My 6 mo. old DS hasn't been sleeping well since he was 4 1/2 mo. He is EBF. He takes short naps: 30-45 min, wakes up tired and I rock or nurse him back to sleep for another 30 minutes at ( roughly 9am, 1 pm & 30 min. at 4:30) goes to sleep at 6:30, but has been waking up constantly (every two-ish hours) through out the night. :headscratch: Occasionally he will sleep his old night of 6:30- 4am, nurse go back to sleep and up for the day b/w 6-7am.
I almost always keep him on schedule, so he shouldn't be over tired. I follow "Heathy Sleep habits, happy child" ideas, but haven't completely committed to CIO...I don't have the heart to do it... I also have a DS (4 years), so this constant demand is causing a lot of trouble and waking him up as well.
MY QUESTIONS TO THE PROS:
#1- Do you think I should wean off swaddling...maybe he is getting uncomfortable and unable to put himself back to sleep - (note: I have tried a couple of times and he won't sleep unswaddled, but I didn't push the issue either)
#2- My first son wasn't a great napper either, but slept 7-7 once he was a year...do I have another non-napper....(I hope not) :crying:
#3- He is not eating solids yet, tried them at 5 months and it caused more tummy issues so the Dr. said to wait a little longer...so, could he be hungry?
ANY and ALL help would be greatly appreciated...I am exhausted and starting up my last semester for school (Masters in Ed....) and will be out of the house some evenings and observing in Elementary schools a couple of days a week.
Thanks in advance!!! :goodvibes:
jodiemc
01-11-2009, 01:48 PM
I am not sure I can help, but I can sympathize. My DD is 5 mos and doesn't nap all that well either - she is also EBF. She takes 2-3 cat naps (20-30min) during the day. At night, she goes down around 7:30 and gives me the longest sleep til around 11:30-12, but after that, she is up every 2-3 hours to nurse. I have not been all that concerned because she is generally getting 12-ish hours in a 24 hours period.
I am still swaddling her too because she wakes even more frequently if her arms are flapping around. My other trick is to make the room so boring that she has almost no choice but to sleep :) and I still play white noise to lul her to sleep.
Hang in there...you are not alone! :goodvibes:
sarahrichardson
01-11-2009, 02:54 PM
DD is in the same boat. Some days she naps and sleeps wonderfully. Some days not. Maybe teething? Maybe growth spurts? IDK. You could try some tummy friendly food again... a few weeks made a world of difference for DD.
nmoeller01
01-11-2009, 04:04 PM
Thanks for the support! I am glad that we are not alone!!! :hugs:
ericandash
01-12-2009, 10:04 AM
i am in the same boat too. dd is 5 1/2 months, ebf, co-sleeping. she also only cat naps. usually at around 9 am, 12pm and 5pm then down at 8pm and is usually up 2-6 times in the night! i got the book, "the no cry sleep solution" and really like it. we are trying to implement some of her ideas.
jtaylor379
01-12-2009, 10:48 AM
I'm having an issue with naps for my 6 mos old and picked up Ferber's book yesterday. It's really excellent!!! I recommend getting it and learning more about the physiology of sleep so you can help your LO.
Cheers,
Jessica
greek4
01-12-2009, 11:58 AM
Does he fall asleep on his own or do you put him down already asleep? If he is not falling asleep on his own yet then that is your first step.
Then you get a set schedule which it sounds like you have already. Put him down at nap time and leave him in the crib for one hour, crying or not. I always checked on DS because it freaked me out but it also made him cry harder when I left again. CIO is harder on the parent than the baby.
I think once he gets the hang of the schedule and that he can get himself back to sleep then he will sleep better and longer. I think I have heard that babies don't need to eat regularly at night more often than every four hours. You could try letting him settle himself back down every other time he cries at night.
Good luck. We worked long and hard to get our 12 hour nights with a good 2-3 hour nap during the day. When DS first started CIO I had to remove myself from being able to hear him cry, DH was wonderful about it and held me to my word that I would not go 'save' him.
konmom
01-12-2009, 02:57 PM
Hi mama,
I have similar problem - since he was 5 weeks old, my DS was sleeping through the night (from 7pm to 6 or 7 am), and when he turned 5 months, he started to wake every 3 hours, and demand to eat...from time to time, we succeed in calming him without nursing, but mostly he will nurse for a while, then go to sleep.
He is fine to sleep on his own in the evening , but during the night, he is waking up around the clock! He sleeps in his crib that's beside our bed.
First, I thought growth spurt - and I'm sure it was... then teething...sure enough, he has 7 of them now! then crawling... he often crawl all over his crib when he starts to cry during the night...
I'm reading book from Elisabeth Pantley too, and trying stuff from it....so far, shortening of his feeding (when he is not really hungry) is working, other things still not...
But last night he slept 5 hours so I have hope it will get back to normal!
Hang in there!
Hi Mamas!
My 6 mo. old DS hasn't been sleeping well since he was 4 1/2 mo. He is EBF. He takes short naps: 30-45 min, wakes up tired and I rock or nurse him back to sleep for another 30 minutes at ( roughly 9am, 1 pm & 30 min. at 4:30) goes to sleep at 6:30, but has been waking up constantly (every two-ish hours) through out the night. :headscratch: Occasionally he will sleep his old night of 6:30- 4am, nurse go back to sleep and up for the day b/w 6-7am.
I almost always keep him on schedule, so he shouldn't be over tired. I follow "Heathy Sleep habits, happy child" ideas, but haven't completely committed to CIO...I don't have the heart to do it... I also have a DS (4 years), so this constant demand is causing a lot of trouble and waking him up as well.
MY QUESTIONS TO THE PROS:
#1- Do you think I should wean off swaddling...maybe he is getting uncomfortable and unable to put himself back to sleep - (note: I have tried a couple of times and he won't sleep unswaddled, but I didn't push the issue either)
#2- My first son wasn't a great napper either, but slept 7-7 once he was a year...do I have another non-napper....(I hope not) :crying:
#3- He is not eating solids yet, tried them at 5 months and it caused more tummy issues so the Dr. said to wait a little longer...so, could he be hungry?
ANY and ALL help would be greatly appreciated...I am exhausted and starting up my last semester for school (Masters in Ed....) and will be out of the house some evenings and observing in Elementary schools a couple of days a week.
Thanks in advance!!! :goodvibes:
HeatherlovesCDs
01-12-2009, 03:06 PM
Does he fall asleep on his own or do you put him down already asleep? If he is not falling asleep on his own yet then that is your first step.
Then you get a set schedule which it sounds like you have already. Put him down at nap time and leave him in the crib for one hour, crying or not. I always checked on DS because it freaked me out but it also made him cry harder when I left again. CIO is harder on the parent than the baby.
I think once he gets the hang of the schedule and that he can get himself back to sleep then he will sleep better and longer. I think I have heard that babies don't need to eat regularly at night more often than every four hours. You could try letting him settle himself back down every other time he cries at night.
Good luck. We worked long and hard to get our 12 hour nights with a good 2-3 hour nap during the day. When DS first started CIO I had to remove myself from being able to hear him cry, DH was wonderful about it and held me to my word that I would not go 'save' him.
Although not the popular opinion here on DS, I agree with this. I have used a version CIO with my kids and it's worked wonders for all 3. Not everyone's version of CIO is the same. I used very similar methods to the book you talked about with great success. You can take an idea and change it a little to make it fit your situation and family. I also totally agree that helping them learn to fall asleep on their own is the first step. Often if the baby is able to do that the night waking goes away too, not always though. Hope you get some relief too.
nmoeller01
01-12-2009, 08:53 PM
Mamas!
All of your responses give me so much hope...I have been avoiding CIO (although it worked well with our DS #1 at 9 mo) but I think that is going to have to happen for us all to get some good quality sleep!
DS doesn't usually fall asleep on his own. I used to lay him down awake, but now it is nearly impossible to get him to sleep without rocking, shushing, nursing and patting or a combo of all of those...with white noise....I should know better...but (in my defense) I was trying to keep everyone else asleep!
Does anyone think the swaddling is becoming a hinderance in his falling asleep unassisted? If I lay him down awake, he wiggles out and gets mad that he is unwrapped and during the night I think he makes it a game to wiggle out b/c when I get in there after he is shouting like a manic, he cutely smiles as I wrap him back up (do you think he has my #!!! :) ...would anyone recommend a cold turkey approach to swaddling? AND would it be too much if we start that at the same time as the CIO method?
We are planning to have my DH's parents watch our DS #1 *hopefully this* weekend so we can put DS #2 through sleep boot camp. I will update you (especially for the Mamas with the same problem) as we start with his falling asleep unassisted during naptime and make our way toward a peaceful evening!
Much love and thanks again for the support! :hugs:
