Age three months: dream over. I don't remember what happened. It was first one fluke night, then another, and before I knew it solid chunks of sleep were non-existent. We are talkin' up every two to three hours and sometimes less!! There was a solid week of an hour and a half tops. At night!! And naps during the day? Ha! 45 minutes max.
I kept waiting for this little... "phase" to pass. Here we are, Five months old, and it's not happening. Have I learned my lesson? Oh yeah... No more bragging. No more rub-it-in-your-face-my-baby-sleeps-and-yours-doesn't for me. I will mend my ways. But..... I do have a favor to ask.
I know I am not the only one who has gone or is going through this. Anyone's two cents on this subject would be much appreciated! She sleeps three hour chunks at night, and 45 minute chunks during the day (if you can call that a chunk). I need a little help here. Does any one have any cards for the suggestion box? But you have to know: I am a push over for a crying baby. I don't know if I can play the Let-Her-Cry card. Not yet. Give me another month and I may be singing a different tune.
But I have to admit... She is pretty cute :-)...
13 comments:
I don't know if this help but the same thing happened to my little guy and he turned out to have acid reflux. We took him to the doctor and got him tested because someone said the same thing to me and we put him on medicine and he sleeps just fine. Sometimes they wake up cause they have heartburn and can't tell you it hurts. :(
Sorry Ren.:( That is tough! Well, I haven't read it but I know there is a book called, "The no-cry sleep solution," or something like that. I'm interested in it because I did do the crying thing with my boys, but may not have if I had known about this book then. And yes, I agree, she is a CUTIE!
That stinks! Blake went through a phase like that a few months ago-no fun. It may be just a long phase. I also heard that sometimes when a child is about to go through a developemental leap, they may have sleep issues??? But the acid reflux thing is a good idea too. Both my kids had it, although it was from birth (spit-up everywhere!!) But as for the crying baby-we totally let our kids cry it out and for the most part-they are both great sleepers! Good luck!!
Well Ren, I'm sorry. I'll just say that Kylan didn't sleep a 9 hour stretch until he was 10 months old. And not regularly until he was a year. We had to work with him for the whole year! The book/advice I liked best was from a book (online, I think) I got from a friend called "Sleep Sense". And the other thing that worked wonders was to have Greg go into him when he cried. One week of that and he was back on track. He just wanted Mommy and when he realized that he wasn't gettin' it, he would just lay down and go back to sleep. Good luck!
Hi, I am an old friend of Russell's. I agree with what Leslie said. I had to have Chad, my husband, help me. I couldn't do the crying thing either. Charles would just get more hysterical as I let him cry. But he just wanted me and would go to sleep with Chad. It took a month or so but worked.
I know my youngest is just shy of 3 years old but I seriously don't remember much from their baby days (sad). I do remember that until Jonas was 6 weeks old he would sleep for what I thought was a long time (4-7 hours), and then he got a cold and after that he was up every 2 hours until he was about 8 months old when I finally buckled down and let him cry it out for a few nights.
I know it's so hard to do but in a way they NEED to know how to calm themselves down. If you think she is old enough to go for longer stretches without eating, and you know she probably is just used to you coming whenever she cries, you might want to try it. If you're not familiar with it, basically you let her cry for longer stretches of time, and go quietly pat her on the back every now and then until she falls asleep (i.e., start at 5 minutes, then 10, 15, etc). Hope that makes sense, good luck!
My advice? Wait til she's a teenager....she'll then sleep her life away! Enjoy her now....time flies too fast! :)
I'm voting for the acid reflux thought. Sabrina didn't sleep through the night until she was 2 years old. Turns out that she had an upset stomach because of milk. Put her on lactaid and it didn't help. Once I took her off all dairy products completely, she started sleeping through the night, but now we have nightmare problems!! Same thing happened with Livi. She slept through the night from 2 weeks to 6 months. When I started giving her dairy products from about 6 months to 1 year, she was up every 2 or 3 hours. Went off dairy, and was back to 12 hour stretches!! But that's only for another couple weeks. Baby number 3 is almost here...Good luck!!
I have no kids and therefore have no sleeping advice, but I do want to say that that is the cutest little baby I have seen in a long time! :)
All of my kids got ear infections. So when Avrie isn't sleeping or playing well on her own, I know she has one. The only thing that calms her down is Sudaphed and nursing. I can't let my baby cry and I never could with any of my other 3. No magic answers...do what works so you can sleep. Eventually, they sleep through the night. Both of your kids are stinkin' cute! Wish we lived closer so we could share more parenting tips. And Russ should teach a class on how to be a good husband and father...he is too much!
How cute are you! I just stumbled on your blog from Emily's---I'm Brett & Kevin's sister. Your family is so beautiful--I remember meeting you right after you & Russ were married when you visited our home in AF. Anyway, you'd think that with six kids I'd have some earth-breaking advice for ya...but the ladies have covered it all. Don't dismiss the fact that she could be teething this early on...even if you don't feel the teeth, it's like a knife for those poor babies and it started this early for my now 4 year old. Try a little tylenol one night Although your problem has probably already been resolved!
BTW - Love the valentines hair do! It totally looks like a heart! Super cute!
As for the sleeping thing. My sil was a bragger too...until last month and I had to laugh. My 2nd and 3rd boys have had a pretty good sleeping pattern in the beginning and a combo of teething or just getting older and more aware ends up messing it all up. I don't think I've ever heard of a baby sleeping all night - forever -without a little help. I'm curious to hear your mom's advice on this one...she's had so much experience! I'm a sucker for the crying too. It's so hard to listen to and it feels like it might last forever and in the beginning it might last a long time. I've had a few stubborn babies. I don't do the crying out thing until pretty late usually 7 -9 months...and this time he's 10.5 months and I've decided it's time to get serious...but timing is tough - holidays, busy hubby work schedule...etc. I agree with Kari that they know you will come and they like that and want the comfort...and it's good for them to know how to sleep...but as far as timing on when to get serious about it, that's a toughy...even with the training I've done for my first two - when I wean from nursing at a year is when it all clicks for real - in our house anyway! I like these kinds of discussions because I know other people struggle with the problem too...and if I know other people have to allow their kids to cry to train, it give me more strength and energy to train my boys - in the wee hours of the night when we could all go to sleep with no crying if i just decided to feed them...it's so hard!
Good luck!
ps...i needed that pep talk myself because I'm in that position RIGHT NOW...and need to get more serious at 3 in the morning! Sometimes I seriously longwinded!
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