Hi Kelly and Ims Mommy,
Boy- I was so glad to see your replies this morning
- thank you again for your help- I'm so grateful to know that you're out there for me!
It's been a difficult month all-in-all. We've managed to help her with her naps and separation anxiety by staying with her (sitting in chair, sometimes stroking her head), until she's almost asleep, then leave.... at bedtime, we have to stay until she's totally asleep or she stands and cries again. Bedtime can take some time, last night it was an hour and half- she just wanted to play peekaboo in her crib (even though she had been up from 2pm to 7pm- I put her down earlier at 7pm but she didn't sleep until 8:30pm).
But we started having night wakings these past 2 weeks all of a sudden, which coincided with our transitioning to 1 nap. When she was on 2 naps (10-11am and 3:30 to 5:00), bedtime was at 8-8:30, and she'd be off to sleep fairly quickly independently. Then started separation anxiety and nap transition and teething, and we are now on the following schedule for most part:
- if no night waking or night waking but fairly quick return to sleep (i.e. 30min- seems to be hit or miss- some nights I am able to lay my hand on her and she settles more quickly, other nights, no matter what I do, she stays awake for 2 to 3 hours- e.g. this whole week
), she wakes at 6:30am, takes 1 nap at 11:30 say for 2 hours to 1:30 or 2pm, then I put her back down for bedtime after dinner, bath and bedtime routine at 7pm. It can take her 30min to an hour to go to bed then, with me in the room. I will definitely work on independent sleep again soon with wi/wo or gradual withdrawal, once we've got the night wakings to stop (since she's always been able to do so since we did PU/PD when she was 4 months). Right now, she won't let me leave until asleep or close to.
- if night waking for 2 hours or more, first she cries for me, I go to her and try to settle her with stroking her head and PD, when she calms, she starts playing in crib for hours, and won't let me even lie on the floor, she wants to be able to see me in the chair. In this case, say her bedtime is 7ish pm, falls asleep at 7:45pm, wakes up first time an hour or so after asleep 9:30pm, back to sleep quickly with my hand on her head and PD (20 min), then second night waking at 2am or so for 2-3 hours to 4am or 5am, then back to sleep until 8:30am. 1 nap again at 1pm for 1.5-2 hours to 3pm, then bedtime again at 7:30, with baby falling asleep at 8-8:30. I find that if I put her to bed earlier than say 5 hours, she takes over an hour to go to sleep, whereas when she's up for 6 hours say, she falls asleep within a few minutes.... but in both cases, she started night wakings (2-3 times each night), and very restless in sleep, whimpering every hour or so.
Night wakings only began all of a sudden these past 2 weeks, please help in any way- once again, thank you, thank you. I wish I could give you both a big hug to show my sincere appreciation. THANK YOU SO MUCH.
Lynette (Emma's Mom)