HELP!!! In BIG trouble at 4 months

[Carla Fox]

I have been a bad parent.  I read the Baby Whisperer when my son (now 4 months) was 8 weeks old, but because of other variables, (he was having a lot of pain from what we now think is allergies and therefore cried alot and needed a lot of soothing) not only did I do everything wrong (rocked him to sleep, let him sleep at the breast or in my arms, and didn't introduce a schedule) we are now in a terrible place.  He isn't sleeping more than total of 11 hours a day and that's fragmented.  It takes 2-3 hours to settle him at night and his longest sleep period is 2.5 hours.  He only naps (erradically) for 45 minutes at a time, and that's usually with me holding the soothing in.  Where do I start....do I try the three day magic and tackle it all at once?  Also, he was sleeping in a car seat shaped cradle (recommended by the doctor to help with reflux) but he no longer fits so we have to move him into the crib...NOW!  Help, please help!

Iain's mom Carla :!:

[Jaime]

Whew!  you've got a lot on your plate!

you may want to concentrate on the day sleep first - once you get that in place it will probably make fixing night sleeping earlier.

there are many posts in the nap forum about extending naps, so you will probably want to check out those - especially the announcements.

here is also a link to the sleep interview, which has information on pat/shh and pu/pd - either of which (but probably the latter) will help you with extending naps.
http://www.babywhisperer.com/forum/a-special-sleep-interview-with-tracy-hogg-vt451.html

re sleeping in the crib, you can help make the transtion easier by elevating the mattress (stack blankets underneath) & rolling up some towels and placing them around him so he still feels nice & enclosed.  swaddling will help too, if you still do that. 

if you don't have a wind-down routine in place, now is a great time to start.  ideas can include (but are not limited to) changing his diaper, dimming the lights, sit for a minute and then tell him good night & put him to bed.

once you're read through everything, the best idea is to come up with the plan you will use - and then stick to it EVERY time.  your baby will fight you, because you are doing things he's not used to.  he will regress a bit - it's totally normal.  but if you hang in there and stay consistent, he will eventually get it.  it won't happen overnight (took you 4 months to get to this point :wink: ) but the more consistent you are, the better you will be in the long run.

HTH