Sleep Deprived Baby

Selina - posted on 06/19/2012

Honestly dont stress both my girls hate sleepin duren day my 3 yr old frm day one was wide awake most of the day happy as anythen and slept 12 hrs nite waken for feeds i cosleep wth mine so have no advice bout getten bubs to sleep in a cot duren day and still do as bub 6 mths is same as numba one i have an arvo nap wth the girls just afta lunch which i luv as it recharges me n im only a lite sleeper at nite it works out well all 3 of us get up rnd 830 9 am earlier on friday preschool or for appointments do wot we have to sumtimes bub will have a short nap usually in baby carrier on me as we go to park etc afta lunch rnd 130 pm we have a 2 or so hrs nap wake up do dinna bed rnd 830 pm for all of us if older one dont wont a nap we have quiet time movie or cartoons for a while if home bub sleeps in my arms it works for us as i dnt deep sleep n mine is always broken i enjoy my nap too lol

Belinda - posted on 06/18/2012

Amanda, these are all great questions for your coach! Good luck ;) I would wait until you have a plan with her before implementing anything at home. That way you will be consistent and not confuse your baby :)

Amanda - posted on 06/18/2012

Belinda,
I too think my baby boy would go to sleep after 55 minutes or so, but as you know I rock him. So, if I rock him yes, but lately, I'll do that and then once I put him down, he may wake up. So, this morning I did try to let him fall asleep in the crib...I did it until 6:45. So, he woke up at 5, I let him play in his crib until 5:30 when he starts fussing, I changed him, nursed him and did what I do at night by putting him down awake. He cried/fussed off and on and then around 6:45 started playing in the crib again. So, I tried for an hour and just got him up. He's been happy but obviously tired. I'm about to put him down at 8 but rocking him as I have a sitter tomorrow and don't want to ask her to do this. How many naps can he protest though before finally deciding to nap again?

Elfrieda, I so appreciate your comment. I really like what you did. My problem, which I can't find in any sleep books, is if I put my baby down in the crib, he just loves it and starts playing immediately. I don't know how long he will play before he might start fussing. So, maybe I start the timer when he starts crying/fussing...? Could be 30 minutes or so into it...But I like what you did and how you were consistent and finally he understood. Wow...I bet you were SHOCKED when it happened. How was it at bedtime and throughout the night?

Elfrieda - posted on 06/17/2012

My son was quite sleep-deprived as a young infant, he got about 9 hours out of 24 until he was 4 months old. Then he would sleep well for night but it was still pretty rough getting him to nap until he was about 10 months old. We were the same, he was hooked on rocking and couldn't sleep unless we bounced him to sleep for 20-45 minutes. I hated it, it was so physically and emotionally draining, and then often when we laid him down he'd wake up and we'd have to do it again.



We tried a form of sleep training starting around 8 months (we'd do his routine and lay him down awake, then let him scream for exactly 15 minutes and do this once (sometimes twice, with soothing him in between), then go in and rock him to sleep the old way). It wasn't any more difficult than what we were already doing, plus we got a 15 minute breather to calm down. At 10 months it felt like somebody flipped a switch (I'd go out of the room, set the 15 minute timer like usual, and before it rang he'd be fast asleep. Usually within 2 minutes!) and he became a good sleeper, hours-long naps and 12 hour nights, and very little fighting to get him to sleep.



He's 2.5 now, and still sleeps more than the average for his age. I don't know if he's still catching up, or if that's just the way he is. He doesn't seem damaged by that lack of sleep early on. (I think my husband and I are way more damaged than he is... we're terrified to have another baby!) He's not a terrible two at all. He's loud and into everything, but not out of defiance, he's just lively. He's good at puzzles and knows his ABCs. He was slow to learn to walk and talk, but he's starting to really talk now, and was walking by 17 months.



So all that was meant to encourage you. Just get it sorted out soon (without rushing too much) and I'm sure your baby will be fine. Those milestones are tricky. My son did the same thing with crawling, he'd wake himself up because he just couldn't stop crawling, even in his sleep. That was a rough week, but those phases pass.

Belinda - posted on 06/17/2012

excellent! Good Luck with the coach :) I am one of Kim's Gentle Sleep Coaches so I really hope that you found a good coach :) Good Luck and remember to be consistent. By the way, I am sure your coach will tell you not to keep putting him down :), he will do this on his own.

Belinda

Amanda - posted on 06/17/2012

Belinda,
This is what I have been "attempting" to do. Except right in the middle of it he started standing in his crib and getting stuck so I had to help him down. Now, we are indeed in that game. :) He stands up, I lay him back down about 5 times before he falls asleep. I also have only gotten as far as the door and keep going back to settle him.

I'm so nervous that it won't work at nap times b/c I KNOW at bedtime he literally cannot stay awake..however, naps he could totally boycott..or the 5 AM wake up.

we have hired a sleep coach though who uses this technique so hopefully she can help. Thanks again!

Belinda - posted on 06/17/2012

Amanda, I sat next to her crib, patted the bed occasionally, whispered it was time to lie down - I never pushed her or forced her to lie down as this turns into a game. Shushed her, patted her back intermittently. I did not engage her attention, kept my voice low and uninteresting.

I sat there for 3 days, then progressively moved further and further back. I used the Sleep Lady Shuffle created by Kim West. I used the same technique for nap times. I worked on bedtime first (as you did ) But what I found was that as soon as I worked with her on falling asleep on her own at nap times, everything else fell into place. Of course every child IS different. But once you have a plan and are comfortable with it just be consistent.

Stifler's - posted on 06/17/2012

Do you feed him at 5am and then put him back to bed? If my kids wake at that time they get a feed and I make them stay in bed.

Amanda - posted on 06/17/2012

Belinda, thanks so much for taking the time to respond. Yes, I believe the next step is trying to get him to fall asleep without rocking for naps. I've been afraid to try for fear he will just skip it altogether.
B/c he was so tired yesterday I put him to bed at 6:30 hoping that maybe it would help him sleep through that 5 AM thing...but he just woke at 4:30 in stead. It did take about an hour to get him back to sleep, which I did by rocking and he woke up only 30 minutes later. He's already yawning a ton again...and it's only 6:30 AM. I hate seeing him so tired. I feel like I'm doing all I can to help him get the sleep he needs....
The hardest thing is it seemed things were getting better with the early mornings for about a week before he started standing up. He was waking early but it wasn't taking too long to put him back to sleep and he was sleeping an additional hour or so. One morning b/c he woke up at 4, I was able to nurse him and he slept until 6:15 without waking in the 5 AM slot...So, I just don't understand this new 5 AM waking thing, other than I did start supplementing formula at night for his feedings and so his sleep has been very consolidated, so maybe that has something to do with it.

How did you put your daughter back to sleep at that 5 AM time and how old was she then? How long did it take for her to start sleeping through that time?

Belinda - posted on 06/16/2012

It really is common for sleep to fall apart when they are practicing new skills so I don't think it is anything to worry about. I also think that a few days of poor sleep will not adversely effect your baby in the long run.

Why not encourage him to take longer naps if he is still rubbing his eyes when he wakes up? There are several gentle techniques that you can use. Once he has got over his practicing of this new skill I would do a couple of things however, transition him to putting himself to sleep at nap time, start with the morning nap as this is so much easier than afternoon naps, I would also really work on encouraging him to go back to sleep in the morning. This is hard for anyone to do who wakes up at 5 AM, but it can be done.My daughter would fight it for nearly an hour and then all of a sudden usually after about 55 minutes she would conk out again.