Sleep and EASY Support for spirited babies

[Hellomama]

Eminvc I was going to do wake to sleep and then DS started wake at random times. Can't win haha. At least you tried and gave it your best. Hope things are going well.

[Jemimah]

Hello Everyone!! 
I am new to the spirited board but not the forum.  I have a spirited baby. What a change from my angel one    DS2 is 6 mths old and likes sleeping exactly 30 min for naps and bedtime.  UT, OT or right on time who knows as it is always 30 min!  Well maybe not all, we have had 5 1.5 hrs naps without resettling in 6 mths. 

Recently we have had TONS of night wakings, it has slowed down now, but still painful to say the least.  I do not cosleep as I am not a fan, but if I know he would not night wake as often, likely only to feed at 11ish and 3ish.  He is still on 2 naps and a catnap and gawd forbid he can resettle himself - ugh!  My personality is so not suited for the spirited type  - any advice?  Do you try and get a full nap, or just give up at 30 minutes and move on with life?

Things to mention:
-hates to be swaddled, has been in sleepsac for 3 mths but the arms, the flailing arms!  We just tried 2 nights of no sleepsac and just a blanket, no better, no worse.  Also tried his tummy last night, but it only last  1 hr.
-uses soother to get to sleep; has never fallen asleep for nap or bedtime without it; throughout night he does not use it, unless to resettle
- average size baby
-on 2.15 min A time, have tried for 2.5 today - will see what happens (well - nap is over and you guessed it, 30 minutes, with 1 hr of trying to resettle in which he fell kinda asleep in arms, but woke up the second I set him down even though it had been 25 min of me holding him to resettle!!)
-we call his room the dungeon as we spend every nap resettling. It goes like this on  good day: sleep 30 min; resettle for 20-30; sleep for 30-40. Its getting very tedious and as his A time increases it exceeds his 4 hr feeds so then even though he has barely slept I feel I need to wake so he doesn't wake even more at night!
-shh/pat works 30% of time  but usually  hold and rock and soother is the only way, but like today that doesnt even work.
-he sleeps 50% better in carrier, but I cant wear it 3x day plus not sure that is very good sleep training
-also started food recently as thought itwould help, it hasnt

What the heck is my EASY going to look like with 30 min naps, BF every 4 hrs and also eating  an hr after BFing - isnt it all going to jam together?  When will I take care of DS1, and life in general???

Sorry its all over the place, but pls advice from some other parents of spirited ones would be great!

Lost in the dungeon,
Jemimah

[TB9]

Hmmm, it sounds like the soother may be interfering with learning to resettle himself.  I know with dd2 we ended up just weaning it because when I went in to replug at 30min, she just got super excited to see me and wouldn't resettle.  I would also keep increasing his A time to hopefully drop his cn, dd2 is 6.5months and has been cn free for over a month now, so you definitely need to be slowly increasing his A time so he has 2 nap days.

[Jemimah]

Thanks so much for the feedback!  Will try increasing A time slowly, as I know that must be a factor.  And for that darn soother, I suppose I should just throw it out!!

[Jemimah]

Any chance you can provide EASY for me to aim for that does not have CN?
Right now we try for this:
WU/BF:6.30
A: solids:7.30
S:8.45-10.15
A: 10.15
BF: 10.30
A: solids: 11.30
S:12.30-2
A:2
BF: 2.30
A:solids 3.30
BF: 4 (have to pick up family so have to BF early, instead of after nap as we dont get home till 5.30)
S: 4.15-4.45
BF: 6.30 top up
B: 7

Much appreciated, Lisa

[newbabe]

Hi guys
DD is 11months and I've posted on other forums about her sleep difficulties.. Just browsing here and I wonder if it is OT that has her awake and screeching for about 2 hrs most nights since she was a month or two old. It always turns into whining, mantra cries and eventually real cries....at they point we go into her and usually she will settle within 20 min ( tho in my arms) and can be put down  in cot again half adleep. What does OT appear like.. Flailing limbs, hopping round the cot, screeching and cooing loudly enough to wake us all? Cos if so maybe this is the issue
Thanks

[TB9]

Jemimah - So sorry I didnt reply earlier!  A 2 nap day will look different for every LO...I think I was able to get my girls having 2 nap days once I got their A time up to 2.5hrs, then 3hrs before bed, as long as they were also doing 2hr naps which didnt always happen, so we had lots of early bedtimes 

Newbabe - I wonder if she is in pain.  Any chance she has teeth coming in or getting ready to come in?

[newbabe]

Thanks Tinkerbell.. But don't think so.. Often medicate her, but the reality is this has been her pattern since she was tiny..

[TB9]

If you go in right away and sit with her does she settle right away?  Or does she still take as much time as it would if you left her until she got to the real cry?

[newbabe]

That's a good question.. It's been so long since we gave gone in straight away! I might give it a try!

[MarciaMSPT]

Do you have an international kindle? I know RYSC is available on kindle... Otherwise, I can try to grab a copy on amazon and send it to you, its a godsend and no mummy to a spirited LO should be without it!

What is RYSC?  I have a spirited baby! 

[TB9]

A must read book

http://www.amazon.ca/Raising-Your-Spirited-Child-Perceptive/dp/0060923288

[BabyA13]

Hi guys
DD is 11months and I've posted on other forums about her sleep difficulties.. Just browsing here and I wonder if it is OT that has her awake and screeching for about 2 hrs most nights since she was a month or two old. It always turns into whining, mantra cries and eventually real cries....at they point we go into her and usually she will settle within 20 min ( tho in my arms) and can be put down  in cot again half adleep. What does OT appear like.. Flailing limbs, hopping round the cot, screeching and cooing loudly enough to wake us all? Cos if so maybe this is the issue
Thanks

Newbabe,

I found with my baby that when he is OT if I will hold him (he likes being held upright so he can see over my shoulder) and do a variety of rocking, moving, shushing, patting, etc. that within about 5-10 minutes he is usually asleep. However, if I lay him down in bed when he is OT, he will usually keep himself awake moving, kicking, talking, etc. for an hour or more. Containing him in my arms seems to be what works best for him to calm down enough to fall asleep. Sometimes he refuses to be contained so I lay him down and then pick him up a little later if he still hasn't gotten to sleep. Occasionally he is able to fall asleep on his own, but not usually. He is almost 5 months old now.

Hope this is helpful.

[Kabik]

Hi I really need a support and help. I ammother of 6 month old LO veeery spirited. We have so big sleep difficulties . He isin OT cycle about 2 months or more going worse every day. I have no method to make him sleep. Everything stops working - breastfeeding, roking, swinging, boucing . During day he seelp in the pram but it also stops working now i have to move it back and forward all the time and he cries a lot, during night breastfeeding and bottel and he wakes many many many just after bottel or nippel. Please support.He is so ot all the time - you know what i mean i can't put him down even in my arms he is crying - what to do ? I was thinging about uppd - but scary about it... Now he is ill and tried to make him sleep today at home, tring for about 2 hours - bouncing and breast feeding he finally felt asleep but for 5 minutes! I don;t know what to do, i am so exhausted. We have no plan. and he is short napper.

[TB9]

Hugs hun

If he is ill, there isnt much you can do   What is his schedule like normally?  I found with both my girls that if I thought they were ot, it was only because I was putting them down too early for sleep, so they were short napping because they were undertired making them overtired, if that makes sense.

If he isnt an independent sleeper I would probably work on that, it actually is so much easier with spirited babies when you teach them how to put themselves to sleep.  Have you tried shh/pat?  Pu/pd didnt work so well with my babies, but using shh/pat to calm them in the crib so they could put themselves to sleep worked much better