6 month old will not sleep in crib for naps

[maddiesmom05]

Hi!

This is my first time here.  I'm glad I found this site!  My 6 mo. baby girl will not sleep in her crib when it's time for her nap. Now, before I go into my question, I have to explain that from the beginning with her I had tried to put her in her bed to sleep, but she would wake up almost immediately, so after a few weeks of no progress there I started putting her in her swing after I rocked her to sleep. She would sleep for an hour or so. But my son and I would have to whisper so we wouldn't wake her up. I should mention we live in a two bdrm apartment. Our son has his own room, while our daughter sleeps in our room, in her bed.  For a long time doing this that way was fine, but now that she's this age, I know it's time. The biggest reason why I've put it off till now is because she is my last baby and I'm reluctant to let this go...mostly the rocking her to sleep. My mom gave me the baby whisperer book right after my baby was born and I've just been able to slowly read it. I read about a mom and dad who had had a premature born baby boy and had let him sleep with them and rocked him to sleep until he was about 7 mo. old and now they wanted him to learn to sleep in his bed. I tried the way Tracy made this mom do it, but I'm kinda confused. She says to start with walking in the bedroom and turning on some soft music, turn down the shades and just sit in the rocking chair, then stand up and inch my way over to the bed. She did these steps for 3 days, but what I don't get is is she putting him down for a nap or just repeating these steps over and over? I tried that, and instead of leaving the room I would lay her down and tap her butt and go sh sh sh, but she would still cry and not calm down. By the time she WOULD fall asleep it was time for her next feeding. She nurses every 2 hours. And it's always one hour after she's been fed that she's tired. So when I try those steps, it's like 20-25 minutes later that she falls asleep and maybe a half hour later and she's awake. Another part of the book (the chapter is 6 - the three stages of sleep) she yawns and rubs her eyes, so I give her her blanket and hold her and head over to her room to get her used to being there when she's tired, but as soon as she's in her bed, she's wide awake. She doesn't nod off or doze off. She'll yawn or rub her eyes, but that doesn't mean she'll act tired.
I tried the music, turning the shades down then putting her in her bed and she's alright with that, but then she starts screaming and her voice almost goes hoarse, so I go in and pick up her. We did this with our son and it only took probably 2 times and he was fine. I just don't think that will work with her. I'm just unsure of what steps I need to take in order for her to be comfortable enough to fall asleep in her bed for her naps. (she has no problem when it comes to sleeping at night, she sleeps right through the night) Any advice?

[maddiesmom05]

Sometimes she'll eat every 3 hours, but it's mostly every 2. How do I change her eating habits from 2 to 4 hours? I can't not feed her when she's hungry. She cries her hungry cry after 2 hours. She just had her 6 mo. check-up and her doctor said nothing of changing her eating habits.  She's always been like this. Her doctor says that she is advanced for her age. At birth she could hold up her head very well. (no joke) She says that she is 2 months older that her real age. I've just started her on rice cereal and she's doing very well with it. She has no trouble sleeping in her bed at night, course she's fast asleep, but she's slept through the night since she was 2 weeks old. I'm not going to not do what her doctor tells me to do. I'll try the pu/pd routine and see how that goes. She is a very strong-willed child. But I know what's good for her.

Her routine is basically eating every two hours, she might watch a 1/2 hr. Baby Einstein video with her brother, or I play with her on the floor, then she gets tired and I go about rocking her to sleep and then put her in her swing so I can hang out with my son or clean. Before my son has his nap in the afternoon, we go outside for a while.

I watch her when she gets tired and according to the baby whisperer book, I'm supposed to act right on her first yawn or rubbing her eyes, but she doesn't really act on those yawns or eye rubbings. She's still alright, when she starts whining, then I know she's getting really tired.

That story I was telling in my first post was from the baby whisperer book.  You're probably right about it not having to do with putting a child to bed. My baby is a Touchy baby. She never slept when she was first born. I mean naps, she was always awake, but slept like a dream at night. It was, well it still is great that she sleeps through the night!  Thanks!

[maddiesmom05]

Well, I just did that pu/pd routine and I don't like it at all. I'm sitting here crying because it took her 35 minutes of screaming and crying to finally fall asleep. 
Picking up and putting down first of all puts such a strain on my back, I was in so much pain. I don't want my child to fall asleep that way. I'm almost afraid that she won't like me or trust me for comfort when she wakes up. 

I did everything the way this instruction told me to. She eventually just got so upset that she fell asleep. I thought she would fall asleep peacefully..it's like one second she's screaming the next she is  asleep. How is this supposed to work? I don't feel like I've accomplished anything. It's almost like I left her there to cry herself to sleep.

Isn't there any other way?

[maddiesmom05]

I did read through those instructions and that's what I followed. I just didn't like how her crying escalated to her getting extremely mad and practically losing her voice.  Almost like she was upset that she wasn't in control. That I wasn't holding her till she fell asleep. I know that's what I'm trying to have her do, fall asleep by herself, but I found myself laying on the bed after a while and crying while she was in her crib just screaming wondering if I was doing the right thing.  If this was the way I should have her learn to fall asleep by herself. I mean, with my son, we had him cry himself to sleep and I think it took maybe 45 minutes and only had to do that a couple times. I've tried the crying herself to sleep thing probably 3 or 4 times and she fights it every time.  Course, every baby is different.

I understand what you're saying about the feedings. She doesn't ever wake up in the middle of the night to be fed. Once she's in her bed, that's it until the morning and then she's hungry. She sleeps about 9 1/2 - 10 hrs a night.  And when she eats, it's because she's hungry, not to be comforted or anything. I let her go until she cries her hungry cry and that is every 2 - 3 hrs. Maybe that'll change once she's on just solid food. We'll see I guess. 

Thanks

[maddiesmom05]

Well, I'm sorry to say that this is going to be the last post I do here. I'm not going to do the pu/pd routine. Yesterday, I tried it again for the next time she needed a nap and it went worse than the first. She never calmed down once. Her cry was much more intense to the point that she sounded like she was losing her voice. Plus, she was crying so hard that she did that thing that babies, or even small children do when they've cried so hard that they can't catch their breath...I can't really explain it. She's NEVER done that before. It might work for other mom's, but not this one.