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My Favorite Things

  • Naptime
  • Caffeine in various forms
  • Italy
  • The Beach
  • Family camping trips
  • The gym
  • Storytime at the Library
  • Rachael Ray
  • Running

Monday, October 17, 2011

The Sleepless Wonder

New Baby is 7 1/2 months old now. She is completely adorable and I love her so much that it physically hurts me. She's got super long eyelashes and squooshable cheeks and I just love her. I know that she's my last baby and I really am just trying to enjoy every second with her and not try to rush her to become more advanced.

But, um. There's just one thing.

Girlfriend won't sleep.

To put things in perspective, we're doing far, far better than we were in the "only sleeping every 30 seconds on Mommy" phase. And, either lucky or unlucky for me, when she was 2 months old, she started taking 2 2-hour naps and sleeping 12 hours straight at night. And I was all, "I have such an awesome baby! My baby rocks! I can sleep again!"

What's that verse again? The bigger you are, the harder you fall?

Once New Baby turned 3 months, she was over the sleeping. Why sleep when you can be awake all night? There have been highs and lows in the sleep process, but here's what my night generally looks like.
6:30-Put the Sleepless Wonder to bed. She falls right to sleep.
7:45-Sleepless Wonder crying. Replace pacifier.
9:00-Replace pacifier. Rock for a few minutes to get her to sleep.
9:45-Replace pacifier.
10:00-Replace pacifier.
10:30-Replace pacifier. Daddy rocks Sleepless Wonder as Mommy is kicking Elmo toys on way to bedroom each time.
4:30-Sleepless Wonder wakes up. Give bottle. Put back to bed.
5:00-Replace pacifier.
5:30-Replace pacifier.

Right now it's almost 8 and the Sleepless Wonder (and Captain Destructo) is still out. And I'm asking you all for help before I lose it. I read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and he says to put the baby in bed and ignore them for 12 hours. Ok, I get intellectually that that would work. But then wouldn't she hate me? And wouldn't I also be a hysterical, crying mess? My husband tells me Captain Destructo did this too, but I can't remember that being true. But I forget her name sometimes so I may not be the most reliable. Short of duct taping the pacifier into her mouth, what should I do?

5 comments:

  1. Have you tried a different bedtime? I stumbled upon this solution by chance, but I have found that going to bed at 7:30 versus 7 makes a big difference for my little sleep hater.

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  2. You may remember me complaining constantly about Debbie being a horrible sleeper. She finally started sleeping through the night at 8 months. Almost exactly on her 8 month "birthday". I literally read a dozen books on sleep. For me personally, the most helpful one was "Good Night, Sleep Tight". It still didn't magically fix everything, but it made a big difference.

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  3. Omg same here, my first born is 7 month as well and since she's 4 months sleep has been well ... not so much. For me the trick was no naps during the day, and to bed at 19.30-isch.
    Were doing fairly well now, 2-3 times a week a rough night. Hang in there, it get's better.

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  4. you poor thing. Well my son didn't sleep at all for his first 5mo of life and now sleeps like a dream thanks to....you guessed it, Dr. Ferber! Yes, we Ferberized and it's not as harsh as it's been made to look. it's not the "leave them for 12 hrs" thing. It's gradual but firm. Put them in the crib while sleepy and if/when they wake, you wait a short time before going in. when you "visit", to show them you are there & care, you don't really comfort or pick them up and you leave quickly (like after 30 seconds). You keep increasing your time between "visits" as the crying continues until they go to sleep. Next night you start with a longer time & then make the time between visits longer...etc. Ex: 1st night was 3min, then 5min, then 10min. He was asleep after 20 min. 2nd night was 5min then 10min then 15min, etc and he was asleep within 10 min. Within a week he was sleeping great for 10-12 solid hrs and could put himself back to sleep if he woke up. Awesome. He won't feel abandoned because you do go in there sortof to say "it's ok, I'm here and I love you but....go to sleep now, bye". Ofcourse, you have to really listen to the crying and if they seem to be just whining lightly then I leave it longer because he's starting to go to sleep and a "visit" would just wake him up more. Also I listen to see if he's really disturbed like he had a bad dream. Then I'll throw out the rule and comfort. It works great! Good luck and happy sleeping!

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  5. Thanks for all the help guys! I'll give a more indepth update later, but I read Good Night, Sleep Tight and started with a strict nap schedule. Then I stopped picking her up at night (just did "check and pats" about every 7 minutes). We are on night 4 of sleeping 12 hours straight. Praying it continues! Thank you all for your help again!

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