my baby does NOT sleep through the night. she is almost 6 months old. shouldn't she be sleeping a good solid 8-10 hours by now? this is what i've been told. i kept a strict feeding schedule when she was an infant, to the point that my mother in law thought i was starving her. :) but now that i am working PT, i've found it more difficult to do this. is this why she isn't sleeping well? she used to wake up once in the night. our trip to AZ was awful, she slept very little at night, and hasn't slept well since. she wakes up every 1 - 2 hrs. what am i doing wrong? tenley is a HAPPY baby, very content. she just does not like to sleep. YES i let her cry in her crib. :)
what are everyone's thoughts on the book, "Baby Wise?" i've skimmed through several chapters, and it makes me feel like a bad mom. there are things i do right. there i things i do WRONG. so i stopped reading it.
i think she may be teething, and have been hoping this is just a phase, but it has been like 3 weeks now, and nothing has changed.
what has worked for YOU?
13 comments:
Ugh!! I am going CRAZY right now dealing with this same issue. I've read Baby Wise and I totally thought it would produce this perfect little baby, because that's what everyone said happened to their baby. No. Not mine. She slept well (through the night) until she was about 3 months, started teething, and our nights have been hell ever since. Not kidding, I'm going crazy. So I don't have any good advice, but I will be checking your blog for responses from others. I'm so desperate for some good advice!
I hear you sister, that's right tate is two and still doesn't sleep through the night and i have read that book and happy baby healthy sleep habits. i have come to the conculsion that he is a hurd baby and just doesn't sleep. my mom said we never slept through the night until we were two or two in a half, but good luck. love ya
hmm. i dunno i have never read that book. And it really could just be teething since she used to sleep well. It is a sucky phase.. but a phase that'll pass. hopefully thats it. Does she sleep in the crib?
You seem like you are doing a great job, and every baby is so different. Babywise worked on Hailey but Peyton is different. She'll sleep some nights and others not so much. I don't believe in really bad mothers or good mothers...there are just SAINTS. So what i think is that you didn't go wrong at all, it's just your sweet Tenley's personality. and she WILL learn to enjoy sleeping, your instincts are probably right and she is probably just teething. you are a great mom, don't ever second guess yourself!
Wow, you're brave...when you ask for parenting advice, it can really open up the flood gates. I'm no pro and am a newbie at this parenting thing too, so I'll just share some things that I've read and/or experienced thus far. "Sleeping through the night" is really considered a 6-8 hour stretch from what I've read. She could be having more frequent awakenings because she is teething or going through a growth spurt. Or, she could be experiencing some separation anxiety from you during the day while you are at work so feels like she needs some extra lovin' at night when she knows you'll be together. My advice would be to love, love, love her during the day...sweet things don't spoil...and don't be so worried about schedules. From my experience, I just fed on demand and he kind of worked his own schedule out. I noticed that when I quit watching the clock, I was a lot happier. One last thing, if you are still breastfeeding, your milk supply may be dwindling if you aren't pumping while at work and so she is more hungry...I don't know...just a thought...but you are probably supplementing to help out. Hope some of this helps or at least sets you at ease. All babies are wired differently...and how well your baby sleeps is not a direct reflection of your parenting skills...so breathe easy because I'm sure you're a great mom!
P.S. I've never read that Baby Wise book before...never even heard of it. But I do have a book specifically about sleep that's really good and it has a method of teaching helping your baby develop good sleep habits, but I just packed it away since we are in the middle of moving. I'll probably have it out in the next week or two, so if you are interested, let me know and I'll give you the title and author.
My sister swore by the baby wise book- but I stopped reading if after a couple chapters. Every baby is different. Mercedes didn't sleep through the night until she was one- Lauren did it at like 2 months. All I can say is we do the same bedtime routine- bath, pjs, milk, bed. Once they are in bed- that's it. Sometimes they don't go to sleep right away but they know I'm not coming in either. Good luck with it! I have two sick kids right now and they are both cutting teeth on top of it. I feel your pain! They were doing so well sleeping and now they're waking each other up 2-3 times. AAAAH!
I have never heard of the book but I am sure that you are not doing anything wrong. Some parents are lucky and get babies who sleep through the night Tyrel didnt start sleeping completly through the night till just a little while ago and he is now 2. when he was 1 it started to get better and he would only wake up about twice a night so it just takes time. I have never read the book. I dont like things like that cause then It makes me feel like a crappy mom. I just trust my gut and everything works out.
OH, one of the ULTIMATE frustrations of motherhood!!! I had NO idea how big of a deal SLEEP was with babies...until I had one! It never seems to end! They sleep well for a couple months then they go through a CRAPPY phase for a month or so.
Brianna is so right; every baby is different! AND I believe there isn't ONE right or wrong way to go about sleep training. I have found that reading books and trying to follow them to a "T" can be SO frustrating. You may just need to try a couple different methods, or combine a few, until you've found one that works AND you feel good about.
I've never used Babywise, but I've heard amazing things about it. The book I have used that has seemed to help is "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. It's very evidence/ study based. Plus it carries you through sleep issues from newborn to teenagers.
If you're going to try something new I'd give it about a week before going a different route.
GOOD LUCK and hang in there!!!
It's a GOOD THING they are SO, dang cute, right??! :)
YEAH for babies, don't ya just luv it! Anyways, with Gavin the Dr. told me that he doesn't need to eat at night after 6 months. So at 6 months to the day I stuck him in his own room and let him whale it out!! IT WORKED. It took 3 nights (the 2nd night he cried for over an hour), but after that, he slept like a champ!!! So my advice is just to put them in bed and then NEVER get them out until morning, no matter what. Once you get them out, they know you will come and get them again! STAY STRONG.
Don't know if it will work, but it worked with GAvin and he has slept all night ever since!!!! Even through his crappy seizure phase!
Let me know how it goes. Call me if you wanna talk. LOVE YOU
LaDawn
Yea, that totally sucks when they want to be up again. Bryn hated her crib at first. I did a combination of letting her scream for 5 minutes and then I would go in and calm her down and then go back out. She responded well to that. Some nights I had to go in every 5 minutes for an hour but she would finally conk out. Plus when she started waking up in the middle of the night again at about 8 months I would get in there as soon as I heard her and then immediately rock her and she would go back to sleep. I would make sure she was really out and then put her back down. I also made sure to always keep the lights off (she has about 3 night lights in her room anyways) and I use a soundmaker that has a rain sound or the sound of the ocean and that helps her relax I think. Plus she doesn't hear other noises either over the sound of th soundmaker. I also turn on some soft classical or church music whenshe is trying to sleep and I think that helps too. Every baby is so unique, you may just have to find Tenley's triggers that will help her sleep
hey its your cousin. I feel your pain remembering back to those nights. I read baby wise and a few others and the thing I have learned from all is that every baby is different and there is no right way to do things. Our little guy slept through the night for the first 3 months and then he decided not to anymore. We let him cry it out in his crib and there were nights he screamed for 2-3 hours. He would finally fall back asleep mainly from exhaustion. The best thing for us to do is keep getting up but I would stop rocking K and soon I would stop picking him up. He cried alot but he learned. It also takes a lot longer than the books say, it took K a good 3 months to soothe himself to sleep. Whatever happens don't think your a bad mom, think of it as your baby just loves to be with you (even in the wee hours of the night). Also whenever you go on trips it messes with babies schedules and so you basically have to start completely over again. Good luck and try to get in a power nap during the day. love ya
So I know that this is a little late but it's been a while since I checked blogs. I love babywise, but with that being said everyone is different. Austin took to it GREAT! He was sleeping the 7-8 hrs. at 6 weeks and sleeping 11-12 hrs. by 3 months and save it be for when he gets sick or was teething he always slept through the night. Now with kate I have done the same thing but she hasn't taken to it as well. Although they do have a sort of disclamer for colicy kids (which she DEFINANTLY was) that they take a little longer it's been frusterating. It seems like every time I would finally get her sleeping 8 hrs. something else would happen either her teeth or holidays, or traveling, or sick blah blah blah, I have noticed that If I can "fight" with her for 2-3 nights letting her cry it out and not feeding her every time she cries, then by the 4th night (and from then on) she sleeps all the way through and wakes up so happy! I'm glad to see that you went to the doctor and has found something that is working for you. Nothing is better than a good night's sleep. As my last comment on this forever long comment, I will always try babywise first with my kids. If it doesn't work then I will go from there, but if it does then it truely is AMAZING!
Post a Comment