Author Topic: New Here - An Introduction and a Question  (Read 1388 times)

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Offline KelliAnn

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New Here - An Introduction and a Question
« on: December 02, 2005, 14:34:46 pm »
I've been lurking on these boards for a few weeks and have decided we need to start some (or all) of these BW sleep techniques.  My name is Kelly and my husband and I had a baby girl 5 weeks ago today!  Her name is Cora and she has been a really great baby.  The "problem"?  She only wants to fall asleep while laying on our chests and rocking in the chair, or from breastfeeding.


So last night I decided to do the pat/shush technique to get her to bed.  She was up at 7:15 to eat and I started it at 8 after a diaper change and I put on her pijamas.  I continued on for about 40 minutes and then my husband took over and she fell asleep at about 8:45.  I didn't know then that we should stay with her and continue to pat/shush until she gets into a deep sleep and about 5 minutes after she fell asleep, she woke up screaming.  I fed her again b/c by then it was about 9pm.  She fell asleep feeding and I put her down to bed and went to bed myself.  She was up shortly after and my husband rocked her to sleep.


So my question - did we totally waste those 45 minutes of pat/shush since she slept for 5 minutes and woke up screaming? 

And a few more questions:

When doing the pat/shush, I should pick her up and do it if she gets upset, right?  What if she is just fussing?  Can I leave her in the crib and do it unless she gets upset - b/c there is a difference between real upset and a fuss upset.

The pat/shush should just be done for the daytime feedings, right?  At night it is ok to let her fall asleep after bfing?


I think that is it for now.  I hope that this gets easier as we continue along b/c last night doing this for 45 minutes was awful!

Offline Jaime

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« Reply #1 on: December 02, 2005, 20:28:02 pm »
hi & welcome! 

yes, it does get better.  just takes time & effort.  and since your lo is so young hopefully it won't take too long.

re picking her up... yes, if she isn't getting any better with you trying to soothe her in the crib.  and then hold her till she is completely calm. 

you are also correct - there is a difference between real upset & fuss upset.  if it's just a fuss, go ahead & leave her; she may be letting off steam before drifting off.  if it escalates, go back in to her.

at night, you do want to keep things as low-key as possible, but you are hoping to put her back in bed drowsy, but not totally zonked.  reason being, she does need to eat now, but later on she may start to associate bf with going back to sleep.  hopefully at night she will be so drowsy that you don't need to pat/shh  :D

btw, rocking can escalate to a prop as well.  just my 2 cents. :wink:

the key is to stay persistant.  she will protest - she doesn't understand why you're doing things differently now.  but if you stay consistent, she will learn.

HTH  :D
Jaime
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Offline Jaime

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Offline KelliAnn

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« Reply #3 on: December 02, 2005, 22:14:22 pm »
thank you for the reply.  Today went horribly.  This morning I tried to do pat shush for an hour and it wasn't working and she got more and more upset.  I picked her up and rocked her to sleep finally.  I was exhausted.  I'm afraid I"m just confusing her and ruining any chance of this working.  I know I just started but I want to give up...........

Offline Jaime

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« Reply #4 on: December 03, 2005, 12:44:42 pm »
afraid i know that feeling all too well! 

during the daytime, if she hasn't gone to sleep after 40 minutes, go ahead and get her up.  keep the activity time fairly low key.  she'll probably be ready to eat shortly after that, and when she's done it'll be time for a nap again.  2 short naps will work, even though you were going for 1 long one.  it may be that way for awhile as she transitions.

the first part is always really hard.   :D
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Offline KelliAnn

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« Reply #5 on: December 03, 2005, 15:59:12 pm »
thank you again!  Unfortunately dh is going out of town tomorrow and I think I need him here to get this going so I think we'll try again next weekend.  Is there anything I can do in the meantime to transition her?  I just don't have the energy to do this alone.

Offline JennŠ

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« Reply #6 on: December 03, 2005, 19:02:04 pm »
Hang in there, it does get better.  One day it all sort of clicked for my DD, and things got loads easier.  Remember to keep your back muscles limber or the time seems to go much s l o w e r.  We found that out the hard way. :oops:
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Offline AngelFarrell

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« Reply #7 on: December 04, 2005, 02:48:28 am »
I'm also a shush/pat veteran. It feels like every minute is an hour. I found it helpful to swaddle, pacifier in mouth, then pull a chair up close to the crib. When baby is calmer shush/pat with one hand while sitting, and have a good book to read in the other hand. Also, for great extra sleep advice check out Sleep Sense (Google it).
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