Mama about to loose her mind. 6mo won't sleep

[whtelephant]

She just won't sleep.

She won't let me put her down, no matter how deep she's sleeping when I try, she wakes right up.  Nap time, bed time... doesn't matter.  I'd love to just keep her on me all the time, but I'm the only income our family has, and I need to be able to work.  Luckily my employer is very accommodating and lets me work from home 2 days a week, and bring her with me into the office 3 days a week, but I think that is just adding to her lack of a schedule at this point.  If I nurse her to sleep in my arms, I better not move or she'll wake up.  If I nurse her to sleep in the bed, I have to stay with her the whole time or she wakes up.  Nursing her in bed isn't even feasible on the days I go into the office, so I don't really want her to learn that as her nap routine.  At night I end up going to bed at 8pm because she won't let me leave, so lately my life has consisted of the 2 hours I get to spend with my family after work and before I put the girls to bed.  Lets just say it's really starting to get to me.  I have to work with her all day, usually fussy and tired because she won't nap, and then go to bed with her early because she won't let me leave.  

My first daughter would nap like a champ.  2-3 hours 2x a day.  We had a schedule that we just knew when we had to be home for her to nap, but with this one I can't get any consistency.  She'll call the 5 minutes she slept her nap and won't go back down, but will still be tired and cranky.  She might do it a couple times in the day, but not with any consistency (other than that it's short).  I'd love to leave her with DH, who's supposed to be the stay-at-home parent, but she only wants me.  She wants me to hold her at all times.  She doesn't want to drink from a bottle (and pumping isn't very successful for me anyways, so I don't have anything to leave with them to try with).  

I don't know if I'm looking for sympathy or help, but I need something or I think I really am going to go crazy.

[justrose13]

have you tried baby wearing? my DS was/is the same way... the only thing other than nursing him down is wearing him on my back in my ergo or woven wrap. you could work at home or in office (theoretically) while DD sleeps. it's not ideal but may be feasible... maybe if she got used to being worn for naps, your DH could start trying to wear her down. if you've never worn her in a carrier, I suggest getting her used to it when she's well fed and happy, not at nap time right away. if she likes it, then try going on a walk a short while before nap time and try and walk until she sleeps.

I'm trying to get DS (11.5mo) asleep now, he's on my back in a woven wrap. I can go into a dark room, with white noise and music, and sway whilst surfing the net via iPad. i imagine if I worked from home I could, potentially, work right now. oh... there, he's asleep!

best of luck! and hugs....

[akind1]

second the babywearing! Like OP, I'm the breadwinner and must work. DH is a SAHD, but he's not got the food, LOL. He mostly parents the 2 year old so I can work fromhome. (I do 4 at home, one in the office).  I can wrap baby girl on my back, and once she's asleep, sit and type, or I can also do it in a front carry (once she's asleep). She doesn't tolerate sitting or standing still while being worn if she's awake. And wraps have magic sleepy dust. At lease every one I've tried does.

[whtelephant]

Yes, thank you for your replies.  I do baby wear.  I did extensively with my first, and do with this one as well.  I have all sorts of carriers, two-shouldered are my favorite, either MT or SSC.  It seems like I spend 45 minutes walking circles around our library room in the office, at least twice a day, for her to only sleep for 15-20 minutes though.  I take what I can get, but it just seems like I'm spending so much time to get her to sleep, which ends up being less time asleep than it took for me to get her there.  Part of me feels like it is karma.  Older DD cut out naps altogether at about 3 years old (much to our dismay), so I kept saying that we were going to hold onto nap time with this DD as much as we could.  It's like she's rubbing it in my face "ha ha, you don't get any nap time, right front the start!!"  I also know part of it is just stress, some days she will sleep on my back for an hour or two, but then I get a week straight of 10 minute snoozes, and completely loose sight of things.  I spend all day juggling her so that I can get some work time, and I think it's just getting to me.  Deep breaths.  This too, will pass.  Thanks for your support