PDA

View Full Version : "fighting" her sleep



sunshinecin
01-14-2007, 04:10 PM
ALOHA (Hi!) from Kauai,Hawaii, We are the PROUD adoptive parents of a 2 month old little girl. When we first brought her home she slept in her crib ( I sleep in the room that she's in and DH sleeps in our room right across just so she won't wake him up since he's our sole provider now I'll be home for a year). There were times when I was sooooooo tired that I didn't hear her cry and DH would get up and care for her (at that time he was almost on a months vacation so getting up @ 2 a.m. wasn't too bad at that time). Anyway, I then decided she should sleep with me so I can hear her and feel her when she wakes up!!!!! But now I'm WORRIED that she may NEVER sleep in her crib again!!!!!!!!???? Also I've noticed lately that she's "fighting" her sleep. She rubs her face on my shoulder and rubs her eyes with her hands and you can see that she wants to sleep but just "fusses" about it. I'm wondering if she's starting to teeth cause she sucks on my shoulder as well????? My mom says too young but I read in Baby 411 that they can teeth as early as 2 months (which by the way Baby 411 is a GREAT book a friend got it for me as a gift and my DH and I swear by it!!!!!!!!). So I'm just looking for help and advice. Sincerely, sunshinecin (cindylou)

jniter
01-14-2007, 07:53 PM
Are you willing to let your baby cry?

Teething is a possibility.

My son is doing the same thing. He's almost 7 weeks. I was told he licks/sucks my shoulder because babies are comforted by anything oral. Lately, he starts to fuss near the end of our "bedtime routine". We try to calm him down before putting him to sleep, but he's still fussing 20 minutes later. We got fed up and put him down and let him cry, checking on him and reassuring him every 2 mins. He now settles down after about 10 minutes. We don't stay in his room though.

I know a lot of people say they aren't ready for this until 4 or 5 months, but our little guy is doing fine. He smiles and coos at us, so he must like us. :-)

nfowife
01-25-2007, 05:39 PM
For both of you, it sounds like you are waiting too long to put your babies to sleep. By the time they are fussy and yawning, rubbing eyes, etc., they are overtired and are going to have a difficult time falling asleep. I'd recommend starting your bedtime routine earlier. Also your babies are both still very young- much too young to do any sort of crying it out. Even CIO proponents don't recommend starting any sort of sleep training until at least 4-6 months old. Give it some time, sleep when your baby is sleeping, and enjoy them when they are awake. Try to get them down 1-2 hours after they wake. It may seem like they spend the whole day up, down, up, down, but that is the age they are at- they aren't going to sleep through the night consistently or fall asleep on their own all the time.
Enjoy this wonderful newborn phase!

jniter
01-28-2007, 01:44 AM
I don't really consider putting a baby down and checking on them every 2 minutes as "crying it out." We mainly resorted to this because he would fall asleep in our arms and then wake up right away when we put him down. We weren't getting any sleep ourselves, which was negatively affecting my own rest and ability to breastfeed. At this point, he is almost 9 weeks and goes down without a peep. He fusses for a little, but he's quiet in less than 3 minutes. Maybe he was a little young, but he seems fine. If I've caused trauma for a few weeks, oh well. It's already done.

I doubt I was waiting too long to put my DS to sleep. I would change his diaper after feeding him. Whether I play with him after the diaper change or put him down right away after counting 1 or 2 yawns, he fusses and pouts. That's just his personality. I think I can count on one hand the number of times he has fallen asleep without fussing at all. We even tried swaddling him and letting him lay in his crib, just talking to him or playing the mobile. As soon as we saw a yawn, we started doing our "soothing" routine. Still fussed. One time DS was fine at bedtime. Relaxed after his bath, nicely swaddled. We turned out the light, hadn't even PUT HIM DOWN, and "WAHHHHHHHH!"

Nope...just his personality, unfortunately.