Please, someone tell me that this is normal.
Night #1: Seth screams for 1 hr, 45 minutes before falling asleep until 6am (hallelujah!).
Day #1: Seth only sleeps in his dad's arms. He screams for an entire hour when put down for a nap in his crib.
Night #2: Seth cries for two hours straight. Mom gives up, picks him up, nurses him, and walks him until he falls asleep. Once again, we don't hear from him until 5:30 am. So at least the nights are going sort of well.
Day #2: Seth cries for 3 minutes before falling asleep for nap #1. He screams for an entire hour during nap #2 (until I go get him). He's currently working on screaming through nap #3. So basically, my child has only slept one hour today.
Has anyone else dealt with this? I thought things were supposed to get better--that he'd cry a lot the first night, then a little less. But he just can't soothe himself. And I don't know what to do. Even when I rock him, he screams. He'll fall asleep while nursing, but only for 10 minutes or so.
I know it's only been two full days, but someone PLEASE tell me that this will work. Otherwise, I'll just deal with a pacifier forever.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Sleep Training?
at 4:41 PM
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9 comments:
I am in the pacifier forever boat, but as far as actually sleeping, it WILL get better. And if my experience is any indication, it will be sudden. Like he never ever sleeps, and then suddenly one day he just gets it. But my only experience is with a pacifier. Everyone else who doesn't use them generally gets through it too, so I am sure you will make it.
Love seeing those pictures. He is getting so big!
Megan it will get better I promise!!!! I know it seems like forever but that was only day two, and it generally will be a bit rough for a week or so, remember he has been having bad habits now for three months or so so you're just trying to break him of them. I know it's heart breaking, believe me, I remember just bawling my eyes out when we went through this with Nathan, Brandon just got it on his own, but we had to teach Nathan and it wasn't fun. Hang in there! It will get better. Also maybe he doesn't need three naps, my boys only ever did two naps. Maybe he isn't tiered enough when you lay him down? How I did it, and it always worked very well (I would start this routine when my babies were between 3 and 4 months old), is that my boys would wake up around 7, and two hours or so later, so between 9 and 10 I would put them down for their first nap. They would sleep at least an hour, maybe longer and then wake up. We would play, do lunch, play some more and then between 1 and 2 I would put them down for their second nap. They would sleep this time 2 hours, sometimes longer and then wake up for the rest of the day till around 7 or 8 and then sleep through till the next morning. closer to naps and bedtime they would get cranky and require some extra attention and entertaining but they did very well with this schedule. I know every kid is different, but it can be taught, Brandon took to it great, but we had to teach Nathan and now he does fine. Sometime between 12 and 14 months both my boys gave up their morning nap. I hope this helps. Just keep it up, he'll learn to love his crib soon enough. Oh and we always have a night light in our boys room and when they were both babies we used to play music in their rooms, like lullabye's or whatever and they both really liked that. Ok well if you need more support or words of encouragement PLEASE PLEASE feel free to call me, I know what your going through is very stressful and heart wrenching. Good luck!
Oh yeah and I just was thinking too that the older they get the harder it gets and more tramatic it gets to teach them this. I remember my next door neighbor trying to teach her 2 year old how to sleep in her own bed and go to bed at a set time and it was VERY VERY hard and much more tramatic then if she would have started when her child was a baby, so don't give up!!!!
I wish I could tell you that if you just let them cry then every night will get better but kaylee still crys herself to sleep everyonce in a while. Sje os not on schedule either and she will be two on Wednesday. It is hard to get your kids trained. Or maybe it is just to hard on us?!? Kaylee never took a pacifier so I dont know what to tell you about that. Kaylee had a hard time getting rid of the bottle. It is not fun to try to break the bad habits that we started them on. Have you ever had him checked for acid reflux? Kaylee had that really bad so she would never sleep unless I was holding her so she was sitting up a little. Well I hope you can get something figured out soon!
I wish I could tell you that if you just let them cry then every night will get better but kaylee still crys herself to sleep everyonce in a while. Sje os not on schedule either and she will be two on Wednesday. It is hard to get your kids trained. Or maybe it is just to hard on us?!? Kaylee never took a pacifier so I dont know what to tell you about that. Kaylee had a hard time getting rid of the bottle. It is not fun to try to break the bad habits that we started them on. Have you ever had him checked for acid reflux? Kaylee had that really bad so she would never sleep unless I was holding her so she was sitting up a little. Well I hope you can get something figured out soon!
It does get better. I did the gradual extinction method vs. the extinction way- I just couldn't hear her cry for so long. But it does work. Be patient and go to a totally different room of your house so you don't hear the screaming.
I'm so sorry! I agree with Sommer, Max seemed to fight his naps more when he just wasn't tired enough. Once we changed to two naps (and eventually one) he would go down without a peep. Also, try putting him down while he's awake but calm. I heard it shocks them too much if we let them fall asleep while nursing or in our arms and THEN lay them down. It scares them to wake up not knowing how they got there. That way if you put them down while they're tired but not cranky, they learn to put themselves to sleep. Good luck!
It totally will work. It will also have the side effect of toughening you up for the next time you have to say no about something. :) (I am thinking about a brand new car for his sixteenth birthday). Adrian and I thought we were going to die that first week of sleep training, but we didn't and neither will you. It takes a little while because the screaming is cutting into his sleep time so he is now crying at least in part because he is so tired, just hang in there and it will correct.
You can do it, Megan! Be strong! Remember that it's only for two weeks- if this doesn't work you can stop in only ten more days. It is hard at first, but the end result of him being able to put himself to sleep will pay dividends for YEARS. Hang in there until the end of the two weeks and then see how things are going. You can do it!
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