When we put Jase on a bedtime schedule, it was one hour of crying the first night, 10 minutes the second night, and then less than a minute (until we left the room) for a while. He has been a great sleeper since then.
Meghan has never liked sleeping in her crib. She has also never really liked taking a bottle, so she would eat less during the day and nurse more when I'm home (aka 2-3 times at night). So, since she nurses more at night to make up for less milk during the day, I started nursing her in bed around 5 months and letting her stay in our bed (just too tired to get up multiple times and then go to work). Now she only likes to sleep while being held and sleep at night in our bed.
I had last week off work and decided to work on getting Meghan to take naps in her crib (at least 20 minutes), and to fall asleep on her own. I started on Sunday and around 10:30a she was ready for a nap, so she got placed in crib. She now stands and walks around furniture, so she repeatedly stood up (but she knows how to get down too). I went in every 15 minutes or so and settled her down by patting her back/rubbing her tummy and singing to her. She also has a CD with soft lullaby music playing. After 90 minutes of crying she finally fell asleep, but only for 20 minutes!
I have a cat napper...
She was rested enough to play for 2 more hours before taking another nap (another crying of 90 minutes, but then 1 hour of sleep).Fast forward 10 days later, the crying has lessoned some (now maybe 30 minutes before naps), plays in her crib, still short naps in the morning (20-30 minutes) and 1-2 hour naps in the afternoon (when Jase naps or has quiet time in his room). Bedtime has gotten much better though, with less than 10 minutes of crying. Then she is sleeping 8+ hours before nursing and sleeping the rest of the night in her bed. I haven't broke that habit since I'm still nursing and don't have the heart to stop yet.
Any sleep tips you have for babies?
3 comments:
you are doing a great job, i admire you for your commitment. I really don't have any advice, every child is so different, and your second one has different needs than your first. So yeah, good luck. She'll get it eventually.
No tips, just empathy. Jack will not sleep (naps or nighttime) unless I rock him to sleep. Crying to sleep does not help. It sounds to me like you are doing a fantastic job though.
Good for you Heather! I hope Meghan keeps it up so you can continue to get your rest.
Post a Comment