Fellow mommies, Help a mommy out PLEASE!!?

Question

Hopefully I get some better answers this time around!!
baby is comfy and fed, just manipulative! My almost 8 month daughter has HORRIBLE sleeping patterns!! She tries to stay up till about 10, I put her down. She wakes to nurse around 2, then stays up for about 2 hours--wriggling away from me so she can practice crawling or throw a temper tamptrum!! I put her back to bed around 4 or so, and then she is up around 7 to start the day. UHGGG!! I can't nap when she naps either, because I have a 3 year old. IT's also hard to let her scream it out, because the two share a room.
Anyway, my plan tonight is to have my 3 year old sleep w/ me. When the baby wakes up crying, I will try rocking her for a few minutes and then sticking her right back to sleep. After a few minutes of crying I will check on her, and then leave the room again for 5. I'll try to continue doing this until she passes out! Any suggestions? Has anyone else tried this or something like it? What worked for you? I need tons of support--this is gonna be rough, but it can't get too much worse than it has been!

Jen B--you are so out of line w/ this one!! I don't think it is unreasonable to want your child to sleep between the hours of 2 and 430 in the morning! Sorry, I can't follow that schedule. I am a wonderful mother who doesn't FORCE anything on my child so get off of your high horse.

Answer 1

You have my support! My advice is to keep her up in the morning and stretch out the time until her first morning nap...then make her afternoon nap later....then put her to bed at 10:30 or 11. Before you put her to bed, give her a snack of milk and crackers or fruit so she doesn't wake up hungry. Hopefully that will get her to sleep through the night.

Waking up at 2 and then wanting to play and throw tantrums for 2 more hours is awful and I don't know how you are dealing with it. I would say to go get her, but don't feed her anymore, don't change her, and keep the lights off. Comfort her, tell her it's not morning yet, rock her a bit, then put her back in bed and let her cry it out. She should fall back asleep after 1/2 hour or so. Move the 3 year old to your room or a spare room until you can get the baby to sleep all night. It's going to be a rough week, but it will be SOOO worth it when EVERYONE is getting a good nights sleep! Good luck hon! I've been there with you. :)

Answer 2

This is hard to answer without knowing what you've already tried. Lots of times babies won't sleep because they're overtired. 10PM to 7AM doesn't seem like enough sleep. Here are some suggestions out of context:
Give her an extra nap during the day (sleep begets sleep).
Try not turning on any lights when you get up with her (leave a night light on all night).
Express milk and have someone else feed her at 2AM and put her back down (to break the pattern).
Or, have someone else put her back to sleep after you nurse her.
Have her back in your room in the crib (if it fits) - at least you won't have to walk as far, and your 3 year old cna sleep.
OR have her in your bed (I know, this is controversial)
Give her a pacifier.
One thing I tried with my son that works is "getting ahead" on the nursing before putting him to bed. I nurse him every 2 hours instead of every three for the last 2 times before putting him to bed. He sleeps a lot longer since he's "stocked up". It's a pain because you really have to time things starting in the afternoon, but on days when I know I really need a good night's rest I'll do it. He'll sometimes sleep for 7 hours (!!) and he's not quite 4 months old.
Or, try the Ferber or Pantley methods. They do work, whichever one you pick, but you have to be extremely consistent.
Good luck - I really feel for you.

Answer 3

Try putting her down for a nap earlier so that she goes to bed earlier at night. If she is waking at night only to nurse, be sure to keep all lights and other distractions like the tv low or off. This will keep her from becoming fully awake. Also, if you can feed her from a bottle you can add a little rice cereal to the breastmilk. This will keep her full longer. Or you can spoon feed her a few spoons of cereal before bed. Hope that helps you. Stay strong and enjoy these days, as you know they grow up fast!

Answer 4

What I suggest and what I did are two different things. It sounds like a good plan to do the crying and checking. My friends did it after reading a book about "ferberizing". I, on the other hand, put my son in my bed with me and stuck my boob in his mouth when he cried during the night. He still went on to sleep through the night shortly after that and I did not ruin him with my slightly less refined approach.

Answer 5

maybe shes getting to much nap in during the day and either way i would try cutting her nap in half. my son sleeps in the bed with us and that was the only way i could ever get any sleep. also is she teething or having gas pain. that would make her fussy. she seems to not be able to self sooth. have you ever tried a pacifier. although a pacifier isnt the best solution it would be a way to get rested up if it worked. try diffrent ones cause my son would only take one kind. hope that helps good luck

Answer 6

8 month old babies are not manipulative, they just have needs that often conflict with their parent's needs! I found that letting my daughter sleep with me, and nursing her back to sleep before she had a chance to fully wake up, kept the amount of time I was awake in the middle of the night to a minimum. These articles might be of some help:

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/7/T070100.asp

Good luck!

Answer 7

When did she start this? It sounds like you've never had a good schedule. You need a good schedule, and stick to it. Do things to help baby get ready for bed... warm bath, soft music, warm bottle, rocking in a dark room, whichever. I'd also try putting her to bed earlier than 10, that's too late, and 7am isn't too early to wake.

Answer 8

She's NOT manipulative, she's a BABY. She is obviously not tired. Wouldn't you get irritated if someone was attempting to FORCE you to sleep. I would be willing to bet that if you gave it a few days of not trying to force the schedule you want her to be on and allow her to show you HER body's schedule, your life would be much better.

I am not on a high horse, so you may want to step off of yours. I mearly pointed out the obvious. There is OBVIOUSLY something going on with her that is making her body want to be awake during those times. Be it forcing schedules, naps, whatever. Get over yourself.

Answer 9

I suggest reading a book called On Becoming Baby Wise. This is a really good book and it is all about getting your baby into a healthy sleep cycle.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5243045

Sorry I can't really tell you more but it takes this whole book to tell you how to fix this. Hope everything works out for you.