We have a 5 mos. old daughter. Naps and night have been horrible. One night last week she cried 7 times, so we have been trying to get through all of the BabyWhisperer book while at the same time putting it to use. This is day 5 of implementing EASY. She has not seemed at all to mind switching to 4 hr. feeds, so we did that right away and that part has gone well. Here is what today looked like:
7:00 awakened on her own, E
7:30 A
8:30 spend 1/2 hr. getting her to sleep for nap
9:00 S
9:15 awake, try to put back to sleep without success until 10:30
11:00 E
11:30 A
12:40 S (she fell asleep on the way upstairs to bed, I think because she was just so tired without am sleep)
1:15 awake, try to get back to sleep
1:45 S till 3
3:00 awoke on her own, E
5:00 Try for catnap without success
6:20 Ready for bed, E, S
6:40 S
I will dream feed at 10:30 tonight.
Here are my questions
1. If she only sleeps for 15 minutes of her nap time, do I spend the entire rest of the 1 1/2 to 2 hrs. trying to get her back tro sleep? At what point do I get her up?
2. Any ideas for what to do with my 2 3/4 year old while I am spending what adds up to hours each day at my baby's bedside?
3. How do I reconcile the fact that I am supposed to aim for getting her to sleep on a pretty regimented time schedule just during this time of implementation, but I can tell that she is sleepy prior to nap time (like this am she was cranky and ready to go by about 8:15)? If I put her down when she acts ready, it seems to throw off the whole rest of the day. For instance, because she really didn't nap this am, she was so ready for sleep at 11:45, but I kept her up until it was time for the afternoon nap.
4. She spends the whole time that she should be catnapping crying, so she doesn't get one, and then by the time I get to the bedtime routine and feed, she basically passed out because she is exhauseted from crying/poor napping all day--so much for going to bed awake and learning to get herself to sleep. What to do?
5. Is it ever OK to not do PU/PD and just stay right with her the whole time giving verbal reassurance and keeping our hand on her? We tried PU/PD the first day but noticed that she never stopped crying after being picked up, even after several min. and then when she was put down she screamed even more. It seemed like maybe picking her up was stimulating her and so we have just been staying right with her while she cries, but she is still really upset. Should we do PU/PD or can we do it the way we have been going about it?
I realize that this is a very long post, but we are desperate for change and are looking for guidance in the process. Please give any ideas/critiques you have as we would so appreciate it.
Thank you,
Cathy