Sleep and EASY Support for spirited babies

[becj86]

Yay Tecike!

[Tecike]

Boo again to my country! 
I can't order from Amazon - I tried a dozen books from different sellers and countries and none of them ships or delivers to Serbia. They keep saying that they're *unable to ship to my address*...   

The only way might be if I gave a US, UK or other address, but then I'm not sure how any of you could mail it to me. In the post office here they told me they don't know how much it would cost.... 

[timmysmommy]

Just send me a message with your address, and I'll mail my copy to you.  I bought it used at a great price.  No worries! 

[:: ANA ::]

Hi everyone,
I'm new to this thread and so glad I found it!

My LO is 13mo, apparently low sleep needs kid, already transitioned to 1 nap a day (45-50min), sttn for 11-12hrs...
The thing is he just won't nap before 6.5hrs A!!
This makes our mornings suuuper long.  I've tried 5, 5.5, 6hrs and he totally fights it.  He cries and cries, stands up a million times and reaches for me, to take him out of the crib.
I know A time should be shorter, but the rule doesn't seem to apply very much to us!

If he sleeps longer than 60min I cap the nap so that he's ready for BT at 7 or 7.30, which he usually is (after only 4hrs A in the afternoon).

Has this happened to any of you?

[becj86]

Yeah, we're high A time (so super long A in the morning and a shorter A in the afternoon) but high sleep needs which makes it a hard balance to strike. There are lots of kids with low sleep needs, you're not alone. You may find more mums of LSN LO's here: http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=221808.0

[Tecike]

Sorry, Ana, no help here... Vic is LSN, but with short A times and 2 naps.

Amy, sorry if I seem impatient, but I sent you a message last week, have you received it? 

[timmysmommy]

Tecike,  sorry for the delay!  I haven't been on here much lately!  I just sent you a message!  The book should arrive in a few weeks!  Hope it helps!

Hi Anna!  DS is low sleep needs.  Dropped to one nap at 10 months.  Your schedule sounds just like ours around that time, only I opted for a longer nap, and shorter night so DH could have more time with him.  At 27 months he naps every third day.  On no nap days he is up from 8-9 sleeping 11 hrs, occasionally 12. On nap days he is usually up from 8-10 with a two hour nap late in the day.  Cutting the nap only changes bt by a half hour so I just let him sleep.  He is really hard to wake, and is usually cranky, so I have often opted to let him sleep.  He has always done longer A times in morning, and shorter before bed.  Hth!

I'm still trying to figure out DD. She doesn't like to sleep at night.  Her A times seem fairly normal.  I think I've finally got her doing 11 hr nights, although we still have several nw's.

[HRDetroit]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to this thread, so forgive me if I'm not using it correctly.  I have a spirited 8 month old.  He's mostly a joy unless he's OT, which once in a while is hard to avoid as a two-working parent household.  But we've come along way and he does pretty well generally.

I'm wondering if other spirited-baby parents have to deal with fussiness and fighting when changing your LO's diaper and/or clothes?  If we change him immediately after waking up, he's usually cool, but at other times during the day and in the evening (after his bath and before bedtime) he gets pretty upset, keeps his legs straight, etc. which makes the whole changing and clothing process a bit difficult.  I try going slow, going fast, trying to make him laugh, singing, etc., and nothing seems to be a silver bullet.  The daycare teachers say this happens there, as well, except with one of the teachers, who he LOVES, so I'm not sure how to address this.  I'd welcome any thoughts or ideas.

Thanks!!

[Tecike]

Hi HRD!

Yep, getting dressed and changing diapers are major issues here, too. My DS was the same as yours before he started crawling properly, now he bolts off as soon as he sees a piece of clothing in my hands. He thinks me chasing him is a great game, he laughs loudly at me catching him and then he's fairly easier to dress when I sit him in my lap. It's summer here, thankfully, so right now it's just a T-shirt and shorts, but I don't really know how he'll handle the winter clothing... 

Now, nappy changes are another issue, as he can't crawl off... ATM I don't know what to do either, as for a few days now he's discovered that it's great to play around with his willy... not an issue unless he's pooped. You can imagine the scene - me holding down both his hands and legs in order to clean him and keep him from smearing poop everywhere... major disaster and screaming. I tried giving him things he's otherwise not allowed to touch, but he throws everything away. Then I tried making funny faces and singing to distract him, nope, he won't have it... 
So, I'm with you on welcoming new ideas!

[roimata9]

My LO used to be the same with nappy changes and getting dressed too. He's waaaay better now though!
When he was 8months he was a really good roller and would roll as quick as lightning if he got the chance. Between 8 and 10 months I used to change him on the floor with my feet clamping down his arms by his armpits, so he couldn't roll! That earned me plenty of funny looks!
Have you read RYSC? She talks about the different attributes of spirited children, eg if your LO is sensitive they might not like the textures or there might be a thread annoying them. If they are persistent they might want to do it themselves. If they find transitions hard, they might want to stay in their old/ dirty items.

I tried quite a few things, not sure if any worked by themselves or if it was a combo of things.

We essentially did PU/PD for nappy time. I didn't want to ignore the crying as I reckon he was trying to tell us something, we just couldn't figure out what it was! So if he cried, I'd pick him up, cuddle him until he stopped, then put him down and keep going. It made for some loooong changes at first!

We started using baby sign to tell him in advance when we were going to change his nappy or clothes. Then we would bring something he was playing with over for him to hold to help with the transition.

We tried to do something he liked afterwards so he'd have a good association with changing time, eg story or game.

He loves food so I tried giving him a piece of fruit leather to chew on during the change.

Telling him what was happening in advance - eg This is going to go over your head, 123, now! Then playing peekaboo when his eyes were covered.

Teaching him how to help. At 14months he now takes his shoes/socks and nappy off, puts his arms in his sleeves and lifts his feet up for his trousers.

The best thing we've done recently is keep him standing as much as possible. He loves to see what's going on and I think it makes him feel less helpless. Obviously that won't work with a younger baby but maybe doing it on your lap might help as Tecike suggested.

Hope some of those ideas are helpful!

[HRDetroit]

Thanks Roimata9 and Tecike.  Those are great ideas.  My LO rolls over as soon as he can on the changing pad, as well as tries to crawl away (though not super quickly, yet).  I stopped changing him on the table a while ago afraid that he would roll off.   

He loves to stand, though can't do it on his own yet.  I have changed his nappy and clothes while he's standing and holding on to a window bench in his room and true enough, he was as happy as can be.  Haven't tried changing clothes in my lap, will do that.  We just started signing, so that's a great idea, too, and I'll certainly try doing something super fun right after to start those kinds of associations.  Unfortunately in the evenings, usually what comes immediately after is our goodnight routine and sleep, which i don't think he thinks is fun.  In fact, the past couple of nights, he hasn't settled down to sleep until about 9-10pm (can't get him to stop wanting to crawl or cruise around - two new skills he's acquired), but alas, this too shall pass. 

Thanks again!

[Jessleigh]

Anyone have trouble with their LO's sleep and traveling? I'm not sure if it's a temperment thing or what (might be her touchy side too) but the first 3 nights of vacation were hell. Lots of screaming at BT. PUPD just made it worse (o man. I've never heard this poor girl scream so hard) so i ended up holding her to sleep. It's understandable i guess, being in a new place. But this has made traveling daunting. We're leaving again tomorrow. Staying with my parents for a few nights and then off the Hawaii! Yay!! Excited but nervous. Not looking forward to the 9hr drive (we're gonna try drving thru the night and hope she sleeps) or the 6hr plane ride. Or the 3hr time change for that matter.  I try to bring a few comfort items from home and do my BT routine to keep things as normal as possible. Anyone else have trouble with traveling? It just seems like she's so high maintenance with sleep!

[becj86]

Getting spiriteds to sleep when travelling:
*Have LO play in their room/cot as you unpack their stuff, make it as similar as possible to home with lovey, etc. Give them some time to get used to the surroundings
*Extra wind down and cuddle time
*LOTS of reassurance that although their entire surroundings have changed, you are still there with/for them - really important to have some just mummy/daddy/baby time when visiting family, I have found - used to do E, split A - 2/3 for family to play, 1/3 for mummy/daddy/baby play w/o extended family, WD with extra cuddles, nap
*APOP with something that's easy to wean - honestly, sometimes the only way to get a spirited to sleep when they're still shaking with excitement and overstimulation 2hr after BT is to APOP. If LO was an independent sleeper before the trip, they will be again but keeping them secure and well rested is so much more important than keeping sleep completely independent all the time. DS sleeps worse when visiting than when teething canines!

I think you're right to drive through the night, that's what we'd do if we had to drive so long, kiddo lasts all of 10-15mins in a car during A time

[Jessleigh]

Thanks again bec! Super helpful. I didn't think about limiting playtime to just mommy daddy time before nap. Makes sense. And I'll be sure to give her extra cuddles.

[2012mama]

Hello,

I have a very spirited 6 month old little girl.  We were on the EASY plan and everything was great until we moved her crib down to the lower level.  She was crawling just past 5 months and I thought she was going to fall out of her crib any moment.  She was perfectly happy up until the move to fall asleep and even when she awoke she usually just babbled to herself.  Now she won't go to sleep.  EVER.  I feel like I am losing my mind!  She will be just dropping off, then opens her eyes, crawls over to the slats in her crib, tries to stand up and then bangs her head against the sides and then screams.  Now she's completely off any kind of schedule and with my husband working nights I am going bananas!  She was such a happy baby (always climby - never cuddly) and now she's a total nightmare!

She also had two bottom teeth by the age of 4 months and it looks like she's teething again.  She's also been on solid foods for a few weeks.  I also thing she may be getting some separation anxiety.  I think perhaps there are too many variables right now to point towards any one thing.  Any advice?