Sleep Advice - San Antonio,TX

I was obsessed with my newborn's sleep and dove into books, solicited advice, and camped out in blogs, chat rooms, and massage boards. I'm no expert but here are some of my tips:

1. Have a bedtime routine. It's not too early to start. Routine and familiarity are a comfort to babies. Bath, lotion, rock to soothe, and into the crib. There were ALOT of bumps along the way but all worth the extra effort a few months down the road.
2. Sway (sideways or up and down), swing, rock, cradle. Do wwhatever it takes to soothe your baby.
3. Hold your baby until she is drowsy but not asleep and place her in the crib. Babies will want to wake where they fell asleep. If she falls asleep in your arms, then that is where she will want to stay. I learned this the hard way.

Other tips that I've collected from other parents:
1. Sleep on her crib sheet for a few days to have your scent on it. Then at night, lay her down on that very same crib sheet.
2. This is part of the routine suggestion. Use a sound machine to help her go to sleep. People use blow dryers, vacuums, etc. I purchased a sounds machine on Amazon. Babies are not used to the quiet since inside the womb there is constant noise.
3.Temperature: Is the room too cold/hot for her? Is she dressed warm enough?

I think she maybe too young for crying it out. I agree with the other posts, maybe she has her days and nights mixed up.

Also, we maybe be able to help you out a little if you describe the difference in how you handle putting her down for naps versus bedtime.

Good luck with the trial and error. Keep us posted.

You are right not to allow your 3 week year old to CIO. She is entirely too young to even consider it. Try putting your baby to sleep on her tummy. Babies digest better when they sleep on their tummy. We have three childrena and our babies slept in the same room with us until they were 4 months old. We have a two story house and we slept in the guest room so we were all on the same floor. I could respond faster without waking up the entire house. Many times my husband wouldn't even wake up. I was okay to put our baby on their tummy because they were in the same room. Also, consider getting a babysitter or nanny to help you until your baby is about 13 weeks old so you can nap during the daytime and your 2 1/2 YO will have someone to play with while you nap and get your much needed rest.

Hello,

Unfortunatly I don't have advice for this issue, I actually have the same problem. I have three children, a six yr old daughter, a four yr old son, and a six month old baby boy. I breastfed all of them (still am breastfeeding the baby) and I had sleep problems with all of them. The baby right now won't sleep in his crib at night. I tried the standard bath, wind down, feeding, and start off the night placing him in his crib but he always wakes up. He wakes about every hour. I have to pick him up (I can't let him "cry it out" either) and put him back to sleep until finally I'm so tired I just let him sleep with me. Then he's still a light sleeper. I too am tired in the morning and during the day and feel guilty about not being 100% for my two other darling children.

I was just wondering if you could pass on any advice you recieve about this issue. Thank you and good luck :)

K. H

Well I am due in a month and have a 2 and 1/2 year old also, so I will be right there with you!! My pedi told me that infants really don't have the capacity to get their days and nights straightened out until about 3 months or so, so there will probably be some bumps along the way. Your son will be ok because siblings are a part of life for many people and kids seem to do fine with them in the end, it is a short season that you will be in zombie mode;) Just a couple practical things that as a second time mom you are most likely doing...you can swaddle her well so she feels secure when she goes down. They even have those swaddlers at Wal-Mart with little velcro attachments, so they don't get loose and it is super easy for you. You can nurse of bottle feed her and then let her fall asleep in peace and put her down. My son had major reflux so that was an issue in the beginning so you can look for signs of that, lots of info on the web if you are suspicious and your pedi can give her medication if she were to have that issue. You can give mylicon gas drops in the evening to combat that issue keeping her awake. At this point, she is so young that letting her cry probably won't help because she is crying because she needs something. The first couple months are rough for parents and baby because there just always seem to be little nagging issues that need to be resolved. But you will make it! Maybe next month when mine comes I will be on here looking for help too;) Congratulations on your new little one!

well here is some advice my grandmother told me sleep when the baby sleeps.and it has worked for me.especially now that i'm on my forth baby.and if you can get some one to watch ur 2 1/2 yr old whlie ur sleeping with ur baby.ask someone u trust to take him to the park or mall.for some hours while you get some rest cause you really need it. and the baby put her on a routine like play music while ur putting her to sleep and lay a small toy next her that smells like you and you'll see she'll stay asleep.

I had a similar problem with my now 12 week old baby. It turned out that she had very bad reflux. She would only sleep from 8:00 pm to 2:00 am if someone was holding her. We had tried everything that has been recommended. I have a Moby Wrap & started wrapping her on me & sleeping in the recliner. It helped get her days & nights back on track. She was going 8 hours between feedings at night by 9 weeks. I hope you find something that works for you!

My daughter was a premmie and spent a week in the NICU before she was able to come home. The hospital let us go back in the night before she was to be released and spend the night with her. She was happy and dozing off and on while we were still awake. When we got ready to go to sleep and turned off the lights and the TV she woke up and would not stop crying until we turned the lights back on and my husband and I started talking. We asked the nurses about it and they said that is quite normal for babies who have been in the NICU. There are always lights, bells, alarms, nurses coming in and out and talking in the NICU so she was used to lights and noise. The quiet and darkness was new to her.

If you have a 2 1/2 year old she may have gotten use to noise when she sleeps and during the day it is probably light when she is sleeping. You might try leaving a lamp on in her room and a radio on softly.

Try to keep her awake as much as possible during the day which I know is hard because there is no greater feeling than holding a sleeping baby. Also try to time your sons nap to a time when the baby is napping and then you nap. The household chores can wait for a while until everyone gets on a good sleep schedule again.

Congrats on the new baby and remember that this time will pass quickly (it just doesn't seem like it will when you are sleep deprived). Enjoy your babies.

I have an almost 2 week old and know what you are talking about. The best thing I have tried that has helped is to put her down when she falls asleep during the day where she sleeps at night which for my daughter is a cosleeper. I also have been putting her on her side which she likes to sleep on better than her back. Also they are used to noise and light so I put a night light in my room and if it does not bother you turn the radio on. That has helped us and she slept in her cosleeper and not on me for the first time last night. Good luck and congratulations!

She's way too young to cry it out like that. even Dr. Ferber suggests minimum of 6 months old before using CIO.

Swaddling is great for babies! They crave it! If you can't swaddle with a blanket (it's difficult, i know!) then use a Swaddleme. They really make it easy. Have at least 2, so that you always have one when the other is in the wash.

I'd also like to recommend Happiest Baby on the Block by Dr. Harvey Karp. You'll learn about the 5 Ss (suck, swaddle, swing, ssshhhh, "shake"). They also have a DVD to watch Dr. Karp in action, and it's really helpful to understand how it's done, and also to see it working on babies. I used DR. Karp's methods with my DD and totally believe in it. I loaned my DVD to three different friends who still thank me, a year later, for helping them. It's the best for your situation!!! I would strongly recommend against "Babywise", though....it has been linked with "failure to thrive" in breastfed babies, among other things. The Ezzos are extremely controversial. Google it.

May be she is having colic pain. My 4yr old when she was 4mths would be cranky at 10pm till midnight. So from a book I got advised to place her on a dryer and it worked. I strapped her on her car seat and placed her on the dryer.And turned the dryer on she was asleep in ten to fifteen minutes and slept all night in her crib.

Have you tried a tight swaddle? They have swaddle blankets now with velcro that make it easy to get on and off. Our baby (now 20 months!) was the same way. We tried just about everything in the book! Speaking of which, the Happiest Baby on the Block book was very helpful. Check it out at the library!
Good luck to you and congrats!

Congratulations! Babies this age have their nights and days mixed up (as you know). It is normal and to be expected. What helped me was to try my best to talk to her during the day, let her know that during the day is when things happen and get done, and then when she woke up at night, silently feed her, silently change her diaper, keep it dark after changing her, that this was calm time for sleeping.
It will take time and my baby got much better at 8 weeks and then got better and better. Your baby is really little and I agree that the crying method isn't appropriate. Save that for when she nows better-6 months or later.
Good luck! Give her lots of hugs!

I suggest reading Babywise. It sounds like she has her days and nights mixed up.

Try putting her to sleep in a different position. I put my little girl to sleep on her stomach and that seemed to help. Also, if you are breast feeding, it could be something in your diet. Best of luck to you!

Oh my!!! I am having the SAME problem with my month old little girl (we have a 2 1/2 year old son too). She wants to eat every 2 hours, day and night. After eating, she wants to be held to go to sleep (that's how she sleeps at night too!). I did Babywise with our son and need to look back at the book again (eat, awake and sleep...routine). I think I am going to try to nurse her and then add a 2 oz. formula bottle at her 11 or 12 feeding, then put her in her carseat to sleep. If she isn't hungry, then she must have me trained with the holding.
We bought a wedge but I am going to try the carseat tonight...

GOOD LUCK! Hang in there...it's all part of the first few months. UGHH!!!