Sleep Habits of My 7Mth Old

The first thing I want to bring up is teething...

If she is teething, all of these sleep issues are normal, and there is really nothing you can do other than teething tablets and Tylenol.

If this is not the cause, I do have some advice for you. An overtired baby will not sleep. I know this sounds insane, but it's true! If you wait too long for the first nap(about 2hrs after waking) it gets difficult to get them down, the rest of the day is thrown off, and the crazy night follows!

The transition to the crib is tough- I've been through it too! You have to find which method works for your unique little baby. I have my own page on this at http://www.squidoo.com/sleepingbaby1. I think you might find some of the advice there to be helpful.

I have to take a moment to commend you for being a SAHM. It is one of the most under-appreciated, yet most rewarding jobs you could ever have! Please don't give up! I know how it feels to do it virtually alone, as my husband has been in Iraq for the first year of my daughter's life. But women are strong, and we can do anything we set our minds to! I hope your family gets some much deserved rest soon! :)

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My son had so many sleep issues, I don't even know where to start. Every time I thought we had figured it out, something else disrupted his sleep whether teething, illness, etc and we had to start from the beginning. So, this is a culmination of all our experiences. I'll just try to give you some ideas and maybe you can walk away with one that will help you.
I transitioned my son to his crib after co-sleeping by first putting him in his pack'n play for naps which was right next to my bed. I stayed next to the pack'n play for each nap and my presence somehow seemed to soothe him. After a few days, I started to leave the room which worked well. Then I put him in the pack'n play at night. This was a little tougher but he eventually was okay. Then came the switch to the crib. At first it all seemed to go okay, then he didn't want to be in the crib by himself anymore. So, we added a plush animal which calmed him down. I also started to play with him in his room more during the day so that he got used to his surroundings. That seemed to help. Throughout our sleep saga, I have resorted to laying down on the floor next to the crib at night when he would wake up which was a huge comfort to him. Sometimes he would stick his little hand out so that I could hold it. More than once, I ended up falling asleep and, when waking up, was able to leave the room while he was still sleeping. I tried out different bedtimes which took forever! Other moms tried to tell me what their bedtime is and I took their example. Nothing worked. So I started working on his nap during the day. First we tried different nap times until we came to 1:30 pm. He will sleep for about 3 hours. From that I took his cues when he got tired. Early signs started at about 9 pm. I established a fun-for-him bedtime routine. We do the same thing every night and he loves it. Anyway, we now start his bedtime routine at 9 pm. We are in his room by 9:20 pm and he is in my lap by 9:30 pm. We cuddle and I rock him to drowsiness/sleep and then xfr him to his bed. Most nights, he is okay. Some nights, he still wants me to stay w/him in his room and if I'm tired, I just lay down on the floor next to him. Usually no later than 10 pm he is out and he sleeps until at least 8 am or 8:30 am sometimes even longer. I did try out Dr. Weissbluth methods: mainly the one where he talks about napping and a regular nap time which worked for us. As I said, from there we started working on the bedtime.
Also, my son always had prbls w/gas and/or tummy aches which sometimes woke him up at night. It took us a long time to get where we are. He now sleeps through the night, mostly anyway.
Another thing I introduced (besides the plush animal) when he was about your daughter's age, was a crib toy that plays music. He loves turning on the music. It has such a soothing effect that he goes to sleep w/it. And since he has always loved his bouncy seat (which plays music), I put his bouncy seat all the way up to the railing of the crib so that he can reach through the railing and turn the music on. So, when he wakes up during the night, he will at times, turn on his music and go back to sleep without crying.
I want to encourage you to just go w/your gut when it comes to your daughter's sleep habits. Don't let other people tell you what to do or h/t do it. She may have completely different habits than other kids and it just doesn't work with "normal" suggestions. Watch her intently and take your cues from her. It may take you a while b/c it may be like a puzzle where you have to put the pieces together w/out having a picture to peak at, you know? But you can do it. I put up w/the sleep deprivation a lot longer that you did. My son was 18 months b4 I read Dr. Weissbluth's book! I think from there, he was about 19 or 20 months when we had a good nap schedule down and by 22 months or so, he started sleeping through the night. (We had introduced the music toys when he was between 6 and 8 months old). I figured out a lot of band aids when I listened to other people and some did work but I was never able to put it all together until I stopped listening to other moms and started to "listen" to my son. Anyway, be encouraged. You can do it. You'll have some hiccups throughout, especially when she is teething, but overall, once you have her sleep schedule down, she'll pretty much stick with it.

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I have not tried the sleep trial that you mentioned. However, I can tell you what helped with my boys.

My boys are pretty high energy. They love to laugh, play and run. When they were little, I used to play a game I call "lion and mouse". I would chase them around the house as if I was the lion. Then they would chase me around like I was the mouse. We would do this for about a half hour or 45min. They absolutely loved it. It was great exercise for me, and we bonded during the fun. It took about that long for them to become red faced and exhausted. Then I would put them in bed and they were ready to relax and calm down... probably just so they would catch their breath...lol. However, because it was late at night and they were already tired, they would fall asleep rather quickly.

Before our game, I would get them to change clothes for bed and take baths. When they were really little, the baths used to help calm them down. As they got older, the baths kind of wound them up from playing with all their toys.

I use pretty much the same bedtime schedule everyday. We eat dinner, play games or go outside, about 8pm lights go out in the house and maybe only the TV on or a dim light in the background to see. At 8:30pm we go upstairs to take baths, change clothes, read books, then nightlights are out by 9-9:30pm. I convinced my kids to play the quiet game. We try to see who can be the quietest. Sometimes I will laugh or tickle them to say who wins. My guys are so competitive that the quiet game works really well for them to gain control and stop chatting at night. Sometimes I change the game and we look for something blue, something big, something small, something soft, something hard. I just add in whatever pre-school or kindergarden things I can think of.

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Hi L.!

Dr. Weissbluth's methods have worked like a charm for me and all the moms I know that have tried it. I would say as hard as it will be, you just have to be consistent and after a few days it will get better. It might feel harsh....I had to cry myself through letting my daughter cry it out but it was well worth it. She is a very happy girl and it is SOOO worth it for YOUR sanity! Good luck to you.

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L.,
Read "The Baby Whisperer" by Tracy Hogg. It is a quick read and if you use it, it will turn your life around! My daughters slept "like babies" because I read this book. I have recommended it to every woman I know, and the only ones who have had good sleepers were the ones who implemented the steps in the book. Do your family a favor and try it. Good luck!
C.

When my son was that age, we had some sleep issues, too. Mostly with sleeping through the night, as I'm lucky enough to have kids who will actually voluntarily nap if they're tired. My mom suggested that he may not be sleeping through the night due to hunger, so at night when we went to give him his last bottle (and the one that I fed him while I rocked him to sleep) I gave him a mixture of formula and baby food bananas. I know you said the baby is breast fed, so you'd probably want to do a bottle of breat milk and mix it with the baby food bananas. It makes kind of a smoothie that sits heavily on the belly and helps them sleep.

As far as what you're asking about the 3-day sleep solution, I've never heard of it. And when it comes to following Dr. Baby Guru's advice (and this is anyone who claims to be a baby expert) ....half of them don't even have kids. The answer isn't going to be found in a book or pamphlet. Its going to just be more trial and error. Also, one thing that I've learned in my seven years as a mother is that... A) Yes, sometimes you have to just let them cry it out and B) If you don't take care of yourself, you can't take care of anyone else. See if you can find a friend or relative to take the baby for a few hours so you can take a nap and get yourself rested. Even if you don't nap, and you just do something as simple as take a long shower...just something to help YOU to feel rested. Because otherwise, its going to make this process that much more tedious. When my daughter was born, she didn't sleep through the night, and my son was old enough that he didn't take naps, but couldn't be left by himself...so needless to say, I NEVER SLEPT! I was up all night with my daughter, and up all day with my son. It was hell, so believe me I know what you're going through, being exhausted and feeling unable to take care of yourself, let alone two kids. So....try to get some sleep. Try the banana thing to help your baby get a "fuller" belly when its sleep time...and then, if you know that he's fed, dry, and just tired....let him cry it out. If he's bulking at sleeping in the crib, and everytime he cries, you take him out and give him what he wants, then he learns that crying gets him what he wants. Even though it sounds silly to say about a baby at that age, its still true. Once he's fed, changed, and laid down, just leave him laying down. If you have soft music you can play, play that for him. Those little toys that attach to the crib and play lights and soothing music are great for that. You may even want to lay him in there when its NOT naptime, and let him look at the lights and listen to the music, just to get used to it, so that he finds his crib to be a soothing place, instead of a terrifying place. Does that make sense?

I hope that I've helped in any way, and I wish you the best of luck. Just remember....it can't last forever, and eventually "this too shall pass". lol. Even though right now its probably about the last thing you're ready to hear.

Our little girl was the same way and my pediatrician told me she was over tired and at that point was unable to fall asleep. It took a few weeks to get her adjusted but it worked. We started putting her to bed earlier in the evening (6:30-7)- so while she was crying it out the rest of the family could be downstairs and not have to listen to her while we were also sleeping. I cut out her evening nap and would not let her even cat nap past 4 pm. She is now a great sleeper and requires more sleep than our other kids. Good luck- it is very hard but be strong:)