I think the biggest culprit is that she is an expert at pulling up and standing up in her crib now- I think she wakes up, stands up and gets upset about being in bed... as opposed to maybe coming to for a minute, rolling around and falling back asleep. We're not afraid of "tough love," as we call letting her cry it out, though I think it will be much tougher now than it was when she was a couple months old. I'd love to hear if your child did this around 8 months or when they were good at standing and if it just passes, so we should keep going in and rocking her back to sleep when she wakes... or if we need to leave her and let her take care of business on her own, especially at night. I'm so big on schedules and routines, but I've even given in and nursed her on two occasions just to get her to settle down. Like I said, when she was sick, no problem- I know sometimes you just need your mama or daddy when you don't feel good. But that's pretty much over. And I don't think I feel any new teeth. Thanks for your input!
Monday, October 13, 2008
Any suggestions?
For the past few weeks, Abby Jane has had a hard time sleeping. She has been a fabulous sleeper for a very long time until now. She's waking up in the night once or twice many nights and waking up much earlier than usual in the morning on most mornings. It may have had something to do with the cold she's pretty much over that started two weeks ago, but now she's about done with that and still not sleeping well. Her two-hour afternoon nap is sometimes two hours, but often more like one hour.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
firt off- do you have the book 'the wonder weeks'? b/c it talks about the developemental milestones babies go through in their first year and how disturbing thye can be to their sleeping, eating, and mood... it is so helpful to know what your little one is going through.
or it could just be that she picked up some bad sleep habits from being sick and needs to 'relearn' how to sleep well on her own...
but i definately had problems during the pulling up phase, especially before e was good at getting back down on his own.
you are probably doing what we all do- which is wha you can figure is best from time to time, a little rocking and coaxing, a little letting her work it out on her own...
hope that helps
Hey Em! Mary Evans did have a spell like that btw. 9-10 months-she had been sick on and off, was teething, and was very into playing in her bed all at the same time-so we had a number of weeks that were like that some-but she eventually went back to normal. I wouldn't worry-ME was a great sleeper too and did go back-we still have spells where she is tough going to bed or wakes up-we always get over them though. We have never done the "cry it out" thing, but she's always gone back to normal in time:) Hope it ends soon! Love yall!
I think Kate went through the same thing around that time and we talked to her pediatrician about it. She said she had learned some bad habits and that we needed to let her teach herself to go back to bed on her own (especially at night). Also, Kate was teething at the same time, so we threw in a little Motrin at bedtime since it lasts 8 hours. It didn't take long for her to relearn sleeping at all! But, they do get used to the rocking and even the night-feeding and wake up to expect that after forming a habit.
All of Abby Jane's issues sound really normal. Quinn always sleeps worse when he has a cold and whenever he went through learning new things, he would sleep worse as well.
Whatever you do, make a plan and then stick to it. It is impossible to make good decisions in the middle of the night when you get want a "quick" fix. If you and Jake agree then you can encourage each other in it.
We did let QB cry it out for night sleeping when he was about 4 months old, so it could be harder with an older baby. Later on when he went through sleeping issues with naps (probably around AJ's age) we did something a little different. We would go in there at intervals beginning with 5 minutes, then 10, then 15. Just laying him down and patting his back for a second and walking out. This worked for us for naps.
I think every baby needs different things and you know best what that is. I would just sum it all saying that you don't want to go backwards in whatever work you have put in toward her being a good sleeper. It will be worth it down the road to stick to your plan and be consistent.
i have a lot of trouble w/ alleria b/c she pops back up soon as i lay her down. she stands up in the bed and screams. i had finally gotten her to where she would at least sleep 2-3 nights a week and then an ear inf. came up. at daycare, they rock her and put her down w/ a bottle so breaking habits is very hard at our house.
i give in too easy and i don't think that is good for alleria. everyone says crying it out is the only way. i've heard that from everyone. that's the tough part for me. i always cry too.
Rhiannon
Oh man. I am having the worst time with sleep issues since Owen was 5 months old. I have no answers. Wish I did. We can commiserate together.
Jeri
I would have her ears checked. The only symptoms my son ever had of ear infections were either a runny nose or some weird sleeping off schedule issues. He seemed to have infections at each well baby check up and to help me not feel like such a bad mom, the dr. said to just bring him in the next time he had any cold like symptoms....
He ended up with tubes (which was really a breeze) and is a great sleeper to this day- 3.5 years old :)
AGR isn't that old, obviously, but I had TERRIBLE ear problems as a baby and my mom still talks about how I didn't sleep through the night until 2 and a half. I second the recommendation on checking her ears out. It could be something else, but an ear check might solve the problem.
I'm in fear of sleeping issues. Aurelia sleeps 12 hours at night without a peep, but naps so terribly!
Post a Comment