As you can probably tell from the title, sleep training is a little bit frustrating.... (Understatement of the year.)
Yorlee was doing SO well, I'm not sure when things went sour. For the past few days, she's been absolutely refusing to sleep in her crib. My neck hurts, my back hurts, and my head hurts. She's also getting harder to put down for the night. She does the old "fake out", where you think she's sleep, but then BAM! eyes pop open and it's playtime again.
Yesterday I decided to really buckle down and try to get things under control. When I got home from work, we went and ran errands as a family. I gave Yorlee a bottle in the car, and noticed she was rubbing her eyes, her cue for being sleepy. We had a few more stops to make, and I could tell she was started to crank it up. I popped her pacifier in her mouth and her eyes immediately dropped, but of course she sprang them right back open.
Once we made it home, I put her in her Bebo chair and tried to get some dinner in her. I think she ate like 4 bites before refusing any more. My husband put her on the floor in the living room and played with her (it was around 6PM) until she started fussing. I knew she was about to get overtired, so I decided to give her a quick bath, rub down with lotion, and nurse her. As soon as she latched on, she was out! I held her for a few minutes to make sure she was sleep and then I transferred her to her crib. She slept for around an hour before she work up SCREAMING!!
My husband went in and tried to console her. She wasn't having it. I could hear her screams getting louder as he came into our room and said, "Can you please take her, I can't get her to stop screaming." She didn't want to nurse, didn't want to play, didn't want to do anything. That's when I knew what I had to do. I had to take her back to her room and put her in her crib. She was going to fuss regardless. I put her down, turned on her bear that plays music, gave her a blanket, and popped her paci in her mouth. As soon as I left the room she started crying. My husband went in and rubbed her belly. She was calm for a few minutes and then the screaming started again. I went in and she quieted down. I didn't say anything to her, I just let her know that I was there by rubbing her head and her belly. I stayed in there for about 10 minutes and I could see her eyes slowly closing. When I would try to sneak out, she'd wake up again. Finally, I determined that I should put her on her side (the way she sleeps when she's in bed with me) and let her cuddle her bear. As soon as I did that, she was out!! She slept for about four hours before waking.
Here's where I messed up....
Instead of nursing her or giving her a bottle and putting her back in her crib, I brought her to our bed.
I'm going to work on that part. What do you think? Any suggestions?
2 comments:
Hey lady!!
Well first let me say I think you're doing a great job! Don't get discouraged because each time you try to put her down will not be perfect and you'll learn as you go along.
Now, I think what made a big difference for us was putting Lil Eazy on his tummy to sleep. He HATES sleeping on his back and in the first 2.5 months of his life when we put him to sleep on his back he'd sleep for like 20 mins and then wake up screaming.
I know that it is advised to have them sleep on their back, but I also believe people have to take the knowledge given to them and use what works for them. I also thought well, what if he sleeps on his back and asphyxiates on his spit up? I decided not to worry about every single thing and decided to do what worked for us, while monitoring Eazy of course.
So at about 2.5 months, we put him on his tummy and in his crib (the end of co-sleeping for us). Shortly thereafter, he slept 5-6 hours at night. Now at 3.5 months he sleeps 8-10 hours. I mean he doesnt wake up to eat at all. Also, we usually put him to bed while he is awake and he falls asleep on his own.
I know exactly how you felt last night! When nothing will calm them down, it's probably because they are tired! To me, this is when letting them cry is ok, because nothing else is working! They just want to sleep.
So after she slept for 5 hours, did she wake up crying? And after you brought her in bed with you, did she go back to sleep? Can I suggest that when she wakes up, if she's not fussy, maybe try and leave her and see if she will go back to sleep? When Eazy wakes up early from a nap, I dont take him out right away and he usually goes back to sleep.
So, I want to encourage you to keep it up! It gets easier as time goes on.
Let me echo Mrs. Green and say, "You're doing great!" I wish I had some wise advice to share, but Ariana is still not sleeping through the night. If I figure it out soon, I'll definitely let you know. :-)
We did put a little soothing sound machine in her crib. Our hope was that when she woke up she could push it and soothe herself back to sleep. But, she hasn't yet figured out that she can activate it herself; instead she stands up in her crib and screams until I go get her.
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