BabyWhispererForums.com

So ever since we started doing a wind down routine at about 5 weeks (DS is now 8.5 weeks) it has been a battle to get him to calm down! As soon as we start swaddling he starts getting worked up. Then we move onto the sitting portion and he will NOT relax. He works himself up into a frenzy and in my head I envision a baby who maybe fusses a little but soon calms and relaxes into you as you sit there calmly.. well not my son. He stiffens his whole body and cries and is the farthest thing from relaxed. I am concerned with accidental parenting and props and stuff so I really try not to give him props although I will say I have been experimenting with different things to help him calm down.. I’ve tried walking around the room in the dark with white noise and he calms and relaxes but as soon as I sit it’s into the frenzy. I have tried shush patting while we sit there but that rarely works to calm him but it does stop him from having a meltdown. The paci works if I pop that in and sit with him but I don’t love that.. I guess I’m looking for advice from anyone who has  a baby who didn’t enjoy the recommended wind down routine and what tweaks I could do to still promote prop-free sleep training (he has a paci so I guess not totally prop free). Is the paci my simple solution or is there any other tweaks? He seems to calm only with any sort of movement but that kind of defeats the purpose of the sitting still.. any thoughts?
His wake time is around 50 mins and I’m slowly extending it over the next few weeks. He doesn’t do anything overly stimulating in his life. The most stimulating activity is watching his sister and dogs run around playing or watching his mobile.

Thanks
I feel like I have been telling myself things like that but sometimes a third party is nice as in the moment it’s like what is wrong with this baby! I have been starting to extend his wake time by 5 mins to work up to maybe 1hr / 1:15 over the next few weeks and I think that will help. I know with my first we only had an audio monitor (which I much prefer... less to fret about and you learn to listen to their type of cry rather than watch them fuss or lay there wide awake) however they don’t make dual audio monitors so we had to get video to get them both on one monitor system. I think we are staring to figure it out tho... but once that happens I know things are about to change!

My 8 week old babe has a hard time falling asleep for bedtime. He naps relatively well (sometimes needs help with shush patting but can fall asleep on his own).

I would say he is mostly textbook with a bit of touchy from what I can tell.

Every night he either has a hard time falling asleep fussing or he will just lay there with his eyes wide open. But just for bedtime! Usually lasts between 1.5-2 hours with or without going in and shush patting.

His schedule is (usually)
E/a 7:30
S 8:10
E/a 10
S 10:45
E/a 1
S 1:45
E/a 4
S 4:45
E/a 6
Bedtime between 6:15-7 depending on if he wakes up early from late afternoon nap or not (usually 45-50 mins after he wakes up)
Feeds at 8 & 11
And 1 or 2 motn feeds.

I am super conscious of overstimulation. Probably too conscious. My only theory is possibly undertired??? Could that be it? He seems so sleepy when I put him down and he goes to sleep for his naps within 10 mins. But it’s just bedtime that consistently takes sometimes past the 8pm feeding to fall asleep! (But once he’s out he’s out for the night; just waking to feed them going right back down). I have scoured the books and internet for a solution and I just can’t find out why he would 1. just lay there with his eyes open making no sounds for an hour (i only know he’s awake because of our video monitor otherwise I’d assume he’s sleeping). and 2. Why he consistently takes 1-2.5 hrs to fall asleep at night!

Can anyone help? I’m at wits end hah.

Hello everyone!
I would like to ask for your guys' advice.
My 4 month old is an  Angel/Textbook baby and is generally fine on the routine.
During her day naps, she often wakes up and just fusses or talks to herself (rarely does the mantra cry) for 30 minutes or even an hour, and then goes back to sleep. I do not enter her room, she normally self-soothes. We have recently switched to a 4-hour routine, but she did the same on a 3-hour one.
Should it concern me that in fact she only gets half the sleep time? She is always well-rested and happy when I come to get her, I am just wondering if I am not wasting so much of her time letting her just lay in the boring crib...
Please let me know your thoughts! Am I overreacting?

It's rare, but not unknown for some babies to drop to one nap as young as 7/8months old & some (like my niece) drop naps completely before 18months old.

Rather than look at age and textbook routine, look at how well your baby is coping. It may be a blip that improves in a week or so with some new skills learnt in the awake time, or it may be that with 12+ hours at night and a 2-hour nap in the day, it's enough for your baby to be a happy healthy child. 

It might be worth moving the first nap to around 4+ hours from wake up time and see if you get one longer nap.

Just remember a baby who is happy tends to be doing what it right for them!  no matter what the routines in books say.