Friday, September 11, 2009

Lullaby and Goodnight.....

Calling all mommas out there I need some advice.  Until the past two nights my little man was doing such a good job with what I believed was his sleep schedule.  He would go to sleep around 12 wake up at 3 have a diaper change, eat and then fall back asleep.  He would then wake up at 6 have a diaper change eat and fall back asleep. He would wake up at 9 and we would begin our day.  That was a perfect schedule that was working for both of us.  However, the past two days my little man has been fighting his sleep so very very hard.  He has been fighting it during the day and now at night as well.  My little man is laying beside me in his swing (I used to swear I would never use this tool to put him to sleep at night) whining and rubbing his eyes but refusing to fall asleep.  We have been trying since 11 to get this little man down, and he slept for maybe a total of 30 minutes.  I have fed him his bottle, read to him, rocked him, sang to him. layed him down and tried to let him self soothe, used the binky, taken binky away because every time it fell out of his mouth he would wake up, put him in his swing while I ran bath water and took a bath (usually puts him to sleep instantly) etc etc etc.  Nothing seems to be working tonight. I love my little man and I am not taking even the hard times for granted but I need advice.  How did you mommas out there get your little ones on a schedule.  Caleb will be 6 weeks on Tuesday and according to Baby Wise he should be sleeping through the night.  Did any of you go the full extent of baby wise teaching and allow you newborn to self soothe, or do you have other tricks.  Please get back to me asap....I need something to work.  At this rate I will be going to sleep for the first time tonight at 6 am.

6 comments:

Lea Liz said...

Ohh girl I remember those nights and honestly I don't even know what I did.. I think I just let Brody run his course. When they are so little they do get therir nights and days all confused and you don't know maybe his belly was hurting or he wasnt feeling good/ It is so hard to tell. Brody is 8 months old and still doesn't sleep thru the night although I never did any baby wise stuff or anything... hang in there girl!!!!!! I don't have much advice girl!

The Lutz Family said...

I remember those nights... oh wait my little one is 12 1/2 months and we're back to those nights right now! I hope that doesn't discourage you, but a book or pediatrician doesn't do much good. Babies go through phases! Tell that book to come soothe your ittle one to sleep! HA! I'm sure your little one will sleep through the night again soon, and then won't gain. This pattern will run your life for who knows how long! We just moved from the east coast to the west coast two days ago... our schedule is WAYYYY off!I am very very ready for this "phase" to end quickly! Maybe we can be nighttime buddies online haha! Good Luck :)

Unknown said...

Thanks girls. Good thing our little ones are soo stinking cute and cuddly :). We should for sure be nighttime buddies. Blogs need a little green light like Facebook chat to let you know who is online.

Abby said...

I agree with the above comments...probably just a phase, and it's best to just let it run its course.

I think, in the beginning, I just lived through my life in three hour increments, and always kind of expected that things weren't supposed to go smoothly. We have pretty much always allowed Beck to self-sooth and put himself to sleep. Too difficult for me to rock and then try to transport a sleeping baby into the crib!

Good luck!

Carrie said...

I followed baby wise to the "t" and I also read Happiest Baby on the Block and followed a lot of what it had to say.

I was confused as to their meaning of sttn at 6 weeks as well. What I took it to mean was they will wake up to feed, but they will fall right back to sleep.

If he is consistently waking at the same time every night...and staying awake...I think baby wise says to let them cry it out. He is probably 'testing' the waters a bit, but I can't really blame him :) I wouldn't sing, read, turn lights on...I would simply put him right back in his crib and walk away. If he cries, comfort him at 5 minute intervals and avoid picking him up (if your are breast feeding, or have your husband pick him up). Rub his back, put his plug in and walk away. I would repeat the cycle as many times as necessary.

All that to say...it worked for me, but I know every baby is different. We had our fair share of sleepless nights.

May I suggest you wrap him up tightly in one of these: http://kiddopotamus.com/p_swad.php. Parker slept wrapped up until he was 6 months old...I think. Each nap and night time sleep he was wrapped. We also bought him a sound machine and turn on white noise.

Parker has consistently sttn since he was 3 months old. I slowly quit giving him his night time bottle (at 2 months) one ounce at a time until one night we just stopped feeding him. It took 2 nights of him crying to figure out we weren't getting up with him. Since then he sleeps 12 hours (sometimes more) each night.

Baby wise does work, sometimes it just takes patience and a few sleepless nights for everyone to be on the same schedule.

Hang in there...there IS light at the end of the tunnel...I promise!

Connor & Mama said...

Not sure if you have overcome this issue yet, but when my son was about this age I went through the same thing! He would fight naps, would be super crabby, and had no idea how to get him to sleep without a cry fest. That is until we introduced the beautiful hum of the vacuum cleaner. It worked like a charm! Anytime he got worked up, just turned it on and he went right to sleep. Someone once told me it sounds similar to what it was like in the womb, so its comforting?! Once I was afraid of burning out my vacuum, we bought a sound machine that plays white noise (and other sounds). Got it for like $30-40 at Target online. Best investment to date!! Just turn on the 'fuzz' and away to sleepyland he goes! Now I use the 'heartbeat' mode to calm him if he's really fussy and it works great too. Just incase you may be interested in it! Saved my life when he was that age! Best of luck!