Sleep Help Needed PLEASE!!!??

[papal]

I don't know what is going on. Both yesterday and today we had a REALLY hard time getting Leela to go to bed at night. It took almost two hours. And she was really tired too. She kept rubbing her eyes and closing her eyes, but would just cry and cry.
I am wondering, could this be because the last two days I have had to go out in the afternoon causing her to miss one of her daily naps?? She does not fall asleep in her stroller. There is just too much going on around her and she likes to look at everything.
Here is what happened today:
She woke up at 8.30am.
First nap between 10am to 11.45am. She is really good about this nap and goes down without a fight.
We headed out at 1.0p. I know this was a bad time, because she probably would have had her second nap at 1.30p... but I could not get an appointment for any other time for a haircut! :(
Anyway, we headed out at 1.0pm. We returned home at 3.15p. She was exhausted and slept immediately till 4.30pm.

THEN she cried and cried and did not go to sleep till 8.30p... I was trying from 6.30p because that is when she showed signs of tiredness.

Is it because her afternoon nap got screwed up??? This happened yesterday too (had to go to the post office). If she is too tired, does this mean she finds it HARDER to go back to sleep? I cannot understand what is going on!!!! I am so frustrated from hearing her cry and cry. Wanted to pull my hair out.
Will this go back to normal soon?? What happens when we go to NYC next weekend??? Should we just cancel the trip?? I just felt so bad for her.. she was tired but not sleeping!!!
Also, when you are trying to put them to sleep and it is not working, is it good to change their positions, unwrap them, read them a book... basically try different things. I feel like this might just confuse her even more. I don't know. PLEASE give me some advice. I am really tired.

[Momof3Labs]

I would bet that she had a hard time going to sleep because she was overtired (since her afternoon schedule was thrown off); that's one of the "golden" rules of Weissbluth and many other sleep authors. It doesn't mean that you can't travel, but I would suggest giving her a chance to nap during the day so that she isn't so miserable at bedtime, rather than being on the go all day long.

When I try to put Colin to sleep and it isn't working, I just keep the lights low, my voice quiet, and try to keep him soothed and relaxed (haha, I know). I've even been known to sit in our darkened bedroom with him watching a Thomas the train video. I try to avoid bright lights, loud noises, or lots of activity because that will just get him worked up further. Sometimes quietly reading a book with the lights on low helps.

[alkagift]

Rashimi,
You poor thing, don't worry! It is something we've all gone through at one time or another, so I'm sure you'll get lots of advice!

I've kept a couple of things in my head about sleep that have always helped me: first, I try not to keep the baby up for more than two hours or at most three at a stretch. Even at 11 months my DS can only go longer than 2 hours after his second nap--he loves sleep! Also, the "sleep begets sleep" mantra--Beth (egoldber) first introduced me to that and essentially it means that if the baby gets overtired, the baby can't relax enough to sleep the next time. That's probably what happened to your DD, so it should be better after a good day or two's worth of naps, although I'm not an expert!

By the way, when what you described happened to us out of the blue, it drove us insane and it turned out to be teething, at 4 months! In that situation, nothing helped except Tylenol! When it was just overtired screaming, rocking, nursing, singing very softly, driving, we've tried it all and it all works at one time or another, but not always. For DS I just try to be as quiet, calm, and mellow as possible. If I start to get frustrated, I trade with my husband!

Good luck, and don't worry--take your trip and enjoy yourselves!!

Allison
Mommy to Matthew

[houseof3boys]

Ditto to what Allison said! That is all very true.

Go to NYC silly girl. Just try to respect the naptimes with a quiet setting so she can "try" to sleep close to her schedule. Vacations are tough since there are new surroundings and new sleeping accomodations for the most part. She'll be on track soon enough, but you might have some more rough patches next week. The 2 hour rule was key to us when Ryan was her age. The sleep cues are the best thing to watch though and it sounds like you are all over that. One day with a hair appointment won't ruin everything!

You're doing great, just trust your instincts with all this sleep stuff and if Leela seems overly cranky try Tylenol and see if it helps her sleep better.

[Vajrastorm]

You are singing the story of my life LOL.

I think the schedule change is definately the culprit.

Aine fights sleep on the best of days, so I've become paranoid about missing naps - it goes from bad to worse! :)

However, we traveled out of state not too long ago for a funeral. I was convinced it would be a nightmare. It went really well, even though she didn't want to sleep that night. Poor hubby was up walking her around the hotel into the wee hours of the morning. So if Aine did relatively well, and she is the Princess of I-wanna-stay-awake-I-swear-I'm-not-tired-waaaaaah, the I bet Leela will be just fine!

Sleep begets sleep because when a person gets too tired, the body cranks out go-go juice in order to function, which makes it harder to fall asleep.

[egoldber]

Rahmi, the disrupted nap is most likely the culprit. Sarah was always a very easy going baby about naps, until about 6 months. That was when skipping or postponing a nap started to produce ugly consequences.

I would go to BYC. Just try to keep to her rouytine as much as possible. Just be mentally prepared for some rough nights and try not to let it get to you. :)

HTH,

[papal]

Thanks everyone!!
Once dd fell asleep she was fine. Woke up every 3 hours for a meal as usual, but went right back to sleep. It is 9.10am, and she is still sleeping! :)
She was much easier about skipping naps before...but I guess not any more. Today is a rest day (well, except for the ped at 3.0p).
We are going to schedule things around her nap times when we go to NYC. (Things = eating out. Yes, we have drawn up a list of breakfast/lunch/dinner places and we are systematically going to go through that list! :) ). I hope she sleeps in a unfamiliar place (i am taking our pillows for our 'scent').

Thanks again, we were really getting worried there for a minute!! (plus, we secretly did not want to miss Survivor).

Beth, i woke up this morning, and the first thing I thought of was you.

[MartiesMom2B]

Rashmi:

Does she have a lovey? Bring that too. Martie has a lovey, a special blanket, a stuffed dalmation, and now a Spot book. Granted she is over a year old, but her crib is starting to look like a toybox.

Sonia
Proud Mommy to Martie 4/6/03

[papal]

Sonia, dd has not selected a lovey yet. But i am taking some of her toys. This child is a bit strange in that her favorite 'toy' is usually a piece of paper or tags on toys. Thanks for the reminder. I should start making a list, so I don't forget anything.