where do i even begin w/ 2mo??

[heidiruthie]

so my third child, ava is 2 months old now and i think i really need to begin to address her napping issues. while she does well at night (sleeps 12 hours waking for 1 feed, i know i'm lucky!) her naps have become shorter and shorter and...the worst part is, they all happen on me. i have a baby carrier called the moby wrap which has been a lifesaver with 3 kids under 5. i don't know how'd i do it otherwise. she is also a bit touchy and loves being close to me, so of course loves being worn. i used to be able to transfer her to her crib after 30 min of sleep, but either her sleep cycles have changed as she's grown, or she is becoming a lighter sleeper, because it has now gotten to the point where i can't transfer her to her crib no matter how long or short she's been sleeping. she wakes up crying 5 minutes later. and i can't sleep train at the moment because my 2yo is into EVERYTHING like crazy and will either interrupt me in her room and awaken her further, or be scrubbing the toilet bowl with his toothbrush if i so much as try to do pat/shhh for 10 minutes. and i have tried, trust me, when dh is home on the weekends, and she doesn't seem to like it at all.

i've been sort of biding my time, waiting for her to turn 3 months so that i can start pu/pd with her, which was a huge success with DS1 who was a  very touchy baby, but i'm finding that wearing her for most of the day is taking its toll and i'm now having back issues and am scared i'm going to do damage to a previous neck injury. she's a big baby too, weighs close to 15 lbs already. plus i don't even know how i'm going to manage pu/pd with ds2 in the house. is 12 weeks truly a magic number and will things just get easier then, or do i have a long, hard road ahead of me for all of the apop i've done in the past 9 weeks?

i've tried other methods of getting her to sleep, like rocking or swaying in her dark room w/ the noise machine on (and yes she is swaddled), but it seems she's simply got to be worn. and now she likes to have a muslin over her eyes in order for her to conk out.

any an all suggestions appreciated!!

~heidi

[~Karen~]

Hi Heidi!  How things been going?  Do you think you have the time needed for sleep training right now?  It can be a lot of work and if ds2 hadn't been able to self soothe I just don't know if I would of had the time with two other lo's to sleep train.  When ds1 was about this age I started to try and get him to sleep in the cot by rubbing him and that did work although he didn't sleep anywhere near as much as I wanted him too!

[heidiruthie]

hi karen! well, things are the same. she can nap for up to 2 hours (or longer!) in my moby wrap, but when the rare success occurs and i can get her to fall asleep in her crib, he only sleeps for 30 minutes, sometimes only 15. this begins an OT cycle and it almost seems easier at this point to just keep wearing her. i don't really know what is best. my sister is coming down to visit next week for a few days, so perhaps she can watch the boys while i do a bit more sleep training....i'm finding the "bum push" somewhat effective (the new zealand sharlene lady's method, can't think of her name) and i'm starting to do the bum push while she's being worn, to help her fall asleep and i'm hoping that once i can take the time to extend her naps in her crib, i'll do the same thing and it will help soothe her better. 3 kids is crazy.....i'm defnitiely in over my head!! i guess i just need to keep taking it one day at a time...

[*Jo*]

we do the bum push as well, I have found it very successful, if he is not ready for sleep however it just doesnt seem to work, sometihng to keep in mind wiht your LO