paul

Our 10 mo. old daughter has been a real bear lately when it comes to sleeping, both at night and for naps. I don't remember all of the details of the last week, but, I'll relate what I can remember in hopes that one of you may have a suggestion or two.

Last Thursday we kept her up about two hours later than usual to attend the county fair in our town. Then on Friday she was with a babysitter during the day and only took one good nap. She was with another sitter that night. Then Saturday we had a birthday party for our older daughter so there was a lot of commotion going on.

The sleep problems started on Sunday with two poor naps during the day. Monday seemed to go OK, but Tuesday things started to get real interesting. Tuesday morning she woke up two hours later than she normally wakes up for the day. Then she took one nap late, and one really poor nap in the early evening. Same thing Wednesday morning, sleeping really late, then only taking one nap during the day. Up until this point, her night time sleep has been pretty good. Wednesday night, she started waking up crying every couple hours. She'd put herself back to sleep after 5-10 minutes. Then this morning (Thursday) she woke up at 5:45 and cried for a few minutes, then slept again until 6:50. Her normal waking time is 7:00 so that wasn't so unusual.

She went down for a nap at normal time, around 9:15. She only slept for 30 minutes, then I rocked her to sleep and she slept on my lap for another hour. Her afternoon nap was 30 minutes followed by my wife rocking her for 30 minutes. Tonight she went to bed about an hour late after we got home from dinner, and she's already been up crying once after about 2 hours.

For the past few months she's had what seems to be problems with gas at night, but I'm not sure if that's what's waking her up or not. She's never been super sensitive about going to bed late or anything like that so we're not sure what's got her going so much this time. She pushed out her first two teeth in the past few weeks, but there don't seem to be any new ones coming so we don't think that's the problem either.

Have any of you experienced anything like this? I'd guess we just have to wait it out, but if anybody has any advice that could help us straighten out her sleep more quickly, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks for 'listening',

Paul

jtee

Sometimes, but not always, taking our daughter out for 2am (or whenever) car ride seemed to settle her down. The vibration of the car is what I think calms babies down. Of course having a crying baby in the car can drive you nuts too.

It is very tough trying to figure out what is making a baby unhappy, and you can wear yourself out trying to figure it out. At some point I just concluded that babies cry a lot, and much of the time there is very little you can do. Not saying you shouldn't try your best, and keep trying, but it is OK when you have tried everything and nothing works.

Bottom-line, if the crying is really getting to you, as it does everyone, make sure you step outside, or do something, if you feel tempted to physically do something you should not do.

Seriously, consider ear plugs (or iPod with your favorite music) to help make it more bearable. Not suggesting ignoring a crying baby, just lesson the stress on the ears.

Kaytee

lol at lesson the stress ont eh ears!

Anyways my daughter is a good sleeper and bad sleeper rolled into one. She goes to bed with out any help, just lay her down and walk away and she just goes to sleep. But she wakes up STILL!!! She is up around midnight every night still at 18 months.
One thing that comes to mind with this child is her age. She may be trying to drop her morning nap. Most babies do between 10 and 14 months. THis is a wide average an some kids do it earlier then others. I know when Nihcole was dropping naps she would have 2 or 3 weeks of just crappy sleeping until she was on a new schedule.

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paul

Thanks jtee and Kaytee (hey that rhymes),

Last night was better. She woke up and cried for just a minute or so a couple of times, then slept perfectly from midnight to 8am.

Kaytee

Hey thats longer then mine sleeps!! no sleeping problem there. I would just follow her cues. believe it or not most children will let you know when they are tiered. You just have to know when its time to put them to bed.

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fallon

I feel the pain, teething pain has Logan up every 45 min most this week. Poor thing, he slept better as a newborn

jtee

Others can speak to this better than I about having a baby with older siblings.

I have been told that older siblings will sleep through a crying baby without too much problem. Example, a baby can be in crib in the same room as a 3 year old, and 3 year old will not wake up when the baby starts crying. If that is true, that is interesting that older children can do that.

fallon

It is true, at least in our house. My son could scream like the house was falling in around him and my 4 yr old who is in the same room, the crib is actually at the foot of the bed, won't even stir. It's amazing! Also the crying that could make a grown man cry (we've all heard it) doesn't phase her a bit. She stays as cool as a cucumber while I'd like to pull my hair out