Thursday, July 26, 2007
Sleeping Beauty
We are having serious sleeping problems at our house and I don't know what to do. Over the last couple weeks, Little Man has gone from being really good with naps and bedtime to a total nightmare. Last night we put him down for bed around 8 (his normal bedtime) and finally turned to the trusty Benedryl at 10 to get him calmed down enough to fall asleep. Naptime is getting to be just as bad, he will play in the crib or cry for up to an hour and a half before going to sleep. I've been careful with his routine...nothing has changed. We let him cry it out for up to 30 minutes, which used to work everytime. We tried laying down with him, which would calm him down for the short term, but he would cry even worse when we put him back down. I know he's absolutely exhausted from the temper tantrums and huge dark circles under his eyes, but I'm at a loss for how to fix this. Help!?!?!?!?
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4 comments:
Hi Lauren! I saw a comment you left on AHP's site and found your blog. Hope you don't mind if I read along.
I had one idea for you. Not sure how old your son is, but Goose (almost 3) has been through a few phases like that where she grew out of her naptime and I had to try a new time. For a long time I had to put her down by 12:30 or she would not nap. Now that she's older, I can't put her down BEFORE 1:30 or she won't nap. Maybe you can experiment with different times?
We have room darkening shades (actually it's just a taped up cardboard box, but the first description sounds nicer) and she uses a soundmaker, too. You could try a little white noise. Even just a fan in the room.
Sounds like you're doing everything right. Keep up the consistency and hopefully he'll get back on schedule.
Does he have teeth coming in? I've forgotten when those big, honkin' molars start to come in? My kids do really well getting calmed down w/ a bedtime routine: bath, scriptures, prayers, stories, rocking, to bed. Sometimes kids just need a lot more "warning" that it's beddy bye time. I also put tons of books in their cribs that they can read and look at until they are tired enough to fall asleep. This helps to keep them "happy" in their beds while they calm down enough to sleep. Hope those things help and everyone gets some sleep soon!
I seem to remember Goose going through something like this around the same age. Do you have a specific routine for bedtime? I think doing that helped us - it was a while ago. Also, we set the timer for Goose and say, "When the timer goes off, it will be time to rest!" Then he blames the timer for some reason instead of us. He could also be getting his two year molars? I know those are AWFUL. We would give Goose motrin almost every night before going to bed or he would be up yelling in the middle of the night.
We do have a pretty good routine: bath, pjs, sippy cup, scripture, prayer, fun book, bedtime. And he has a crib toy that he will play with off and on. The noise maker (ocean waves) is a must at this point or there's no hope at all. I hadn't thought about the teeth, so I will have to check that. One of the ladies in the ward reminded me too, that I have to be strong and let him cry it out. I was just so happy to be beyond that point.
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