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| My normally happy baby girl! |
Ever since Linna was about 2-3 months old, she's been sleeping through the night, and we are so thankful for that. Sometimes she'll fuss before bed, but she'll generally have a 5-7 oz. bottle (breast milk), and I'll put her in her crib on her tummy, pat her butt, and she'd fall asleep.
HOWEVER... in the last week, Linna has started having a really tough time going to bed.
Her bedtime USED to be 9 or 10 p.m. (about a month ago), but lately we've started feeding her at 7:30 or 8 p.m. to make sure she's asleep by 8:30 or 9 p.m., (she sleeps until 8 or 9 a.m.). She eats about 5-8 oz. (breast milk), I feed and rock her in her dimly lit room with soft music playing (she's been falling right to sleep to this music for the last month), but the second I lay her in her crib. she starts to cry. I pat her on her butt and say "shhhhhhhhhh" and "nite nite", like I normally did when she would fall right to sleep. But lately it's like she can't shut off her brain and just fall asleep.
We've tried the "cry it out" method, as well as picking her up and rocking her, etc., but in the last week, it's taking us at LEAST an hour of crying/screaming to get her to finally fall asleep. I feel so bad for her because I don't know if she's teething, has gas, etc., so it's very hard for me to "just let her cry".
As an example, here's how tonight went...
7:30 p.m. - She drank 6 or 7 oz.
7:45 p.m. - Papa Saigh laid her in her crib (awake) and patted her butt. She cried, so after a few minutes he picked her up and rocked her. That didn't work, so he tried to feed her a little more. That worked for about 3 seconds and she started crying again, so he tried to rock/bounce her and she would stiffen up and cry.
8 p.m. - I came in to relieve Papa Saigh. I bounced/rocked Linna for a few minutes until she started to fall asleep. I laid her in bed (on her tummy... the way she normally sleeps). She started crying. I patted her butt, and tried the "cry it out" method for 5 minutes (then comforted her while she was still in the crib), 10 minutes (then comforted her while she was still in the crib), then another 10 minutes, until I finally picked her up to rock her. When I rocked her, she would fall asleep, while sort of whining (which is really cute by the way, because she whines "mamamamama" or "nigh, nigh, nigh, nigh...") a little bit too.
8:45 p.m. - We gave her some "Little Fevers" (Tylenol for infants - I hate giving her meds when I don't know for sure something is wrong), rocked her for a few minutes, then laid her in her crib to cry it out (I was ready to pull my hair out). I think she cried for about 10-15 minutes before falling asleep on her own around 9 p.m. or so.
Right now, Linna is 4.5 months old, is pretty much an angel during the day (eats and naps when she wants - often falling asleep on her own, and only fusses when she's hungry or ready for a snooze), but this new nighttime routine/habit of hers makes me want to pull my hair out. I easily lose patience (never with Linna, but my poor husband gets the brunt of it). My nerves are SHOT by the time she is finally asleep. Tonight, mama is having a little vodka 7-Up... Merry Christmas;)
Have any of you parents dealt with a situation like this? What helped you? All and any advice is welcome!
I've been there! I think all babies go through changes in their sleep habits as they grow. Right off I'd say she's just not ready for bed when you are trying to put her down. I know this is the case with Logan when it takes 2-3 times for me to get him to go to sleep to no avail. I find that if I let him play for another 20-30 minutes he will go to bed much easier. So try keeping her up until 830, feed her, and put her down by 9 since that is the time she fell asleep. I must say you are VERy lucky she sleeps so late! Logan wakes up around 6am every day! I'd also suggest that if you're going to do CIO to let her cry longer. She is getting old enough to realize that her crying gets a response from you, one which includes being held and comforted. There's nothing wrong with that, it just makes the method of CIO harder. I know it is so hard to hear her cry but after a few nights she should be crying for fewer and fewer minutes. Regardless what you guys decide to do, sleep changes happen all the time. Logan is 22 months old and is having a very hard time going down for his nap now.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the above. If you do decide to CIO (We never did tho) I would suggest longer. She may know, hey if I cry they WILL pick me up... I would also suggest putting something that smells like you in the crib for comfort. How long is her last nap and when does it go until?
ReplyDeleteWell we actually just started putting her to bed earlier and that did the trick! CIO is so tough so I'm happy we didn't have to resort to that for too long. Last night she went to bed at 8pm, and it's 9am now and she's still sleeping:) Thanks mamas!!!
ReplyDeleteIf she is teething the Hylands Homeopathic Teething tablets work awesome...they dissolve immediately when you give them to her, so no choking, AND ,they are a healthier option than Tylenol for when you're not sure what's going on with her. sometimes they will just calm her down.
ReplyDeleteCrying it out is tough, and I often work with parents who don't want the CIO method though need the baby to soothe themselves to sleep, it can be tricky!
Kudos to you for hanging in there!