Home › Forums › Infant Reflux Information › Sleeping › Input on Sleep Training…
- This topic has 2 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 19 years, 8 months ago by
Anonymous.
-
AuthorPosts
-
March 1, 2007 at 9:56 am #26166
Anonymous
InactiveI know I’m kind of obsessed with sleeping/sleep training/naps etc…please forgive me for that! Dagney’s always been a great sleeper at night and not so great in the day, but her naps seem to be coming around now (knock on wood). BUT I don’t want to do anything to ruin that, so I worry every night that this could be the night she starts to NOT sleep through anymore, and every nap I’m afraid she’s going to be up within 30 minutes and miserable. (All those books–Weissbluth, Ferber–and my pedi say that if you rock to sleep they WILL wake up in the middle of the night and expect to be rocked back to sleep!) I always rock/walk her to sleep, and for the most part that’s been working fine, she’ll proceed to sleep 10-12 hours straight. We’ve seen/heard her wake up in the middle of the night and get herself back to sleep by herself, so that was a relief too. We do the whole routine before bed (bottle/books in dim room w/ music) and she has her blankie now that she seems to like. (Sometimes when I give it to her she cuddles and nuzzles with it as if she knows that means it’s bed time). She typically sleeps from 7:30 pm until about 6:45 am, but we can leave her in there for about 1/2 hour or longer, although usually we’ll get her around 7.
She also seems to now be fairly stable with her reflux and this stomach bug she had seems to be going away. She’s woken up the last 3 nights in a row, but I attribute that to the bug–last night was at 1am and she HAD to eat–she guzzled down a 7 ounce bottle really fast. The pedi said once she was feeling better, she’d make up for all the formula she missed while she was sick, so I’m assuming that’s what that was. But a little piece inside of me worries that she’s going to start waking every night now and we’ll never get a full night’s sleep again…
My questions are: Has anyone else experienced this with a baby whose reflux was under control (you rock to sleep & baby wakes up expecting to be rocked back to sleep)?, I’d never heard of this before I read those books, none of my neices & nephews seemed to do that, but you never know…
If I’m going to sleep train/CIO any suggestions? Sometimes now when I put her down, she may wake very briefly, then nuzzle the blankie and go to sleep, but other times her eyes may pop open and she’ll look at me like “ok, you can pick me back up now!” (which I’ve been doing immediately the last few days since she has been sick). She will also put herself back to sleep during her nap by nuzzling her blankie. When we’re in the car & she’s tired, she’ll usually cry somewhat briefly & go to sleep. I know that CIO works, but I’m so afraid it will kick up her reflux & she’ll throw up and then I’ll have to pick her up and clean her up after it all anyway, and it all would have been for nothing! I did buy “Good Night Sleep Tight”, but I haven’t read it yet, but from reading other posts here, I think I have the general idea of that. It’s a gentler, but longer process than CIO normally is, and I think she may just get really upset if I stand there patting her tummy and don’t pick her up…
Also, she’s just getting over the bug, we’ll be going away next weekend for 2-3 nights (1 week from tomorrow), and then the Monday we get back she has her 6 month appointment where she’ll get immunizations again, which may very well kick up her reflux like at her 4 month appointment. That rotavirus vaccine was just terrible and kicked her butt for at least 1- 1 1/2 weeks! SO, I could try the CIO this weekend and I’m thinking it may not take too long for her, she’s fairly adaptable from what I can tell…then she’d be done before next weekend. BUT the travelling and immunizations may work against it & we’d have to re-do it afterwords possibly anyway…
Ok…sorry this is so rambling and indecisive…I’m slightly sleep deprived this morning! Any input on when/how/what would be greatly appreciated!! The sad thing is I love that time that I rock her to sleep, it’s so sweet and innocent, but I really don’t want her to wake up in the middle of the night, or more importantly wake ME up to get her back to sleep!!
Thanks in advance!
March 1, 2007 at 10:55 am #26185InactiveMy babies were good sleepers (excpet for Ellie while her reflux was untreated), and I held them and gave them a bottle, and rocked them a little before bed. The important thing is that they are awake enough when you put them down that they are aware that they are going to bed. If they fell into a sound sleep while I was holding them, I’d give them a big kiss and jostle them a little and make sure they stirred enough to be aware that I was putting them to bed. I’d say “good night, mommy loves you” loudly enough for them to hear me. So, they were rocked and cuddled and very sleepy, but awake and groggy when I layed them down.
This was enough for my babies to have that perfect combination of cuddle time with mommy before bed, but still being able to soothe themselves back to sleep in their own bed. I never had to rock them or feed them back to sleep in the middle of the night…..unless they were sick. And I’m a lot like you…I’d worry after an illness that they would not go back to self soothing and sleeping all night again, but they always did. The sleep training that I had done all those months was a good foundation, so they had no trouble going back to it after an illness.
It sounds like Dagney has terrific self soothing skills. And she has a lovey (her blankie). So, she seems to have that good foundation for independent sleep. I’d just make sure she’s somewhat awake when you lay her down after you rock her for a while. There’s nothing wrong with rocking as part of a bedtime routine…it’s heaven for mommy and baby….as long as baby can fall asleep in the crib after being rocked.
Try to relax about little blips in the routine…illnesses or trips….things will go back to normal if that foundation is there.
March 1, 2007 at 11:18 am #26191InactiveWe always rocked my older one to sleep and then put her down after a bottle. When we weaned the before bed bottle, she surprised me by telling me that she wanted to go “night-night” when I was trying to rock her in the glider. I put her down to sleep in the crib, and that was the start of independent sleep for her. Rocking never caused her any trouble, and even when we had bumps in the road from travel or sickness or whatever, she was always able to get back to her regular pattern.
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
