I am so desperate, can someone help me?

[RACHPEM]

Maya had an absolute meltdown at 1400 I got her to sleep after a lot of hard work she was fighting, kicking, hitting really not nice and now it is 15.30 and she is still asleep, what do I do? do I wake her or leave her to sleep? I am worried if I leave her to sleep bedtime will become later and she will still wake at 5 oclock which means less night sleep = OT!!! can anyone help?
Rachael x

[lesorl]

Rachael-

I'd let her sleep as long as she wants.  If she's sick and heading toward OT land, I'd try bedtime around the same time as usual, regardless of when she wakes from her nap.

Sending you (((hugs)))-
Leslie

[Vicku]

Oh poor you and Maya!! She really doesn't seem well. Have you tried raising the matress for her to see if that helps the coughing?
I know it's too late now, but I'd have let her sleep too. She'll need as much as she can get. Hugs!!!!

[NiknLily]

Oh Hugs Rachel
Yes I agree I'd of let her sleep to within 2.5hrs of a reasonable bedtime. 
I take it you've steamed up her room, bowls of water on radiator etc, loads of vicks all over chest back and feet.  Does she have milk at bedtime? if its a mucousy cough I would eliminate that for a while too as that increases phlegm production and raise head of cot/bed on thick books so she isn't so flat.  Another thing to consider is that once the phlegm settles at night you generally stop coughing until you move at least.  Would she tollerate laying down prior to bedtime so that she gets through the coughing part before she needs to sleep.
Hope she feels better soon 

[RACHPEM]

Last night went quite well, she was asleep by 6.15 (7.15 in her eyes) and she slept until 4.17 9which would be 5.17 her "magic time) although she did fall back to sleep with a little intervention for approx another 1hr.  I really could have done without the time change this weekend though!
Rachael x

[Vicku]

Great that she slept for another hr in the end. Perhaps now that her EW's will be even earlier with the time change it'll be easier to get her back to sleep without putting the day out, and more motivating to do as 4:17 just isn't ok as a waking time. What do you do to get her back to sleep? WI/WO? Hopefully after a while she'll start puting herself back to sleep if she wakes at that time, if she gets used to going back to sleep and learns to do it independantly. That happened with DD after a while of doing WI/WO consistently. We'd hear her wake but then settle herself. Now I think all she does is roll over and go back to sleep til 6 or 7, so the hard work of WI/WO has been well worth it for us.
Fingers crossed for a good nap for her and that the cold and cough is better!!

[RACHPEM]

Hi all! Maya resisted her nap again today although not as bad as yesterday but I still managed to get her down and it has passed an hr now so we shall see what happens here.  We went to the doc's this morning as this cough she has had for 3-4 weeks now on and off so he has given her some antibiotics to help clear.  Tbh while she has been poorly i have been staying with her so I hope it does not take too much to get her back on track once she is feeling better, as the week before this cough took hold again she was settling herself and sleeping 11.5-12 hrs, just hope that was not because of the cold brewing! Obviously now our clocks have just gone back what do I do now just stick to out new time? as I dont want 4.17 as my new wake time.  Then I guess we will have to start to push it out again to get a more reasonable wake time, is that right? no doubts we will just have it sorted then we go on holiday in about 8 wks and it will be messed up again! although never seems so bad when your away plus hubby and mil will be there to help, just be tough when we get back as we also have a time difference to contend with which is new to us only done 1 hr previously.  Any tips anyone to help us prepare?
Rachaelx

[Vicku]

don't really have any advice on the time difference. now that clocks have changed DD's routine is pretty much an hr earlier, so we've not messed with her body clock. how big time difference will there be when you go on hol?

[RACHPEM]

5 or 6 hrs we are off to New York and then a cruise round the Caribbean for xmas and new year

[Vicku]

I'm sure there'll be loads of mums with experience of that on here. Maybe do a separate thread to get some advice? I know people sometimes post in Getting back on track about traveling etc.

[RACHPEM]

Just a quick update, Maya was asleep by 6pm and had a nw about 12 for 30 mins then woke at 5.45!

[bethanys mummy]

Hi there

just to say I am back ...... we went on hols when BW was down and just back and catching up. So frustrating about the illness but stick with it, keeping things crossed for you

E x

[marcylaurenklug]

Rachel ~

It seems that you have received lots of great advice here.  I was reading through your posts tonight - as I went through the same thing with my 14 month old.  Have you read the book 'Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child' by Mark Weisbluth?  I really recommend that you purchase a copy.  I have read many books on baby/toddler sleep, and most sleep experts agree that early waking is usually caused by overtiredness and a too late bedtime.  The best way to battle early wakings is to have an ultra-early bedtime.
My husband and I were very skeptical of this at first, but it does seem to work.  Dr. Weisbluth suggests putting babies to bed as early as 5:00 p.m. It sounds radical, but it can't hurt to try.  I would stick with an 11:30 nap-time and then bedtime between 5 and 5:30.  Don't make any judgements until you try it for at least a week.  If she absolutely refuses to go to bed that early, try 6:00 at the latest and then slowly move the bedtime back to 5.  She won't need to go to bed this early forever - just until she catches up on sleep and begins to wake later in the morning on a consistent basis.  The more sleep a baby gets, the better and longer the baby will sleep.  You will probably see her naptimes lengthen as well.

I know what it feels like to be at the end of your rope!  I hope things improve soon!

[nike]

Hey Rachael.  Can't agree enough about the book "HSH, HC" - it is also my bible and a book that I've spoken about quite a few times in your thread, I think without actually posting the title!  I do think he is a little harsh in some respects, I have to say, but I'm all for taking it all in and just finding a healthy balance.  He's very pro what he calls the "extinction method", ie to basically CIO.  Anyhow, it's a book I constantly refer to, even with second child.  There is a section on daylight savings (or whatever you call it over there).  I'll see if I can quote some of it for you.  Sorry I don't have any personal experience with this.

"When you move the clock time an hour earlier or later, continue to sleep your child according to the new time.  If her bedtime has been about 6.30 p.m. and you moved the clock forward an hour so her old 6.30 is now 7.30 p.m., still put her down to sleep at the new clock time of 6.30 p.m.  The reason you can ignore the time change is because a lot of social cues in the family such as active or quiet times, meals, bathing, outdoor play time is adjusted with the time change, and these social cues help regulate your child's sleep schedule."

I hope you understood all that!

We are having issues with DS2 atm as well, previous excellent sleeper.  He has been "off" since last week, after getting his chicken pox vaccination.  Only 2 weeks earlier he had tonsillitis, very nasty.  We've also been having some SA issues, but I think we're coming out of that now.  All of that culminated in taking up to an hour to go down for sleep at bedtime   Never before experienced this with him.  I thought since he was stuffing around, we may as well drop that last nightime bottle as well....so in some respects it's been a good thing   Now he's all over the place, sleeping up to 13.5/14 hours overnight ( ) and wanting to go for his nap close to his normal time of midday, even after only 3.5, 4 hours up.  WT???  Anyhow, seems happy otherwise.  Think he's on the verge of a bit of a language explosion/developmental thing - and/or molars.  Sorry to waffle, just letting you know you're not alone and why I rarely get time to get on the board of late!

IMO, I don't think you need to go right back to 5, 5.30 p.m. bedtime - stick with the 6.30 time for the moment and just ride out this illness.  Did you try the vaporiser?  Have you tried a dose of Panadol before bed?  Wishing Maya a speedy recovery...xo

[RACHPEM]

Hi Nike, nice to hear from you, hope things sort theirselves out your end soon.  I have the book you refer to so I will have a look at the pages on time difference.  I was going to post today as I feel all mixed at the mo, what with the illness and the clocks going back i am confused with what I should be doing.  We have been getting mixed starts ranging from 4.20-6am sometimes she will fall back to sleep and sometimes not.  We tend to get a good nap and good night and then an early start/ bad nap and that seems to be the general pattern.  Yesterday she only took 1hr 10 mins nap and would nt fall asleep for bed until 7pm which meant 6.5 A time and then awoke at 4.45 and no way was she going back off! With her not being well, tbh her nap has been nearer 11am rather than 11.30 and most days we do get a longer nap however if it does fall short then it can be a long time til bed.  Bed has been between 6-6.30 again because of illness and clock change as obs her body clock thinks it is an hr later anyway.  Br great if you could just let me know what you think and if I need to change anything.  Good to have you back.
~Rachael x