I have an 8 month old little boy who is the best happiest baby during the day, but sleeps terribly at night. He was doing okay (sleeping 4 hr stretch first, then about every 2 after that) up until about 5 or 6 months. for the past couple months I'm lucky to get 2 hr stretches. I exclusively bf, and I've been trying for the first couple wake ups to either not nurse but either give the pacifier or rock him back to sleep, but usually by 2 in the morning I'm exhausted and need sleep so I bring him into bed with me. The past few nights though, he'll either go back to sleep nursing or rocking, but as soon as I lay him in the crib he screams. I try to soothe him with shhhhing and rubbing his back, but it doesn't come close to working. he crawls around, pulls himself up to stand and gets hysterical until I pick him up again. It seems that most people talk about waiting 3 min, 5 min, 10 min etc to go in and soothe and rub their back, but he won't even lay down long enough for me to rub his back. My husband has also tried to be the one to go in and soothe him but usually loses that battle too. I have no problem with nursing him for 10 min and putting him back to sleep, but lately that hasn't been the case. last night it took me 2 hrs to get him down after his 11:30 wake up (rock to sleep, put down and scream, try to soothe for 5-10 min, pick up and immediately asleep, put down and scream.....etc etc) I keep telling myself that in the grand scheme of things this won't last long and eventually he will sleep through the night.....but I'm kind of losing my mind here!!
yea I did try that actually...and he didn't like the idea of me taking him off the breast before he was ready (when he was just drowsy and not really sucking) so he got to the point where he would just feel my hand move to break his latch and start crying. and even if hes not nursing, but is falling asleep with me rocking or swaying him, as soon as I move toward the crib he starts to fuss. I think he's just going through something, and maybe some separation anxiety is making it worse. but a growth spurt would be good since he's on the small side! I guess I just have to keep telling myself its just a phase!
Quoting Mommiebiz824:
My Baby Sleeps at Night is an audiobook and manual that teaches baby self soothing techniques.10 moms are needed right now to try the book for FREE.
I would be interested in this for my friend who is going nuts with no sleep. Her son cannot self-soothe at night.
"Children are a gift from God."
Quoting starfall71:
I'm pretty much in the same boat. Koji only nurses to sleep, even for naps, unless he is in the car or stroller during naptimes. I can get him down the first time no problem, and sometimes the second. But every waking after that he will wake up and cry when I lay him in the crib. And he won't self sooth either, and won't take a paci. I usually co-sleep at that point because i'm so exhausted. But when co-sleeping he wakes up every hour crying to nurse, aaahh! I'm really not sure what to do to get him to sleep longer.
It sounds like baby Koji and the baby of the OP are dealing with sleep association. Both children have learned that they must be "nursing" in order to fall asleep. It sounds like a bit of sleep training is neccessary to break the cycle of associating nursing or having moms help with falling asleep. You can try creating a better sleep environment first before sleep training which will help a lot. Sign up for a free sleep report to help you get started at www.mybabysleepsatnight.com
Please help me get my baby to sleep. I'm loosing my mind!
- CourtBM
on Jan. 4, 2011 at 10:10 AM