Weissbluth sleep question

[emilyf]

I think you might be right about the nursing thing, it sounds like he associates falling asleep with nursing so you might want to try getting him to associate something else (my ds sucks his thumb, but maybe a pacifier or lovey would work?) I would try rocking him to sleep rather than nursing and try to eliminate the nursing right before sleep-especially for naps and at bedtime. By the way, if I go in when my ds is fussing to reassure him he just loses it and wants to get up-that never worked for me either. Good luck!!!
Emily \r\nmom of Charlie born 11/02

[christic]

Here's what worked for us when my daughter had a very similar waking pattern.

Up until that point I nursed her at every waking because I knew it would get her back to sleep immediately. But it got to the point that she was waking every couple hours, I had been fighting a cold for what seemed like weeks, and I just felt like the walking dead. I read everything I could find and realized that the so-called gentle methods would have been torture for my daughter. She had always protested if I tried to cut nursing short before she was done, so slowly decreasing nursing time was not a possibility. She's also thrived on consistency in everything so the gradual approach seemed to go completely against her nature.

So I picked a night and a time that I wanted her to sleep until, that we would nurse at 5 (she's always been an early riser) but she needed to sleep until then. When she cryed out that night at around 9 I went in, offered her water, laid her back down and told her it was time for sleep, and covered her again with her favorite blanket. A very abbreviated version of her bedtime routine, we started calling it the "re-tuck". She did cry, but she was approaching the 1 yr mark and by then she had a clearly angry cry, and we decided we would wait through that and listen for signs that she was distressed rather than protesting. It wasn't easy but it only lasted for 20-40 minutes or so, definitely under an hour. There were a few more wakings over the next couple days, but it took her less time to get back to sleep after each one. We still do the whole "re-tuck" routine if she wakes even now and she goes straight back to sleep. At least for us the CIO portion of all this was very small, not ongoing hours and nights of screaming.

I did feel the need to acknowledge the waking, to let her know we were still here but that it was time for sleep. It also gave me a chance to assure myself that she was really ok and offer her water if she was waking for thirst.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do. I remember how hard this was and how uprepared I was for how exhausting the second half of the first year was compared to the first!

Christi

[s7714]

Let me start out by saying that I have not read anyone's "sleep" books at this point. So I was kind of surprised to see several people saying that they're putting their little ones down to bed as early as 5 or 6 pm? I'm just curious as to why the books recommend putting babies down so early. I don't put my DD down until 8-9pm, and about 95% of the time she sleeps through the night until 6-7:30am.

I too have been nursing her to sleep for pretty much every nap and at bedtime, and I'm beginning to think that may be my downfall as well. Mainly just because it makes it so hard to leave her with a babysitter on rare occasions, because it's really hard for the sitter to get her to sleep if she gets tired. However, after starting to encounter nights where she wakes up as soon as I set her down in the crib, I'm REALLY beginning to question whether it's time to let her CIO or try one of the other "methods". Has anyone successfully made it from always nursing to sleep to getting them to sleep on their own w/o the (dreaded on my part) CIO method?

[C99]

First, you are soooooo lucky if she sleeps through the night from 8 or 9 until 6:30 or 7. The reason that I put Nate down at 6ish is because he's exhausted by the end of the day. I haven't been successful at getting him to take a third nap -- he'll confuse it w/ bedtime, sleep for 2+ hours and if I wake him before or even at 2 hours, he is cranky and crying and miserable. Which makes me miserable.

Everyone has to decide what is right for them and for their baby. If you don't want to let your daughter cry *at all*, you might try reading The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley. She has lots of suggestions for how to transition your child out of nursing to sleep to falling asleep on his/her own. None of them worked for my child and we did have to resort to some crying to get him to sleep.

HTH

[KUvsOU]

We started following the Weissbluth approach when Cade was six months. It absolutly changed our lives for the better! :) Before following Weissbluth, we would go in the room and try to soothe him even give him a bottle, but this made it worse and he cried hysterically after we left so I had even less sleep. He usually was not hungry and thought it was time to play instead.

After starting Weissbluth, I started turning his monitor down as I would wake up every time he did. Before I turned it down, I did notice that if he woke up he would fuss or talk for few minutes and put himself back to sleep. It seems like over time he woke up less and less at night and we never really had a problem with night waking after that. We tried to stick pretty closely to the three nap schedule until he outgrew his third nap. I always hated waking him up from his third nap, but it seemed like once he started sleeping through the night he would wake up from the third nap on his own.

We are huge Weissbluth fans. I know now that the gentle approach would have never worked with Cade. I'm sure it works with some children, but I guess it depends on the child.

Shawna
Mom of Cade 6/16/02

[sleeplessmommy]

I have been reading the conversations on this topic and could use a little help myself. I have a 16 month old who is still not sleeping throuh the night. She just had two more teeth break throuh the gum ad we just got her to stop taking a bottle. We tried leeting her CIO, but she would climb out of her crib and fall on the floor. So, we moved her to a toddler bed a few months ago. The only problem with that is that when we made her CIO, she would come walking into our room. We just tried putting a baby gate up on her door, but she has figured out how to crawl over it now too. She is so stubborn and I am at a loss as to wt to do? Any suggestions?

[KUvsOU]

There was a mom in my mom's group that had a similar problem. She posed her question to the last speaker that is a counselor and was there to talk about attachment problems. He said it is a war of wills and one she should try to win. She also put a gate up to keep her in her room and she would later find her asleep on the floor by the gate. He said that was ok, eventually she would give up since she was not getting anywhere and for now she might want to put a blanket down by the gate. I know that may sound a little harsh to some, but that is what he suggested.

Shawna
Mom of Cade 6/16/02

[sleeplessmommy]

I am glad to hear that I am not the only one with this problem! I have put a gate up at her door and I also put a blanket and pillow next to it with a sippy cup. She has managed to climb up the gate and get over it. She is a stubborn one! I can't think of any other way to keep her in her room and to go to sleep. She is tired when she wakes up. It isn't like she wants to play or anything. I don't know how to convince her to just fall back asleep.