desperate for sleep and a schedule

[evjolin]

my ds is 6.5 mos, and sleeping erratically. naptime and nightime. he has a crib in a nursery, which he sometimes sleeps in. we also co sleep.

i am not type-a must have a schedule kind of girl, but am rapidly approaching that point. i feel like he needs better cues maybe and then he will sleep better??

im just looking for a few examples of your daily schedule with a l.o.....also include when you get stuff done!! i find cleaning and cooking while babywearing somewhat treacherous.

any tips are appreciated, i am coming unraveled.

[lisko15]

Hey Mama, I feel for you... my baby DS is also 6.5 months old and I have had some days where I was very, very unraveled!

We did resort to a tiny bit of sleep "training".  A very modified version, where we practically stayed with DS in his room (but not laying next to him) until he could soothe himself back to sleep and felt more comfortable in his crib.  (Try the No Cry Sleep or Nap Solution - by Elizabeth Pantley)  It works great some days (right now he's in the middle of a NICE long nap)... but other times it doesn't work at all (seems to not be working so well at nighttime lately).  I do feel less frazzled since we did it though.

We also started a nap and bedtime routine.  I have a white noise CD in his room, which we turn on for the nap/bed diaper change.  Then we go into our room, swaddle and read a couple stories - then its back to his room for a lullaby or two.  I then lay him down.  He also has a lovey that he holds while he sleeps, a little lion attached to a tiny blankie.  If he fusses a lot we'll rub his head or hold his hand.  If he fusses a REAL lot, we usually pick him up and try again.  Sometimes he doesn't fuss at all and just goes to sleep.

We don't cosleep until his early morning feed though... so that makes us a bit different.  DH isn't fond of the idea of cosleeping, so that was our compromise!

I do A LOT of kitchen housework while DS is happily playing in his highchair.  Do you have one?  He throws all the toys off the tray, and I pick them back up, but I usually can do 15 to 20 minutes worth of something then, sometimes more - and I can even start dinner if I expect DH home soon to relieve me.

I also vacuum with him in the frontpack.  Awkward yes, but I can't vacuum when he's sleeping, and at least its getting done.

Now that he's sitting, I can fold laundry with him sitting next to me.  Its still hard to get everything done.  When we have a day with only a few 30 minute naps, I'm quite frazzled by the time DD comes home from school and DH from work.  (Although I also work from home... so I have some late nights once he's sleeping.)

I suggest trying to get some sort of routine before sleeping time.  Figure out when he's ready for his next nap (DS goes about 2 hours between naps) and start doing the same thing every time.  He might start to learn the routine and expect to sleep then.

The only thing he won't let me do anymore (and he used to) was to sit in the bouncy seat while I quickly took a shower.  He cries now through the entire shower as soon as he can't see me.  I've resorted a few times to singing "Old MacDonald" loudly while showering... rather comical, but he seems to like it when we sing!

Unfortunately, our bedtime routine seems to have fallen apart the past few nights, with lots of sadness and tears, and only DH being able to settle him, so I'm definitely not an expert there!

I hope this helps some!

[D_McG]

A 2,3,4 pattern helped both of mine.   I read about it on the blog moxie.

Both of them had a 7-7 'day'.

So up at 7.  Then first nap 2 hours later.  Second nap 3 hours after waking from that and bedtime 4 hours after waking from second nap.  It really put a nice frame on the day.  

[Knitting Mama]

A loose schedule helped here too, but I will say, at that age my girl was still only good for about 2 hours of awake time at a go. So I would start our nap routine- change diaper, sing, swaddle, nurse- about 15 minutes before she'd been awake 2 hours. 99% of the time she'd go down no problem for another nap.

[wannaBmom_NICU_RN]

We had been going through the same thing, he would go down really late at night and then want to be held and nursed all night long!  I don't mind co-sleeping but neither of us was getting much rest.  So this past week I tried going to back to a stricter bedtime routine.  He has a bath at 9-9:30 then baby massage, a couple stories, then a full breast feeding until he's totally out.  Amazingly it has worked!  He will be out at 10pm, wake for a feeding at 4:30, then awake at 8:30.  Some times he'll go back to sleep with me after that even.  Occasionally he'll fuss when I lay him back in his crib, but laying a hand on his chest to calm him has been working.  No CIO!  I thought we were going to have to resort to that, but it hasn't come to that! 

I guess I would suggest a consistent bed time routine and go from there.