Going Crazy....

[Ima shel Alon]

Wow, ladies, you have been busy while I was sleeping. Love this time difference

Totally agree with all of you.
You could all ready see the differences in the generations. Raising children today is very different than years ago, and children are raised to be more self centered and not considerate
of their surrounding. This is at least my experience. And that is no wonder to me with more and more parents doing CIO. If only they had known the damage they are causing. If you don't bond with your mother which is the most natural thing, how will you learn to bondwith other people, to have true relationships with others?

Anyway, know that you are doing the right thing and we are all behind you, even in the hard times. And yes - It will get better!

[DSAN]

DH told me about his workmate who did CIO with an 8 week old so it would STTN...8 weeks!

Wow, just wow. I can't imagine letting an 8 week old baby cry all night. I'm pretty sure DS was hungry at least 2x a night when he was that age... and maybe up a few times just for 'fun!'

there was a video up on this website somewhere

I've seen it, I think its on the FAQ board for general sleep maybe? Very compelling... wish more people would watch it!

You could all ready see the differences in the generations. Raising children today is very different than years ago, and children are raised to be more self centered and not considerate
of their surrounding. This is at least my experience. And that is no wonder to me with more and more parents doing CIO. If only they had known the damage they are causing. If you don't bond with your mother which is the most natural thing, how will you learn to bondwith other people, to have true relationships with others?

That makes total sense!! One thing my friend said to me yesterday about letting her son cry himself to sleep 1/2 way through naps is that she 'wasn't ready for him to wake up' after only 45 minutes... I wanted to say 'then why did you have a baby if you weren't ready!!' I figure it's my responsibility as a parent to help my son learn to sleep, not force him to "learn" it by himself.

In other news today was a bit better! One of his naps was 50 minutes long!! I had time to make my lunch AND eat it. It was amazing. AND he went down independently for 2 of his 4 naps (the other two were on the go as we were packing, last minute shopping, etc. as we are going away tomorrow) AND night sleep. He just babbled in his crib, and I actually left the room while he got himself sleepy, and then he started asking for his paci so I went back and gave it to him, he sucked for a few minutes, spat it out, closed his eyes and I haven't heard a peep from him since!

Love it! Now if we could just stretch naps past the 1.5 hour mark we would be good to go

[Mama_Mia]

Great job, sounds like he is doing great.

Love it! Now if we could just stretch naps past the 1.5 hour mark we would be good to go

you'll get there

[brenda2]

50 min naps or 1.5 hour naps sounds like UT to me.  may want t o stretch the A time just a touch and see if this helps.

[Ima shel Alon]

DSAN - that is good news. As Brenda said might be UT, but I know the joy of getting past the 35-40 minutes! Good on you and LO! May it only be the beginning.

[bongabees]

I agree with the UT idea - try stretching the A times and see what happens. We are just experimenting with this and it seems to be easier to get LO to sleep and yesterday he had a 2 hour nap in the morning with just one resettling.

[DSAN]

Thanks Ladies! I'll try and extend his first A time slowly. 30 mins could be UT, his OT naps seem to be 25 minutes!!

He does go down happily and wake up happy... after 30 mins... does that mean UT?

The great news is he's going down totally independently 80% of the time and without a paci about 50% of the time! He's growing up...

I had a thought... would getting to much night sleep affect nap lenghts? More often than not he'll get about 13.5 hours of night sleep!! He's so OT at the end of the day I've been putting him down at 5:30 because he's just so done, and he usually sleeps till 7am. Just recently he's been getting up at 5:30 so I'm going to try pushing BT slowly back too, back to 7pm. Just wondering if that might help lengthen naps...

[ZacsMumme]

He does go down happily and wake up happy... after 30 mins... does that mean UT?

FOr us that would mean UT

Well naps and night sleep do affect each other so he could be catching up on lost day sleep at night...This is probably the best thing that can happen when you get rubbish naps though...at least he is catching up!

I'm going to try pushing BT slowly back too, back to 7pm. Just wondering if that might help lengthen naps...

  I think that sounds like a good plan

[DSAN]

Today was a nightmare. DS went down screaming for all of his naps. I don't get it, I was going by his cues in order to get a baseline from which to start extending A times (which I had been doing all of last week when he wen't down so peacefully and wonderfully all by himself for every nap), he didn't seem to be overtired (well, for the first one any way, after that he started refusing and we only got 3 really short naps in after the first of 30 minutes, so he went down REALLY overtired), yet he would start screaming bloody murder after being in is bed happy for a few minutes.

Hopefully today was an off day and tomorrow will be better. He was also crying after eating though making me wonder if his reflux is acting up... may be time for an increase in meds... who knows. He was also up 4 times in the night...

I've moved in with my mom (and dad, and my sisters are here visiting... it's a full house!) because DH is away for 3 weeks. We were on holiday with them last week and I'm thinking maybe with more hands around I was spending more time with him and not having to let him entertain himself with toys? Maybe that has something to do with it? Maybe he got overstimulated with to many toys? Or was just missing me? I had a lot to do this morning so I admit I had to 'ignore' him a bit... do babies think like that? Or maybe just the change of scene coming home threw him off... although he didn't have that issue when we left... I feel lost...

[ZacsMumme]

Ew we had that too today! I am putting it down to teeth or developmental. I suspect you are in the middle of a teething bout maybe hun??? For us teething affects sleep and feeding..and it often causes reflux flares SO not nice for reflux babes. Hang in there, hopefully it passes in a day or two. If you suspect those teeth are moving and causing pain you can try medicating 30 mins before a nap or BT and see if it helps

[ZacsMumme]

You are also at the age of a developmental leap http://www.thewonderweeks.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=64&Itemid=157 (HUGS)

[DSAN]

He might be teething! I suppose it's about that time. I'll try giving him some tylonol before his 1st nap and see if that helps. I don't see anything there though... but I guess I don't have to before he feels pain?

Thats so interesting about those developmental leaps! He's 23 weeks today, so that is coming up! I just really really hope tomorrow is better. I can't face many more days like today... don't know how single mom's do it!!

OK! Time to prepare myself for tomorrow We can do it! He barely made it 2hrs of A time first thing today so we'll try 2hrs 10min tomorrow and the next few days. See if that makes a difference. Although, if he's going to be melting down, maybe I'll give him a few days for his moods to level out... I don't know. It's so hard to know what to do!!

Fingers crossed tomorrow (and tonight!) are better.

[ZacsMumme]

We get pain when they are moving around, usually the gums are white and hurt him when I try to touch them. SOmetimes they look swollen and I can see a white pearl. Some babies are fine, but others (esp touchy babies) get quite wound up We just had two rubbish naps today which I am sure are due to teeth - I even medicate before his nap but I think they are about to cut.

Re developmental leaps, usually its up to 4 weeks before the WW where they get crank...we just went through WW37 and DS was NW, crying, clingy etc from weeks 34-36. This is also an interesting blog about the WW leap http://blogginaboutbabies.wordpress.com/2009/04/14/wonder-week-26/

I can't face many more days like today... don't know how single mom's do it!!

I know! I don't think it will be anything you are doing hun, just be there for him, I really do think its just pain/dev maybe a touch of change of scene.

[DSAN]

Ok, so today we are back to being able to settle in bed. 1st nap was completely independent, 2nd nap was on the go (couldn't be avoided unfortunately...) 3rd nap was in bed with a little help as he was pretty OT from the on-the-go nap.

The crazy thing, after only 1hr 20mins of A time in the morning(he was acting really tired... I usually try for 2 hours) he slept 1hr 20mins! That's the longest nap he's taken in like a month. Maybe I've been trying to get him to do longer A times than he's able to do? Or maybe just a fluke? I also wonder if he was awake for a while before he woke me this morning. Sometimes he just likes to look around a bit after waking.

1hr 20mins of A time seems really short for a 5.5 month old... But maybe for that 1st A time he wants a bit shorter? Or maybe we are just turning to corner to longer naps?

[ZacsMumme]

Could be teeth We get short A's and long naps just before and after heavy teething is about to start...I think we may be in one now as DS went down early after being grumpy as!