Will W2S work for my 10month old?

[mom2elise]

Yes, I think earlier BT would have been better, as I got an EW at 600.   

Her night was OK, though.   Finally fell asleep at 815ish, and woke briefly at 1230 and resettled with pinky by 1240.    Then nothing until 600.   In retrospect, I should have left her to see if she'd fall back asleep on her own as she wasn't all out crying, just awake.    Again, out of habit, I rushed in, thinking if I nurse her, she might go back to sleep?   She didn't.    But DH got up and played with her.


DD doesn't really have early tired signs...just goes from OK to OT very quickly, so I need to watch the clock with her, and adjust accordingly with EW and short naps, I think.   I always seem to underestimate how long it will take for her to fall asleep, and it feels odd to me to have such a short A before bed.    Hard to fit in dinner, and any sort of quality time with daddy (it's fine while he's on vacation, but when work starts again, he'll just be getting home when she's having her bath!)




In crib asleep at 945 for nap 1.

[*Ali*]

Yes unfortunately that is just the way it is for the parent who works. My DH does the bath and BT for my older one and then has to make up for it at the weekend.

[katie80]

I always seem to underestimate how long it will take for her to fall asleep, and it feels odd to me to have such a short A before bed.   

Yes, but she hasn't had a full nap, so the A needs to be shorter, iyswim.

And, also agreeing with Ali. It is hard when bedtime doesn't offer a lot of extra play time after work, but pretty typical if you want your child to get a good night's sleep.  I know lots of dads who do bath and stories before bed as that's they're special time together. 

[mom2elise]

Argh.  All set to get her in bath at 615, and something always comes up to delay.  Can't seem to catch a break this week!

[mom2elise]

Hi again.    I'm not sure how to tweak our routine to get longer naps,,or if she's just OT, and we're stuck?

Yesterday, woke at 640 (after finally falling asleep at 740, and waking at 1220-100)
Nap1 1030-1145, nap2 315-340 (in the car) and in bed by 630, but not asleep until 720.   Woke overnight 1240-120) and up for the day at 6am.    She seemed tired at 600, and I was hoping that she would nurse back to sleep for another hour or so...and I didn't want her to wake our houseguests.    

Just try super early BT?   I can't count on nap 2 being any longer than 30 minutes.   I always try to do nap 1 at home.   DD is 11 months old now, just learned to stand independently.   Working on teaching her to suck her an hand, but still prefers my pinky

[*Ali*]

Yes, I probably would have aimed for a 3hr A time to bed after a 25min nap but since she consistently takes a long time to settle I would probably have had her in bed by 6ish.

Tbh though I think your main problem is that she cannot self soothe herself to sleep because she is dependent on the pinky. If it were me I would be tackling that.

[katie80]

Yeah, I think she's getting OT and would do an early BT.  Last night you had her in bed at 6:30, but I think I would've tried to have her sleeping by then. So, in bed by 6-6:15pm.

Posting same time as Ali.  Agreed.

[mom2elise]

Ok.    One more night until our visitors leave.    Went to the zoo with them after w ole from nap 1 945-1100.    Tried for nap in car, but cried the whole way home instead.  It's 3 pm now.    Nursing, and hoping she'll sleep a bit.
So tomorrow night, I'll aim for a calm day, and early bedtime, and then instead of pinky...if she doesn't take her own hand, I just use my voice to try and soothe her?   Give her the bear?  Anything but let her have pinky?

[mom2elise]

Argh.   No nap 2 at all today.   She was biting my pinky pretty hard today... maybe teething too?

So along the lines above, in preparation for pulling the pinky cold turkey:

What other soothing methods have worked for you? 
I'm pretty sure she'll tire herself out with crying?
I should stay in the room with her for now until she's fast asleep?   
And what can I do during this "learning period" to make it easier for her during the day?   
I should do the same thing for all naps and bedtime?   
And be prepared for very short/no naps if it takes her a while to learn?   
And how long would you try for a nap before giving in?
Same thing for middle of the night, right?   
We don't really have a go-to APOP that will get her to sleep except nursing and the pinky    As evidenced by today... driving in the car or stroller,  even when she's tired doesn't seem to work.

[mom2elise]

So ast night, I had her in crib, asleep by 615, as she was up at 6, nap 1 945-1100, and no np 2 as I was hoping she would nap in car on the way from the zoo,   Even though she was asleep by 615, she woke at 640, and I couldn't get her back to sleep until 740.    Woke at 130am, at which point I ended up nursing her back to sleep so not to disturb the guests, and then up for the day at 520!   DH thinks that the super early BT contributed to EW?

Doing everything I can tonight to get a good nights rest, so can tackle our pinky issue tomorrow.    But she's still wide awake in her crib right now, and it's 715. 

[*Ali*]

No, I I would have thought it was OT from the massive 7hr A time she ended up having before BT due to skipping the second nap that made her sleep restlessly and wake early.

Btw I would not call 6.15 a *super* early BT, in fact I would have gone even earlier

Good luck tonight.

[mom2elise]

So tomorrow night, I'll aim for a calm day, and early bedtime, and then instead of pinky...if she doesn't take her own hand, I just use my voice to try and soothe her?   Give her the bear?  Anything but let her have pinky?
   She was biting my pinky pretty hard today... maybe teething too?

So along the lines above, in preparation for pulling the pinky cold turkey:

What other soothing methods have worked for you? 
I'm pretty sure she'll tire herself out with crying?
I should stay in the room with her for now until she's fast asleep?   
And what can I do during this "learning period" to make it easier for her during the day?   
I should do the same thing for all naps and bedtime?   
And be prepared for very short/no naps if it takes her a while to learn?   
And how long would you try for a nap before giving in?
Same thing for middle of the night, right?   
We don't really have a go-to APOP that will get her to sleep except nursing and the pinky    As evidenced by today... driving in the car or stroller,  even when she's tired doesn't seem to work.

[*Ali*]

In the sleep training period I would try to avoid AP as you don't want to go through all this only to replace one prop with another.
If you think she is teething then I would be sure to give her pain meds before BT or it won't work if she is in discomfort.
I would do pup (well pd at this age) with lots of cforting in the cot in between PDs if she stays down long enough. My ds2 liked a firm hand on his back or bottom (front/side sleeper since 8mo) and for me to quietly repeat our sleepy phrase if he cried. I would say something like "it's just sleepy time, lie down and go to sleep now, mummy's here" but you can of course say whatever works for you. After a while he was happy with me just sitting by and using my voice.
Some LOs like to be rubbed on their back, belly, head or a limb. Quietly singing a lullaby can help too. Or some still like good old shh pat. You'll have to experiments and see what seems to work best for your DD. But be aware that no method will work instantaneously and she will cry in protest at not having the pinky.

Yes for now I would stay with her until she is asleep. You can gradually leave the room over the coming days/weeks.

To make it easier I would try to arrange your activities around her naps so you can be home for a wind down at the right time and not let her get OT or overstimulated.

Yes I would do the same for all naps and BT. If she short naps and you cannot extend then you can just get her up and keep the next A time a little shorter as she will be tired sooner.

For naps I would do 45mins and then if she doesn't look close I would get her up and take her out of the room, feed her if she is hungry but don't let her fall asleep on the breast, do a short A time or just a nappy change or similar and then try again. For BT though I would keep going until she is asleep as presumably you'll have just fed her and she won't be hungry for a good couple hours. Even if she only sleep 10mins and then wakes and you have to feed her it is important that you don't just feed her to sleep after hours of sleep training or it will reinforce the crying for next time and she won't be learning anything.
If she normally feeds a couple times overnight then you can either do the pd again or feed if you think she is genuinely hungry but I wouldn't just feed her every time she wakes to get her back to sleep.
Good luck!

[mom2elise]

A few more questions....
If she's NOT crying, but is just pulling up, do I lay her back down, or let her do it herself?
How do I handle all the EW and OT? 

[mom2elise]

I think we might be off to a rough start, as she woke today at 630, fell asleep nursing at 10 for 50 minutes, and did not take ANY nap 2 at all.   Was practically falling asleep,at dinner, so rushed through it, and bath and bedtime routine.     Now she is Wired and wide awake in the crib at 620 still

She's not crying yet, so I haven't tried any PD or anything.     Feeling a bit like I should give in without trying tonight and wait until we can have a fresh start, but also know that that may NEVER happen, so I guess we're starting tonight.   Wish me luck!