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When did you start putting your lo on a sleep schedule. I am asking now because I would like to learn more about our different options for sleep training. My little guy is starting to get smart already though. He can be sound asleep (just nursed, clean diaper, etc) and as soon as you put him in his crib he immediately cries and wakes up. We can get him to go down again the first time he gets up to nurse, but the 2 and 3 time isnt as easy. If we bring him back in our room and put him in our bed (what we usually resort to at 4 or 5 when he just refuses to go down and I'm exhausted) he instantly stops crying and sleeps. His room is a good temp, mattress comfy, soft sheet, etc. I'm thinking part of it is his colic, but part is him starting to manipulate us!
we dont really have jayla on a sleep schedule during the day. we let her sleep when she is tired.
her bedtime is between 7-730 and she will sleep through til 6-7am
when i lay her down for bed i lay her in her crib while she is still awake. i read that if you rock thm to sleep, they will expect to be rocked to sleep if they wake up in the middle of the night, whereas, is they put themselves to sleep, the easier it is for them top put themselves back to sleep if they wake up in the middle of the night.
the first couple nights she cried..but i would go in after 5, then 10, then 15 miunutes and re-bink and rub her face... after the first...three ngiht i believe she was putting herself to sleep.
but on the nights she does wake up in the middle of the night i make sure i dont get her out of her bed. if she doesnt put herself back to sleep i iwll go in and re-bink and lately shes been getting her legs caught in the bars of her crib b/c shes moving all over so i re-position her..but i never pick her up....then again, she doesnt eat in the middle of the night. i do make sure to keep the light off, with just the night light on. it works well for us.
shes been on a nightime sleep schedule since about 2 months or so.
ok sorry for the book. i dont even think most of that is relevent to your question. lol
We go through the same thing which is why he is still in our room! I know I should just let him fuss a little bit and he'd get the hang of it but I haven't been able to do it just yet. I will work harder at getting him in his crib after he's 6 months.
Do you have a mobile or crib toy for him to look at? I know that helps Violet fall asleep. We too put her in the crib while she is still awake and she takes a bink and watches her music box that has lights and movemenet etc. She LOOOOOVES it. Of course it goes off after like 8 min. then she fusses and I go in like 4 times, give her the bink and turn it back on. She falls asleep on her own.
And we just make sure to do the same thing night after night. Babies like schedules, and can adjust to them very nicely if you are good about doing it like clockwork
Good luck!!!!!
Oh and we started this at maybe 7 weeks I think.......
It's hard when they are still that young. I'm not sure exactly what age it is when they are supposed to be able to self sooth, but I'm thinking Billy might be a little too young, but I'm not sure. Like I said for the first 2 month Paige slept in her car seat - I don't recommend that though. My best advice, is to stop the co sleeping ASAP!! The longer you wait the harder it will be to stop it all together. Completely just my opinion, but no one gets good sleep when you sleep together - but again it's completely my opinion. I certainly understand why people do it. But what worked for us with (especially with a colicky baby) was the very first sign of tiredness PUT HIM DOWN!!!! For quite a long time, Paige would only be able to be up for about an hour to an hour and a half then she needed to nap. Naps were (and still are thanks to my MIL) very difficult for us so just bare with him as you all learn. It's very tough, but the more he sleeps the better!! He will still sleep at night, I promise!!! Hope that helps some.
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Thank you Julka for my beautifully, perfect siggy!!
William sounds exactly like Zane at 6 months old when we introduced him to his crib from co-sleeping. I did the same thing bring him back to bed at the 4am feeding. I personally sleep better when we cosleep for the most part and so does DH. I don't have to get up and go get him, just turn over and feed him. I get more sleep too.
He's now 13months old and has never slept thru the night. He still wakes up every 3 hours to nurse. I am exhausated and need more than 3 hours of sleep at a time....been going thru this for 13 months and it's not easy, cosleeping has helped. It only gets harder to get them on a schedule when they are older as they are wiser and stuck in their ways. Our next baby we will still cosleep but introduce the crib/bassinette from the get go for naps.
IMHO 2 months is way to young to be sleep training. But to me sleep training and self soothing are 2 different things.
I never rocked Summer to sleep, nor did we co-sleep because I didn't want additional habbits to break later on.
Summer is 17.5 months and has only JUST (in like the last 3 weeks) started STTN though some nights (like last night) she wakes up.
Where does he nap during the day? maybe he isn't farmiliar with his crib?
Summer slept in the pack and play in our room for the first 6 weeks but for naps she always went into her crib. To this day I can put her in her crib wide awake and she puts herself to sleep.
I think he is still quite young and needs his mommy for comfort but thats JMO
I agree that 2.5 months is too young to start sleep training. However, I don't think it's too young to start a bedtime routine, if you haven't already. Babies strive on predictability. While a routine may not be set in stone time-wise for a while due to unpredictable sleeping/eating patterns in newborns, I'd make sure to do the same thing every night before bed to get him to associate certain activities with winding down before bed (bath, read a book, nurse, snuggle, sign a song, whatever works for you guys).
Co-sleeping is not for us so I don't have any advice in that regard. Is he waking because his crib is cold? Going from your warm arms to his cold mattress (think about when you get into bed, usually it's a bit chilly) could be waking him. You could put a heating pad or hot water bottle on his mattress just before bedtime so that it's warm (don't leave the heating pad there, just put it on to get things warmed up and remove it before lying him down ). I also agree with having some kind of musical toy or something in his crib, if you don't already. We got Christian a Soothe & Glow Seahorse by Fisher-Price when he was 3 months old and we haven't looked back. He loves that thing and still uses it at bedtime & nap time. He actually turns it on when he wakes in the middle of the night, too, to soothe himself back to sleep. It's lasts longer than those glow worms that are on the market as well. I believe the music lasts for 5 minutes before shutting off.
If he's having trouble separating from you and that's why he's waking when you put him in his crib, you can try putting something of yours with your scent on it in his crib. A piece of a nightgown or other piece of clothing would work; anything that isn't washed so it still smells like you.
I hope you find something that works for you guys. Sleep issues are no fun to deal.
Thanks everyone. Maybe my first post came across wrong, we DEFINITELY aren't ready to start any type of sleep training, just want to learn different things about it and read about it so that when it is time we are informed and ready, make sense? I'm just trying to figure out why he doesnt want to go back down at that time (between 4 and 5). I certainly don't want to let him cry (since he is young still), so I always get him. He'll sleep for about 20-30 minutes and then is up crying.
I guess I was looking for ways for him to self-soothe! Its hard becacuse he just cries right away. He naps in his swing downstairs, I try to put him in his crib and he doesn't like to nap there (and won't). He has no problem going down at night for his first and second time in there. Its so weird that after that he wants nothing to do with it! I'm going to keep trying to get put him down there to nap and see if that helps. I don't like cosleeping, I dont sleep well but he does. Sometimes I know that if he doesnt sleep he is going to be even more miserable, but we will have to put an end to it sooner than later!
We do have a bedtime routine: quiet play, bath, massage/lotion, pjs, nurse, bed. We do have to hold him upright for 30 minutes after he nurses because of his reflux. DH usually just holds him upright but doesn't rock him and then we put him down. He has a mobile, maybe we'll have to start trying that if he wakes. I'll have to look into some other things as well. I think he'd really like something in there that has my smell, just not sure how to do it safely, KWIM? Thanks for the suggestions!
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Last edited by Jodi0804; February 23rd, 2010 at 08:58 AM.
I think what you've been doing is great already. Nothing with preparing yourself and I honestly don't think there is a too soon. Trust your instincts. You'll know when the time is right.
One thing that has helped calm Brevan when he's fussy when I put him back down is I give him his binky and just lay him in my arms and sway back and forth till he falls asleep. Sometimes he just likes me to hold him for a few minutes longer.
Self soothing ideas- pacifier, music, a lil comforter blanket/taggie/lovey whatever you call them, the seahorse Karly recommended, womb bear, turtle constellation night light.
Yeah, he won't take one! I'm guessing its similiar to him not taking a bottle!!
Thanks for the extra suggestions Lindsey!! We've tried gripe water, doesn't seem to help. We may try some colic tablets though! Maybe that combined with an item to help him self soothe may do the trick!!
Its funny you mentioned the teething. DH and I were thinking he could be teething but thought he was too young. He is drooling like crazy, chomping on his hands, and always takes my finger and starts biting on it (and its a strong bite!). We've offered chewing toys but it doesn't seem interested so we'll keep trying.
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Last edited by Jodi0804; February 23rd, 2010 at 10:24 AM.
Its funny you mentioned the teething. DH and I were thinking he could be teething but thought he was too young. He is drooling like crazy, chomping on his hands, and always takes my finger and starts biting on it (and its a strong bite!). We've offered chewing toys but it doesn't seem interested so we'll keep trying.
That's what Reese started doing at 4 weeks old, as well as developing napping problems (will only stay asleep 20-30 min before crying, so I have to hold her all day). I took her to the Ped today and she thinks it might be mild reflux (they don't always have to spit up a lot to have it - the hand-chewing and fussiness are indications of a potential problem). We're putting her on baby Pepcid.
As for bedtime, pretty much from week 1 on we discovered that she liked to be swaddled before bed and liked having white noise (I have an iPhone app for it, and turn it on low and lay it near her head as soon as we set her in the co-sleeper by the bed), so those are really all we've introduced in terms of a 'routine'. Lately those things don't always work, since she is over-tired and really fussy by bedtime (plus I think the back-laying is hard for her with the reflux), so sometimes we resort to actual bed co-sleeping with her either on one of our chests or on her side next to me. I sleep fine either way.
Yes, Jodi, have you tried any of the white noise? Like the bathroom fan or a CD of a vaccum? We still use the vaccum to this day!!! Also, does he like to be swaddled? We swaddled in the Miracle blanket until she didn't want it anymore.
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Thank you Julka for my beautifully, perfect siggy!!
do you ladies that incorporate baths as part of your night routine bathe everynight? i currently bathe every other but think she does sleep better on those nights so maybe I'll have to do it every night.
Jami I know I have the same fisher price thing as you but unfortunately mine has to be at the end of the bed, so she cant see it! But the last week I've been using the sound and I do think that's helped too.
I also have the seahorse, it's in her cradle (on the main floor) and I tried it for naps but she doesn't seem to care about it. Maybe when she's a little older.
I need to "teach" her to self soothe too, I'm just a sucker and can't let her cry for 2 minutes. I did do it last night though, she woke up like every hour from 2-6, so I knew she wasn't hungry at 3am and 5am since she had just eaten the hour before.
I was really lucky.. Siera basically figured out her own sleep schedule in the beginning. I just paid attention to the tell-tale signs (ex. extra fussy, rubbing eyes, yawning) and then I'd put her in her crib with her blanky and her binky and she'd go to sleep.
Now it's a WHOLE other issue. She's become a teething monster and with me being in school nights, DH is putting her to sleep. He can't tell the difference between her crying and her whining so every time she makes a sound in her crib, he picks her up. (I would just put her in there and let her whine as much as she wants.) So now when we put her down, he automatically runs in and gets her if she so much as makes a peep. It sucks now that I'm home at night and can't put her to bed. Makes me want to "thank" DH with a swift kick to the rear...
do you ladies that incorporate baths as part of your night routine bathe everynight?
Yup and we have since he was born. If sensitive skin is an issue, you can still bathe every night, but only use soap every other night or whatever you find works for you. We've always bathed followed by a nice rub down with lots of lotion.
do you ladies that incorporate baths as part of your night routine bathe everynight? i currently bathe every other but think she does sleep better on those nights so maybe I'll have to do it every night.
I need to "teach" her to self soothe too, I'm just a sucker and can't let her cry for 2 minutes. I did do it last night though, she woke up like every hour from 2-6, so I knew she wasn't hungry at 3am and 5am since she had just eaten the hour before.
Christine,
we do baths every night. He loves them so much. When ever I say it's tubby time to him, he gets all excited and happy. I love seeing him like that . We only keep him in there for like 5 minutes though because I don't want his skin to dry up. It's just enough though to get him all happy.
I definatley agree with letting them learn to self soothe early on. At night Brevan knows now that I will not pick him up when he's in his crib at this point unless he's hungry or needs a new diaper. If he gets fussy I will go in there to check on him and make sure he's ok and if he is and still fussing it's usually because he wants his binky.
We do baths every night also, he loves them. He has sensitive skin so we only use soap every other night.
I actually tried putting him down in the pnp downstairs for a nap. I swaddled him (which he usually resists) and put him on his side with a sleep positioner. He was drowsy but just stared at the light and fell asleep!!!! Now if he could only sleep on his side all the time, I think I'd be a nervous wreck to leave him on his side all night I've just been hanging in the living room making sure he doesn't slide or roll.
ETA: we may try some tylenol tonight to see if that helps at all if he seems like his gums hurt. Thanks so much ladies
