Our little squirt is extra mobile. I mean... she is all over the place, all of the time. She doesn't do still. We have a pretty sweet bedtime routine and nap routine but lately she just pops right up to standing or kneeling...and then topples over usually hitting some crib rungs because she is so tired, and makes me feel awful about putting her to bed.
So, maybe I should back up... we do a modified cry-it-out for sleep time. So this is our routine from about 4 months old to current. Who knows how it will change in the next month, or day...who knows:
Naps:
- Play her little heart out...crawling, walking... whatevs for a couple of hours.
- Give her some solid baby food.
- Change her diaper.
- Let her chew on a pacifier in her dark, quiet room for a couple of minutes in our arms (she loves chewing, that's why we have thought she was teething for 3 months now)
- Sit down in a chair with her on my chest, give her a bottle of formula. Her body is totally calm, sweet eyes closed, peaceful
- She pulls away when shes done, or nuzzles her face in my chest.
- I stand up...put her in her crib, which she is a little awake now.
- She rolls to her tummy and finds her thumb.
- **Insert our new dilemma here**
- She sometimes cries a little, we let her cry for about 5 minutes...we go back in reposition her in the middle of the crib- on her tummy, arms above her head (the way she normally sleeps) and close the door. She gets the picture and usually goes right to sleep. This is our modified "cry it out" and "sleep lady shuffle." If we say anything to her we wake her up...and if we pick her up too many times she enjoys it and this too wakes her up. Reading stories is like play time- so we don't do that yet with sleeping routines, I can't wait for our voices to calm her...bed time stories- oh how fun.
- This nap time is twice... usually somewhere between 9am-11am and 2-4pm...give or take. Afternoon naps are trickier for us. And when she is going through a growth spurt/sick... we notice either longer naps or a grumpier tired babe- it throws things a little.
- Same routine as above except we give her a bigger dinner of baby food.
- Then we go to the bath time...playing, chewing on bath toys, fun!
- Change into PJs, give her oragel...then chew for awhile.
- Bottle, crib, little cries...out for the whole night!
- **Insert our new dilemma here**
- We start all of this around 6pm... bed by 6:30/7pm. and she wakes up around 6:30-7:30am.
- Fantastic, we know we are lucky.
oh, I could just gobble her up.
**Now here is our current dilemma**
We put her down... she flips to her tummy...then crawls to the side of the crib, and proceeds to stand up. She wakes herself up, I'm not sure she knows how to sit back down- gracefully- and she cries, and falls. Kind of a sleepy-cranky version of George of the Jungle.What a little squirt! We had such a good thing going! So of course we have googled the heck out of this dilemma. I guess the novelty of standing will wear off. But we also realized in the frantic flipping through pages of our numerous sleep books.... we don't have a lovey! Yikes. How did that slip through the cracks? She hasn't needed a comforting stuffed friend yet. So, we have created a little lovey for her- bed bunny. We usually would give her this tiny stuffed grey bunny in her carseat with chewy the giraffe. She loves it. So why not a little bunny friend to keep her lying down, a little pal to sleep with- we all love a little pal to sleep with at night, right?! We are hoping when she wakes a little during naps she will hold onto her bed bunny...snuggle in close... and do less of the george of the jungle thang.
What do you do for your routines?! Does your kid have a lovey?! What about the standing/falling/crib thing?! Any suggestions?
hmmm I don't how to help because we are months from the standing up...Norah does love her lovey and likes to hug it in her car seat so maybe that will help :)
ReplyDeleteThat 1st picture in the crib is adorable! As for the standing up. My little one is not doing it yet, but my cousin's son did the exact same thing (would wake up during the night, pull himself up...fall back and then cry and need to be soothed back to sleep). She said a lovey definitely helped because it was sort of a distraction when he did wake up and also she taught him how to fall. if that makes any sense. Instead of falling straight back, landing on her back and/or scaring himself, he now falls on his bum. Then he just lays down and goes back to sleep. To train him: during the day she would bend his knees after he pulled up on something and guide him slowly down, then put one hand down for him and then guide him onto his butt. It's hard to describe since I'm not the one doing it, but basically try teaching her to fall :)
ReplyDeleteNow....
Can I ask when you did CIO the very first time (especially at night) how long did it take for her to settle? I've heard people say it can take up to a week of hour long crying. I'm trying to prepare myself by reading all the books and I'm not so sure if I will survive cry it out but even our pediatrician thinks it's time that she learns to go back to sleep on her own without nursing (she's 6 months). Thanks in advance. I love that you are ahead of me. I found your blog right after I got pregnant and have enjoyed reading along.
Danni (csacooking4dummies.blogspot.com AND http://sofiadia.tumblr.com/)
So I first have to say... my husband did all of the sleep training at night. I work nights...so he has been and continues to be the one to put cora down at night (he is stronger than I, as far as CIO). We have the consistency of him putting her down too, and re-positioning if needed- which I think she needs. We started CIO maybe when she was 3.5-4 months. It was just 5 hour stretches of sleep at first- which felt like heaven. She was also swaddled at this time, which she always hated. So we'd let her cry maybe 10 minutes, then she'd fall asleep. It was torture and felt like hours of crying, but it wasnt. And when we saw how happy she was after some good, quality sleep- we knew that she needed it. We never had the hour long crying- that was more during awake times with her reflux- she was a very unhappy newborn, so we were used to her painful/sad/tired/grumpy cries. We also moved her from sleeping in our room/ on our chests and stopping breast feeding to crib, alone, through the night. Huge changes, all at once. It worked, somehow. She needed the sleep.
DeleteGood luck with CIO, I know each baby is different. We are hoping that our next baby is a new experience from Cora- we want that fun, easy newborn sleepy stage that we missed out on. But as far as sleep routines, we have a pretty good one with her now. I would recommend some CIO.
We have been working on practice falling- it's wonderful!! Thank you!
just wait until she starts to crawl OUT of her crib. That was OUR problem that started 6 or so weeks ago. Dear God.
ReplyDeleteWe've always had wonderful sleep success with our little one...but the routine changes frequently...with teething, growth spurts, sickness...we adapt and figure out a new plan (sometimes while banging our own heads on the wall.)
I just wrote about our newest sleep situation on my site this week too!
yikes. i read your posts...hilarious toddler bed-trial. i could see us doing the same thing.
Deletethe standing is novel to an extent...our boys still stand in their crib when they wake up and while they are waiting for their night night hug and kiss. she will learn quickly how to sit/fall without getting hurt, but now she knows how to stand in the crib she will always do it...at least mine do. just wait until she starts walking in there...lol. when my boys started standing i would go in and kiss them goodnight and then leave the room. they quickly learned how to lay themselves down and go to sleep. as are as something to help them soothe they each have a blanket and a lovey. Ian loves and must have his blanket (he sucks his thumb) Wyatt loves and must have his lovey and a pacifier (i put about 4 in the crib since they fall out throughout the night). i say if she stands go back in kiss her and say naptime/ nighttime and then leave the room. let her figure out how to lay down and go to sleep, she cant really hurt herself falling. just be aware that now that she is standing she can more easily throw her lovey out and then cry about that. i have gone in many times to find a lovey, blanket or pacifier on the ground and one of them standing looking over the side a crying. it is just a new stage that you both have to figure out :)
ReplyDelete4 loveys or pacifiers...good idea! she just started throwing her bed bunny or having it fall out of the crib. i think i may order 4 of the exact same ones, or maybe just have her get used to a stuffed animal instead of a specific one. make life easy!
DeleteMine is 15 months old and is just now getting to where she can settle herself back to sleep--honestly, up until the last month or so, I thought we'd never sleep again! Mine has a frog that is pretty flat and she's been snuggling it and laying on top of it. It seems to comfort her-she also thankfully finally started taking a paci at bedtime, which has helped so much.
ReplyDeleteHi! What's your point of view on what is your common reading audience?
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