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Offline sprinke

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Need wind-down ideas
« on: September 26, 2007, 16:01:41 pm »
I think our LO (4.5 mos old) is suffering from chronic overstimulation. We would appreciate your ideas for wind-down activities, as we are planning to implement E.A.S.Y. very soon.

Sadly, some of the typical wind-down activities (bath, massage, quietly reading books in dimly lit room) seem to make him even more agitated. If we try to rock in the chair he squirms around and fights.

Help!
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Offline Lippy Chick

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Re: Need wind-down ideas
« Reply #1 on: September 26, 2007, 17:51:11 pm »
I'm in the same boat.  I have just this week started watching the Baby IQ DVD (she's nearly 6 months and I think they are advised for over 6 months) for 5-10 mins and then sitting in a quiet room, no TV on and just looking out the window to the garden.  Then waiting for some signs of tiredness and taking her to bed.  Would love more ideas for wind down activities though.

Pauline
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Pauline
Alice (30th March 2007)

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Offline vbeck

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Re: Need wind-down ideas
« Reply #2 on: October 10, 2007, 20:18:53 pm »
I would too, my ds wants to know whats going on around him and is so so alert that even in a dim room with not really much to look at, he finds something! and like you Sprinke, if i sit with him quietly he wriggles and wont have any of it, unless we are sitting in the front room and he can see the telly?? or we are in a well lit room then he'll find something to grab his attention!
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Offline kiwilee

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Re: Need wind-down ideas
« Reply #3 on: October 11, 2007, 04:34:27 am »
TJ can be a bit of a squirmy wormy as well. I just go with the flow, and even though he doesn't always "seem" calm, I keep talking quietly, reading the book, etc.

Apart from reading a book and rocking, he loves to play with my hands and I gently move or waggle my fingers in front of him. This keeps him fascinated, as does gently clapping out rhythms.

We also walk around the house and look at pictures of friends and family on the walls, or just the paintings.

Finally, though I find he doesn't particularly like to be swaddled, I often do a one-handed swaddle and place him in his cot and gently rock him back and forth (really kind of jiggling) by pushing on him before I leave him to go to sleep.

I think that some babies have two modes: on and off!! :o

In contradiction to this, I do find that by persevering with the wind-down activities, he has figured some of them out and now knows that it is time to relax....
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Offline sprinke

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Re: Need wind-down ideas
« Reply #4 on: October 11, 2007, 04:39:27 am »
We ended up doing the following: make one circuit around the apartment telling him the names of everything as we pass them in a quiet voice, then making a second circuit singing a lullaby. Takes about 10 minutes.
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Offline lyndsy_p

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Re: Need wind-down ideas
« Reply #5 on: October 11, 2007, 04:53:41 am »
My LO is very spirited and reading a book before bed was terribly stimulating as she needed to touch the pages, grab the book, drop the book etc. The bath is also a stimulating activity, so she actually needs a wind down from that. We do a massage of her legs only. She hates a massage on her tummy or arms. She will not sit in my lap as she just squirms and squirms. Funnily enough the Baby Einstein DVD keeps her still. I sit her in her bouncy chair watching it before bed. We started at 15 mins and over about 2 weeks worked our way to watching the whole DVD. This is our routine:

A 530 Bath, Massage into Jammas
A 600 Baby Einstein
E 630 BF, dimly lit room
A 645 wind down of saying "night night" to the kitchen, dining room, pictures etc (a lap around our living room) Then up to her room, turn on the sleep sounds sheep, into her Grobag and a few pats on her bum as she lays on her side.
S 7 asleep

HTH ;D
Lyndsy
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Offline vbeck

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Re: Need wind-down ideas
« Reply #6 on: October 12, 2007, 16:12:59 pm »
My DS also gets very excited in the bath so i also give him a massage before bed! He also loves playing with my fingers so maybe for his naps ill start walking around and then sit with him while he plays with my hands, hopefully this wont be too over stimulating!

He loves In the night garden? not sure if its just shown in England but he loves it so much that he gets really excited when the characters come on the screen and its meant to be for bedtime but it doesnt work for us!
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Offline Bryony

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Re: Need wind-down ideas
« Reply #7 on: October 13, 2007, 14:29:29 pm »
We do a lot of walking around the house with Katie on my hip, I sing gently to her or talk about what we can see. She will often only start to yawn and look tired once we have done this for 10 mins or so!

(I have a hip seat thing so she sits on that and I can hold her with one arm - with the other I am usually tidying up the house etc...!)

Bryony
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Offline vbeck

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Re: Need wind-down ideas
« Reply #8 on: October 14, 2007, 18:27:30 pm »
Well ive tried my wind down idea and it hasnt worked, nothing i do seems to help with his naps, i just dont know what else to do!!

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Offline Bryony

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Re: Need wind-down ideas
« Reply #9 on: October 14, 2007, 19:27:45 pm »
Could he be overtired rather than overstimulated?  Maybe you need to do shorter A times? You say you are planning on implementing EASY soon - what are you doing at the moment? might be worth posting on the naps or EASY forum to look for ideas about getting him into a routine to make sure he doesn't get OT (if you haven't already)

Bryony
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