Not Sleeping!! Help!!

[hollyzee]

I am about to lose my mind. Literally. Tears are flowing as I type this from me AND my daughter (who is almost 6 mo old).

She won't sleep. Period. End of story. Well, here's more details. She wakes up around 6:30 in the morning and get tired again around 8:00. I rock her, and put her down almost asleep. She sleeps for 30 minutes. After that she wakes up, tosses, turns, plays then cries. Strike that, wails. If I rock her she will fall back asleep. If I let her cry for the duration of her nap period, she will do just that, and will never go back to sleep. Nap #2 comes at 12:30 - same deal. Put her down and 30 minutes later she is up. Nap #3 comes around 4:30 - repeat the process. She goes to bed close to 8:00, and we repeat this process until close to midnight - then she gets up around 1, 3 and 5.

I've let her CIO, (for hours) she only gets hysterical and ends up throwing up all over the crib. Plus, I don't like that method. I've tried sneaking in 5 minutes before she wakes up to give her a pacifier. Doesn't help. I know she's tired because I can almost always rock her back to sleep. Plus, I know she needs a lot more sleep than she's getting.

Someone please please please help me. My baby isn't getting the sleep she needs, and neither am I which doesn't help!

[Laurie]

Hi Hollyzee, I am having the same trouble with my 4 month old. In fact, I posted a message to Kathy about it a few weeks ago. I can't really add much that would be helpful (we are still trying to work through this), but I thought I would tell you that you aren't alone. I felt like I was the only mom who had this 30 minute problem and nothing seems to work. We have also let our baby CIO but no luck. Plus, I was a mess after a few days trying that method. My pediatrician told me he may grow out of it or he may become better adjusted to sleeping less (ugh). Right now, he wakes up, plays and then melts down after about 30-40 minutes. By the end of the day, he is a wreck. I just keep trying the same thing....soothe him, put him in his crib, and then get him when he wakes after 30 minutes (you could set your clock by it!). Then we get out of the house for a while so I don't lose my mind. Fortunately, he's pretty good when we are out and about. We hate that we have to rock him to sleep, but he gets so tired that it's the only thing that works most of the time.

Good luck! Please keep me posted if you find a solution!!!

laurie

[auzziekat]

Hi Hollyzee,
I am so sorry that you are feeling like crying!!
Here are some of my suggestions that I have for you.
I would try putting your daughter in her crib when she is drowsy, then about 1-2 minutes after she starts crying go into her.Allowing her to only cry for a short amunt of time is allowing her to develop some self soothing habits without having her get hysterica. Although try not to pick her up. Basically what is happening is you are puttng your baby to sleep and then when she she comes out of her deep sleep 30 mins into her nap she doesn't know how to put herself back to sleep becase you have always done it for her. So she has had 6 months of this now its going to take approx 6weeks for her to learn some self soothing habits. Hope this helps.

auzziekat

[chacha]

Hi...My daughter is the same way...I think it is because I spoil her though. She's never actually slept through the night yet, but she usually gets up about 2 to 3 times a night. She even sleeps with my husband and I...I know it is a bad habit to break, but I am breastfeeding and going to work so in order for me to get any sleep, she sleeps with us. Well just last week she has now been getting up at least 8 times during the night...it is terrible, I feel like a walking zombie! When I went to her check up a week and a half ago the doctor said I could start her on baby food so I did. I feed her baby food at breakfast lunch and supper, she was doing fine; but for the past week, like I said she wakes up about 5-8 times a night. So what I do is I feed her some rice cereal mixed with some fruit right before she goes to bed and it seems to help her sleep more through the night. I still get up about 2 or 3 times but it was a lot better than getting up 5-8 times during the night. Also my 5 month old baby doesn't take good naps throughout the day either...just like your baby. She only sleeps for 20 or 30 minutes if that. But I think that it helps her not to sleep long during the day so she will sleep better during the night. Maybe you could try (if you haven't already) feeding your baby some rice cereal about 30 min. to an hour before she goes to bed, hopefully that will work better for the both of you and so you get more sleep. Well I am also in the same boat as you so I know what you are talking about. I hope that I could be of some help to you and your baby, if it doesn't work out I wish you the best of luck and I hope you can get the advice you are looking for.