No Cry Sleep Solution Support Thread.... - Page 3

[nylecoj]

Originally Posted by strawberryfields08

I am just getting ready to buy this book. I am in desperate need of a change. DD is 17 mo and wakes every 1-2 hours at night, and it takes forever for her to fall asleep. It seems like everything we try makes her mad and I need more sleep as I am 5 mo pg. Anyway I am frustrated with her and with everything and I am looking for some help. Does anyone know if I should get the no cry sleep solution or the no cry sleep solution for toddlers. She is still nursing to sleep and pretty much all night so I am not sure which book would help me the most. or if I should just get both. Thanks

I have only read the one for toddlers and it did deal with nursing and that sort of thing. I had a 3 mo old at the time and found most of the situations were geared towards older kids.

Not sure if that helps.

[Aletheia]

Naps: At the time when his 2-a-day nap schedule began to emerge (around 5 to 6 months) I really had to work on helping him. I almost forgot how much work it was! It sucked, but he's a *great* napper now. I can pretty much count on 1.5 hours every time he goes down.


The biggie was that for THREE WEEKS I made sure NOTHING interfered with naptime, and moreover, I took every nap with him. Yep. Every one. I think this was the biggest thing in helping him stay asleep longer.

What I did was pick a 5 minute piece of music to dance to as our naptime routine. If he was still awake at the end of that, I'd nurse him. We'd sleep, and then if he began to wake, I'd immediately get him on the breast again. If he woke up too much for that to work, I'd get up and dance him again. It didn't always work, but most times it did.

Eventually, I could just listen for him on the monitor and rush in there to "re-boob" him if he woke at 45 minutes.

And now, as we are transitioning to 1 nap and therefore his morning nap is sometimes only 45 minutes, it is really easy to tell if he is ready to get up or just woke up by accident. He's grumpy if he still needs more sleep.

The transitioning to one nap has been hard.

[prettypixels]

Originally Posted by nylecoj

Hmmm. But don't bad naps also equal bad night sleep? I just figured it was easier to help in the nap department in the short term, while the night time stuff takes a bit longer?

Unless I misunderstood, what she is basically saying is... do whatever you have to, to get good naps. So if that means 100% nursing down, or rocking, or whatever... do that to get a good nap. So she is hoping for good naps there, while you work on changing habits during the night sleep.

[Happily Blessed]

I am in the process of reading the book, and reading all these posts. I got through 1/2 of the first page but I think this will be an awesome thread for me to read!

So, since I have not finished the book yet, what exactly is the PPO? And I am trying to have a schedule, but I work full time. Grandma has Yahootie on Monday, Daddy has him Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. We only have a babysitter on Wednesdays. So, any suggestions on how to make sure that all my caretakers do things pretty much the same way? My Mom is on board with most all so it will be up to Daddy and Kristy to help.

laural

[maxsmum]

I'm in , ready to order the book now (yawn)... my DS is 12 mos. - for those of you who have read it, which would be more appropriate the baby or toddler edition?

[nylecoj]

Ugh.

I am so frustrated right now.

Baby had three naps today - she's still a little out of whack from our San Diego trip this past weekend. Her last nap was too short (~30 mins) and she was cranky the rest of the evening.

She took a long time to get to bed - but went down around 7:40. (Took nearly 40 minutes of rocking, nursing, etc.)

Woke up at 8:10 while dh and I were walking the dog. My dad said he'd watch her which apparently involved letting her CIO in her swing in front of him. WTF? Little thing was hysterical when we got to her 10 minutes later.

I nursed. And nursed, and rocked, and nursed some more. She is making both nipples very sore and raw because she won't stop sucking. She's also got some bad gas lately - not sure what's behind that. So she tooted and sucked me raw until I could no longer tolerate it. I spent about 40 minutes nursing her.

Now DH has her and she's still awake and crying, but completely exhausted. It's been over an hour and I am thinking tonight will not be a good night of sleep.

I'm frustrated and very anxious as I start work in a week and can't imagine functioning in a job on these small chunks of sleep every night.

Argh.

[timneh_mom]

nylecoj.... !!! We had an awful night last night too, I don't even want to talk about it because I don't want to discourage anyone. DD seemed sleepy right after 7 so she had her tubby and was asleep shortly after that. Then about 30-40 minutes later she thought she was up FOR THE DAY!!! All in all, we both worked with her for FIVE HOURS and finally at 12:30 AM I put her in the pack and play and told her to go play because I was going to bed. Of course she didn't like that and DH went in and got her and he slept with her in the chair. What the F do you do when you try E V E R Y T H I N G and they will NOT SLEEP????? :

[JenLiz]

hey all...PPO worked great for us. On trick i used from her book that sometimes works better than PPO and accomplishes the same thing is make it a lot of work for them to keep sucking on the nipple...like scooch away a little, or turn to your back a bit...then, dd realizes it more work to suck than just pull away and go to sleep. After a couple nights of this she eats, pulls away and falls asleep. During the transistion it was too cute cuz she'd pull away like 10 times and come back, pull away, come back, etc. b/c i think she was unsure she could really do it. Now her confidence is up and she knows she can. Gotta run, she's ready for her morning nap, but I'll post more later about what else we did to make the wakings (every two hours) at night better and now we enjoy 4-5 hour blocks till 4 AM, then it's hourly till 7.

[JenLiz]

Originally Posted by timneh_mom

All in all, we both worked with her for FIVE HOURS and finally at 12:30 AM I put her in the pack and play and told her to go play because I was going to bed. Of course she didn't like that and DH went in and got her and he slept with her in the chair. What the F do you do when you try E V E R Y T H I N G and they will NOT SLEEP????? :

Oh gosh, that sounds rough. I've had nights like that and something clicked one night - I decided to join her rather than fight the sleep thing (yes, even at 4 AM ...) First off, i still swaddle dd, and that makes a world of difference. She comes out in the night and I don't reswaddle, it's just for relaxing her at bedtime. So, for me, if after 20 minutes of trying and she's not looking like she's ready, I'll first switch sides of nursing (strangly, sometimes this works), if it doesn't work, i'll get up and take her into her room where the toys are and play -- tummy time, scooching, etc. (she's 6 mo old). Then, the second she starts getting fussy I swaddle her tightly, take her to the hair dryer and bouncy ball (part of our bedtime routine), do that for 5 minutes, and nurse her down...and nevermind the PPO, etc. Just getting her down at that point is more important, obviously. Amazingly, after doing this a few times we haven't had a situation like that in months.

[earthgirl]

Sorry for the bad nights, mamas. We had a pretty bad one, too. No advice, just wanted to commiserate.

[nylecoj]

Originally Posted by JenLiz

hey all...PPO worked great for us. On trick i used from her book that sometimes works better than PPO and accomplishes the same thing is make it a lot of work for them to keep sucking on the nipple...like scooch away a little, or turn to your back a bit...

What do you do when this just results in making your baby wake up more fully?

[nylecoj]

Last night Dh tried to take care of dd for most of the night and it actually worked pretty well. She ate a lot less and woke up less.

Of course, she stayed up a lot later too, so who knows.

[gwynthfair]

Yay! So glad for this thread! So sick of the "just be glad to spend that time with your baby" advice.

I'm still reading the book, but here's what I'm doing:

Problem:
DD slept through the night until about 4 months at which point she starting waking more and more and MORE. She goes to sleep around 9 p.m. and I go at midnight. I would like her to sleep for those 3 hours straight in her crib, so I can do things that NEED to get done. (Not cleaning the toilet for 2 years is just not an option for me.) Beyond that, I'm pretty flexible because we co-sleep after I go to bed, but obviously the less nightwaking the better for everyone.

Routine: (beginning at about 7:30 p.m.)
1. Eat Dinner
2. Bathtime
3. Walk 1.5 miles in Mei Tai
4. Immediately upstairs and nurse almost to sleep.
5. Pop paci in and sing "it's okay to go to sleep, cause mommy & daddy are here. little baby go to sleep....etc. etc." ad nauseum

So far I've noticed that sticking to this routine makes going to sleep MUCH faster.

We also have had some napping problems on the weekends. DD is at daycare during the week and naps pretty good. However on the weekends she has been napping for only 30 minutes at a time, and waking up CLEARLY needing more sleep, and then being crabby when we try to do activities. This past weekend, I made sure to start the nap routine (basically just nursing in bed) at the FIRST signs of tiredness, and miraculously she slept better this weekend...not sure why.

ETA: We also have started having daddy do the nighttime parenting a lot more during the time before I go to bed, because he likes to just lay and read his book anyway, he just brings her to bed. So far it's working okay, except that last night he fell asleep before she woke up and then didn't hear her crying on the monitor. So annoying.

[prettypixels]

Aletheia, I *love* the idea of the 5 minute music dance. I am going to try that for naps, I don't really have a good nap routine right now. I think my baby is an ok napper which is to be expected as I have not been really honoring her nap schedule all the time. *sigh* Mama has to get out sometimes! But I am working on it.

Laural, will they do what you ask them to? Maybe you could write out your baby's nap schedule in a colorful way you can tack up somewhere easy for them to see...?

Maxsmum, I'm not sure, re: baby vs. toddler... did you read the reviews on Amazon? That might give some insight...

Nylecoj, ugh I am sorry you're having a rough time. And so sorry about the CIO, but glad you were there to get her! Yikes! That would make me craaaazy! I know diet sensitivities are rare in breastfed babies but have you changed anything in your diet lately? Maybe it's as simple as her reacting to dairy or something. How old is your little one? BTW did you try doing the PPO after your baby was closer to being totally asleep? Of course I have no idea how you are doing it, but I'd try very gently... like wait until baby is sleeping peacefully, remove nipple gently, but leave it RIGHT THERE in front of his face, so if he roots it is RIGHT THERE and he doesn't have to look for it... to prevent waking up more. I don't know, that is just what I am thinking. Of course maybe the PPO just won't work for you... every baby is different!

JenLiz that is a great idea about making it harder to nurse!

Liz... : I am sorry. It is so frustrating. I have had many a night where I just tell my husband to take her and I need to go cool off. Do you have some Rescue Remedy? Sounds like a RR night. I have been taking it lately at night before I go to bed to ensure I'm a little more mellow and able to deal with things. I don't know what to do at a time like that. Honestly I might have just gotten up with her. I get too frustrated when I try to make her sleep and try to make her sleep... at some point I just have to give up and try again later. I know that's not a good answer though... ETA the other thing I have done when she just won't go back to sleep is put her on my back in the mei tai and go vaccuum, sweep, bounce on the bouncy ball... though sometimes that is really frustrating for me too, I'm so tired and then to have to get all active to get her to sleep. But she will usually go to sleep in the mei tai and is usually *happy* in there in the meanwhile, so sometimes that is what I do. One night I was bouncing her down on the ball with her on my back and I swear, she had woken up SPECIFICALLY FOR ME to do that. She fussed and fussed until I put her on my back. I wondered if I didn't have a MT, what would she have wanted in that moment? :

We actually did a little bit better last night. No wake up in the middle of the night for an hour! Slept from about 2-5:30 which is FANTASTIC. She is still waking every 45 min./half hour in the time before I come to bed with her... arghhhh... baby steps. I keep trying to remind myself that this is a process and takes time. I just don't get why they sleep so well until about 4.5 months and then all of a sudden it goes crazy! I guess it is just so much going on developmentally at once...

[timneh_mom]

Last night went better for us, thankfully!!

I had a meeting in the evening so by the time we got home, it was after 9 pm. (So much for the early bedtime!) I got her in the bath and nursed her in the chair in the living room. Her mouth was really hurting her so she got some teething medicine and within 10 minutes fell sound asleep. I continued to watch TV until she stirred 45 minutes later, and at that point I held and rocked her until she was back to sleep. It was after that when I moved her. She stayed asleep til she woke to nurse at 2:30 am!!! So that was over 4 hours if you don't count the 45 minute wake up!

She woke two more times to nurse in the night, she had one other stretch of maybe 3.5 hours of sleep. THANK GOD I got a good night sleep too!! I understand what Pantley says about early bedtimes but I wonder if some kids are just NOT wired to go to sleep at 7 pm??

I want to add that I live in Michigan and it is light really late, the sun finally is setting after 9 pm.

Maybe I should watch my kid and not the clock? (Like we always say for breastfeeding, etc,)

[nylecoj]

Originally Posted by prettypixels

Nylecoj, ugh I am sorry you're having a rough time. And so sorry about the CIO, but glad you were there to get her! Yikes! That would make me craaaazy! I know diet sensitivities are rare in breastfed babies but have you changed anything in your diet lately? Maybe it's as simple as her reacting to dairy or something. How old is your little one? BTW did you try doing the PPO after your baby was closer to being totally asleep? Of course I have no idea how you are doing it, but I'd try very gently... like wait until baby is sleeping peacefully, remove nipple gently, but leave it RIGHT THERE in front of his face, so if he roots it is RIGHT THERE and he doesn't have to look for it... to prevent waking up more. I don't know, that is just what I am thinking. Of course maybe the PPO just won't work for you... every baby is different!

Couple of things today. First, I eat my words about that stupid sleep journal. Belly Mama was right and I jumped all over her. I am not myself lately. Anyway, keeping that journal has been making me even more frustrated when things don't work out.

PPO works better when she initiates and although I've been trying my success is about 50%. I'm trying to make nurse-sleeping uncomfortable unless we are in bed together.

As far as diet goes, no, the only thing I have done recently is try to eliminate dairy from my diet which should be making her happier, not more upset. Heh.

Yesterday her naps were wonky and she was up from about 8:15-8:45 or so. Then again from 2:45 - 4:00am. I fell asleep rocking her and came back to bed around 4:30.

The good news was that once I got my lazy butt up to go rock her, she immediately calmed down and started to get drowsy. Also, today when I put her down for her nap she started yawning while I was reading her our nap
time book.

[gwynthfair]

One thing I did recently was to refuse to let naptime be done with after only 30 minutes. It took 45 minutes to put her back to sleep, but she slept for an hour and then for 2 hours for her next nap! A miracle. I think it's true, sleep begets sleep.

[JenLiz]

Originally Posted by gwynthfair

One thing I did recently was to refuse to let naptime be done with after only 30 minutes. It took 45 minutes to put her back to sleep, but she slept for an hour and then for 2 hours for her next nap! A miracle. I think it's true, sleep begets sleep.

I do the same thing...since dd was 12 weeks I really concentrated on extending naps, now she can nap 2 hours, typically 1. 5 though...with or without me in bed. It does take a little extra effort, either soothing or bfing them back to sleep, but in the long run it's helped.

Originally Posted by nylecoj

What do you do when this just results in making your baby wake up more fully?

Perhaps wait a little longer to do it, till she's more drowsy? The timing takes a bit to perfect, but once you do, it shouldn't wake dc up...fingers crossed!!!!! Good luck!

After doing the PPO AND phase one of dr. jay gordon's plan ( http://www.drjaygordon.com/development/ap/sleep.asp )for a few weeks now DD is falling asleep without the nipple either by me taking her off, or much to my surprise she PULLS OFF HER SELF (yippi!!!) and gets comfy and falls asleep. It's a miracle, actually. The first few times she did it i held my breath and couldn't believe what i was witnessing. Now, it's more the norm. Sometimes she comes back to the nipple 5 times cuz she's just not quite that confident yet (it's cute), but more often than not she's falling asleep on her own now. I'm still SOOO far away from being able to just "lay her down awake and walking away"...hee hee...maybe we're two years away from that! Regarding Dr. Gordon's plan, I did tweek it a bit....rather than doing it on a specific time frame like he says, i'll do it for 5 hours past her late feeding (which is usually 11 pM). I think that will make more sense to dd at this point. So far it's working too...after doing it for two nights I'm now consistently (for 10 days now) getting a 4 and 5 hour stretchs after putting her to sleep at 7. This is from a baby who was waking every two hours for 6 months. THAT IS ALSO A miracle!!!!!


Sorry if I'm rambling....

[earthgirl]

Losing My Mind!!!

OK, this will probably be long. I've just been in tears most of the day, though. DD had a pretty bad night last night, then woke up @ 5:30. I just feel like my patience is gone w/ this whole sleep issue. I CANNOT get her to nap for more than 30 minutes, no matter what. Then she's tired all day and I spend way too much time trying to get her back to sleep. Or, I spend a lot of time trying to keep her awake so she won't be trying to go to bed for the night @ 4:00. I never get one single second to myself and then I feel guilty b/c when I'm not trying to get her to sleep I'm trying to get stuff done around the house. That, of course, makes me feel guilty that I'm not spending any quality time w/ her. It's all just so awful. I'm supposed to do logs on Saturday, but I'm not going to b/c I know there has not been any improvement. Also, when I try the gentle pull off, that just wakes her up more! I'm just at the end of my rope. I feel too overwhelmed to try to change things, yet I can't stand to leave things the way they are. I don't want to stop night nursing, but at the same time I don't want to be doing it 7 times a night...:

OK, rant over. Thanks for reading. I'm going to go stay w/ a friend tonight whose husband is out of town so I'll check in in a few days.

[nylecoj]

Originally Posted by earthgirl

OK, this will probably be long. I've just been in tears most of the day, though. DD had a pretty bad night last night, then woke up @ 5:30. I just feel like my patience is gone w/ this whole sleep issue. I CANNOT get her to nap for more than 30 minutes, no matter what. Then she's tired all day and I spend way too much time trying to get her back to sleep. Or, I spend a lot of time trying to keep her awake so she won't be trying to go to bed for the night @ 4:00. I never get one single second to myself and then I feel guilty b/c when I'm not trying to get her to sleep I'm trying to get stuff done around the house. That, of course, makes me feel guilty that I'm not spending any quality time w/ her. It's all just so awful. I'm supposed to do logs on Saturday, but I'm not going to b/c I know there has not been any improvement. Also, when I try the gentle pull off, that just wakes her up more! I'm just at the end of my rope. I feel too overwhelmed to try to change things, yet I can't stand to leave things the way they are. I don't want to stop night nursing, but at the same time I don't want to be doing it 7 times a night...:

OK, rant over. Thanks for reading. I'm going to go stay w/ a friend tonight whose husband is out of town so I'll check in in a few days.

I second this. Last night was another horrible sleep night. I am worn out, cranky, upset, guilty, resentful, etc. She was up for several stretches of time in the middle of the night and then woke up at 6 something for good. I must get more rest than this.

I am freaking out about starting a job and feeling this crappy. I'm sure it will all be fine, but I just feel panicky.

And, like you earthgirl, I *never* do anything for myself. It's driving me crazy. I feel like everything I do is for someone else. I am in desperate need of some time for myself.