Wednesday, September 03, 2008

update to previous post

Here's the bedtime/naptime specifics (since a couple of people have asked):

Hazel does not like (and has never liked) being rocked to sleep. I think it may have worked twice in the history of her life - and only once she was totally exhausted and her parents were completely worn out. Almost any bedtime "trick" sets her off - it's as if she knows what you're plotting and pulls out everything in her baby arsenal to thwart you.

She will doze off in her carseat or a stroller occasionally, but she will not stay asleep, and any attempt to transfer her to bed results in her waking up (and generally not happy about it). Same thing goes for when she falls asleep while nursing. So although she cries when she sees her bed - the crib is really the only place she does sleep well. The trick is getting her to sleep.

She will eventually cry herself out. But it's been about 3 or 4 weeks of us trying to let her gradually cry longer and put herself to sleep, and the period of time it takes her to settle down has not really diminished, nor has the intensity of her tears.

We've tried waiting for her to be really tired (lots of yawns, eye rubbing, etc.) before putting her down. We've tried putting her down at the very first sign of sleepiness. We've tried variations in between.

Here is our normal routine (for bed):
Nurse - bathtime - play quietly until some signal/trigger of sleepiness (this doesn't take long usually) - go to bedroom where it's dark and quiet - nurse again - turn on white noise - sing a song or two - say prayers - lay baby down.
Naptime works pretty much the same way, but without the bathtime and the second nursing.

She sleeps fairly well once she falls asleep... right now, I'd just love love *love* a break from the tears.

3 thoughts:

Courtney said...

Have you tried turning off the white noise? Ceiling fans? I'm really sensitive to noise when I'm going to sleep, so if she's hearing something high-pitched that you guys don't notice, it might be keeping her up.

Julie said...

Maybe she's overly tired? Maybe put her to bed before she shows signs of sleepiness. If her bed time is 8:00, try putting her in her crib at 7:45. Something like that :)

My personal 'thing' is that you must try something 3 times before giving up. With my kids, 3 bites of a new food before you can claim that you don't like it. Adults, visit a church 3 times before you decide it's not for you. You get the idea...

With babies, it will take 3 nights in a row of a new schedule or 'trick' before you can really judge how it worked.

Side note... it's been way too long since we've seen Hazel! She's beautifully huge :) We'll have to get together sometime soon.

Kaycee said...

Unfortunately I do not have any fantastic Mama advise for you... I just wanted to say I am hoping that you guys can figure something out because I know how awful the tears can be! Hang in there and keep trying because something has to work eventually?? Here's hoping!