HELP...3 month old suddenly hates going to sleep!

[Jacksmom77]

Hello,

Need advice - I've been trying to get my son to get better @ going to sleep by himself by following BW plan. I don't know if he's going through a "stage" or if I made it worse but, he hates going to sleep now...everytime he starts to look tired I start the wind dn process & he  getsvery figity & screams hysterically! I pick him up to try & console him & cradle/hold him (which use to always work to soothe him), now he screams. I put him in the crib to try & drift off himself & he screams...what do I do? He was napping pretty well with 3 - 1.5 hour naps but still waking up pretty frequently at night...I think now a lot of it is that he is overly tired..also, his "awake" time in the past few  days has changed from 1.5 hours to almost under 1 hour.  I try to be careful about not overstimulating him, but think I may still be doing that - by the way - the only thing that works, after about 30 min., of crying/screaming is to swaddle/rocking-bouncing...he seems to big for swaddling blankets now though - any suggestions on that too. Thanks!

[Taylor's Mommy]

Hi Jacksmom!  I remember this happening to us as well at teh exact same age!  Others at the time were also going through similar thing, so I think it is a phase quite honestly.  I am going to review my old posts and try to find the exact one I wrote that says in detail how we handled it...stay tuned!

[Taylor's Mommy]

About 2 weeks ago Taylor started to become extremely difficutl to put down for naps and bed time (see my post under naps titled "feeling very frustrated please help" on page 2 and "do I have to resort to pu/pd?" under general sleep issues). Pat/shush was not working in that she was screaming louder than we could shush, even with 2 white noise machines going! This girl was now definitely able to concentrate on more than 2 things at once! So I read the post from Theo's mommy, followed the advice from Matthew's mommy in my naps post, and re-read teh chapter on pu/pd in Tracy's new book.
We started last Friday and by Monday night she started putting herself to sleep on her own! She has done this now 3 nights in a row and has slept all the way through from 8-ish to 7am (with her df at 11). This mornign she did wake at 5:30 am but dh went in and patted her back and she went back to sleep till 7.
The longest session was 45 minutes and I had to pick her up over 20 times. Overall it was not as bad as I had read, partly because we already had a good foundation with putting her to sleep awake in her crib and using pat/shush to calm her.
She became a pro at thumb sucking over the weekend too. She really wanted to soothe herself during pu/pd, so she worked really hard to find it! We still always swaddle her legs, and at least the left arm out so she can suck her thumb. We lie her on her left side so she has better control over her left hand. She prefers to have both hands out, but if she is worked up the top arm flails about and she can't calm down, so we have to swaddle it. If she is calm though we leave both arms out.

This was from a post I responded to regarding our plan and progress that helped her settle for sleep.

The following is a link to the post I wrote when all the problems started.  Jane gave me some great advice. 

Let me know if you have any questions regarding any of this.
HTH!

http://www.babywhisperer.com/forum/feeling-very-frustrated-please-help-vp240861.html?highlight=#240861

[Mom2katiebug]

Just want to keep track of this post as I have the same issues with DD.

[Taylor's Mommy]

let us know how you get on or if you have anymore questions!

[Jacksmom77]

Okay - the pu/pd seemed to work for about 2 days, now the problem is worse! He is sooooo fussy...I'm at a total loss...I thought maybe I was trying to put him to bed before he was tired enough - I let him go 4 hours without a nap (which is out of character for him) & he still was fussy...I don't know what I'm doing wrong but I feel horrible.  I tried to create a routine for him but he resists EVERYTHING I do...His cries start small & wind up into huge meltdowns...I try to feed him, he turns his head & arches his back, I tried to rock him, he does the same thing.  I've been racking my brain as to what I've changed or done differently that may have caused this - the only thing I can think of is that I put a white noise machine in his room (which I've since taken out) and started taking Zoloft - could he be reacting to that?

This happens every single time he goes to bed...what do I do??

[Taylor's Mommy]

Hi Jacks mom, how are you getting along?  Things kind of got lost during the transition so sorry I didn't get back to you earlier.  Is he still not settling?

[Jacksmom77]

No...ugh!!! In fact, it's gotten a little worse. He now, will not let me bring him anywhere near his room/crib if he's tired...am I reading his cues wrong? Or trying to put him in there too early? He will rub his eyes & almost fall asleep if I "cradle" him, but he will wake himself up, arch his back & start to cry...Now, he won't even play on the floor in his room where I have his playmat! I think I've traumatized him I don't know what I've done wrong along the way but I hope somehow it can be fixed!

[Taylor's Mommy]

I think I've traumatized him

I really doubt you have!  Don't be so hard on yourself.  As long as you have been with him through "sleep training" then he has never felt abandoned or scared.

BTW, is he spirited?  Many spirited babies will fight sleep so when they realize what is coming next, will put up a fight.  They also tend to be more inclined to let off steam before they go to sleep, leading to a lot of screaming!

He now, will not let me bring him anywhere near his room/crib if he's tired...am I reading his cues wrong?

Please tell me his routine including awake times.  Perhaps he is ready to stay up a little longer now that he is getting past the newborn stage so is fighting you because he is not ready to go to sleep yet?  Is he really tired or maybe just bored?

[Jacksmom77]

Sorry it took me so long to reply back...he is a spirited baby actually.  He's been doing a lot better...I read back over Tracy's book & realized I was missing his "window".  I was waiting until he was already fussing without realizing it...I just sat back & watched him & noticed him get that thousand yard stare, took him up to his bedroom (I was sure he was going to start to scream) - he fussed for about 30 seconds but immediately started to calm & went to sleep in just a few minutes!  I also bought darker shades to keep the light out.  Thanks for all your help!!!

[Taylor's Mommy]

That is great news!!!!  So glad things have improved for you all.  Take care and please continue to keep us posted