tips on getting 10 1/2 month old back on track

[beckiekellett]

To make a long story shorter (hopefully), we've been battling major constipation (seems to be very painful for my daughter, especially at night).  She wakes up every couple of hours each night.  In addition, this week she has had a cold (fever, stuffy nose, coughing) and I believe is teething (chewing on her fingers lots, drooling).  So needless to say sleep is not an easy thing in our house.  We have just started BW techniques this evening and they seem to be going alright.  My one question is, what to do when she is screaming and crying constantly ..... it's like she realizes that things aren't the same as what she's used to and she's quite upset.
Any tips or advice would be appreciated.
tia
Beckie

[jess, lukeys_mom]

Hi there and welcome to the BW boards   

Since you are new to EASY and have not done this routine before, I am going to move your post over to the EASY forums to get some assistance on getting started.

In the meantime, can you post a general idea of what happens during your lo's day and night (normally) with her sleeping and feeding times, as well as how you get her to go to sleep? This will make it easier for people to advise you on getting an EASY routine established. 

[beckiekellett]

thanks for letting me know my post was moved.

When I was reading the bw techniqes, I was happy to see that we had been following the E.A.S.Y. techniques without really knowing it!  since day one we have been able to have the eat, activity sleep routine.  My dear daughter started sleeping through the nights at 2 months, and this lasted until about 5 months when the severe constipation issues started and she was waking in pain multiple times at night.  I went back to work full time when she was 8 weeks old, but she's home with daddy (my husband).  Because of the lack of sleep we were both getting, we started bringing her into our bed when she woke up and we all seemed to get a bit more sleep this way.  Now that she's 10 1/2 months old, we've come to the conclusion we want our bed back!!  And we want her to learn (again) to comfort herself and sleep on her own.  We are still working with a paediatrician on the constipation issues, but would like to start getting her sleeping on her own again.

Right now, a typical day is she's up around 7, nurses and has breakfast, plays has a bottle then a nap around 10 for about 45 minutes to an hour and a half.  Up might have a bit of a drink (bottle, or if I'm home she might nurse), play, lunch, play, nap around 1 for anywhere from 45 min. to 3 hours.  Up, drink/snack, play, nurse, dinner, play, wind down (usually includes nursing) ...we don't bath every night, but are going to try starting that as part of our bed time routine.  To get her to sleep "usually" she was nursed and held (rocked/jiggled). 
So yes, I do see there are things for us to change and we are have started.  just looking for more tips/ideas......or even just encouragement to keep going!!

Hope this helps, let me know if you need any more info.

thanks!

[* Paula *]

Welcome to the BW website

In order for us to try and help you tweak your routine, please can you post what your day looks like now (i.e. today)

E - time
A - how long
S - including wind down, and how you got to sleep.

At this age you can use the PU/PD method, so when you put your lo down for a nap, if she starts crying you pick her up and calm her down, when she quietens down, you put her down back int he cot, and carry on, until your lo settles.

Has your Paed given your lo any med for the constipation?  Are things getting any better?

[jess, lukeys_mom]

Piping in here with some encouragement as you keep going and help get your lo started on EASY.

My suspicion is that coming into your bed and sleeping with you has become a bit of a prop for her, and that the first thing that needs to happen is to wean that dependency and get her used to sleeping in her own bed without nursing or rocking as a prop. If I were you I would start with the night sleep first, and then tackle the naps after that, fitting them into a routine that's appropriate for her age.

I would like to give you some links to read through. First is a sleep interview with Tracy: http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=451.0 It is long but has some great info, and also details the PU/PD (or probably just PD at her age) method that Paula mentioned.

Further, here is a link to two sleep training methods that are commonly used for weaning a dependency: http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=80750.0  Either method needsa lot of commitment but both work. I would recommend considering GW since she has gotten quite used to co-sleeping.

I can imagine that she would cry as if she realizes something different is going on, as you mentioned in your first post. That is definitely to be expected since you are all of a sudden changing the 'rules' she has become used to. I would suggest two things to keep in mind: a) take it slow - it probably won't do anyone any good to try to make every improvement at once; and b) be consistent with everything new that you do implement. It's the most fair and easiest on her when she learns the new rules and they don't change.