Author Topic: 5 months old, no skills to get himself to sleep.  (Read 1409 times)

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Offline mrsbunny

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5 months old, no skills to get himself to sleep.
« on: September 25, 2005, 09:57:53 am »
My son is just 5 months old, he sleeps ok at night (about 7pm till 5am) but is a poor napper.  He's only had a single nap of more than 45 mins in his whole life and many of 30 mins and under.  In addition he has no ability to get himself to sleep due to us not helping him correctly in the early days.   I've read Tracey's interview and this site but still need some advice/support as to what I should try, is it pat shush or PU/PD.  I've had one go at pat/shush and it was horrible and I'm now insecure that I was doing it correctly.  When Mr T showed signs of tiredness I held him for about 5 mins whilst patting and shushing until he seemed sleepy (normally I would have sang until he was asleep) then placed him in his crib and continued to pat and shush.  After about 45 minutes of meltdown I had no idea what to do so resorted to the same bad habits.  I don't want to make Mr T affraid of his crib as he sleeps well at night.

My specific questions are therefore:

Was what I did correct and I just caved in too early- this is what I believe.

Should I be doing PU/PD not pat/shush.

Mrs Bunny

Offline GG

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5 months old, no skills to get himself to sleep.
« Reply #1 on: September 25, 2005, 14:08:07 pm »
At his age you should be doing PU/PD.

How many naps does he take a day, if he's only averaging 30-45 min naps?  How long do you keep him awake between naps?  Can you give us an idea of his daily routine?
Georgia, mom to 3 sweet babes: touchy Foti, spirited Lena & not-so-tiny Joanna




Offline mrsbunny

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« Reply #2 on: September 25, 2005, 16:05:18 pm »
Before I started him on EASY method at about 9 weeks old, he had very little sleep in the day.  He now has approx 4 naps a day and on a good day he'll have between 3-4 45 naps a day.  But since starting nursery 3 weeks ago this has diminished. His routine is approximate because he doesn't nap well, but is as follows:
wakes 4-5am - fed by breast
5.30 -  back to sleep
6.30  - wakes, get up.

7.00 - fed, followed by activity
9.00 -  sleep via singing, holding and paci
9.20-45  depending on nap length, wakes and activity for a few minutes until next feed at 10.15.   
This continues on the EASY method on a 3.25 cycle throughout the day

5.00-7.00pm he wbe fed twice, now with stage 1 foods of weaning and a formula feed.  He does go down well at 7.00pm.

Offline GG

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5 months old, no skills to get himself to sleep.
« Reply #3 on: September 26, 2005, 05:00:34 am »
Solids should be given at the beginning or middle of the day, especially if you're just starting him on them.  That is probably wreaking havoc on his little digestive system.

Why is he awake so long at 4 AM?  Does it take him a full hour to eat? Also, why does he have activity time before feeding? I'm trying to see the EASY in the routine you posted but I don't really see it; it looks more like AEASY.

When you say he sleeps via singing, holding and paci, do you mean that he falls asleep in your arms this way or that it's his wind down routine?

How long are his awake times, approximately?  Also, last question (I promise!!)... do you put him down for a nap by the clock or by his cues?

One thing I noticed... there's a 2 hour span for activity at the beginning of the day, then probably hour long (or so) activity times in the middle, then 2 hours again at the end.  If he's too tired to stay awake for 2 hours during the middle of the day, I'd say he's too tired to be kept awake for 2 hours at the end of the day, so that may be an issue somehow.
Georgia, mom to 3 sweet babes: touchy Foti, spirited Lena & not-so-tiny Joanna




Offline mrsbunny

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5 months old, no skills to get himself to sleep.
« Reply #4 on: September 26, 2005, 17:25:46 pm »
GG,

Sorry if some of what I've put isn't clear.

The 4 till 5 am feed doesn't take an hour I was indicating that he tends to wake between those times and is then fed, feeding takes about 20 mins.  He's sometimes reluctant to go back to sleep but generally sleeps until 7 

Also he does have some activity time before feeding due to his ativity+nap time being too short to span feeds, some feed would be just 2.5 hours apart.  We are trying to follow EASY but can't always.

Singing etc is until he falls asleep in my arms, I have tried to put him into his crib whilst still awake but without much luck, he tends to cry a lot.

So he wakes is fed for approx 20 mins then has activity until he is tired which is about 2 to 2.25 hours after waking, then sleeps for about 20 to 40 mins, he then has a small amount of activity until food again at 3 hours if the total time has not reached that. 

I think he should be on 4 hour EASY but with such short naps he would have to do eat, activity,nap,activity,eat even more than now.

Naps are by his cues although he can travel from yawn to overtired quickly.

Thanks for your help.

Sue, mother of touchy, spirited and very social smiley boy Thomas

Offline GG

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5 months old, no skills to get himself to sleep.
« Reply #5 on: September 27, 2005, 23:28:49 pm »
My ds was 5 mo when I finally shifted him over to the 4-hour EASY.  He's spirited/touchy as well and I knew he wasn't ready before then.  I could tell because he was getting tired just before the 1.5 hour mark.  It sounds like your lo is able to stay awake longer without a problem (well, except for the short naps preventing it later in the day).  :?

You mentioned that you read the Sleep Interview on this site.  I suggest re-reading it as Tracy goes in lengthy detail about how to do PU/PD for babies not able to stick to a 4-hour EASY.  I'd list a page but there's information pretty much all over the place  (start with the question at the bottom of page 10).  I'd go into more detail but it's really laid out in that document and my post would be cutting/pasting of all her information anyway).

If you have any other specific questions, though, please ask!
Georgia, mom to 3 sweet babes: touchy Foti, spirited Lena & not-so-tiny Joanna