BabyWhispererForums.com
SLEEP => Sleeping For Toddlers => Topic started by: indpwm on April 26, 2006, 03:02:49 am
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HI,
I"ve read Tracey's books and love them. I've also been lurking here since baby #1, but kiddo #2 has got me all confuddled. I'd love some fresh eyes. The fact that my kids are 18 months apart, I was working part time until last month, BF and their crying breaks my heart has been working against me, so I'll get that whine right out of the way. I haven't done as well following the BW as I had hoped. I realize that those are just excuses and I'm ready to change so Here goes.
Ethan 33 months Sleeps from 8:30/9 to 7:30 ish in his big boy bed no trouble
Naps 12:30-3
Rachel 15 months Sleeps 8-7am Night waking approx 4 times Sleeps in her own crib now But takes a Paci
Naps 12:30-1:30 takes bottle while Listening to brother's story, rock for 5 mins when drowsy, down in crib awake
We moved to this one nap 2 months ago, when she dropped her afternoon nap. I've tried to go back to 2 but it hasn't worked.
I've read alto recently about bumping up her bedtime. Is this What I need to do????? How??? When do I feed her dinner? currently at 5:30? Does this mean I have to fix two dinners one for each kid? Their routine is to have a bath together at 7. DH gets home at 6 and really wants that hour to play. (that sounded like a whine sorry) Moving Rachel's bedtime will also "mess Up" DS. How long until I can get her back to an 8pm bedtime? Do i move it up in increments or just decide that she needs to have bedtime at say 6? Will I need black out her windows since it will be light out?
During her night wakings, I usually go to her room when her cries escalate. give her one of the several paci's in her crib, leave if she settles,if not I'll sit next to her, if that doesn't settle her I'll rub her head through the crib slats. If I haven't fallen asleep myself I crawl bleary eyed back to my bed hoping not to wake DH.
Should I take away her Paci's? Now or After we extend naps? of course we are taking a trip in two weeks, as well. Should I start anything before we go?
Back to Naps, somedays she seems tired by 11 but won't take a second nap and is really super cranky. I've moved her to DS schedule, lunch at 11:30, wind down at 12ish Nap at 12:30. When she wakes, I've experimented with letting her go to see if she will resettle but that does not work and will wake DS if it goes on too long. My presence alone won't resettle her either. I take her out of the crib and rock her, half the time she will resettle for another half hour. An hour or hour and fifteen minute nap is all she takes even with resettling. Once I go to her, she doesn't seem unhappy or (I hate to say this) tired. But she can't last until bed time. Will moving up bedtime really extend her nap? or will it just mean that she goes to bed at 6 forever?
Thank you so much for any advice. I really need to hear that others have been here and done that and gone beyond.
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With her short nap, I would strongly suggest moving her bedtime to 6:30 or 7pm. And I would do it in one jump - just put her to bed earlier. I know your dh wants time to play with her before bed, but really, she'll be much happier with more sleep so he should be okay with making the sacrifice. I feed Henry dinner at 5:30pm and he goes to bed usually around 6:45pm so I don't think you'll have to move dinner. Maybe your dh can do her bath at 6:30pm so he can spend that time with her - and then while you're putting her to bed, he can bathe your son? Just a thought - that way he gets to spend time with both of them, she gets to bed earlier, and your son's bedtime isn't affected.
Also, I would strongly suggest putting her down for her nap earlier. Going from 7am to 12:30pm at 15 months seems like a really long time. Even if you can get her down at 12pm, it may help extend her naps.
I don't know what I would do about the pacifier. Henry still takes one - he has 3 in his crib so he can find them on his own when he wakes at night. It's not a problem for me so I haven't really considered getting rid of them.
Hopefully some of this will help extend her naps and eliminate night wakings. Good luck!
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Or Can you move dinner to 5:15 and start bath at 6:15. Bathe both kiddos at once? We've had to be pretty creative with our 2 as well (Ila 5yo, Margot 20 months). For quite a while now we've had to do 2 bedtime routines--in fact we don't even start the older one's untill my younger one is asleep or it will disturb her. What about moving your ds's routine forward 1/2 hour as well. What we've had to do is go with the routine that suits our youngest dd best and we all just have to work around it--including ditching work a little early most days! I know how tough it is with 2 so don't beat yourself up!
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Thanks!!! I really needed to hear someone else tell me that it will get better if i just move up bed time. Its going to mean a lot of changes so I appreciate hearing that it is hard with 2. But i need to do this for Rachel, she's such a good girl. Thanks again ladies support means so much, I'll let you know how it goes.
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Good luck and let us know how it goes! Oh yeah, I meant to add that I wouldn't worry too much about the paci until Rachel gets a bit more sleep--it's so much easier trying to remove a "prop" when they are well rested.