lunarcleo
05-26-2008, 01:18 PM
Our DD has fallen into a nighttime pattern that I'd like to try to shift, but I don't know if this is even reasonable at her age. During the day, she'll sometimes appear tired by her cries and actions and I am able to get her to nap without too much trouble (sometimes it takes a few minutes of swaying and using the pacifier, but it's not too bad).
Throughout the evening, she tends to be awake and active and wants to play and be held. As the evening progresses, she doesn't seem tired at all. She'll get hungry sometime between 10 and 11:30, and inevitably (after a full feeding) she will finally get sleepy at the breast - usually falling completely asleep. She'll be totally passed out and at this point I can put her down in the crib and be confident she'll stay for at least a couple hours.
By this point, especially with me now being back to work, I'm totally exhausted and am just happy that she's finally sleeping. I keep reading that around this age it's important to not keep letting a baby fall asleep with feeding because they can become dependent on food to sleep, but I don't know what else to do! She never acts tired earlier, and I'm so exhausted by the time she's finally asleep that I don't have the energy to try to wake her back up.
I would love for her to start being sleepy an hour or two earlier, so I could try to get some sleep myself sometime before 11 (or earlier). Maybe I'm asking too much of her at such a young age - being a first time mom, I just don't know what to expect. There's no problem with getting her to sleep during the night after subsequent feedings, just getting her to go down that first time.
There have been a couple times when I thought she seemed a bit tired earlier, so I brought her upstairs and changed her into a sleep outfit, but by the time I'm done with that, she's back fully alert and playful - even if I try singing to her and calming her down, if I try putting her in the crib she just squirms around and gets fussy after a few minutes, then she stays up until she gets hungry, as mentioned above. Music only seems to help if she truly is already sleepy, and her mobile is more of an engaging plaything.
If anyone has specific tips or can recommend a book that might be helpful, I would really appreciate it.
Throughout the evening, she tends to be awake and active and wants to play and be held. As the evening progresses, she doesn't seem tired at all. She'll get hungry sometime between 10 and 11:30, and inevitably (after a full feeding) she will finally get sleepy at the breast - usually falling completely asleep. She'll be totally passed out and at this point I can put her down in the crib and be confident she'll stay for at least a couple hours.
By this point, especially with me now being back to work, I'm totally exhausted and am just happy that she's finally sleeping. I keep reading that around this age it's important to not keep letting a baby fall asleep with feeding because they can become dependent on food to sleep, but I don't know what else to do! She never acts tired earlier, and I'm so exhausted by the time she's finally asleep that I don't have the energy to try to wake her back up.
I would love for her to start being sleepy an hour or two earlier, so I could try to get some sleep myself sometime before 11 (or earlier). Maybe I'm asking too much of her at such a young age - being a first time mom, I just don't know what to expect. There's no problem with getting her to sleep during the night after subsequent feedings, just getting her to go down that first time.
There have been a couple times when I thought she seemed a bit tired earlier, so I brought her upstairs and changed her into a sleep outfit, but by the time I'm done with that, she's back fully alert and playful - even if I try singing to her and calming her down, if I try putting her in the crib she just squirms around and gets fussy after a few minutes, then she stays up until she gets hungry, as mentioned above. Music only seems to help if she truly is already sleepy, and her mobile is more of an engaging plaything.
If anyone has specific tips or can recommend a book that might be helpful, I would really appreciate it.