spend anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour soothing her, trying to get her to sleep. I try to do most of this while she is in the crib so it's really killing my back and my patience. Sometimes I think she's just excited about all there is in the world, she's waking up and noticing things around her. She really gets into playing with her little jungle gym thing now, she can actually grab the toys which is new for her. She used to just stare at everything and now she's interacting with it.
Today I got her to take one small nap but I've been fighting her on the second nap for 35 minutes now. I think she might go down but we'll see. I have my white noise (radio static AM 650 thanks Claire) turned up really loud just to see if that might help. I guess I am just going to have to really redouble my efforts on the naps if I expect good night time sleep. I just HATE how hard you have to work to make babies sleep! Shoot if someone asked me to stay in bed all cozy most of the day and night I would jump at the chance!
On a happier note, it makes such a big difference having these bras that fit properly. I feel so relieved and I think the plug situation is getting better. Woo woo woo.
On another happy note (because shoot, we can't be all depressive all the time) here are some cute pictures of the little one in her track suit today. Another awesome hand me down from Katja! I WILL prevail on this nap thing.
Does she fall asleep if you take her somewhere (either for a walk in her stroller or in your baby carrier)? Some babies seem to zonk out once they hit fresh air. I know it is a little bit of a crutch, but hey - if you take her out, and she falls asleep, then you might be able to bring her back in and let her have a longer nap (either by leaving her in her carseat to sleep or by VERY CAREFULLY transferring her from carrier to crib). We used to also take our little guy for drives in order to get him to fall asleep. Then we'd bring the carseat inside and just leave him in it while he finished his nap. It is not ideal, but at least it gets them the sleep they need during the day (which in turn helps with the sleeping at night).
ReplyDeleteI remember when I was pregnant, our friends with a 2 month old "let us" babysit one night to practice. They told us that the surefire way to get her to sleep was to take her for a walk in the Baby Bjorn. They lived in a 1 BR apartment in Marina del Rey. So at about 8 PM, we strapped her into the Bjorn on my husband and took a stroll around the harbor. Sure enough, she fell asleep. We tiptoed back up to their apartment, and I laugh to think what we must have looked like as we struggled to SILENTLY remove her from the Bjorn and get her into her crib (which was in the living room). It worked! She was in! And asleep! It was only then that we realized...what do we do now? We didn't really want to go hang out in their bedroom :) So we sat in the living room until our friends came home, reading magazines and whispering to each other. It is super funny when I remember it. Anyway, it was my first introduction to the fact that babies don't really just "go to sleep" like normal people!!
Hang in there! I am sure you are getting lots of advise, but when Sami was that size, my saving grace was an air purifier we bought at home depot, they still carry it, its made by Honeywell. That thing made just the right amount of noise without being too loud - It makes about the equivalent of a regular desk fan. John used to make fun of me, but I brought that sucker on vacations with us too! It was a nice easy whirring noise, just enough to block out the rest of the house from her end, while I could still hear her every peep on the baby monitor. I used that thing in her room up until last year, actually. She still sleeps best with a portable fan of some sort running. :)
ReplyDeleteDon't worry, you will find what works for you too! let me know if you need the model number for that air purifier, they are no very expensive because of all the other, higher tech silent ones out now. ( I think I paid about $45, and you can buy replacement filters too.
Good luck!
Trish
Ugg sounds like a rough night. We had the same thing happen on Monday night and it was really tough, especially the next day. I keep wondering why these little creatures can't come with a manual?? I find that we just have some bad nights just like we have some bad days. It will pass and you'll be back to normal before you know it!
ReplyDeleteWe follow the E.A.S.Y method (for what it's worth). Eat, Activity, Sleep, You. I feed Ryan every 2-3 hours (not on demand and not on a schedule just in a range). When he is done eating we play (diaper change, tummy time, tiny love mat, etc). I don't always play with him...just put him on the mat and he will play by himself. Sometimes I join him and we'll play, read, sing, etc. Then as soon as I see a sign that he's tired (yawn, rub eyes, cranky, cry, etc) I swaddle him and put him in his crib w/ the lights out and loud humidifier on. He sometimes falls right asleep but other times will stay away for 20 minutes before falling asleep. I use the mobile to entertain him if he's not super sleepy. I will give him the paci if I know he's tired but won't fall asleep. I started tracking our schedule and eventually found that he ALWAYS naps at 8:30am no matter what time he wakes. So I always put him down then. I haven't figured out his afternoon pattern yet~ but I'm sure it will fall into place soon. In the meantime we just follow the EASY method b/c you don't really have to be on a schedule. If I take him for a walk it's always during sleep time. I will sometimes take him during activity too and bring some toys for him...when I see him yawn, I remove they toys and put a blanket over the stroller for sleep time. If he falls asleep eating I will change his diaper and try to get him to play, even if it's just for 5 minutes. That way he knows what the routine is at all times. At night we give him his bottle at 10pm while he's in a swaddle in a dark room. Then put him in his crib and leave. We don't incorporate acitity into night feedings...just eat/sleep.
I have found that this doesn't always work as planned (frustrating) and sometimes he just wakes up several times at night. BUT most of the time it works and if his schedule gets majorly distrupted (guests in town, crazy day, etc) it can take up to 3 days to get him back on track.
I read this book called the Secrets of the Baby Whisperer~ and everything in the book seems to work for us.
Hope this helps as much as your blog and your support has helped us!! Melanie (babygroup)
Carter has been on a similar schedule - sleeping for a five-hour stretch in the early evening, then waking to eat around 11, then sleeping til 2 or so and waking almost every hour thereafter. I talked to my mom group at the Pumpstation about it and the moderator said it was a really normal pattern for his age. Argh. Fortunately, the past couple of nights he's been sleeping for two 3-4 hour stretches, starting around 11:30 or so, and I do think it might be correlated to his amount of daytime napping. It can be a huge pain to get them down, but it pays off, I guess. Good luck, honey!
ReplyDeleteThank you all, I can't tell you what it means to have so many great ideas come my way!!! I can do it!!
ReplyDeleteListen, I love Weissbluth but I couldn't put it into action until Logan was five months. I had the same days/problems when she wouldn't nap at all, spending hours hand bouncing her in the bouncy seat or walking around with her in the BabyHawk carrier. It was exhausting and isolating. Don't worry about bad habits right now, where Anna is sleeping, etc. Logan often slept in my arms, propped on the Boppy pillow, at night and during naptimes. It was the only way I could get her to sleep. It wasn't until about 5/5.5 months that she was able to sleep well in her crib.
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