Addison has been doing really well with sleeping through the nights and taking good naps until this past week. Every night she has woken up between 2 and 3 am which isn't too bad but I would really like to get her back to sleeping through the night. Furthermore, I would like to figure out her daytime nap schedule. I've taken a lot of things from the book Baby Wise and have found much success with her eating and sleeping patterns...until last week! Her previous schedule was to eat ~5 oz. at 6:00, 9:00, 12:00, 3:00, 6:00 and final feeding at 9:00. After each feeding with the exception of the final one, she would play for awhile and then go down for a nap until her next feeding. I have not taken the leap to put her to bed awake only to let her cry herself to sleep...
Anyway, her new thing is to eat at all of those times, but then only sleep for 20-50 minutes off and on between each feeding. This afternoon and evening she has only slept on and off for an hour...not nearly enough. I think she is getting to the age where she may be ready to put all those little naps together into one long morning nap and one long afternoon nap. I also wonder if she needs to eat more at each feeding, maybe somewhere between 5 and 6 oz.
So I need your honest input and help...
1. What have you found that has worked for your baby(ies) as far as sleeping patterns?
2. I want to stick to our feeding schedule, but how can I culminate all her little naps into one larger nap?
3. Is this normal for a child to completely change her sleep schedule all of a sudden?
4. Baby Wise suggests teaching an infant to fall asleep on their own starting at 2 weeks of age, but I strongly disagree with this. I don't think a newborn should be left to cry. But Addison is now 3.5 months old, in your opinion, is this too early to have her cry herself to sleep until she figures out how to go to sleep calmly?
She just finished going through a growth spurt so I don't think she's going through one now... She does have a cold, and maybe that's what's contributing to all of this???
Anyway, I thank you in advance for taking your time to help me. This whole mom thing is just a huge guessing game! Does it ever get easier?
To family members that don't have a google account, you can always leave feedback as "anonymous" and then in your comment leave your name so I know who wrote it! I would really like your input!!!
Jess, the cold probley does have something to do with it. I think you should try giving her a warm bath and then food and swaddler her. Who knows if it will help but maybe.It is normal for babies to change everything all of the sudden they have to keep us on our toes! Sad to say no it doesn't get easier it will just be something else! Hang in there you are a good mom! Best of luck!
ReplyDeleteSo I don't know who you are, but I stumbled upon your blog somehow through clicking on other friends' and noticed this particular entry. I had the SAME problem so I'll let you in on the secret that my sister shared with me that seemed to help. I'm not familiar with Baby Wise, but I STRONGLY suggest "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Marc Weissbluth. My daughter is now 7 months and we were so against letting her cry herself to sleep. We waited until she was 6 months, and I think this book doesn't suggest doing it until the baby is about 4 months old. Anyway, check it out... it worked for us, my sister, and tons of other mom's I know. It's great b/c it explains how even though as parents we hate to do that to our children (crying to sleep) we have to realize that we are doing it so they can be healthy and get the rest they need. My daughter wasn't going to sleep until 4am each morning and it was a disaster, now we have brought her bedtime down to 9pm and we're slowly lowering it down to 8pm. Her naps are all at certain times... we just lay her in her bed, and she falls right to sleep... no tears. Hopefully it works for you, remember that you need your rest too just as much as baby!
ReplyDeleteThe book also said something about how around the age your baby is at, their sleeping patterns are likely to change if they are not already on a schedule. So really, this is probably the best time to try it. Hang in there though, I'm a first time mom too so I understand your frustrations trying to figure everything out. I hope this works for you though, TRY IT!
Good luck,
-a fellow mom :)
Jess, Dylan did that exact same thing for about a week. That's when I kinda stopped holding him non-stop, which is VERY hard, but it did the trick. I let him down more and to play with his toys, not so much of just Dylan and Mom. And I breastfed him so after he was done with that and didn't show any intrest anymore or he fell asleep it was straight to his bed to sleep by himself. He is now 17 months and he has been sleeping through the night ever since, he goes to sleep just fine by himself, no crying just to sleep. At bed I've always been a firm believer in a routine, so ours is to eat about 5:30ish and then play till about 7:30 then it's tub, Dylan loves the tub and always has he sits in there for 30-45 minutes EVERY night! After the tub we lotion down, read a story or two and put him in his crib. This has worked great for us. When he was as little as Addison, I never really just held him to hold him, I always thought that it takes away from his independence. I would get on the floor and play with him all the time, this is prob why he was walking at 10 months he's very independent! Stick with what you think is best, because you are the Mom and what you do is always the right way to do it. No matter what anyone tells you, you know your child they don't and you know how you wnat your child to behave and act that's why you are always right.
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