sleeping and scheduling part 2
A little over a month ago, I posted about Ada's sleep problems . . . Here's an update of what's going on now.
First, the good!
Then: She was sleeping in the cradle in our room for all naps and at night.
Now: She is sleeping in her room for all naps and at night.
Then: She was not sleeping through the night. We dream fed her at 10:30pm and she woke up for a feed around 4:30am.
Now: She is sleeping through the night! A few weeks ago, she started eating enough in the day to drop her night feed. She also started waking up later for her night feed, so when I was feeding her anyway, she would eat less for her first feed of the (waking) day. At this point, I dropped the night feed and instead gave her a binky when she woke up in the night since I knew it was out of habit rather than hunger. The binky thing got old realllll quick because she started needing it at least 3-4x in the middle of the night, and especially once it got close to time to wake up -- she'd just keep dropping it and waking up again. So then I decided it was time for her to cry it out. And she did. For two days in a row, she cried for a while around 4:30am. The first day for 40 min, and the second for 70. And the third day, she let out sleepy cries for like 5 minutes at 5:30, but that was it. And for the whole next week, she slept through the night! But we were still doing the dream feed at 10:30pm. Next we dropped the dream feed. In the days following that drop, she woke around 4:30 and started crying. Both days, she had broken her swaddle and had an arm out. This meant I had to go and re-swaddle her, and I didn't feel like I could go in there but NOT give her the binky, so I did give her the binky, which she took and then returned to sleep right away. Then I bought a swaddling sack to better keep her arms contained all night long so that I could let her cry it out and get over that early morning wake-up. She cried on like two days (both times less than 40 minutes), and now she sleeps all night long, from like 9pm to 7am. So exciting!
Then: She wasn't eating much, and she was spitting up a ton. I was wondering if she had tummy issues.
Now: Oh the things that get fixed by sleep! I started working with a sleep expert in December, and she's been doing all sorts of things to help me out. One of the things I've learned by getting my girl more sleep is that anytime she gets good sleep -- whether it's at night or at a nap -- she eats well afterward and then spits up what I would classify as a normal amount -- more like a mouthful instead of, well, more than that. This is one reason that I'm willing to work SO HARD to get this girl to sleep more than she naturally wants to.
And the not-so-good.
Then: She would go to sleep within 3 minutes of my laying her down -- with no binky and minimal crying.
Now: She seems to require the binky to go down for naps. She might be okay to go down without a binky sometimes or if I get the timing exactly right, but there have been times when it has totally wrecked a nap so I'm too afraid to try it now haha :) I still put her down for the night without a binky, but at naps I give her the binky every time. It's not ideal, but I'll deal with the sleep prop problem after we've fixed the napping problem.
Then: She would wake up about 30 minutes into every. single. nap.
Now: She still wakes up about 30 minutes into every. single. nap. However, occasionally she'll make it a little longer -- like 41 minutes. Still not good, but it shows that maybe someday soon she'll figure it out. I've tried SEVERAL things to get her back to sleep after these wake-ups. Usually anything that works only works for a day or two 😖 I've tried putting her down earlier, giving her the binky, sneaking her the binky, letting her cry it out, putting her in a swing for the whole nap, putting her in a pitch black room for her nap, and probably a few more things that I can't remember because it's been so long. My latest system (which only works sometimes, and seems to be working less and less lately) is that I transfer her to a mamaroo swing after she wakes, then I spend whatever time it takes to get her to take a binky again (from behind her, where she can't see me). If she's going to take it at all, she usually takes it within 20 minutes. Then I stay in the room for about 20 more minutes in case she drops her binky, which she almost always does shortly after falling asleep. If she makes it through all that, this crazy thing happens where she takes a real nap. No more 30 minute problems after I get her back down; she'll sleep an hour, an hour and a half, sometimes even two more hours! Which is great :) But like I said, it's working less and less (not to mention it's not an ideal process in the first place!), and I'm running out of things to try! And she still isn't learning to CONNECT those cycles, she's only learning to go back to sleep after waking, and only sometimes. It's been a very frustrating process, and there's no end in sight.
To conclude
It's still a mystery to me why she can sleep through a whole night and sleep through the second part of her nap, but can't connect the first part of her nap to the second part on her own. I'm hoping she figures it out eventually, but for now, I'm just glad she's my only kid so that I can devote so much time and energy to getting her the sleep she needs.
I feel like a lot of people tried to tell me to just accept Ada for what she is-- a short napper. And people said that babies will sleep when they want to sleep and eat when they want to eat etc., but that is just not true in so many cases! Since Ada will sleep longer once I help her out, I know she needs more sleep. And since she eats so much better and doesn't spit up as much when she gets good sleep, I know she needs more sleep!
First, the good!
Then: She was sleeping in the cradle in our room for all naps and at night.
Now: She is sleeping in her room for all naps and at night.
Then: She was not sleeping through the night. We dream fed her at 10:30pm and she woke up for a feed around 4:30am.
Now: She is sleeping through the night! A few weeks ago, she started eating enough in the day to drop her night feed. She also started waking up later for her night feed, so when I was feeding her anyway, she would eat less for her first feed of the (waking) day. At this point, I dropped the night feed and instead gave her a binky when she woke up in the night since I knew it was out of habit rather than hunger. The binky thing got old realllll quick because she started needing it at least 3-4x in the middle of the night, and especially once it got close to time to wake up -- she'd just keep dropping it and waking up again. So then I decided it was time for her to cry it out. And she did. For two days in a row, she cried for a while around 4:30am. The first day for 40 min, and the second for 70. And the third day, she let out sleepy cries for like 5 minutes at 5:30, but that was it. And for the whole next week, she slept through the night! But we were still doing the dream feed at 10:30pm. Next we dropped the dream feed. In the days following that drop, she woke around 4:30 and started crying. Both days, she had broken her swaddle and had an arm out. This meant I had to go and re-swaddle her, and I didn't feel like I could go in there but NOT give her the binky, so I did give her the binky, which she took and then returned to sleep right away. Then I bought a swaddling sack to better keep her arms contained all night long so that I could let her cry it out and get over that early morning wake-up. She cried on like two days (both times less than 40 minutes), and now she sleeps all night long, from like 9pm to 7am. So exciting!
Then: She wasn't eating much, and she was spitting up a ton. I was wondering if she had tummy issues.
Now: Oh the things that get fixed by sleep! I started working with a sleep expert in December, and she's been doing all sorts of things to help me out. One of the things I've learned by getting my girl more sleep is that anytime she gets good sleep -- whether it's at night or at a nap -- she eats well afterward and then spits up what I would classify as a normal amount -- more like a mouthful instead of, well, more than that. This is one reason that I'm willing to work SO HARD to get this girl to sleep more than she naturally wants to.
And the not-so-good.
Then: She would go to sleep within 3 minutes of my laying her down -- with no binky and minimal crying.
Now: She seems to require the binky to go down for naps. She might be okay to go down without a binky sometimes or if I get the timing exactly right, but there have been times when it has totally wrecked a nap so I'm too afraid to try it now haha :) I still put her down for the night without a binky, but at naps I give her the binky every time. It's not ideal, but I'll deal with the sleep prop problem after we've fixed the napping problem.
Then: She would wake up about 30 minutes into every. single. nap.
Now: She still wakes up about 30 minutes into every. single. nap. However, occasionally she'll make it a little longer -- like 41 minutes. Still not good, but it shows that maybe someday soon she'll figure it out. I've tried SEVERAL things to get her back to sleep after these wake-ups. Usually anything that works only works for a day or two 😖 I've tried putting her down earlier, giving her the binky, sneaking her the binky, letting her cry it out, putting her in a swing for the whole nap, putting her in a pitch black room for her nap, and probably a few more things that I can't remember because it's been so long. My latest system (which only works sometimes, and seems to be working less and less lately) is that I transfer her to a mamaroo swing after she wakes, then I spend whatever time it takes to get her to take a binky again (from behind her, where she can't see me). If she's going to take it at all, she usually takes it within 20 minutes. Then I stay in the room for about 20 more minutes in case she drops her binky, which she almost always does shortly after falling asleep. If she makes it through all that, this crazy thing happens where she takes a real nap. No more 30 minute problems after I get her back down; she'll sleep an hour, an hour and a half, sometimes even two more hours! Which is great :) But like I said, it's working less and less (not to mention it's not an ideal process in the first place!), and I'm running out of things to try! And she still isn't learning to CONNECT those cycles, she's only learning to go back to sleep after waking, and only sometimes. It's been a very frustrating process, and there's no end in sight.
To conclude
It's still a mystery to me why she can sleep through a whole night and sleep through the second part of her nap, but can't connect the first part of her nap to the second part on her own. I'm hoping she figures it out eventually, but for now, I'm just glad she's my only kid so that I can devote so much time and energy to getting her the sleep she needs.
I feel like a lot of people tried to tell me to just accept Ada for what she is-- a short napper. And people said that babies will sleep when they want to sleep and eat when they want to eat etc., but that is just not true in so many cases! Since Ada will sleep longer once I help her out, I know she needs more sleep. And since she eats so much better and doesn't spit up as much when she gets good sleep, I know she needs more sleep!
Great work and way to stick with it!! I'm with you... I don't buy the whole "babies do what they want" thing - they do what we train them! You're such a great mom and it's awesome that you care as much about her sleep as you do - Ada is very blessed!!
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