Help

[hallpaula]

I the night I sold my soul to the Devil to get some sleep. Andrew was 3 1/2 weeks old and my husband was deployed overseas. I was alone and a 1st time mother. I put Andrew in bed with me and like magic he slept for 5 hours. To me, this was wonderful. Well now at 5 months Andrew can not fall asleep himself and hates his crib. I feel so horrible because I caused this. My husband is now home and he still sleeps with us, which has made sleeping conditions very cramped.To make things worse for some reason Andrew now is getting up almost every 2 hours to eat or play. He has been on a E.A.S.Y schedule for almost 2 months.

6:30- 7:00- Wakes , has a little juice and rice

9:00- 10:00- Nap

10:00-12 (sometimes 1)- I run errands

1:00-3:30-4- Nap

6:00 -Play with daddy

7:00 Bed time routine begins with a bath and music

8:00- Bed

He nibbles alot during the day on a bottle, sometimes he will finish it, but mainly he wants to graze. This is anther bad thing I let go, because it has become a crutch.
Some folks had told me this is way to early to put him down, but he becomes the devil himself after 8:30pm. We are moving in 4 weeks, I really want to turn over a new leaf at the new house.   We have so many bad habits to break. HELP!

[Liz R]

I am not an expert, so while you wait for someone else I had some thoughts! It seems the 'E' is the thing thats missing in your routine, and as you have said you L/O seems to be a "snacker".It may be that that is what is causing his night waking.
Do you have "the baby whisper solves all you problems"?
There is a great section in PU/ PD about helping a LO of your age, on to a good 4 hr routine. Perhaps extend the bottles to every 3 hours, and be firm to throw it after 1/2 an hour of the set time. This will obviously upset your LO, but he should be hungrier next time, and take more feed.
How does you LO fall asleep for naps, as they seem quite good?
Also don't let anyone tell you he's asleep too early, that's a great bedtime! The reason he'll become cranky after 8.30 is that he's over tired, and his nighttime sleep will be worse
I feel for you with moving and all, but you still have time to catch this and get it fixed, it'll be tough but worth it!
I hope to have helped a bit....
Liz x

[Florencia]

Liz, your advice sounds great to me... like experts' advice, so dont be shy

So as you say, there's a lot of issues to be tacked and we have to take babysteps. Being the E timings missing here, it's hard to think of a plan. What you need to decide is what do you want to fix first: meals, sleep, night sleep, etc. Then after choosing a priority we can come up with a plan.

Your lo is still young and before he's mobile we can have him in a good routine and habits in a short period of time. So don't worry, we can have him "fixed" by the time you move.

WHile you post your E timings, you can try some "crib time" during the day, while he's awake, like play hide n' seek (he is in the crib and you hide in a blanket or down the rails) or watch a mobile or something that is not sleep related. That should make him start to like his crib. Do this for several times a day during 10 mins during at least 3 days. Then you can start leaving him alone in the crib for very short periods at the beggining (1 min) like oops i forgot something, im coming right back... and keep coming back. THat way he'll learn that crib is a fun place to be and doesn't mean you're going to abandon him. If you succeed at this crib times then we can start planning something sleep related.

Waiting for input! good luck

[hallpaula]

Well let be go back and fix what I mean by he hates his crib. He will go in it only to look at the mobile, he will not sleep in that sucker if his life depending on it. I have put him in it when he fell asleep and bang maybe 10 min. and his eyes pop right open. So he hates his crib to sleep in, only wants to stay with us. Last night was bad again this time he was up almost every hour, kicking his legs and just moving around. Could he be teething? I dont see any teeth trying to break through. I just dont understand HOW he went from geting up once a night to this. I think someone came in and took my baby, this is not the same child from 3 weeks ago. Today, he has not napped escept for about 15 min. in the car. I took him out of the seat when I got home and he has been cranky and up since.
Paula,