battling daytime sleep with my 7 wk old

[cassidy&Jamie'smom]

dd is almost 7 wks and is actually progresing nicely with nightime sleep (dare I put that in print? :? ).  But daytime sleep is a battle.  She is so hard to put out.  I rock and I sway and I hold her and I go into a darkened room and I have the white noise going.... AND NADA!!

Her eyes close, I start to feel hopeful and then BING, there are those baby blues lookin at me like "Hey, How YOU doin?"

I have a 4 yr old as well and I just can't be doing this all day long.  Eventually she gets sooo overtired the wailing begins!!

If she was happy to be up all day I wouldn't complain, but she gets sooo wired.  I usually end up spending one whole cycle, E, A, then the rest of the cycle try for sleep, soon it is time for Eating again and sometimes she'll fall asleep at the end of the feed on the bottle.  Ironically, that is what easy trie to eliminate but if i wake her up for a little activity I get screwed!!

Sorry for the rant, but my arms are exhausted, my 4 yr old is overdosed on TV, and I am frustrated.  any advice?

[mthyne]

You sound just like me about 4 months ago!  My 4-year old was the queen of Nick Jr. and Disney, and I was nearly in tears trying to get my ds to sleep.  I would suggest this: relax.  Find a way to get him to sleep easily during the day (whether it's in your arms, in the swing, bouncer, etc.), if he won't go down in the cot.  I would definitely keep trying, but don't stress.  I was told that babies figure out night-sleep first, then day-sleep.  So I got my LO to sleep well at night, then around 12 weeks started working on naps.  Before then he slept near me, be it on the couch, floor, swing, just so I could still play with my daughter.  He also would sometimes fall asleep while eating (and I did not wake him up!). After 12-weeks I got some special toys for my 4-year old to play with while I put ds down, and my goal was 1 nap a day in the crib.  Now, he hates to sleep anywhere but the crib!
I really like the bw methods, but they are hard to do sometimes when you have other children vying for your attention.  I think what's most important is what works for you.  As long as you have well-rested, happy children, and you are happy, you're doing good! 
HTH
Melissa

[cassidy&Jamie'smom]

Thank you.

I find it reassuring to hear from moms who can empathize.  I just wish she would like the swing.  My 4 yr old loved it.  Unfortunately, this LO when she is tired, resists everything.  the only thing that works is putting her in her carseat and swinging it like mad!!  At least i get a workout!!

Guess I just have to hang in....  :?

[Kimberly®]

If you would like to send a copy of your routine for you LO I'll see if maybe i can help you. I went through the daytime sleep battle myself and I know how hard it is. {{Hug}}

[AZMOM]

Hi!  Just wanted to say that some relatives just left and I am back to working on the day time sleep too.  Everybody was holding my 6 week old ds and he was sleeping fine during the day.  Now I want to work on getting a better routine but like you I have a 3 1/2 year old who also needs me.  I agree the tv has been being used too much and it is hard to work on the daytime sleep right now.  One thing that has worked for me is that one of my ds naps I use the vibrating chair and boy does he ever sleep good.  I figure I am just going to try my best.  The bad thing for me is that I have to go back to work in 2 weeks and then my dh is taking over for the next 8 weeks.  I know dh will not be as diligent as me when it comes to sleeping independently, etc. 

I know working on sleep was much easier with our first lo.  Also I took a whole year off a work after I had her.  I am a teacher and will finsh up this school year and then I am staying home.  I may have a lot of work for me when my ds is 6 months old.

Enough of my babbling!!!!
Lisa (AZMOM)

[cassidy&Jamie'smom]

Karita,
I wish I had a daytime routine to send!! 

I try to feed every 2.5 - 3 hrs as dd is small and has reflux (dr said smaller amts more frequent is best).  Our day never starts at the same time but usually up by 7:30ish eat and after a diaper change back to her one good sleep of the day..
10ish E
1045  try for sleep
By 12:30 no sleep E again
sometimes brief sleep on bottle
activity of about an hour
keep trying for sleeptill next E at3:00
This pretty much goes all day till bedtime at around 8:30-9:00
She is up about 5 hrs later then every 3 after that.

If you can make heads or tails of that I will be impressed!!

Azmom,
I am a teacher too  :lol:
My dd currently sleeps day and night in her carseat.  she hates the swing, vibrating seat and pretty much evrrything else  :cry:
Guess we'll see eachother on the boards dealing with some "accidental parenting" in a few weeks!!

[Kimberly®]

First thing I would suggest is that you try to make a routine with your LO that clicks with your older childs routine best you can. When things are speratic its harder to read your LO.

Now My LO has reflux aswell. Do you bottle or breastfeed? I Bottle feed and my DR said to add cereal to her bottle, and now she eats cereal 2 times a day and it helps, not all DR do this.
Now when you have her sleep during the daytime for naps try to watch her when she's doing activities, as soon as she starts to show signs of tiredness get her down right away. Usually about 30-45 minutes depending on the baby.
The ideal nap time is 1 1/2 hours but sometimes even just 45 minutes is enough to save your sanity. I suggest you try for the longer naps though as for most babies they are better.

Because your LO has reflux and needs to sleep on an angle the car seat is perfict for sleeping. When she's ready for sleeping flat you can worry about that

The routine I used when Kayla was 7 weeks was as follows....

7:00am E
7:30 A
8:45 S
10:00 E
10:30 A
10:45 S
12:00 E
12:30 A
12:45 S
2:00 E
2:30 A
2:45 S
4:00 E
4:30 A
4:45 S
6:00 Bedtime routine
6:30 Bed
9:30 E
11:00 Dreamfeed
2:30 - 3:00 E
5:30 - 6:00 E
7:00 Start of day.

Now this is the routine I had, that I tried to stick to best I could. Somedays were a battle and the times were off a little but it followed the same basic patern through out the day.
For more examples of the EASY routines use for members of this sight check the EASY bored. They may be of ome help for you.
This routine worked for me but it may not work for you, every baby is different. But maybe seeing an example of it will help.

HTH

[cassidy&Jamie'smom]

Thank you for your reply and advice.

I do bottle feed. My problem is that for daytime sleep I cannot get her to sleep unless she is on me.  Rarely I can get her to sleep by swinging her in her carseat... :cry:
But usually not for long and then there is too much activity time before next feed....

The reflux is really bothering her.  I am actually about to post on that board some of my other concerns.  I will try tho to get her started on her day the same time everyday I think that might make th whole day more consisitent.  Thank You  :wink:

[Cassie(Duncan'sMom)]

My little guy.. Palmer is doing the same thing and so did his brother (Duncan) at this age.  However Palmer is doing pretty well at night. 

Palmer was doing great with sleeping until he hit 4 weeks.  He was actually sleeping in his crib.. naps and all.  Then all of the sudden... NOTHING.  He has been diagnosis with reflux also.  He has gone all day without a nap and then he totally passes out around 5:30pm.   So all day I am trying to get him to go to sleep and all evening I am trying to get him to wake up!  I am so frustrated.  I too can't spend all day working on this as I have a 3 year old who needs me also.  Plus I get so frustrated that I end up crying all day.

He will sort of sleep if I hold him.. but wakes up as soon as I set him down.  I am just so bummed because he just all of the sudden started doing this.  I have never held him to sleep so I don't think I caused it.  Should I just give in... if I dont' he ends up either having a complete meltdown from sleep deprivation or does the above (passes out at 5pm) and I spend all evening trying to keep him up for fear he will stop sleeping at night too.

I have noticed that he averages about 11 hours/24 period of sleep.. not enough I know.  But I dont' know what to do about it.  Patting and shhhing doesn't work.  Yesterday I sshed so much I got a headache and my 3 year olds brain is rotting from too much tv.  HELP.

[AZMOM]

Hi ladies!  This post has been helpful to me and now I have a question for you Karita.  I am trying to have a 7:00am start to our day and wondered if you feed your lo at 7:00am.  My ds seems like your lo he wakes around 5:30am and eats but then will sleep until 8-8:30.  So do you feed at 5:30 and then again at 7:00am?  I am going back to work soon and want to establish 7 as the wake time for the day. 

By the way, things have been going pretty well for us.  My lo has no problem with the independent sleep at bedtime and now he is doing better with naps too.  For his first nap this morning I put him down with his eyes opened with a little patting and then left the room.  He is still sleeping - YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I have also explained things more to my 3 1/2 year old so she has been keeping busy while I get ds to sleep or she comes with me and is just real quiet.   

Cassidy&Jamie's mom - what grade to you teach?  I am a third grade teacher.  It is going to be hard to go back.  I know I just have to do as much work as I can at school.

AZMOM(LISa)

[Kimberly®]

I did feed my LO at 5:30 when she woke because she would wake up crying for food.
What are your childcare plans? babysitter or day care?? Either way, if she doesn't take a feed at wakes at 5:30 and needs a feed, she probably wont eat much when you next feed her and she'll need a second feeding after that. I think a lot of it would depend on when your actually going to wake her up, if she wakes at 5:30 maybe try a soother first and see if she'll sleep longer, she may wake at 6:30 instead, would that be to early?

[cassidy&Jamie'smom]

AZMom..

I also taught 3rd grade, and fourth too.

Was off my whole pregnancy on preventative leave as I am not immune to Fifth's Disease.  Now I am off till next christmas.  After a day at home battling sleep I miss my classroom!!