We can't do CIO with P. It sucks because it worked like a dream with C. So I need him to figure out good sleeping somehow.
So what is the totally random stuff that got your kid to sleep better? I'm seriously about to buy some effing essential oils or something. He is up several times a night and we wind up bedsharing and I hate it. What about those crib soother things? We use white noise already. Fuzzy minky sheets? He is rejecting loveys so far. Takes a pacifier halfheartedly.
Also he's getting a night brace on Friday for his arm which will potentially fuck things up even more.
Post by cincodemayo on Aug 31, 2015 22:21:19 GMT -5
We had a crib soother which worked awesome once he was old enough to turn it on by himself. He'd wake up, cry, hit the button on the aquarium and lay back down. We got it probably around a year though.
Flannel sheets. Not sure why maybe because she kind of stuck to them like Velcro in her sleep sack. Bought minky ones and she slid all around and kept waking up.
eta- is he sleeping on his tummy? That was a game changer for us.
We have a box fan turned on in the room. The sound drowns out some noises (like the insanely loud dogs) and I think it helps him sleep through that. Also, the miraculous pacifier. If he wakes up before 4:30, we give him the paci and it does the trick. And Big Bird! He falls asleep much faster if he's cuddling Big Bird. I give him five minutes and then take it out of the crib. Basically, the fan helps him sleep better, and the other two help him go back to sleep faster.
Dream feed. I wake up at 2am every night and scoop dd up and feed her a 3-4oz bottle. I know this is dumb/bad habit and she doesn't have to eat at night but whatever she sleeps from 7:45pm-6:45am that way. Dd's pedi said keep doing what works last week at her 6 month check up. She doesn't have teeth yet though so not worried about dental issues yet. I pump before I go to bed and leave the bottle out so its easy to stumble out of bed for a quick feed then zonk right out again.
I have tried, purchased, and done every possible thing I could think of that might help with his sleep. He is almost a year, and just slept through the night for the first time ever, last night. More typically, he is still up 1-5 times per night, sometimes for over an hour at a time. Here are some things I've tried:
- White noise - tried on each setting (not just reg white noise) - Box fan in the room - Room hotter/colder - Socks/no socks, pants/no pants - Completely dark, night light - Me sleeping in his room (he definitely sleeps better without me in the room) - Music - Different night time routines - Eliminating caffeine/alcohol from my diet (breastmilk) - Motrin/gas drops/grip water - Keeping him up later, going to bed earlier - More naps, fewer naps - Different pacifier brands, a whole bed full of pacifier to find in the MOTN - Loveys
What definitely works is sleeping in the room by himself, anything that drowns out other noises, and keeping the room as dark as possible. Other than that, I have no idea if anything helps.
Time. It took DD a lot of time on her own schedule to decrease her MOTNs from every 3 hours for the first 5.5 months to finally 0 just a few weeks ago. I was not willing to try CIO so this is what happened. At your DS's age, she still had 2 MOTNs pretty regularly. Nothing I did helped move the timeline along faster.
We did have a crib soother thingy by Fisher Price. It was cute, but it was not magic. Never took a pacifier. Switching from BM to all formula, nope. Gaining weight past 12 lbs, nope. She identified a lovey at 15 months. Also not magic because some nights I'd give her a "substitute" bear and she would accept it and still pass out. I have been co-sleeping from the day she came home and still do, she in her crib, me in my bed. FWIW, DD has never gone to sleep before 8 pm, ever. At that age she was up usually until 9 pm, sometimes even later. She has always slept on her own schedule, almost nothing I did swayed it.
Post by longtimenopost on Sept 1, 2015 3:05:23 GMT -5
I feel you. We eventually did cio with DD but not until she was nearly a year because I was worried about her being in pain from muscle tightness. We used the sleep suit which was ok because she couldn't roll back to tummy until well past a year.
Pacifiers all over the crib. I realized that was the main reason she was waking up. We also bought crib bumpers to stop things falling out of the crib in the first place.
Nothing but lots of time got DD to STTN. However, flannel sheets (I think because they weren't cold if she rolled around in her sleep), white noise, and a crib soother helped her sleep improve some.
Post by bananapancakes on Sept 1, 2015 4:53:23 GMT -5
Ditto sent. Just time. I spent hundreds of dollars on every "thing" that had the potential to make him sleep better. None of it worked. Our Merlin suit was not magical. He's just now at 16 months STTN with some regularity. Last night was 7:15-5:25. That's pretty much as good as it gets for him. I do credit night weaning and the SLS to getting us to this point but I do think he just had to be ready as we tried it earlier and it didn't work.
We use a little bit of BabyRub (like vaporub but without the menthol) on C's chest when he's teething. It's just a little bit of warmth and some aroma that probably helps soothe him.
Otherwise, we have blackout cellular shades and a night light, and play about an hour of soft music when we put him down.
The Merlin suit helped the girls some. But even that magic wore off and became only helpful in the sense that they would fall asleep at all vs without it.
For me, it was night weaning at 13 mos. And even then it took a while. J was still waking up at night until about 19 mos or so. The girls finally started sttn around 15 mos.
Keeping him up until midnight or later. The later he stayed up, the longer he would sleep (still would wake up to eat but would go back to sleep after eating) But my kid is seriously effed up in the sleep department.
DS is the opposite. The earlier he goes to bed, the better he sleeps. When life forces us to put him down after 9pm, I know I'll deal with at least 1 night waking, if not more.
Anyway, for us, it has been loveys + white noise + crib aquarium, but note that it took longer for DS to start STTN than for DD.
Belly sleeping, fan, fisher price giraffe (she will turn it on MOTN if needed, I turn it on when I put her down), and huge change was when I gave her a thin burp rag to hold and cuddle. It freaked me out at first but she just wanted something to hold on to.
You could try "No Cry Sleep Solution" for a comprehensive list of things to do until your baby decides to sleep better. It probably won't help, but it does pass the time until things improve on their own.
DS rapidly switched from being up 2-3 times a night on average to 0-1 times a night. I think what helped was during the day a few days before it started I was putting him in his crib to "play" for like 3 minutes while I put away his clothes. Or I'd sit outside his crib (my glider is right there) and play peekaboo. He got into crawling around his crib and I think that's what made him realize he could choose his own comfortable position - a day after that he started STTN (for real) and laying on his belly. His mattress was also propped up on one end (books underneath to help congestion from a recent cold) so when he was "playing" he was having fun crawling "up" the incline and then sort of losing his balance and rolling down and giggling.
So basically, I think he learned his crib and got to be happy with it as a bed/nice place instead of "the place I lay and scream for mom."
He was a late crawler - 10.5 months. I think that's gotta be a factor for both my kids since they just aren't as used to finding a solution to their issues using their own strength.
Sleeping on his tummy and getting the right reflux meds helped. Cutting allergens from my diet and moving to soy formula also helped. But ultimately time was the only thing that got him to STTN.
Sleep Sack, iPod with baby songs, light (she still likes her night light)
She cries a few times ... Dh goes in puts paci back in 3 times...usually by the 3rd she sleeps.
Honestly things are still not perfect. As she has put on weight she sleeps better. We put her to sleep at 10 p.m. which is not ideal but will gives us sometimes at least 5 hours of sleep with one or two wake up times for paci or gas. So Survivable