HELP - getting baby to sleep

amother

Wed, Jan 02 2008, 4:52 am

My baby is 2 1/2 months old and I need suggestions for how to get her to sleep...

She wont nurse to sleep
does not take a pacifier
swing does not put her to sleep

Only very specific types of rocking works-amd it does not work all the time. some times she will go as long as 8 hrs without falling asleep. She is not crying for all of this time-after I nurse her she is happy for 1-1/2 hrs and then cranky if she doesnt fall asleep until it's time to nurse again-then she is happy again for 1.5 hrs and the cycle starts again.

I know she needs more sleep(so do I Smile

) just not sure how to help her get the sleep.

Thanks for all of your suggestions

NotInNJMommy

Wed, Jan 02 2008, 6:50 am

make sure she is getting enough to eat, she might be hungry and it seems very likely that she is overtired.

My little one is/was very easily stimulated, so for her to go to sleep and stay asleep, it needed to be a dark/quiet room. Sometimes I would let her cry for 1-2 min (no more at this age for me personally), and often she fell asleep and once she started getting less overtired, she would fall asleep more easily too...I know it's counterintuitive. When she is sleeping, let her. Don't wake her up to nurse. Postpone errands unless you just can't. Let her sleep for now and when she catches up things will get easier. I also would wake mine up to eat when she was little and for her, it was a big mistake, bc she would get so overtired. Big change for me bc ds was not like this at all. He had easy self soothing routines, slept whenever he needed to for as long as he needed to no matter where we were until ~5 mos. Totally different.

Some nights my baby was up almost 8 hrs too. she was only ~4-8 wks and colicky. I thought I would go insane.

amother

Sun, Jan 06 2008, 8:58 pm

I am in the throws of this right now. I have decided to try Dr. Ferber's method of letting her cry it out for timed intervals. It is a difficult thing to do, but I feel she is ready. She knows when I am putting her down and immediately begins to cry. SO, I am going insane.

amother

Sun, Jan 06 2008, 9:03 pm

I have been doing the rocking thing and it is REALLY begining to wear on me. She will NEVER sleep unless she is rocked and I was spoiled by my last two who were so easy and slept anywhere anytime. This little one is more intense like my first who I did "Ferberize" at 5+ months. This time I think I will be wiser.

amother

Sun, Jan 06 2008, 9:44 pm

Quote:

am in the throws of this right now. I have decided to try Dr. Ferber's method of letting her cry it out for timed intervals. It is a difficult thing to do, but I feel she is ready. She knows when I am putting her down and immediately begins to cry. SO, I am going insane.

I hope u dont do that to a baby under a year! shock

and not a two and a half month olkd!

happymom

Sun, Jan 06 2008, 9:45 pm

Quote:

I have been doing the rocking thing and it is REALLY begining to wear on me. She will NEVER sleep unless she is rocked

my baby is eight months and is the same. thats why I rock him when he needs to go to sleep. yes sometimes it takes a half hour but if thats what he needs to go to sleep then thats what he needs. I would never let him cry and scream, I just put him to sleep. I try and think of it as quality time Wink

[/quote]

myfriends715

Sun, Jan 06 2008, 9:59 pm

my dd was getting absolutly rediculus w/ sleep. she would sleep maybe a totla of 7 hrs a day when she was 3 months old (2 months ajusted age cuz she was a preemie (twin)) I realized that she was just getting worse and worse.. now I am the type of person that was very against CIO but I realized that its whats best for her not for me I put my limit on 1 hr.. I bathed her, changed her, fed her (feeding in a pitch dark room) and I put her in her crib she started yelling the 1st 3 nights I had to go in after an hr, give her more food then leave she would cry for another 29 min and fall asleep. it was torture for me the second night I had to leave the house while dh was with the kids cuz I couldnt take it.. but guess what the 4th night it was 40 min the 5th 20 now (only about 2 weeks later) she either doesnt cry or cries for about 5 min.. the same goes for 2 scheduled naps durin g the day, I change and feed and the only difference is I put her in a lit room and with her moblie on (difference bet. night and day) and she cries for 5-10 min and sleeps and hr or so.. at night b:h she either sleeps through the night or wakes up once from 8:30 pm- 9:00 am.. I know its not for everyone .. but I realized its what I had to do for her she was getting so sleep deprived

anon

Sun, Jan 06 2008, 10:36 pm

For such a young age, I think the Baby Whisperer method would be better. It involves being there with them while they cry, using a "shush-pat" method. It eventually teaches them to fall asleep on their own, but they don't have to cry alone. I don't know the details of it exactly, but if you read the book and follow the "protocol", you can soothe them without them relying on your "shush-pat" in the long run.

su7kids

Mon, Jan 07 2008, 12:12 am

I strongly suggest the baby whisperer, and try the swaddling method.

There's another book called The Happiest Baby, by Dr Harvey Karp.

It has excellent ideas, and works well for a 2 1/2 month old.

http://www.thehappiestbaby.com/index.html

amother

Mon, Jan 07 2008, 7:10 am

So re: never doing that with a 2 1/2 month old... I had to do it with my son at 5 months. It was much harder and you know what... he turned out GREAT. Confident and brilliant. My ped. says there is no harm in a baby crying and she ius DEFINITELY not alone. I go in at 5 10 and 15 minute intervals and tell her I love her and it is time to sleep. It was 25 min last night. I know she needs the sleep. She is overstimulated at times and that is worse for her than a bit of crying. She is my 4th. I know. But thanks for all the advice. And Dr. Karp I have read and do a variation of his process as well with the swaddling etc.