Whoever thought that phrase should be synonymous with a good night sleep was crazy. Or, they just didn't know my baby.
Okay, out of the (I'm guessing) 5 people who actually read my blog, I'm getting desperate!!! Anyone who has advice, please help! Here's the situation: Peter used to be such a good napper and sleeper. At 3 months, I was getting up once per night, and he used to take good long naps during the day. Now, I'm lucky if he sleeps for a 4 hour stretch at night, and he naps for maybe a 30 minute stretch (if I'm lucky) a few times a day.
This all went south at his 4 month appointment. He had a horrible week and woke up screaming for several nights in a row after his immunizations. Still not sure why, but the day after his 2 month immunizations was horrible too. I supposed as the new and concerned parent I was, I wanted to hold him extra that week, especially while he napped. Ever since then, I scarcely see a night when he sleeps more than 4 hours in a row. Even worse, he wouldn't let me put him down to nap for a few weeks--I finally broke him of that habit, but lately he won't do more than catnap a few times a day. I suspect part of this is his paci attachment (he wakes up when it falls out of his mouth), and I suspect part of it is that he doesn't know how to self-soothe. Although it's strange because he was such a good sleeper before his 4-month appointment. What happened to my good sleeper??? And to any experienced parents who read this, what can I do? Do I have to let my son scream himself to sleep to teach him to self-soothe? I don't think I could bear that. And running in to put his paci back in his mouth every time it falls out obviously isn't an option either. Someone please help! :)
On an unrelated note, but just so I don't forget: Peter had his head ultrasound, and everything is just fine. Despite jumping from the 10th to 70th percentile in two months, the boy is okay. He didn't much like the experience of cold jelly and a wand put onto his head, but overall the experience wasn't too bad.
6 comments:
Sorry, I don't have any fabulous solutions. Meadow had similar horrible sleeping habits, until at 6 months I finally conceded that I would have to let Meadow cry it out if I wanted to get any sleep. She got the message soon enough, and only woke up for 1-2 feedings at night and then was immediately put back to bed. She never liked the paci so that is a bit different from what we went through. Around 9 months she finally was consistently sleeping 12-13 hours a night without waking. I dread having another infant because of the sleep deprivation. Just hold on, it'll just be a few more months and things will be sane again!
I'm not sure what to tell you, but I can tell you what I've been dealing with recently.
For me, I usually do the cry-it-out thing. Carter is just over 3 months old and he's getting up about 3 times a night right now. Before we visited family for Christmas he was only waking once a night, but I think since familiy wanted to hold him all the time and he was held during most of his naps, he got into bad sleeping habits.
I've finally gotten his naps back to normal and I can usually get an hour or longer at each nap, with one of his naps being at least 2 hours. His morning nap is best, while his afternoon nap is hardest. He usually wakes up once or twice. When he first starts crying, usually after 20-30 minutes, I never go in and get him up right away. I let him cry for a little bit. A week or so ago he was crying for a long time and on occassions I would end up putting him in his swing where he'll sleep easier. Now, he'll cry for about 5 minutes and put himself back to sleep. I guess he's learned to self-soothe. I'm hoping that if he gets better sleep during the day that he'll stop waking up so frequently at night.
If he starts crying after only 30 minutes of napping, I'd suggest letting him cry for about 5-10 minutes before you do anything. See if he'll end up going back to sleep on his own. If now, pick up him, rock him, give him his pacifer again, and put him back in bed. Let him cry a little longer if he needs to. If you think the crying will really bother you, set a time limit to the crying, something you can handle. For me, 30 minutes is my max, though that often feels like too long.
I also play music or white noise in his room and that sometimes helps him sleep better.
Hope he starts sleeping better soon! Good luck!
Good luck is all I can say. We can't let Grace cry it out because she pukes, so we are just stuck dealing with her. Last night between her and Kyle I was awake 9 or 10 times. If you get any great ideas I'd love to hear them.
Thanks everyone for your comments! The way things are working right now, Peter is happy enough to be in his crib, insomuch as he has his paci. While he's still awake (we put him in when he's awake, not asleep) if the paci falls out, I have started letting Peter cry for a bit. Right now I can only handle it for a couple of minutes. He never stops after a couple of minutes, so when I go back in, I put his paci in his mouth and stroke his face, and he calms right down. Usually the next time his paci pops out, he cries more softly and falls asleep on his own.
Today he hasn't had trouble with his naps at all. We'll see if today was a fluke, but I haven't even gone in to put his paci back in as he's falling asleep. However, his morning afternoon naps are always tricky, because he still wakes up after 20 - 30 minutes, and I have to put his paci back in. I haven't waited to see what happens if I don't put it back in. In the past, he wakes up so much that he doesn't want to go back to sleep.
My plan is to get him to nap longer and to get into a bit of a routine, and then to quit the paci cold turkey. I think that will do all of us a world of good, at least after the first few difficult days. I keep reading posts of parents who say when they got their babies off the pacis, the babies slept better and longer. We'll see if it works for us.
Brandon and Becca--I'm so sorry to hear about your terrible night. As soon as I read it, I knew I shouldn't be complaining. 10 times!!! Yikes! And Grace always pukes when she cries? How long does she cry before she pukes? If she has a threshold of 10 minutes, you could try comforting her at five minutes maybe... ? That would be traumatic for me to see Peter doing that. I can understand not wanting to let her cry after that. But, it does sound like a phase that will pass pretty soon. Hopefully she won't be a 10-year old and puking every time she cries. :) And I'm sure she'll learn to sleep eventually.
Hey Dawn,
Something that helped me out a lot when I was trying to figure out sleeping for Ariana was a book called "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" It is fairly scientific rather than opinion and talks about different ways people will help crib train their baby (crying it out, comforting, etc.) I really liked it and it has been a great resource to keep going back to as new problems arise. Good luck with the sleeping!
By the way, immunizations and teething typically make Ariana really grouchy too and wake up in the middle of the night. Sometimes when I'm desperate I give her some Tylenol, but only when she is not consolable.
Hey Dawn,
There's an amazing book called "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child." BUY IT! I will call you sometime in the next few days. Peter's REM sleep patterns could have slightly changed. Babies sleep patterns are always changing. We can talk about when I call! Hang in there, it will get better! :)
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