Am I ruining my sleeper?

[Carmela's Mom]

I used to not wake her from long naps but then it would affect bedtime sleep.  She'd sleep less at night, so then I went to waking her.  Unfortunately she's been waking early the past few days, but the antibiotics are causing some major stomach issues with her so I am hoping once she's off them (another three days!) that she can get used to sleeping her regular hours at night.  We'll see. 

[sacmommy]

Well, you know Karina isn't sick anymore, because she skipped her nap yesterday! It was a tough one b/c she slept in and then I probably didn't cuddle long enough. So then it seemed like she was up half the night - ugh. I sat with her extra long today and I think it worked. And even though she seemed so tired, I avoided the temptation to put her down early for nap and kept the time the same.

I hope things are going better with Carmela. Especially with the early a.m. wakings. Those are the worst!

[Carmela's Mom]

It just never ends it seems!!!!!!!  We must be getting better too because she has been testing nap time again.  Yesterday I did the 10 minute cuddle and put her in.  She was out, which shocked me because she really didn't seem like she would go...then I babysat for a friend of mine who brought her son over in the middle of her nap and of course he started crying and woke her up!  I have realized that waking her from a nap is NOT good....that means she just is cranky and it really doesn't pay.....last night it took her 45 minutes to settle but she slept ok this morning.

Then today for nap I did hte 10 minute cuddle and first 5 minutes she wouldn't stop playing.  Then she did.  I think she may have fallen asleep on my shoulder though which is trouble.....when I put her in the crib, it awoke her and she started playing.  I went in 5 mins later and put my hand on her back until she went to sleep...that worked in 10 minutes. (it always seems to for now)

Does Karina wake in the night and make noises?  Carm still cries out MANY times in the night.  They say that they should outgrow that around 2.  She doesn't need me to come in but she fusses and cries for anywhere from 2 minutes to 10 minutes.  Then goes to sleep on her own.  I think it really interrupts her sleep though because the nights that she does that a lot (which is often) she doesn't wake up rested.  I'm wondering when its normal to outgrow that!

[Carmela's Mom]

Well after 20 mins of getting her to sleep ...she sleeps one hour.  Wakes screaming and crying ... I tried to get her back to sleep...no can do.  Clearly out of her rhythm which means another 2 freaking months of sleep problems of us.

i am fed up with it.  I don't understand how NO ONE in the real world that I know has these issues.  If their child doesn't nap, they make up for it at night.  If their child has one bad night, they nap well and go to bed normally the next day.  I just don't get why my daughter doesn't nap right, or sleep at night and IS CRANKY clearly indicating she needs to sleep! 

Thanks for letting me vent!

[sacmommy]

Sorry, I know what a pain it is for you. Karina mostly just wakes at night when she's sick or when she misses her nap. So I think for her it's an overtired thing - when she's overtired, she wakes up a lot at night. I think you're doing a great job, and if you look back over the past 4-6 months, you'll see that things have improved. It seemed like Carmela was up a lot at night several months ago, to where it was almost all night long. Either she's not up as much these days, or at least your white noise, etc. is blocking her out! Either way, it's better for you. You know you're doing good things for her by letting her resettle as much as possible. I just hope it continues to improve so that it's not stressful when your baby arrives.