At wits end trying to implement EASY

[GeriB]

I have just started a 4 hour easy routine with my daughter. She goes down really well at night. I can just put her in cot and sometimes she might babble other times she goes straight to sleep. Nap times are a nightmare. She was used to napping in her buggy/car seat or in our arms mostly. On day 10 now and its not too much better. We have also taken the soother from her. Dhe likes her cot and will play in it happily. Her routine is like this 7am  wake and feed
      8 am activities
      9.30 am try to put to bed may sleep for 40 mins max and then will bring her down about 10.45 to get next bottle ready. she will often be very sleepy.
12.15 - 12.30 try her for another nap. She did have 2 really good sleeps at this time on day 7/8 but I couldn't do it with her the next day and it seems to have gone out the window since then. I will take her up when she wakes anytime from 2 pm. She has slept, woken and gone back to sleep for say 2 20 minute periods.
3pm food
4pm activities
5.30 nap.
She may sleep here for 20/30 mins.
6.30 bath
7 bottle and 8pm bed
Now she seems to detest shh pat if I start it she goes bananas. I can't pat her back as she sleeps on her back I tried putting her on her side and again she went ballistic. She seems to like going to sleep on her own so today I took her out of the room to calm her. then went back in and sat beside her and she went off that way. Is it me??? Is it sometimes the case they do not like to be over handled. Is she overtired. I'm almost done with this as I feel I have no life at all now apart from her adorable giggles and smiles when on good form. I do pat her chest but even that just annoys her after a while. HELP!!!!

Geri B

[anna*]

How old is your baby hun?

[GeriB]

Hi Anna,
She is 41/2 months. This evening I sang some lullabies very gently to her and she calmed down immediately and went to sleep. I was amazed. However she only slept for 25 mins and I picked her up because it was 5.35pm and needed to give her bath etc. Maybe I should put on a lullaby cd?

Thanks

Geri

[anna*]

I think she's overtired. 2.5hrs awake time is a lot for her age, you might have better luck if you bring her first nap earlier. If she wakes early from her nap, do you try to resettle her before getting her up? You say she is sleepy, so maybe she would go back to sleep? So as a guide, about 2hrs awake time (including feeding and wind down) is probably the max that she can handle, even after a long nap. After a short nap, you'll need to cut that back even more to just maybe 1.5hrs.

She's also old enough now that you can do PUPD with her if shush-pat doesn't seem to help. A lullaby CD is a great idea!

[GeriB]

Thanks, I will try putting her down now as she's been up 2 hours already. Have cd ready to go too. Wish us luck.

[GeriB]

1 hour later,not a wink of sleep. Sort of reassured her for the first half hour and then she started going ballistic. Could do nothing to calm her down apart from leaving the room. So she is here on my lap but I intend to go back in a few mins when she is relaxed. I just cannot calm her once she gets really upset. She wriggles and struggles in my arms so I put her back down screaming and pick her up again. I think she wants the soother because I gave her a lovey and she just tried to ram it in her mouth and then got frustrated with that. Music is on and it worked for a little while but now not much use.  She is getting a lot of wind up here too.

Any feedback/suggestions!!!

[anna*]

Sounds like she was overtired still, if she had been awake for two hours before you started wind-down. Are you weaning the soother now? Keep at it, she will sleep eventually!

[GeriB]

Thanks Anna, after she got all the wind up I brought her back to bed and she was asleep within 1o minutes and she slept for 40 up until her 11am bottle which she was ready for. Will see how she goes now. May not keep her up until 1 but just get her to bed when I see she is tired. Could she be a kid who doesn't need a lot of daytime sleep? Last night I put her down around 7.45 no issues. Got her up at 7 this morn and she had a dream feed of 4oz at 10.30pm.

[anna*]

Tell me about the situation with the soother/dummy. It sounds like she had some wind rather than wasn't tired? Babies don't tend to scream and yell if they are undertired - they will just happily coo and play in their crib, so it doesn't sound like undertired.

[GeriB]

She had the soother from around 2 weeks old. I was trying to implement easy but she kept waking up looking for the soother and it disrupted her naps. So I just got rid of it and she sleeps perfectly at night without it but I'm not sure if she would like it during naps because sometimes she turns her head ans opens her mouth like she's looking for it. She has not had it for a week now.

[GeriB]

On another note could she be getting overtired in the cot if she does not get to sleep fast enough?? I will keep her activities low now and bring her up for her next nap at 12.30

[anna*]

If you're getting rid of the soother, I would get rid of it entirely. You can't use PUPD with a soother, and if she's managing at night then she can learn to do so in the daytime too. Yes, when you're sleep training and it takes a long time to go to sleep, that can easily cause OT (overtiredness). If you know it's going to take at least 45 mins to get her to sleep, you need to factor that in so that you're doing your wind-down far enough ahead so that she can still have a chance to fall asleep 'on schedule'.

[GeriB]

Thanks so much Anna, I have gotten rid of the soother entirely. I do not give it to her even if she is looking for it. So I took her to her room at 12.20 with soft music playing and we just looked at some books and i spoke softly. at 12.35 I brought her to the cot. She sang along with me (the cutest ever) and then she started to fuss. I decided to back off and hey presto by 12.50 she's asleep. I think she needs me a little and then needs to be left alone but I was not reading that cue correctly and I'd never have brought her up this early. I will go in around 1.30 if she's still sleeping to settle her if she needs it. We'll see. My husband is home today to do feeds and activities so I can rest and focus on the naps. I was really ready to give up but feel more encouraged by how things are going today. I am delighted the soother is gone. Had the ceremonial burning last week. I am grateful for your input also.

[anna*]

That sounds like a great nap, fingers crossed she gives you a good one.