I need some serious sleep help!

[SuzySunshine]

R got up at 5:45, went down for nap at 8:30 (I tried at 7:45 and he wasn't interested), woke up at 9:05; went down for nap #2 at noon and woke up at 1:15, now he has gone to bed at 5:20. Even though he got up later today I seem to be losing progress on putting him to bed later. Last night he went to bed at 5:45, woke at 9:45 took a bottle and went back to sleep, he woke up at 3:30 but I let him cry and he went back to sleep sleeping until 5:45.

He'll be 8 months on 7/11 and I feel like he has some separation anxiety during the day so I hate to let him cry much at night. He was not a happy camper when he woke up this morning, was that because I let him cry at 3:30? He's a very healthy/chubby kid and there really shouldn't be any reason he needs to eat at night. We were down to getting up once/night and for the last four its been twice, I just don't know what to do but I'm exhausted and he's Mr. Crabby pants during the day so I'm pretty sure he's tired.

I could live with shorter or less naps, or even more or longer naps if he wasn't so unhappy during the day. Listening to him whine ALL DAY is just more then I can handle.

He is teething, working on #3 and #4 and I do give him some medicine for that when I feel like its his teeth bothering him but not all the time.

ETA: I thought of doing the sleep training where you go in and rub/pat their back but not pick them up, leave the room, go back in 10 minutes, 15 minutes, etc but this seems like it would just take forever - anyone do this and have it work?

Anyone?

[Pollyanna]

The first thing I would do is stop feeding him at night. It is likely more of a habit now and if you don't feed him that might stop some of the waking. Once you have cut out the night time bottles you can start the sleep training if you like. It truly does not take very long for them to catch on but every child is different. I doubt he is cranky because you let him cry, he is likely simply tired, teething, gassy, or all three. I had a whiny baby and completely understand how exhausting it is. I will warn you that even once you have the sleeping thing down he might still get up at 5am or even earlier. Some kids are just earlier risers and there is nothing you can do about it but get up and cuddle on the couch. Let us know how it goes.

[alison]

When dd was around 6 months old, she'd wake up at 5am ready to start her day (that's when she was up 2, even 3 times per night). I went along with it until I realized after a few days that she wanted to go back to bed within 45 minutes of waking up. I decided to just leave her in there, and told myself "I'm not going in there until 7am, I'm not going in there until 7am, I'm NOT GOING IN THERE until 7am." That meant she'd cry it out for about 10-15 minutes, but she'd eventually fall back asleep again. Now, she doesn't wake up until around 8am, but it seems like once that super early morning waking was sorted out, the rest of her day was peaceful for her, and her naps became more restful, too.

I just let dd cry it out. She's got some anxiety issues when I put her in her crib, but she usually falls asleep within 5 minutes of screaming at the top of her lungs. They're the longest 5 minutes of your life, and I hate doing it.

I'm sorry that I don't really have a suggestion for you. It's hard to be desperate to get some sleep yourself.

[SuzySunshine]

And now he's up - he slept like 45 minutes, like a nap cycle.

I definitely think not feeding him is the first step - do you think I should comfort him with a pacifier or just let him cry or try rubbing his back to get him to go back to sleep. If I go in there but don't pick him up he just gets more mad.

???

[Pollyanna]

I definitely think not feeding him is the first step - do you think I should comfort him with a pacifier or just let him cry or try rubbing his back to get him to go back to sleep. If I go in there but don't pick him up he just gets more mad.

???

I realize this sounds mean but with our kiddos that were like that they did much better and went to sleep much faster if we didn't keep going in and doing the back rub thing. Seriously, it would piss them off beyond belief and make everything take longer.

[SuzySunshine]

No it doesn't sound mean Tara, we never did it with A we just let her cry but I don't feel like she had these separation issues - so if you cut out the feeding do you just not even go in there?

[SuzySunshine]

Ok so after being up and just rubbing his eyes constantly I put him back down and he cried for about 25 minutes. I'm just going to let him cry, I have to. I'll give him his ibuprofen before he goes to bed so at least I know he has that and then let him be. We'll see how it goes.

[Tenacious_D]

We also found that the every 15 minute check in to be worse than letting him cry it out. I can't say that we have done we are supposed to with E. He is still getting up 1-2 times per night for some milk. It got so annoying, we bought a mini fridge so we wouldn't have to go downstairs to get it. I am truly regretting how long we have let this go on especially since we have number 2 coming in 2 months. Although it is much easier to say than do, I would leave him in there (perhaps with a light up toy - we use the turtle with the stars) until a designated time. We have done that with E and won't really get him until 7/7:30am and he's gotten pretty good about entertaining himself for a little while. But 8 months is a little trickier. I feel for your and hope that this is just a phase that he grows out of.

[DCJenn]

The Fisher-Price aquarium thing that straps to the crib works wonders- you can set it for him at bed time- it plays about 20 minutes of music or white noise (water falls or oceans) and the lights and things to look at are soothing. Once dude was old enough to figure out how to operate it on his own, he LOVED it and it bought us 20-30 minutes every morning.

Jenn

[Vishenka69]

At what point did you (those "you" who have done it) cut out the night feeding? I feel that at 4.5 months DD is a bit too young but don't want to miss the window of opportunity.

[spotty_dog]

With Eddy, I night weaned around 18 months. Aiming for 18-24 months with Natalie.

[SuzySunshine]

My ped told me that if he was a certain weight (I think it was 15 pounds) he could cut the night feeding at six months and if he hadn't by 9 months we'd "get tough." I've decided I'm going to give him 6oz for the next two nights, then 4oz for 2 and then 2oz for 2 to see if we can get him off of it. We'll see how it goes.

[Pollyanna]

My ped told me that if he was a certain weight (I think it was 15 pounds) he could cut the night feeding at six months and if he hadn't by 9 months we'd "get tough." I've decided I'm going to give him 6oz for the next two nights, then 4oz for 2 and then 2oz for 2 to see if we can get him off of it. We'll see how it goes.

That's a good idea Cheri. I have a friend that switched her kids to water and they stopped being interested in their night time feedings. I guess since it wasn't milk it wasn't worth waking up for, lol.

[alison]

I hope you all are sleeping right now, Cheri!
Eeeeeks, CIO is no fun, but I feel like if I go in there after a certain amount of time to see what the heck is up, dd starts from the beginning again, and she cries hard and long after getting checked on.

If dd wakes up in the middle of the night, I go in there with a bottle. I'm not good at withholding food from her--for my dd it's a good way of sneaking in some calories. . Or maybe she's just got me wrapped around her finger.

I hope you figure this one out!

[SuzySunshine]

So he woke up at 10:30, I fed him his 6 and then I went back to bed. I heard him cry for about 10 minutes about 3:15 and then I heard him cry around 4:15 though I don't know for how long because I put my earplugs in. Then A got up at 5:30 - no idea why but R slept until 6:15 and he's happy this morning so I think we're on the right track.

Thanks ladies!