Since I am still nursing Parker I hadn't really pushed a nap schedule and at night I just feed him whenever he gets restless since he is sleeping in a co sleeper by our bed. And it was working...until the past few weeks when he stopped sleeping 4-5 hours at a stretch and began getting up every 2-3 hours and waking up and not falling back to sleep. Plus he won't nap in his co sleeper or crib during the day so unless he falls asleep in his car seat and sleeps when I get home I have to carry him around and I can't get anything accomplished.
This week has been the worst with sleep. Tuesday night I fed Parker at 1:15 and I had to get up and change him since he wet through his diaper. I got him back down at 1:45 and Braden woke up throwing up at 2 so Brad and I didn't get into bed until 5:30 the next morning. Wednesday night Parker slept in the co sleeper until 1:30 then started crying every time I tried to lay him back down so I ended up putting him in bed with me which meant I got NO sleep. This takes us to Thursday night. Parker wakes up at 1 I nurse him hoping he falls back asleep- he does not. Brad rocks him and gets him to sleep- until he lays him down. This goes on until 2 am and I decide I will put him the car and drive him around to try to get him in a deep sleep (I am not a fan of this idea- we did it with Braden when he was a week old and have not again, however I didn't see a lot of other options at 2am). That takes me to driving up and down I 20 at 2am trying to get him asleep, which finally happened after 30 minutes until I got home and he woke up!
With that said driving I 20 at 2 am has gotten me to the place where my mind is made up that it is time for Parker to start sleeping through the WHOLE night in his OWN crib in his OWN room. The only reason this happened with Braden was because Brad said it was time to get him out of our bed when he was 5 months old. So with Braden I did a lot of research on different sleep strategies and we decided on the Ferber method...let them cry 5 minutes, then soothe, but don't pick up, cry 10 mins. soothe but don't pick up and so on. Well, I had the hardest time listening to Braden cry and if it weren't for Brad I would have gone into get him. But he cried through the first 5 minutes, then I soothed him and he stopped crying on the 9th minute of the next cycle and has been sleeping through the night ever since.
So my mind is made up. We WILL try it starting Wed. night (I don't have to go back to work Thursday) and I WILL be strong! But here are my hurdles.
- I am still nursing Parker, but I think that he should be able to last through the night without eating (I think it is more for comfort during the night at this point anyway)
- I am still swaddling him at night, which I won't do for safety reasons when he is in his own crib in his own room for safety reasons since he can now roll over.
So any and all mothers with any advice or ideas, I am interested in listening.!!!!
2 comments:
Hey Chassidy! So, how's it been going with the crying it out method? If I'd known, I'd have asked about it last night. :) It is the only thing that worked for our oldest two, too. But boy, you are not kidding--listening to them cry is just awful! We've done some of the CIO stuff with Jonah. What I've found during the day is key with him is to get him full, but keep him awake an hour after he eats. Which is impossible when he's nursing (that is like his sleeping pill) but with a bottle, it's doable. Then we play hard until he's almost falling asleep and I lie him down in his crib. At those times, he almost always falls asleep within a minute or so.
If Parker was sleeping 4-5 hours, but hasn't been lately, could it be a growth spurt or teething? I pretty much give Tylenol at the drop of a hat with this baby (LOL) so if you think it could be teething, a dose of Tylenol could be worth a try. Those teething tablets are pretty good, too.
Hang in there! It's funny how these babies always switch it up on us just when we think we've figured them out!
Hey There,
I am so sorry you are so tired. No fun! I don't envy you at all. On another note. The kiddos are too cute!
Before I went back to work with William, our pediatrician said there was no reason for him to be waking up in the middle of the night. We had already been working on his sleeping through the night but this info just gave me more encouragement to not go an get him when he woke up. I started turning off the monitor and then waking up a little while later to check on him and he would be asleep.
Just go with your instincts. But it definitely could be that he is going through a developmental milestone or those little teeth. I hope you have a great summer.
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