Hi. We have lots of sleep problems that I'm trying to sort out.
Tyler is 6.5 months old. He has never been an independent sleeper. We are weaning from props/accidental parenting. He was walked to sleep in the stroller most of the time and sometimes fed to sleep as well. Many naps start in the car because I have to take older son to school twice a week.
We are trying to get on a routine but I don't know where to start because his wake times are all over the place and no two days are alike.
For example:
Yesterday he woke up at 4:30 and I fed him 6 oz. I finally got him back to sleep at 5:15 and he woke at 6 with a dirty diaper. He would not go back down.
First nap was at 8:45 woke at 9:20, sh/pat back down at 9:30. Woke him up at 11.
Next nap 1:45 woke at 2:20 tried sh/pat, no go, tried PU/PD no go.
Decided on early bedtime of 6:00 and skip cat nap. Went down at 6:10, woke crying right before 7 PM, then crying hard again at 8:00 PM, then again at 12:00 AM (fed 6 oz) then again at 5:20 AM, this time cooing and playing. Would not go back down with sh/pat and was not crying. Fed at 6:30 AM
Nap routine: Lights dim, massage, read books, sleepy time music, sh/pat in crib
Normally his naps are only 30-40 minutes.
Bedtime routine is Bedtime bottle, Lotion, massage, jammies, sleepy time music playing, books, bed with sh/pat. We try for bed between 6:30 and 7 depending on naps and wake time.
Bottle fed, started solids at 6 months. He has about 24-32 oz of formula a day. Until 6 months I pumped and he drank mostly breast milk. He has about 2.5 oz of fruit, 2.5 oz of veggie and 1-2 tbsp of cereal per day.
Typically Tyler wakes around 1-2 (sometimes more) times per night.
When he wakes at night and in middle of naps he is sometimes crying, sometimes happy. He usually takes an hour to go back down at night. Usually will not go back down with naps.
His activity varies. Sometimes a little jumperoo time or we take a walk in the stroller, play on floor with toys, practice rolling and scooting.
For the past few months he has been perfecting rolling, more babbling, might be teething, starting to scoot and is working on solids.
He was very prop dependent until 2 weeks ago. We used to have to use motion (car, bouncing, rocking, walking in stroller until all the way asleep). At night, we would slide him into the bassinet (now crib) asleep. For naps we left him in his car seat stroller because he would not nap in the bassinet/crib. We slowly weaned him from this and now can put him in the crib drowsy, sometimes using motion to get him drowsy. Then we use sh/pat to get him to go to sleep. For two nights that worked really well, where he slept 9-10 hours straight. The only problem was that he was waking super early and not going back down. Then last night, we put him to bed at 6:00, asleep 6:10 and did not sleep well at all. Now that he is in the crib for naps he will only nap for about 30 minutes normally.
He has a lovie animal blankie that we use during the routine although not perfectly yet.
I have read the Baby Whisper solves all your problems and some of the FAQs here. I am pretty lost still and pretty discouraged about sleep. I am not sure I understand PU/PD completely because I've only had it work once. Every other time he just gets more and more upset and never falls back to sleep.
Thanks, Janie
