Just started with 4 month old . . . encouragement please

[ummyinsh]

Today I started putting my LO down on his own to go to sleep following a 4 hour EASY. He was awake at 7, so easy to just go ahead and start. We started the nap routine 20 mins before the nap (9:00) and he went to sleep at 9:30 and slept about 30-40 mins. When he woke up, I tried pu/pd but he never went back to sleep. We did that until the 2-hour time for nap lapsed.  Again, at the second nap, he did about the same. Slept 30 or 40 minutes and never went back to sleep. I'm still doing pu/pd but I have a feeling he will stay awake again, crying back and forth til 3.  Will the naps get any longer you think?

With my first LO, she seemed much easier to leave rather than trying to sit with her. She cried more when I was around so eventually, I just left her and she would go to sleep. I'm wondering if I should do the same. He does not get upset normally but when he does, he seems like he is much harder to calm down. So the crying starts as soon as I move to put him down. He can be sleepy, fall asleep and then, we move him and he is up for another 3 hours.  So not a naturally sleepy child at all.

Words of encouragemenet please! Hope that makes sense . . . off to get him again!

[ikesmummy]

Hi, lots of encouragement coming from me. I'm new and learning the ropes too so you will probably get many more useful posts but I would say stick with it things will improve. My little lad is nearly 5 months and I was having problems with settling him and short naps which got worse when he was poorly at just over 4 months so decided a week ago to put in my full effort at helping him to learn to fall asleep independently and lengthening his naps.

I have been using PU/PD and lots of resting my hands on him and shushing, he now settles much quicker and sometimes I am not needing to pick him up at all. Had a real breakthrough this morning when I managed to re-settle him from a short nap (resulting from OT). I would think your LO is in danger of becoming OT as well while your helping him learn to self soothe and for me the best answer to this was early nights, often 6-6.15. Within a week I am now getting at least one good nap almost every day and yesterday I had two good naps and a catnap.

Keep at this, this will be a wonderful gift to you and him. And remember keeping coming here for advice and support I know that is what has gotten me here, feeling really positive about EASY!!!

[<Catherine>]

I just wanted to echo the PP really, I had huge sucess with my lo in just a few weeks - I actually saw a major difference in just a few days. Do stick with it, you will get there and just ask for help as and when you need it. These guys were such a fantastic help to me (and still are!). I did find after a few days we had a bad patch, which is quite normal apparently, so don't be disheartened if you feel like you are going backwards again in a few days time, it'll get back on track shortly afterwards!

I wont give any advice, just wanted to offer some encouragement. Good luck, hope it works for you, stick with it if it takes some time!!

[Evgenia]

{{{Hugs}}} As pps said it does take time and being persistant and consistent but at the end it all pays off.
ikesmummy is right about earlier bad time, aim for a very early bedtime tonight as he had realy poor naps today.

When he ends up with a short nap, remember to shorten the A time that follows to avoid OT.

When he's up early from the nap have u tried shh/pat to resettle him? I found with dd resettling during naps shh/pat worked better as pu/pd stimulated her.

How does he settle for naps? Any props? Do u have to stay with him or does he go to sleep on his own?

Could u post what the rest of the day looks like (EAS) maybe his routine needs to be tweaked.

Hope this helps

[ummyinsh]

It's been about a week since he had a normal schedule. He used to sleep in his swing or bouncer (we knew it was a prop but it was working).  Since we trained our first how to sleep, we figured in due time we'd have to teach him but he's gotten worse. So he needed the help a lot sooner than I thought.

Now he doesn't like the swing to actually, er, um swing.  He will only let us rock him the other direction and has become totally reliant upon that which means someone sitting their ROCKING him. This has been a few days but I know I had to be ready to commit to teaching him a new way. 

Oh, for the schedule . . . before, he would wake at 8 which is an hour after my first LO which I liked. I got him down for naps within 1.5 usually. I have a 2yo so don't always get to him in time. But that is another reason I need him to learn to self soothe. Anyway,  he'd sleep anywhere from 1-3 hours. If the nap was short or interuppted (light sleeper), he'd make up for it in the afternoon. It worked out beacuse both the kiddies would go to sleep around the same time and I'd get a break.

He is the type of child (like my LO) who, after being tired after 1.5, goes to sleep for 5 mins and if interrupted, will stay awake for 3 hours and not fuss.

Thanks for the encouragement. I know it works since I did it with my LO to a certain extent but later on.  I just needed a little encouragement.