Saturday, May 9, 2009

NO SLEEP... NEED HELP!


As I laid in bed last night listening to Tessa scream already for the second time at 3 am, I thought to myself "I need to ask other moms on my blog for help because at this rate Tessa may never sleep through the night"! So to all of you wonderful moms out there that had babies who didn't sleep at night I need your advice. Here is what we've been currently doing for about 3 months consistently. Around 8:00 each night I put her in her pj's and sleep sack, turn on her mobile with soothing music as well as a sound machine with rain. Then we turn out the lights and I nurse her for about 10 minutes. She pulls off and rubs her eyes which is my cue to burp her and put her in bed. She rolls to her side and goes to sleep, she doesn't fall asleep nursing. She usually sleeps for a good 4 hours or so but then the waking up starts! My doctor told me at her age and weight there should be NO problem for her to sleep at least 6 hours straight without eating. So if she wakes up before the 6 hours then I let her cry it out. Sometimes it lasts 10 minutes other times it lasts an hour. I've learned that if I go in and turn her mobile back on and lay her back down on her back (she's usually sitting) she goes back to sleep faster. If it has been 6 hours when she wakes up I do go nurse her and she usually eats a little and then goes back down quietly. Either way though she has been waking up on average 3 times a night. I seriously don't know if she's going to ever sleep through the night. It's so hard not to give in and go nurse her because I know she'll go right back to sleep but I have been staying strong. I only let myself nurse her once during the night. I just feel like I've been trying the "cry it out" for so long and it's not working! She doesn't nurse before her naps and goes down fine but only sleeps for about 45 min. I'm kind of over the nap thing though, I just care about getting some sleep at night!
So please leave me any advice that you think might help. Oh yeah, she also doens't suck a binky. I've been trying to teach her how to but she's just never liked them. I thought a binky would maybe sooth her like nursing does, but no luck so far with that either.

Also if anyone has any good ideas on making traveling easier, let me know. We're going on a plane next week with her! Yikes
Thanks for your help!

6 comments:

Tahnie said...

If you have not read any of the following three books, I would recommend that you do: Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy child; The Happiest Baby on the block; and Babywise. There is a blog that is soooo great for giving advice on all things baby. www.babywisemom.blogspot.com. It has helped answer a lot of my questions!
Good luck!!
Tahnie

melissa said...

Oh Meg-that is awful, I am so sorry!! I don't know if any of these will help, but here is what I've found helps Alexa (and she sleeps 10 hours at night, plus takes two 1 hour naps and one 2-3 hour nap during the day...Colton was the same way at this age)

-I supplement one feeding a day with formula, usually at her 5:00 or 8:00 feeding (she doesn't go down for the night until about 10 or 10:30 at the latest)

-Soft things on her face seem to comfort her, so I have some really soft blankets that she sleeps with. She usually ends up moving them right next to her face.

-I keep music/noise on the whole time she is asleep. It sounds like you have a noise machine but it turns off after awhile.

-I stopped using a sleep sack/swaddling her around 2 months, she loves to kick her legs and move around.

She will take a binky though, so I usually keep 2-3 in her crib so if she wakes up she can find them. You might want to try a little night light or something, she might like to look around when she wakes up rather than cry.

As for traveling, you'll be fine! I don't know how long your flight is, we took Colton to Hawaii when he was 10 months and he did great. He loved to look out the window! Alexa was really good on our flight to San Diego last month too. Bring what you usually would when you go out somewhere, maybe a few extra toys. If she takes a bottle, you might want to bring one even if it's just water so she can suck on it during take off and landing so her ears don't hurt. Another trick if you think her ears aren't adjusting is to plug her nose and blow in her mouth, that should help too.

I think this is the longest comment ever...but hopefully some of this helps!! We should try to get together when you get back from your trip! Let me know when you are free, we are pretty easy. We could even just meet at a park for lunch or something simple like that!

melissa said...

Oh, and bring your stoller into the airport with you and have them check it at the gate when you board the plane.

Happy Mother's Day tomorrow!

picpen said...

I just realized Im on my moms computer but this is Ash.......Sienna didn't sleep through the night until 9 months I finally got to the point where I needed sleep and I new that she didn't need to eat that much. I gave Annie the book that my Doctor recommended and it was Healthy sleep habits. Its basically crying it out but it tells you to wait a little bit if they keep crying go back in let them know that there ok and you keep doing it until they fall asleep. But you HAVE to do it every night otherwise you start over and it took a week but by the end she was sleeping great. I was mean and made Casey deal with the crying and I would usually go for a walk I just got to stressed out. It sounds like you are doing everything right my biggest mistake with sienna was I would nurse her and let her fall asleep and then when I was trying to ween her we had to start all over again. She never did a binks ether but that's a blessing because I hate seeing little kids that are 2 and still have them! And I would say check your car seat and stroller at the gate then that way if your flight isn't full you can take your car seat on the flight with you. Also when you are taking off and landing either give them a bottle or nurse her because the sucking helps with the pressure in her ears. I also asked my doctor about bendryl just incase I got desperate and I ended up having to do it when we flew to hawaii because she was out of control! Good LUCK I wish I had more advice. Its so hard because every kid is so different and what works for one doesnt work for another.

schaars said...

Hey meg I don't know how much you check this but I just wanted to tell you that I finally finished Tessa's skirt I think it is my favorite yet I just hope you like it. I was thinking I could drop up at Bobbies or bring it you whatever works just let me know???

Karen Scoffield said...

I do like the Healthy Sleep habits book that Tahnie recommended. It is super detailed but you can skim and get the point. One thing I learned from it is that the better your child naps during the day the better they sleep at night. Strange, huh. I figured if they didn't sleep much during the day that they would be so exhausted at night that they would sleep better but not so! Try to get her to take bettter naps as well and it might help. The problem with babies/kids is they have a mind of their own and everyone is unique. Good luck! It sounds like you are doing the best you can.