Oh Great *sigh* another sleep related question...

[todzwife]

Sunday night Ds decided that he can't go to sleep anymore without a whole lot of screaming...no matter what I do he is just too tired to go to sleep! I nurse him and that works for about 10 minutes but then his eyes pop open and we have to start over (and over and over and over...)Fortunately this only seems to happen right about 7:30 ish (but lasts until 9-10)He has no trouble going to sleep during the day and in the middle of the night. I know he's just too tired, but what can I do? Would a bedtime routine help? We ran he vacuum last night for 40 minutes because he likes the noise, but we don't want to burn out the motor, is there something that works like the vacuum? DH was begging me to ask "on the boards" what we could do. He gets really stressed when DS is screaming and usually leaves the house leaving me with the crying baby. Fortunately becuase of my nanny experience, I *sort of* know how to fix it, although my poor ears are worse for the wear. I just hate to see DS so upset. Any suggestions would be great. Oh..we swaddle and rock and all that Jazz, but even in the swing he won't stay asleep. :(

[Karenn]

Shandelle,
Sorry about the sleep situation. :( I don't have much advice but there is an alternative to the vacuum cleaner. Lots of places sell what is called a "white noise" machine. Target sells one that is really inexpensive. Look for it by the hair dryers. It's by Homedics. We wouldn't have been able to live without ours for those first few months and we still use it.

Good luck!

[amp]

Try a white noise machine (which can be purchased at Target, Walmart, etc) or record the hairdryer or vacuum and play the tape when you put him down to bed. You might try swaddling him tightly (apparently even when we swaddled, we weren't doing it tight enough). Lots of people recommend the book "The Happiest Baby on the Block" by Dr. Karp, which talks about how this is the 4th trimester and babies don't yet know how to soothe themselves. It gives the 5 S's of soothing. I've read it and it makes lots of sense to me, but by the time we read it, it was really late in the game, so we didn't use much of it. This is not unusual for young babies, so hopefully you can get some good advice here. Good luck!

[todzwife]

The closest Target is an hour and a half away, and DH already checked Wal-Mart and they didn't have anything. :( Is there anywhere I can order one online? We Drove to Albuquerque (4 hours) on Monday and stopped at a BRU. There was a bear that sounded like the inside of a "womb", does anyone have one of those? Does it work? Thanks!

[Karenn]

Shandelle,
My mom has the first one on this page from Brookestone. [http://makeashorterlink.com/?S62541586]

It's a lot more expensive, but I wasn't sure how desperate you were. ;) (The Target one is more like $10, I think.) Also, there are CD's that you can buy which have the sounds of ocean waves on them. For months we would put an ocean CD on repeat whenever Colin napped. There was a post about an even better CD several months ago, but I can't find it.

HTH a little!

[lizajane]

try making bedtime earlier. try getting him to sleep before he appears to be tired.

unfortunately, there is often a phase where baby is fussy for at certain time everyday. it could just be that. but that phase only lasted about 2 weeks for us, so that is some good news!

[pritchettzoo]

It sounds a little like colic or just plain old fussiness. DD went through this too, and it only lasted a couple of weeks (thank GOD!). It was right around the same time at night as you're saying, and it seemed to gel with what all the books were saying too. Can you tape record the vacuum cleaner or the hair dryer? That way you won't burn out any motors. Also, if you have a radio, turn it to a non-station and let your little guy listen to the static. I read somewhere that someone's baby actually had a preference for the AM static (as opposed to the FM static).

Someone got us a white noise machine for a baby gift. I have seen them in the alarm clock section of the electronics dept. Is it possible DH overlooked them at Wal-Mart (nothing against your DH, I just know that mine tried to tell me Kroger no longer sold Jell-o because he couldn't find it! :P)? The one we have is nice--it has a white noise sound and several waters (a river, rain, and the ocean). DD loves the ocean noise. If you can't find one, I'd be happy to grab one from Target and send it to you!

Also, have you swaddled him and then put him in the swing swaddled? That works for DD. It's how she sleeps now!

Good luck!

Anna
Mama to Gracie (9/16/03)

[bnme]

My DS went through this for a couple of weeks starting at about 3 or 4 weeks old. I felt reassured after reading in Weisbluths book that this is normal and usually stop by 6-8 weeks. Something about a certain hormone that baby gets from Mom in the womb that "runs out" after a couple of weeks and the baby doesn't start producing on his own for several more weeks.

The timing of it was the same for us. We had to alternate swing/holding/walking him. The different noise machines are great. We had one with a heartbeat that worked and also a "Momma Bear" that played fetus sounds. The classical music from the LeapFrog Baby Tad was another great soother for him early on.

Hang in there!

[s7714]

I agree with Liza on the earlier bedtime. DD used to go to bed around 7:30 like your DS, but then she started getting fussier and doing EXACTLY what you described. I moved her bedtime to 6:30 and established a dead-set bedtime routine, and within about week she was going to bed easily every night. Over the past couple months she's been getting cranky even earlier, so her bedtime is now as early as 5:30 some nights. She still wakes up at 5 am consistantly even though her bed time has been moved forward.

I have to laugh, because a few months ago I questioned some people on the boards as to why they were putting their little ones down as early as 5:30...little did I know I'd be doing the same in a matter of months! LOL!

I think the key thing for my DD was simply establishing a very predictable bed-time routine. Even though her bedtime may vary by as much as a 1 to 1 1/2 hours some nights, it's always the exact same routine (gets fed solid food, bath is prepared and given, pjs put on, lights dimmed and she is nursed to sleep). And I never take her outside of her nursery and bathroom area once the routine is started.

I still make the mistake of keeping her up just a little too long some days and she does the same "can't fall asleep" routine that your DS is doing, but the next evening we're usually right back on track.

(Sorry this ended up to be such a long post! Oops! :) )

Good luck!
Jennifer

Annalia 03/03/03