Sleep "jolts"--some questions

[Maia&Lia]

For anyone who has experienced a child who wakes frequently because of sleep jolts, how long is it before they learn to sleep through them?
Other than going in to hold down the baby when s/he typically jolts, is there anything else I can do to help her through this stage? The baby is swaddled, btw.

Thanks!
-Alessia

Basic background (if this is important to the answers). We do a 4's winddown, including pacifier. She is always put down awake and falls asleep (either before or after spitting out the pacifier). However, she then will wake up when she goes through the jolts (I know from sitting there watching her). She may settle herself back to sleep once or twice after a jolt, but by the 3rd one she is wide awake again and starts to fuss or cry. I've tried to intervene by holding her down before/during the jolts, replacing the pacifier, and pat/shhing. None of these interventions have proven effective with any consistency. By the end of it all, she'll have been awake for at least 1 1/2 hours after the original yawn and only has time for a 45 minute nap before her next feed. Then, because she hasn't napped well, she'll be ready for her nap immediately after eating. I've tried both putting her down immediately after or waiting a little bit and neither seem to help her with getting to sleep (past the jolts). I've got a toddler to tend to...and spending 1.5 hrs in the newborn's room to get to sleep is impossible. Any thoughts?!?

[KathrynK]

Hi Alessia
my lo was about 4 months before the sleep jolts finally disappeared for good. I know that's probably not what you wanted to hear! I too used to sit next to her cot and hold her arms & legs to help her through the jolts. Like you, I found that this wasn't effective every single time. It worked maybe 60% of the time, the rest of the time I had to just accept that she wasn't going back to sleep and get her up. It seems from reading other threads on the boards that it doesn't always work for every lo, but when you can do it and it does work, those times are worth it. It must be difficult with two, is there anyone who can watch your other lo while you are trying to stop the jolts?

[Maia&Lia]

Hi Kathryn,
Thanks for the reply. I was thinking that it probably would be quite some time before the jolts would disappear. It seems that there is a miracle window around 4 months when everything starts to clear on its own, huh? 45 minute naps disappear, jolts go away, ability to self-soothe increases, etc.

Maybe I should wait until then to try any more of this sleep stuff. It is definitely tough with #2 running around. Hmm.

Anyway, this morning I spent the time to just watch Lia while she slept to see if there was a pattern that might help me to intervene. I'm going to try to observe her nap again this afternoon or tomorrow morning. If I can figure out her pattern of jolting then maybe I could help out a little more. In the meantime I'm feeling like battling the sleep issues is an uphill battle that probably won't get much better in the next few months. I'm just hoping to do the best I can with the time I have available.

-Alessia

[hoosiermama]

Do you swaddle your lo?  That really helps my ds.

[Maia&Lia]

Yes, she is swaddled.