need urgent help with settling on tummy!!

[Deb_in_oz]

Olivia is now 7 mo and finally this week rolled from back to tummy (she has been trying for months!) so far until today she only did it a few times and only one of those was in her cot (yesterday) which caused her to have a 20 min nap!!!

today i have been trying to get her down for her first nap and she is now desperately overtired as i have been trying for 1 hour - the problem is she is rolling onto her tummy and won't settle.  i found her on all 4s moving around the cot.  tried to put her down on her back and found her rocking on 4s so i decided to work with helping her get to sleep on tummy.  i remember with alex i had to start pat/shh for 20 min to get her down the first time and a few more naps after that and then we were done.  Olivia will not lay flat on her tummy and that is the problem.  she will push up oon her arms, raise her head etc and i cannot get  her to lay flat and relax.


what do i do??  she is now in the squealy overtired stage and i need her to fall asleep - she usually only does a 45 min nap at this time and i have an ionterview for a PPD support group to get ready for (have niot showered in 2 days and did not need another problem on top of our short naps)

any help urgently appreciated

[Deb_in_oz]

ok - i got her to sleep finally (don't know how long it will last - it is 10am and i first put her down at 8:30!)

what i ended up doing after it escalated into full crying from overtiredness was i put her on her back and held her legs down so she would not roll and got her a little calmer that way.  then i ended up holding her arms down and shh'ing loudly right by her head - it took a minute to get from loud cries to calm and another minute or less and she fell asleep.

i have just enough time to get ready and pack the girls' bag - would love to come home this afternoon and find any advice so i am prepared for nap #2 as i know i will be faced with the same scenario - key problem is she won't lay flat - always pushing up as if she is doing tummy time - even though she is tired, she is spirited with sleep and is not really a snuggler or cuddler so for example - will only put her head down on your shoulder for a few seconds usually before lifting head up to look at you - you get the idea.

[Jaime]

hi deb -

the part where you describe Olivia trying to sit back up sounds a lot like Luke lately!   :roll: 

you mentioned that you were able to distract her by shhh-ing really loudly - and then she kind of suddenly realized she was tired.  one thing that i've done to distract luke when he gets like that is to start his mobile.  it spins for about 5 minutes (no music or anything) and it seems to help him focus & go back down.

admittedly, it is one of those things that i do rarely; cause trying more often it doesn't work, but it might help through this odd time while she's excited about practicing new tricks?

HTH

[Deb_in_oz]

thanks jaime - we only save olivia's mobile for rare occassions as she gets so excited - it is not a calming thing for her  :roll:   also if she is on her tummmy she can't see it KWIM?

what i need is a way to get her to lay flat on her tummy to relax enough to go to sleep.  even if i am there patting her butt/back and shhing she is pushed up on her arms so not "relaxing" into it...

she has also started "talking" and says bababababa over and over.  a lot going on right now with her.  and now it is is 12:30pm and she only slept for 20 min at the first nap = i have to figure out how to get her down for nap #2... URGGG!

[Taylor's Mommy]

how about a sort of tummy/side position?  for the last week or so Taylor has started to sleep completely on her tummy except her right leg is bent up so she is kind of resting her weight on it and it is tucked into her chest.  know what I mean?  so if she was standing up it would look like she is completely straight but with right leg bent and resting on a rock or something?  dh calls it the captain morgan stance?!?!  we hold her right leg in that position and pat her back until she calms down and she seems to like it.  jsut a thought.  hope that wasn't too confusing!