Operation: Exhaustion
Goal: To relieve our family of the miseries associated with a sleepless baby
The Plan: During Emma's morning and afternoon naps, and at bedtime, she will be nursed, rocked and sung to (as usual), then, once relaxed, she will be put in crib. I will lay her down, cover her up, and say "Go night night Emma". Each time her head pops up, or she raises her knees or bottom, I will gently push her head/bottom down and repeat "Go night night Emma". Repeat, repeat, repeat until she is asleep.
We'll continue this as long as it takes, until she will lie still and fall asleep. We'll progress from standing over her, next to the crib, to standing further and further away (closer to the door) each night/naptime.
Updates are below!
Sun. 12/14: Too hyper.
Sat. 12/13: Did not nap well (Meme and Papa here!). Right to bed at 7:40 with Meme. I nursed her (woke HER up) at 12:00 and 3:00, then she's up at 7:30.
Fri. 12/12: PM nap let her move a bit more (bottom wiggling, head turning); took so long! When I made sure to keep her bottom still and head facing same direction, she was out in 5 minutes! Up at 10:00pm, 12:00, 2:00 and 7:00. Ick.
Thurs. 12/11: At naps, nursed her much longer, and did night-night shorter. Worked! Fussed to sleep, woke several times until 12:00. Slept til 5:00. woke a couple times. up at 6:45.
Wed. 12/10: Better naps. Let her fuss for morning nap. Did my night-night strategy for pm nap and bedtime. Went to bed late, woke up at midnight. Slept from 12:00-7:00. woo hoo!
Tues. 12/9: Okay. Going through growth spurt, so short naps, lots of eating, and generally cranky. Woke a LOT that night.
Mon. 12/8: Don't remember. I think it was bad.
Sun. 12/7: Good day! Had a BM and everything better after that. Did not do "night night emma", let her fuss to sleep for naps and bedtime. Asleep at 7:30pm. Woke at 4:30am, only wanted to nurse one side. Right back to sleep. Awake at 7:00am. Progress!
Sat. 12/6: Baaad day. Would not take afternoon nap. Cried, babbled, fought. Went straight to sleep at bedtime, but kept waking every hour. Woke at 3:00, did not go back to sleep until 5:00! Stomach problems.
Fri. 12/5: is getting faster (15-20 minutes til asleep). Slept wonderfully last night! Went to sleep at 8:30 pm. Woke at 4:30am. only wanted to nurse one side, for a short while. Calm, relaxed, straight back to sleep. Woke at 7:30am!!!
Thurs. 12/4: same
Wed. 12/3: same
Tuesday, 12/2: Day one. Takes 30-45 min. of falling asleep. Sometimes she cries. Works every time though!
3 comments:
I just started reading a book called Good Night, Sleep Tight by Kim West with Joanne Kenen. See if the library has it - I am not following it exactly but it has some AWESOME advice and made me understand more about Jacob's sleep. Keep us posted!!
Thanks, Renee!
I'll take anything I can get. We're trying not to do CIO. We'd like her to be in the habit of going to sleep when we lay her down. Not really, playing and then crying herself to sleep when we lay her down.
But CIO is a better option than no sleep, at least around here! So, I want as many options as I can get.
I hear you! Jacob was good then had a rough time when we came back from vacation. He's just now going back to semi-normal. We did CIO but after an hour I had a hard time. This book is a little mix with gentle methods. Some I know we couldn't do because it would be new to him but the general sleep principles are making a HUGE difference in his schedule! Keep your chin up it WILL get better if you work at it!!
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