What Worked For You?

[Seekrit]

Cobey's gearing towards 6 months and my beautiful self settling boy has disappeared. He sleeps beautifully all night, but getting him to sleep can be a battle that lasts for up to an hour and a half.

I used to be able to pop him in his cot and he'd drift off to sleep, but not Mr Roll-a-lot-crawl-in-my-cot. I put him down and he flips himself over and starts crying.

Chris is at wit's end. He comes home from work and doesn't want to have to hear a crying baby for the next hour which is completely understandable, I don't want to hear it either.

If he was whinging I could deal with him being in his cot but he is fully screaming most of the time - sometimes even with cuddles.

Help!

[SilverStarfish]

I'm not going to be much help, the same thing happened to us. Sarah was the perfect model baby for the first six months, eating and sleeping beautifully...

Then at 6 months someone flipped a switch and she hasn't really slept through since. That's not to say that it's all doom and gloom, but there are some days (nights!) when the going gets really tough.

My DH coped by learning to sleep through absolutely ANYTHING :banghead: only hearing her when I literally kicked him out of bed.

Trying to explain to Jim about "Arsnic Hour" helped a little bit.

I've been reading Pinky McKay's book "Sleeping Like a Baby" (got it from the library)and while it doesn't have any fast, miracle solutions, it does make me feel better about doing what my instincts are telling me to do, and that there is light at the end of the tunnel. I showed Jim parts of the book, and coming from an "expert" he seemed to understand a bit more. The book covers much more than just sleeping.

I don't like standing at the door, waiting to hand him the screaming baby as soon as he walks in the door... but some days there's just no avoiding it.

Hang in there... the way I figure it, eventually she will be old enough to get up and raid the fridge for her midnight snacks instead of hollering for room service.

[Seekrit]

Aww you poor thing. My issue isn't about him not sleeping through (in fact he sleeps from 8 - 6 most nights) it's the getting him to sleep part that I'm bothered about :(

[SilverStarfish]

P.S I love your avatar. I have a little nerdling (http://faeml.com/sarah/wp-content/uploads/2006/12/7months.jpg) too.

[Seekrit]

He won't feed to sleep, I'd settle for feeding to sleep but he won't. :( makes me sad he rejects the boobies.

Maybe I could let cobey jolly jumper himself to sleep Hmmmmmm

[SilverStarfish]

I know what you mean about feeling boobie rejected :( Happens here every so often too, more frequently during the day than at night, thank goodness.

During the day, if she won't sleep but is reasonably peaceful on the floor I just leave her there. She can crawl now though, it seems to help a bit with the 'self entertaining' factor.

It might not help him to sleep, but it always helped calm Sarah: Try parking Cobey in front of a computer with Winamp or Media Player etc visualisations going. She's always been facinated by the random, swirling colours.

[sueliz]

Hey Nikki

My DS is going through the same thing at the moment. We used to be able to put him in the cot sleepy but still awake and he would go to sleep on his own, or sometimes with us rocking/patting. But noooo, now he has disovered that even though he has been sleeping on his tummy for a while now as he rolls over onto it, moving around in the cot helps fight this sleep thng soooo much better!
I am not much help though as what we do now if actually cuddle him with the room darkened and our 'Peace Baby' cd playing and he has his dummy and he plays with my hair and he is asleep when I put him down. This usually doesn't take too long - anywhere between 5 and 15 mins. If it takes much longer then that, I take him out to the lounge to play for about 15 mins and try again after that as sometimes I just think he is trying to tell me he is not ready to sleep yet!
For us though, this came with a bout of teething, (about 4 or 5 teeth coming through in the one week), and a touch of gastro.
Perhaps I have gotten into a bad habit now, but ultimately he sleeps better, isn't screaming in his cot, and DH or I get some beautful extra cuddles time with our little man!

Good luck - I hope whatever 'method' you choose works well for the 3 of you.

[bekkyboo]

As soon as G hit 6 months, he too went WHAM - our once perfect sleeping baby no longer...

G doesnt take a dummy anymore - but this is what i am doing at the moment - as his problem seems to be that he doesnt want to be in the cot...

we put him down in the cot, i sit next to it on the floor and quietly talk to him. I tell him how much i love him etc... He usually rolls right up to the side of the cot and trys to play with my hair, face, eyes whatever he can grab. I let him play and relax into being in the cot. usually about 5-10min later he will roll away from me, this is when we pat or rock his bum. This usually settles him into the start of sleep. I will slowly stop the pat, but leave the weight of my hand on him. Slowly remove and creep away.

Sometimes i will just rest my hand on his chest, he will naw at my fingers etc - but i try to get him to be comfy and happy in the cot before we even attempt to get him to sleep.

J too also voiced how much he hated all of this - he once said he didnt want to be home for that time of night - neither did i!!!

[cheezelkat]

welcome to my world :banghead:

[Seekrit]

Thank you girls for your help. I had success today when, instead of trying to get Cobey to sleep I just put him on my bed beside me and I watched TV while he crawled around the bed, he was soo funny as he was sooo tired and would rock himself and fall over.... in the end I was watching his eyes roll back into his head while he literally rocked himself to sleep, he crashed down into my arms like a cuddle, I picked him up and he opened his eyes but closed them as soon as he hit his own cot mattress! :thumbsup:

[Becbabe]

G'day Seekrit & all,

We have the same problem! Once she's asleep its all good, only 2 night wakes for 15mins each, but in the half hr before sleep... scream scream scream!

It doesn't seem to matter when you try to put her down either ( I thought maybe she was overtired or not tired enough, I have played with bedtime a bit & it doesn't seem to make a difference).

Congrats on the improved day... how are you going now?

[~Kimba~]

Hi Seekrit and others (hi Bec and Ella!)

Not much advice sorry, just wanted to say I'm having the same problem but at 3 months.

Jet had a great little settling routine going from about 6 weeks: wrap, cuddle, dummy if he wanted it, 'Sounds For Silence' CD, leave him drowsy but awake and he'd go off to sleep by himself.

But he hit 3 months and went haywire. Just cries when I put him down, and if I try to pat or soothe him back to sleep without picking him up (to try and get him to settle himself) he screams even worse, it's like he's furious with me for not picking him up. I pick him up to calm him then put him back down and off he goes again. Always ends up 45-60min later with him really distressed and me in tears cuddling and rocking him or giving him a little breastfeed (if he doesn't refuse it) till he's almost asleep (or fully asleep) before I can put him down. It feels like I might as well just cuddle him to sleep to begin with, although I'm worried that will be creating a rod for my back...???

Like Bec I've tried putting him down when he's wide awake but calm and starting to show little tired signs, or when he's really tired and eyes hanging out of his head, but the only difference that makes is how long it takes before he's screaming (sooner if he's overtired).

He's not sleeping so well at night either - wakes at least 3 times for a feed. Although at least at night feeds he does go straight back to sleep most of the time (not at 4am this morning though! LOL).

I'll be curious to see if anyone has found a solution!

[CurlyG]

I hear ya Seekrit! We've had occassional problems throughout DDs five months, and whenever it starts I try tweaking the routine (whatever sleeptime is a problem) a bit. For instance, she started doing the crying to sleep thing in the evening, so I started doing her bath and sleep routine earlier, which helps. We also spend time outside in the evening looking at the trees and leaves, singing calm and quiet songs and really just have a tangible wind down time. Nothing too exciting. Then when we're walking to her cot, I always sing the same thing "you look SO tired. It's time to go to bed and have a big sleep. mummy loves, daddy loves, now it's time to have a big sleep"...:o you get my drift :laughing:

[lukaelmo]

I have memories of patting Luka on the back... patting, and patting, and patting... he could roll, so I would wrap him up and pat firmly so he couldn't flip over... but there is a stage where patting becomes stimulating if I remember correctly...

I know it really wasn't that long ago, but I can't remember what we did after the patting... it's my age :laughing:

[Seekrit]

Cobey's doing a bit better now that 2 more teeth have come through, but I think the patting/cuddling to sleep has now become a habit for him, so not the teeth are through I'll try some other activites (like bekky's sitting beside the cot and reading a book or something)

[SammieJ]

Hey, I have been reading about cot issues... I thought I was the only one! :no:
What a nice relief.
It was very hard work getting Teddy to sleep in his cot... he used to pull his feet up and push himself along the second he hit the mattress, screaming loudly from the start. The he would hit the bars and keep trying to push, and it all went haywire after that. Now he just rolls over, maybe a pat, and he settles.
We did a few things: we had an older cot and the new mattress didn't fit properly into the base, and the middle sagged. We got some wood to "lift" the base to make the mattress firmer. Then came the hard part. Every time he got upset, I would pick him up, settle, put him back down. I would lean over the cot, holding and rocking him, to try and get him settling away from my chest. Poor back! Went to a physio a few times in the middle of it. Eventually he would fall asleep and stay in the cot for a sleep cycle. At first I was picking him up at least 20 times, then a little less, until it got to about 10 ( a week of doing it every time, no crying), and then one day it went 3 times, 2 times, then straight away. :smiliedance:
Things changed when I realised that I shouldn't think of it as trying to get him to sleep, but that I should focus on teaching him to trust that I would always come to him if he needed me. After some disasterous CC attempts, I think this was important.
Now just to get him to sleep longer... what a journey it has been.
Bouncing him on an exercise ball also seems to help, both him and my back.
Hope this helps
Sammie

[~Kimba~]

This morning I had a thought about cot sleeping issues - do you use a mattress protector under the sheet? I know it's damn hot right now but even with a fan on, and no clothes under his sheer cotton wrap, my bub seems to get a hot sweaty back really quickly - so today I've tried taking off the mattress protector to see if it helps. I reckon I'd sweat like a pig and not be able to sleep too, if I had to sleep on a rubber sheet - even a supposedly 'breathable' one.

Don't know if it's helping but bub is napping and has been asleep for 2 hours now (mind you he had me up and down all night since 11, so he's probably exhausted! :laughing:).

[Becbabe]

Hi Sammie, I should try the ball, some nights when Ella's having histronics bouncing on the bed calms her down really quickly (not last night unfortunately)

Hi Kimba & Jet!:wave: we don't use a mattress protector. Ella sweats like I do so she would probably end up lying in a puddle! Funnily enough though she's been sleeping pretty well during the hot weather.:confused:

CurlyG we have tried an earlier bedtime, but it just seems to mean an hour of crying and rocking instead of 20 mins. Maybe if I tried winding her down as soon as she gets grizzly in the evening (about 6.30)?

[GemmasMum]

We've had the same type of problem with Gem around the 6 mth mark. Up til then it was into her cot after a feed and she'd go off to sleep. No worries.

6 mths - it all changed. I think it's because she's learning to crawl and has teeth coming through, so it's all a bit unsettling for her.

We now give her her feed, if she falls asleep that's great (rare).

If not, pop her on her play mat in the lounge near us. Play mat has one soft toy and that's it. So she's got very little to stimulate her. She can see us (and crawl to us if she wants). We can spend a bit more time with her (cuddles or read a story) and generally she'll get super tired but not cranky within half an hour. We then pop her into her cot and she falls asleep there.