Tuesday, March 22, 2011
No More Dance Aerobics
So Thomas seems to be getting worse and worse when it comes to bedtime and sleeping. I'm sure we've probably done this to ourselves, but it has gotten to the point where you have to bounce him while walking around and patting his back, with his soother, sleep sheep, swaddled for like 45 mins before he will go to sleep. And that's after feeding him and bedtime stories. And I'm not doing it anymore. It's ridiculous. Does anyone have any wonderful suggestions of how to get him to go to sleep easier? He's 4 months old now and he still eats every 3 hours all night long - any suggestions on lengthening the time between feeds? Some people purport to have babies younger than him that sleep for upwards of 9 hours at a time. Are they lying? If they are actually being truthful, what is their secret? Is it too young for sleep training? We will be leaving in about a month and he's bound to be thrown off by all the travel and sleeping in new places, etc. Should I not even bother doing this right now?
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I think you can try any number of things-- the tricky thing is sticking with it. But if you're fed up, that's the time to do it. I checked out a bunch of books at the library about sleep habits and then choose what seems like would work best for you/for the way Thomas functions. And he won't be scarred if he has to cry a bit. More likely you will be-- so get some headphones or something distracting to do far away from his room. Sometimes it's almost like they're testing to see what you'll do, but once they figure out getting to sleep and staying that way on their own they're much happier. May the force be with you. I hate sleep issues. That's why I'm having #5, because I love to torture myself... :)
ReplyDeleteWhen Alianna was about 4 months, she did the same thing. We got the Baby Whisperer Solves all your Problems. She had some good ideas. I recommend it. One thing is let Dave get up with Thomas (so he doesn't smell the milk on you) and calm him back to sleep. He probably is not hungry, but has a habit of eating during the night. She recommends starting from birth with her techniques. I like some, but not all of them, but with Eli, teaching him self soothing so he sleeps better has helped already. If he wakes in the night, he falls back asleep, unless he is really hungry...
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