rolling on to tummy

[soji]

Hi ladies -

My DS is 7 1/2 months old.  He is NOT a very good tummy sleeper.  He usually only sleeps about 20 minutes on his tummy, but the other day he actually slept for about 48 minutes!  That was quite an improvement!!  If I don't get him nice and sleepy before I put him down in his crib for naps he will just roll onto his tummy and PLAY, PLAY, PLAY!!!  Sometimes he starts to cry and then I'll give him a few minutes (depending on the type of cry) and then if he doesn't roll himself onto his back, i'll go in and roll him over.  Lately, I've been having to get him back out of his crib and do the wind down all over again (basically, sit in the rocker and hold him until he starts sucking his thumb and gets nice and sleepy again).  He hasn't mastered rolling back to his back yet so he's still learning how to do that.  I've been a little more proactive him rolling him onto his back b/c I know he will sleep much better (and longer!  1 1/2 to 2 hours).  whereas on his tummy he does the short nap - which he usually wakes up from happy and jsut starts to play again.  But it's aggravating. 

So, my dilemma is this: do I keep rolling him  onto his back and/or winding him back down again to ensure that he will have a good nap (but not allowing him to actually learn how to do it on his own?) or do I just let him figure it out and deal w/ the short naps until he figures it out?  Mind you, he can stay in his crib for 1 1/2 hours and be perfectly happy even with a 40 minute short nap.  So I just leave him there until it's time to get him out.

I feel like i'm sacrificing all these naps to allow him to teach himself how to roll back over and soothe himself back to sleep, but it's jsut very frustrating.  he's been doing some variation of this (although it is getting better....very slowly) since before Christmas (so almost a month).  I know with development and milestones there will be some disturbances with naps, but it jsut kills me that it's been going on for so long and progress is very slow.

Any thoughts?

[monopod]

My DS is 8 months old tomorrow and over the past few days seems unable to stop himself from rolling over (and over and over and over). I think the main difference is that he *can* get back by himself, but for some reason seems incapable of doing so when it is time to wind down. We haven't changed anything about our activity time or our wind-down, but just when he's getting tired and we start our wind-down, he gets this little glint in his eye and away he goes, beaming at me and rolling over on to his tummy and doing pushups. He won't fall asleep on his tummy though, so our little difficulties at the moment are less to do with him staying asleep and more to do with getting him in the right mood to sleep!

I've been taking him out of his cot too, to hold him, sing to him and calm him down, and when he finally stops bobbing about and puts his head on my shoulder again, I put him back down in his cot, but we sometimes have to do this several times until he finally uses up his excess energy. Tonight he was so tired but he still kept automatically flipping over so I just kept pushing him back when he tried to turn, and finally he gave up and went to sleep.

I don't know what the 'right' answer is, but from my perspective the temporary help I'm giving him to get him to sleep (he's usually an independent sleeper) trumps the likely OT. I can see that it's more of a concern at your end though given that this seems to have been going on for a while with your DS. Are you giving him plenty of opportunity to practise during his A time? I wonder whether starting a wind-down super early would help?

Are you having OT problems from the short naps?

 

[soji]

thanks for your reply.  Oh, our kids sound similar these days!!!  I, too, have been doing the many pick ups to start the wind down again.  I just put down DS and I had to do a very long wind down (lying on the floor with him in his room watching him do push ups until he looks good and tired).  I sat down in the chair to hold him a bit and he was giving me the sleepy cues (sucking thumb, playing the hair, yawns, etc...) but as soon as I stand up to get him to the crib he starts to get that happy look in his eyes that he gets to roll around some more!  Well, this time I jsut held him standing next to the crib for a song or too and then put him down in the crib.  I kept my hand on his tummy and every time he reached for the railing of the crib I gently pulled it back away so that he would get the message that it's not time to play, but to sleep.  I close my eyes (so not to make eye contact) and he started his sleepy cues again (sucking thumb, etc...)I must've stood there for 10 minutes and I slowly released the pressure on his tummy until my hand was jsut hovering over his belly.  He was still kinda stirring a little when I let go and walked away from the crib.  But by the time I checked the video monitor outside his room he was asleep.  Thank goodness!

This morning's nap was much worse.  I had to go in 3 times and he didn't fall asleep for about 40 minutes - just played and got stuck and played some more.  He finally went to sleep on his back and sure enough gave me a 40 minute nap, but then he rolled on to his tummy and slept some, moved around some, then slept some and on and off until I got him up.  I have DD (2 1/2) at home today and tomorrow so I couldn't give him more time like I did in the afternoon.

He doesn't really seem to be OT from the short naps.  But I know he needs the sleep b/c he will get really tired by bedtime.  I don't really mind doing the long wind downs, but it's so hard to do when DD is home or when I pick her up from preschool.  By then DS is very tired but has enough energy to do push ups and I'm trying to get both of them down at the same time!!! 

THanks for sharing.  This will pass, right?  It always does, right? 

[monopod]

It better

Today was fun - at both naps as well as at bedtime, picking up/rolling back and quietly but sternly telling him that it was sleepytime, not playtime. Did it work? Did it heck I realised that leaving him in the room by himself worked better. Once he started yelling or crying, *then* I went back in, gave him a cuddle and a quick song, and put him back down. Looks like you found your formula too - great stuff!

No point getting frustrated, I figure. I'm trying to value every single moment I spend with him, even the grumpy and cranky ones. I bet I'll miss all this when he grows up, which he's doing all too quickly...

[soji]

yes, i agree with you about growing too fast.  This second time around I feel like it's gone even faster than the first!  I will be going back to work (part time) in May and I'm already kind of dreading it.  I like my work and it will be good for me to go back and keep my foot in the door with my job, but it will also mean that my son will be 1 year old and my time with him as an infant will be gone.  He's so much fun right now, too. 

We'll see how tomorrow goes.  DD is still home from school b/c of the inauguration so it will be a little bit of a juggle during the morning nap.  During the afternoon nap I put her down first so that i have much more time to wind him down (and roll him over multiple times if need be!)

[monopod]

Hi soji, how's today gone?

I extended his A time today and I think that helped him settle better as he was more tired. I think 3h 15mins is about right, but I'll have to experiment a little over the next few days. This evening during a late catnap (I added a third nap because of short naps during the day) and at bedtime I also found that when I didn't rush in to roll him back over he yelled a little but then rolled himself back after a while, and ended up settling himself once again! Before, I'd been anxious for him to get to sleep quickly because I was worried about OT, but this time I just let him get on with it and now I know he can do it by himself so I'm only going to go to him if he starts crying properly!

I totally agree with you about this age being a complete delight! And also completely empathise about the going back to work - I start work again in about 5 weeks

[soji]

3 hours is a long time for wake time for my little one.  But if I count all the time before he actually goes to sleep, he's closer to it than i thought before. 

Well, yesterday's morning nap wasn't so hot.  I wound him down for a good 20 minutes and he still was wide eyed and wanting to play.  There was just a moment where I thought I had him down but NOPE he popped his eyes open and wanted to play w/ the crib slats!  He ended up sleeping on his tummy - but for 53 minutes!  THen he woke up and cried/fussed a little.  I was going to get him up to feed, b/c by then it was 11am, but we had family over to watch the inauguration and I was a little late getting to him...and he fell back asleep!  It wasn't for long - maybe 10-15 minutes, but it means he's learning, right?

The afternoon nap was late (close to 2pm) but he was much easier to put down.  I held him in the glider until he was really drowsy and put him in his crib.  he slept for about 45 minutes then rolled onto his tummy and did a few stretches of 10-20 minutes at a time.  He did cry between his sleep but I was busy on the phone (trying desperately to get off) but then he went back to sleep again!  This kept happening until it was almost 2 hours of crib time.

This morning he didn't wake up until 720 so i just put him down right before 10am - which is really not a lot of wake time, but I let him crawl (he's crawling!!) all over the floor for a long time and I think that made him nice and tired.  He went down pretty easily (surprise!)  I think he's definitely stretching/needing more A time but every day is a little different and needs a little tweaking in flexibility (guests over, phone calls, pick up daughter, etc...) 

Hugs to you about going back to work.  5 weeks... sigh...I know before too long I will have a count down in weeks instead of months. Every now and tehn I start to stress about childcare and how he's going to nap with a babysitter, but then I have to remind myself that he will probably be so different by the time he gets closer to 1 year so stop stressing and jsut enjoy him!!!  Sometimes that's easier said than done! 

Hope you are having a good day with your little one!

[monopod]

Hi soji,

We are ending up having nap niggles again too - I think because my DS is trying to crawl and is super-restless as a result. He's tired but can't stop himself moving all about in his cot! I know it will pass but I do hope it doesn't take too long as he is going to end up OT/APed again at this rate

I am feeling a little happier about going back as I've had a very positive meeting with my new line manager (what not to do while on maternity leave - get a new job ) and they are going to be trying to ease me back in slowly I know what you mean about childcare worries though - I've pretty much been his sole caregiver since he was born and am quite concerned about how much his routine is going to be disrupted at nursery! Still, I have been reading that they adapt surprisingly better than you would think, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Hope everything is going ok with you. I don't know if anyone else has more experience in the developmental milestone disruption area that they can share with you?