Baby wouldn't sleep - looking for similar experiences

[Kieran_baby]

Hello and thank you everyone for your time and support!  I am another sleep deprived mommy of an eight months old boy.  He's never slept through the night, but recently it has become so much worse - he wakes up screaming every hour or so.  I am a walking zombie, sometimes I am afraid of falling down when I carry him in my arms.

He seems to be done with teething for now, two lower ones and four upper ones are out.  He eats solids, he breastfeeds, he naps well (around 3 hours in two naps) during the day.  I try to stick to a regular schedule during the day.  But every evening is a nightmare!  My husband and I spend our entire evenings putting him to sleep, sometimes 2-3 hours, until we are utterly exhausted.  We've tried the consistent routine, but now the baby gets angry when we start the routine.  He starts crying the moment we put him in his crib, sometimes when we just approach the crib.  He crawls really well now and I don't want to put him to sleep anywhere else.

Recently we are so tired of the bedtime struggle, we let him play as long as he wants, but by 10 pm or so he gets so tired, he goes into the meltdown.  It seems that no matter what we do, we end up with him screaming for about an hour, which we find very very trying!

Afterwards, he wakes up again and again and again.  I've studied the Pantley book and have tried to apply various methods but nothing worked for us.  The baby would only go to sleep with either a breast in his mouth or being vigorously rocked in arms.  Anything less provokes screams.  I've tried standing next to the crib, the sh-sh, the put down/pick up - no success.  I've tried letting him cry as I was patting his back, etc. - I could only take it for one hour and then gave in.  I honestly don't think waiting longer would have done any good, there were no signs of crying abating at all!  He lost his voice from the screaming.

Unfortunately, the baby is exhausted from not getting enough sleep and also has a very tired mommy and a daddy who is thinking about moving to a hotel.

Any similar experience leading to success stories would be much-much appreciated.  The knowledge there are other people out there in the same boat is about the only thing that keep me going right now!  Thanks.

[jayne]

when you are putting him in his crib do you make sure he is tired?? when i do the wind down with my dd i will sit in the rocking chair until she is relaxed and almost asleep--

one thing you did mention was pantley-- sorry for sounding ignorant but is that cc or cio??? if you have tried any version of cio he might feel like if you leave him he will be left to cry  there for not wanting you to leave at all-- if this trust has been broken you might have to start to rebuild that.. one thing you could do for a short period of time is to bring a mattress into his room and sleep on his floor and slowly move the mattress out once his trust is built back up...

you mentioned that he is crawling now.. have you massaged his legs while you are doing your wind down??

also you can give him a bit of tylenol--i dont usually give tylenol but if it will help for a day or two to help relax his muscles--

good luck this has to be so trying for you

[Aarismom]

Hey there!

I think 10 pm is too late, but I'm a big believer in early bedtimes. After they start sleeping through the night (5 hours or more), the best course of action is to start putting them to bed earlier, between 6 and 8 pm. The average is 7 pm, but you need to do what is best for your lo.  This is so they get more rested at night on the front end of the night, which is mostly deep sleep. Doing this may solve a lot of your bedtime battles, but it won't happen overnight. It might take a good week to really get it going. What sounds like is happening is that he's staying up too late, getting really overtired, and not sleeping well as a result.

If you're putting him down early but still battling him, keep at it! You may have to put him to bed as early as 5:30 pm in order to get him rested first, then move his bedtime back up to a time that works for both of you, to where he's getting at least 12 hours of sleep at night. You're going to have to help him get back to sleep a few times; don't go to him unless he's really crying out for you...the loud, steady whaaaa's. It may take a week or few to get him into a routine, but it will happen if you're subbornly consistant

If you don't have a pre-bedtime routine, create one, and do it every time in the same order. The more consistant you are, the more they come to realize that ok, this means it's bedtime.

I hope this helps!  I know getting into a routine can be rough, but we're here for ya!

*HUGS*
Sonya =P