bristol has decided that sleeping at night is not fun or cool for a 7 month old. i beg differ and i'm sure you would to if you were in my shoes. my sweet child used to sleep through the night, for weeks and weeks. then around 5 months old she decided that it was no longer cool. we transfered her to her crib from her swing and it was a little rocky but ended up working out great. she had more room to sleep on her side and spread her little body out. i'm not sure why all of a sudden a child can sleep through the night and then BAM, never do it again. i thought i had super baby and i loved telling people " oh yeah, she sleeps through the night". it made me feel like i was a good mom who got their child on a routine and established good sleeping habits. little did i know that developmental milestones, teething, sickness(es) and any other weird things can interrupt their sleep schedule. oh yeah, too much sleep or too little sleep can hinder sleep habits too. she used to take 2-4 hours naps too, now i'm lucky if she gets an hour nap 2 times a day. we have followed the book "baby wise" which is all about the "eat, wake sleep" schedule. We actually STILL follow that. It's supposed to help them sleep through the night, which it did but now look where we are. i have also followed the book " how to solve your childs sleep problems". it took about 3-4 lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng nights to get her to sleep through the night in her crib, but it worked but until 3 weeks ago, we have come to a dead end. i tried ferberizing last week and since she has been teething so bad i decided to wait. well after the last few nights of NO sleep, i am doing it again. right now, she is screaming. i check in on her from 5-20 mins. i increase the time by 5 mins until i hit the 20 min mark.
last night, bristol woke up every hour. every.single.hour. what? why? every time i heard her cry on the monitor i would think...WHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHY? i know she isn''t doing it on purpose, i know this. but, my goodness, sleep is not a bad thing bristol. she IS teething right now but what she REALLY wants is for momma to rock her and hold her alllll night long. i can pick her up from her crib ( screaming and crying) and she will immediately stop crying, instantly. all she wants is me. while i LOVE that and love knowing that she wants her momma, it's been very difficult to get back on a routine since she has been not wanting to go to bed at her normal bedtime.
i'm so lost, frustrated, upset, sad and any other negative feeling there is. i love her so much i just want her to feel like she can fall asleep in her crib and be ok. which by the way, at nap time she has NO problem going to sleep. no problem at all. babies are smart and i know she knows when its night night time. i pray over her every night and just ask the lord for guidance and just to calm bristol's mind, heart, spirit and body. i just dont know what to do anymore. it really isn't about me not getting sleep, i just really want her to get some rest. good rest. not 2 hrs here or 2 hours there.
if you have any tips, i am so willing to hear them. i probably sound pathetic but i am lost.
i just want my sweet baby to get some rest.
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2 comments:
The Cry it out method works best as much as it stinks. I luckaly haven't really had this problem. Kelbie did go through it once I went back to work where she would go to bed at normal time and then around midnight or so she would wake up screaming and didn't want to go back to sleep. Does she sleep with a lovey or music on or anything. Kelbie has to have music her star light and a lovey to go to bed. She wont sleep without any of it.
It surely is just a phase! We went thought this when Max started to roll over, sit up, crawl, and now he is so close to walking and what do you know...he played in his crib from 3am-6am last night just walking from side to side until he collapsed with exhaustion. If it is teething I would give her some Tylenol or Ibuprofen right before bed (the concentrated 8 hour kind). Also, I don't know if this is what you meant or not, but we always followed "eat, play, sleep" and it worked like a charm (usually). I also ALWAYS put Max down with a large bottle whatever the time so I will know FOR SURE if he does wake up, it not from hunger.
Just keep doing what you're doing. I really think it's a phase. So my only advice is Tylenol, a routine (ex. not longer than 2-3 hours awake time) and a bottle before bed.
Good luck! I know it's beyond exhausting.
Bethany
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