So I have a sweet little 7 month old. Sweet that is, until the middle of the night! She wakes up randomly and wants to be held, fed, or just get into bed with us (which I know is our fault). I have tried everything to get her to sleep through the night by herself. I have read many books that say to just let her cry it out. I have tried. The problem with this is Lance has to get up at 4:30 in the morning and can't sleep when she is screaming at the top of her lungs. It would be fine if it was a little whine, or better yet, if we could not hear her, but alas, neither of these are the case. She SCREAMS! I mean litterally. And no matter what, we can hear her. We close her door all the way, as well as ours, to no avail. My sister told me I should turn a fan on to just drown her out. Well we live in Susanville, and the average temperature at night is around 30 degrees...a fan just won't do. We freeze as it is. She said, try a white noise machine. Lance, nor I, can sleep with one of those things on.
Last night she woke up at 11:30 and I tried the cry it out thing. That lasted for 45 minutes! She finally fell asleep and when I went into put the blanket on her, she woke up and started all over again. I finally just picked her up and rocked her to sleep (I know this defeats the purpose). I would actually be fine with rocking her to sleep, the problem is, when I go to transfer her back to bed, she wakes up and screams again. I just don't know what to do!
Don't get me wrong, there are many nights when she will sleep from 8-6. I am perfectly happy with that. But what about the nights where it is up every 2 hours? Lance and I probably had a combined total sleep last night of 4 hours. COMBINED!! Poor thing had to get up and deal with stupid inmates all day. I wish he would have been able to sleep more. And both of us are so cranky in the middle of the night, this situation just makes us mad at eachother! We shouldn't be mad at eachother! But we can't really get mad at Peyton either.
At any rate, I am open to any suggestions any of you may have. Please help!!
6 comments:
I know this is a long shot but it could be that something is hurting her. Maybe her tummy? Ok I know that that sounds dumb when it seems like she just wants to be held...anyways, it was that for Lukas. Gripe water was a gift from heaven for us! You can find it at most health food stores. It is all natural and not addictive. Any time we would have a problem with Luke we'd give him a little of it (they love it cause it is sweet due to the ginger) and BAM it worked. Although it was our miracle solver for everything it might not be yours. Good luck!
Absolutly no suggestions! I still occasionally have this problem with Andie and she is 2, Brady is the perfect child so nothing with him.
I had exactly the same problem with Mari when she was that age. Her problem was that she could sit up and crawl around when she woke up, and that woke her up even more, so she couldn't put herself back to sleep. Something that helps her get to sleep is my singing lullabies to her. That calmed her down and I would put her back in her crib while she was still awake but drowsy, and I would still be singing to her while she was in the crib. I don't know if this will help, but you never know what will help! Another thing that helped was the 5-10-15 method (you've probaby heard of this one). You let her cry for 5 minutes, then go in and rub her back to let her know you are there, then you leave again. If she is still crying 10 minutes after that, you go in again and rub her back. If she is still crying 15 minutes after that, you go in again and rub her back. You do it every 15 minutes after that until she goes to sleep, but the theory is that she will go to sleep after the first two times of you going in. Good luck!
No advice.
But I am sorry you arent getting enough sleep.
I have been there. and I just had to wait it out. It is a phase and she will get to a point that she will sleep through the night every night. Emma doesn't but 4 out of 7 nights is good for me.
keep up with the letting her cry thing. Give it a good week, even if she does wake up.
i will think good thoughts for you.
I have a friend that swears by the book, The Best Baby on the Block.
You can also get your husband earplugs. It works. I used them when I had Austin and had to go to work. Sometimes they just need to cry it out. It's hard. When Austin was a baby I had 2 kids in seminary, a kid in elementary school and Erik and I were both working full time. I HAD to have a baby who slept during the night. Sometimes we HAD to cave and let him sleep in the bed with us. The ONLY child who ever did but it was for our own sanity.
Also, don't pick her up right away. Pat her back, lay her back down and give her something to help her soothe herself back to sleep. A stuffed animal, a blankie ..and when you do have to get up...no lights, no talking, no stimulation whatsoever, just change a diaper or give a bottle. They also say not to hold your baby towards you...hold them facing out so they don't think it's snuggle time.
All babies wake during the night and have to learn how to get themselves back to sleep. Right now she's relying on you.
The earplugs do work...they take a little getting used to but trust me...they're worth it!!!
oh i'm so sorry. it's so hard when your kids aren't sleeping. she may already be doing better, but just in case...
you have probably already heard of Healthy sleep habits happy child, but if you haven't, get it... it's my bible when it comes to sleep habits.
i would just stick it out with the crying it out. it stinks while it lasts, but when she doesn't wake up anymore, it will all be worth it. sayer did that recently, after day light savings, he started waking up at 5:30, which i am not ok with, so we had to let him cry for 2 nights in a row, and now he sleeps until 7 again. but i promise you, if you keep giving in, they will keep waking up. why sleep when mom will rock me to sleep, or put me in her bed if i cry? babies learn the art of manipulation at such a young age! :)
we put a fan in both baby's rooms and just face them the other way so that they don't feel any of the air. you could also try earplugs. they work wonders for a snoring husband and crying baby!
anyway, good luck!
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