falling asleep

[Anonymous]

well…i am having an issue with getting Trace to sleep like a “normal” baby. since he was very young, and in a lot of pain, i got Trace to fall alseep by rocking. later, i got him to fall asleep in his swing, or in his bouncy watching an einstein. there were many nights were he just screamed and would not sleep and these were the only 2 methods that worked.
now i am stuck. he cannot fall asleep on his own. i cant ever just put him down in his crib to go to bed. he will sit right up or stand up and just scream and scream. and now every night is getting more difficult. now when i try to put him down for the night in his swing or boucny he just cries and cries…he cries himself to sleep. the only thing that makes him stop is if i pick him up, but obviously he cant go to sleep if i am walking around with him and neither can i.
ugh! help! i think i need to read that no cry sleep solution book.

[Anonymous]

Can you try starting a little routine with him? Right now I will maybe give a bath, then sit in the rocking chair, read a couple of books, and then give a bottle, all with classical music playing and the lights very dim. I can’t say I ever really had a terrible time getting Dagney to sleep, but there would be nights where I’d put her down, she’d wake up, I’d have to pick her back up again. We used to have to really bounce, walk, sway all around the room until she went to sleep, but now it’s gotten a little easier. Usually I walk/sway a little with her after the bottle, and she’s out. Sometimes she falls asleep while eating, which isn’t great, but oh well. She used to keep waking up in that first hour or so, but now I’ve found she usually only wakes up once. I’m sure being on the highter prevacid dose has helped, but they say the routine helps them too. I started another thread about the No Cry Sleep Solution, I plan on getting it this weekend, since she needs to do the book/music/sway for naps, and I’m concerned when I go back to work in March that she won’t ever nap.

Good luck, and let us know if you find anything that may help ease bedtime!

[Anonymous]

I agree with the routine thing. Brianna has gotten a bath every night since she was about 1 month old! It surely helped us when she went through her period of not falling asleep in my arms. I used to hold her and walk around her room listening to a CD to get her to fall asleep, and then I would put her to bed asleep. Well one night she just would not go to sleep, and I was so tired that I just needed a break. I put her in the crib, she screamed bloody murder and stood at the end of her crib just sobbing. I was just too pooped and needed a moment to myself, so I just walked out of the room. Wouldn’t you know it, in 15 min she was asleep. So the next night it happened again, with only about 5 min of crying. Now Brianna hardly cries at all, and if she does, it is only until I close the door, then she is asleep. I think the routine helped her to know that it was night time, and that she needed to go to bed.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I agree with the routine thing. My babies all got a bath, books and a bottle and then they knew it was bedtime. Another thing that helps is a lovey (transitional object). For my kids it was always a blanket. At about Trace’s age I started snuggling them with the same blankie while we read books and had that last bedtime bottle. After a while they all became very attached to the blankie and it helped alot in putting them down because they’d take it with them. Myles hugs his blankie every night when I put him down and it really does help him fall asleep.

I really like the ideas in “Good Night, Sleep Tight.” Basically you sit in a chair next to the baby until the baby falls asleep. I think you gradualy move the chair further and further away until the baby gets used to falling asleep alone. I haven’t read the book because my kids were all sleeping by the time I heard of it but I saw it on Oprah and I thought it sounded like a very gentle way of sleep training.

[Anonymous]

thanks for the suggestions!!! i know i should have started a routine a long time ago. i have always just been a “go with the flow” type of person and wasnt into strict routines…but i guess with a baby its a different story and it is something that they need…

[Anonymous]

We are starting the no cry sleep solution. She suggests that you make sure your little one is getting two good naps at the same time every day. Of course, life will get in the way and it can’t be the exact same. For Justice I have started trying to put him down at 10 am and 1 pm. She says to put them down as soon as they get tired. She says get into a routine before you try to stop rocking, or nursing to sleep. You can break that habit later. I would also suggest like the other ladies said something that signals sleep. A word, song, book, or whatever you can think of. Justice’s is a sound machine, but at night when it is already on, the word is shhhhhh. Oh I forgot to mention they should go to bed at the same time every night too. I wish I remembered everything she said. That is just where we are right now. I would get the book from your library and read it. Also, try some of the other books that the other moms recommend. I know Laura has some good suggestions. Dr. Sears has a new one out. I can’t remember what it says. I bought that one, but my friend is using it right now.

Has Trace always been that way or is this new with all that is going on with him? Justice just started sleeping better today.

[Anonymous]

well, when Trace was only a few months old and before the meds when they labeled him “colicky” i always had trouble getting him to sleep-he needed to be rocked or put in the swing or watched a baby einstein. so this continued and now i am realizing that babies should be able to fall asleep by placing them in their cribs, but he wont because of how it was in the early months.

[Anonymous]

I personally think it is rare for a baby to go to sleep in their crib by themselves. I think you have to teach them how to do it. I mean they were put to sleep by us walking the whole nine months they were in us. Just my opinion. I know other moms don’t agree. We beat ourselves up though because a rare few will go to sleep on their own in their cribs. I have never had one of those babies. Maybe the baby that we will adopt will do it. Maybe? I do however think that if we teach them how to sleep in their cribs by themselves it can happen.

[Anonymous]

I would join the chorus for a transitional object (in addition to whatever other strategy you try)- alana has a little pink puppy dog and it goes with us everywhere- that way crib, pram, daycare etc she associates this with sleep. She snuggles in to him and more often than not is of to the land of zzz’s

[Anonymous]

Aidan still cries if I put him down before he is truly tired (er screams I mean). I have to get him at JUST the right moment if he gets TOO tired then he also screams, he has a lovey as well, but thinks that by tossing it out of the c rib I’ll come back in (I figured that one out VERY fast). He’s a smart little bugger, but I never give in and he usually falls asleep within 10 mins or so, I hate to hear him cry but I know he’s not in pain he’s just pissed off he has to go to bed!!!

[Anonymous]

Aidansmom79 wrote: he has a lovey as well, but thinks that by tossing it out of the c rib I’ll come back in (I figured that one out VERY fast).

lol, Trace does the exact same thing. little stinker haha.

[Anonymous]

Babies are so funny! When Myles doesn’t want to back to sleep in the middle of the night he just lays there on his back and screams bloody murder while kicking the side of his crib until I come in and give him his nuk. I really want to toss that thing out but I have absolutely no resolve at 3 am, so I go in and give it to him.

[Anonymous]

Oh yeah a transitional object. She talks about that in the book too. She recommends a snodel.

Hey Christine. Have you tryed putting a bunch of nuks in the bed and teaching him to get it himself? I nannied for a little girl that had probably 8 in her bed.

I can’t believe your little ones throw the stuff out of their beds for attention. They are smart. I don’t think Justice would think of that one. Wow! Little smarties they are.

[Anonymous]

I feel for any family that has baby sleep problems! I NEVER dreamed it would be as hard as it was. Thankfully when Sarah’s reflux was resolved, her weird sleep habits started to diminish as well. I was unsure for a long time if she had reflux or sensory issues (pre-PPI medicine). So after starting Zegerid, things slowly started to improve and I emailed Dr. Phillips about Sarah’s SCREAMING to fall asleep, having to be swaddled very tightly, and sleeping in the swing. He said those were all LEARNED behaviors due to the reflux and they could be changed, but it would take time. I feel that Trace has learned all of his behaviors for the same reasons Sarah did…darn reflux!

It took letting her cry it out one hellish night before she learned to fall asleep on her own. Sarah is not cuddly anyway, so rocking is OUT OF THE QUESTION. She won’t let me. She has a favorite blankie now that I only give her when it’s bedtime and she KNOWS that when she sees it, it’s time for bed. She usually puts her thumb in her mouth as soon as she sees her blankie (the thumb is only when tired too) I recommend a trasition object and some strong mommy will power. Letting Sarah cry it out that first night was awful. I posted about it on here b/c I was going insane listening to her cry. Things have been great ever since.

We are also very schedule oriented, but Sarah has led it to be that way. She goes down for her 2 naps at roughly the same time everyday (she is NOT an off and on all day cat napper) and she goes to bed about the same time every night. I enjoy the consistency. Sometimes it is frustrating to schedule things around her naps, but she doesn’t function well without them so it’s worth it and part of “mommyhood” I guess. I don’t feel like a prisoner as much as I did last summer pre-meds…so it’s all good.

OK, you probably didn’t need Sarah’s entire history. Got a little carried away there.

Hope things get better!

Oh and I wouldn’t rule out ear problems with all of his fussiness/clinginess lately either though. It’s always something!!!! Grrr!

[Anonymous]

Justice’smom wrote: I personally think it is rare for a baby to go to sleep in their crib by themselves.

okay now i am kind of lost…
i mean, how do all of your babies go to sleep? i gave him a bath and i tried reading Trace a book and he jsut squirmed in my arms and wouldnt sit still, he was looking around at everything. this was 5 min. ago.
so now i put him in his crib and he started crying. so i put a baby einstein on and he is standing in his crib watching it.
the blanekt he loves is dirty right now, i wish i would have known that cause its whats going to be is transitional object.

what do you guys do when you do your routine or whatever, and lay them in the crib, but they still wont sleep? Trace just stands up and whines and stuff. or do your babies fall asleep in your arms first and then do you place them in the crib? agh this is so frustrating sometimes.

[Author]

Posts