A few philosophical questions
• How can you "sleep train"--and no, not CIO, but the most basic move of laying the baby in the crib at bedtime and sitting on the floor next to the crib to act as a soothing presence--when the baby, instead of lying there peacefully and drifting off to sleep, stands up, reaches through the bars to grab your nose, and laughs uproariously?
• Does it count as CIO if, at 3 a.m., you conclude that your hour-long efforts to soothe the crying baby are only riling her up, place her in the crib (where she immediately pulls up and continues to wail) and stand there until she literally falls down and goes to sleep? (My husband did this, not me. Hey, it worked.)
• At what point does a sleep regression cease to be a sleep regression and merely become a way of life?
(Nearly three months of "regression" now. Ughsfkunjwgiusefjhbg.)
• Does it count as CIO if, at 3 a.m., you conclude that your hour-long efforts to soothe the crying baby are only riling her up, place her in the crib (where she immediately pulls up and continues to wail) and stand there until she literally falls down and goes to sleep? (My husband did this, not me. Hey, it worked.)
• At what point does a sleep regression cease to be a sleep regression and merely become a way of life?
(Nearly three months of "regression" now. Ughsfkunjwgiusefjhbg.)
posted by electriclady at 11:56 AM
6 Comments:
P's regression - a few wakings during the night and 5am (or earlier) starts lasted from when she started crawling at 8 months until about 12 months. Oddly enough, it stopped really suddenly, and thank eff.
I think it can go on and on because they are developing so much in a short period of time. I say this because clearly I know everything.
We had a sleep regression of at least six weeks. Thank God she is now sleeping like a normal person again.
I don't know what to do with the giggly non-sleeper. Well, I do know what I'd do, actually. I'd give her some soft toys and hightail it out of there.
I think your husband and I share the same parenting style.
I think some kids will just never do that. My DS is 3.5years and his sleep styles have changed many many times. From "none" for the first year and a half, to wanting to be left alone, to going back to swaddling and holding etc etc. Right now we just read a story and lay down together (we co-sleep obviously) and he goes to sleep usually. I think your situation is harder though because you have to get up and go to your workplace each day.
In answer to your first question: if you don't have Elizabeth Pantley's No Cry Sleep Solution, buy it or take it out from the library. I'm not promising perfection, but she has some nifty ideas in there. Everything she suggests, though, requires time and patience. No Weissbluth "let your kids scream his head off for two hours by the third he will just collapse into a heap and sleep like a puppy all night long" business.
Point two - sometimes that's all you can do.
Our recent sleep regression didn't last three months, but it was pretty long: two weeks of the peak waking-every-90-minutes blood-curdling-screams nothing-will-get-them-to-sleep variety, with a ramp-up of a few not-great nights and followed by another 15-20 nights of at least one kid waking up at least three times per night. It is just tapering off now...we can finally once again rely on a few hours of peace after a 7:30/8:00-ish bedtime, but most recent nights at least one, if not both, has woken up twice to nurse (instead of one or zero times, which was what we had during the late summer golden period).
If BatGirl does fall asleep to rocking/backrubbing/whatever, now may be a good time to introduce a blankie or lovery of some sort. It would be a slow progression, but if you can create a strong sleep association for her, your life (and hers) will be much better. (This works wonders for Rafi. Rita, not so much. She never attached to anything besides her thumb and our shoulders, our shoulders are non-detachable, and we can't force her thumb into her mouth.)
i have a pic of dd sort of sitting, and slumped over her legs because she was too exhausted to sit up anymore. and she hadn't even cried really when i put her down...maybe fussed for 5 minutes. she loves to do that stand in the corner of the crib thing...just staring at the door waiting for me to open it. good luck and i hope she gets back to sleeping better soon!
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