Well, Maleah is still napping in the front pack each day for all her naps! She is such a routine baby. I will start to get the pack ready and she starts to fuss at me. Mind you, this is where she likes to sleep! Once inside and binkie in her mouth, she usually falls right to sleep. Now at about 45 minutes, we hold our breathe. Sometimes she can turn that corner and sleep peacefully the rest of her nap and other times she just can not turn that corner.
Regardless, I can't keep napping her this way. Not good for her or for my back or for Reese. Like on Tuesday we were playing outside (in the wonderful sunshine) and Reese tripped and hurt herself. She started crying of course and ran the other way, away from me, because she didn't want to wake Maleah up! So sad!!
So I have a plan here soon, to start putting Maleah down to sleep in her crib. I know she will cry, the question is how long and if she will be able to find sleep at all herself. She can not at this point put herself to sleep without help. BUT she can do it all night long. She goes down about 9ish and can sleep till 4 or 5am. So I know she can do it, but she just has not been able to do it during the daytime sleep.
I plan to stay home for 2 weeks, getting some friends to take Reese out from time to time. No fair to have to listen to her cry all day!
Okay so I will feed Maleah, keep her up as long as she wants, currently anywhere between 60 and 80 minutes, then swaddle her and put her down. I plan to get her after an hour and feed her on a three hour cycle or as close to it as is doable.
Any sleep/nap tricks/suggestions are welcome! I am not looking forward to this but know that it is defiantly needed for ALL of us! :)
7 comments:
when we did cry it out with Kylee (she was a little older) but we would gradually increase the time that we would leave her crying. Like I would do her bed time routine and leave, go back in at 5 min try to calm her without picking her up. And just increase the increments. It made me feel like I wasnt just leaving her to cry for an hour by herself. If no nap after 45min, we got her up and tried again later. We tried once with no avail and just waited a month or so, and then she seemed more ready for it. Good Luck!
Oh my goodness Kimber, good luck! That is so stressful! It's true though, you just can't make the sacrifices for the second kid that you make for the first - you have to think about what is best for the entire family! Including mama! Reese is such a selfless and sensitive 3 year old. We had great luck with Nory self soothing from a very young age with a pacifier, but it sounds like Maleah needs a pacifier AND to be in the front pack?? I hope she learns some self sleep habits soon!
I've never read it but I've been recommended the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by a number of people who claim that it is wonderful.
Thanks Ladies! Kacy, how old was Kylee? Maleah will be almost 4 months when we start, if I stick to my plan.
Judy, I have heard that book is great! Thanks for the reminder!
happy to take reesie!
Oliver was a good sleeper for me, but Bayer was the same where he would sleep really well at night but would not go to sleep in his crib for nap time. He did, however, like his swing, which was in his room. I would put him in his swing and he would take his nap there every day. Sometimes I worried about how much swinging time his little brain could handle! But eventually he transitioned and would go in his crib and all was well with the world. I think you have the right idea to try something and see if it works, and if not, try something else. What works for one certainly doesn't always work for another. I wish you the best of luck!!
Kylee was like....10m when we started?
At first I just wouldnt rock her or anything, but I would stay in the room with her, and sing and comfort her until she would fall asleep.
Then when that was working we moved on to leaving the room and returning at intervals.
We liked the Ferber method, it worked for Kylee. I have the book if you want to borrow it. Though I will need it back SOON! :) Its pretty long but much of it wont apply to Maleah right now.
Thanks Char! I think I will give the swing a go if the bed really is not working and work towards the bed. I am not wanting night time sleep to change with the new nap time routine a mess but we must do something! :)
Kacy I would love to borrow that book! Thanks!
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