Sleep Sense Support Group!

[TennisGal]

PM! What a cute piccie, too!!

 

[PieMistress]

TG - Yes, saw it! Couldn't quite believe what I was seeing TBH!! OH got some new headphones for his birthday which Kyle wanted to try (no music though) after he kept grabbing OH's glasses (so funny) then trying to chew them!

Jacs/History - We've got a Tomy light projector show thing (£5 in Tesco sale) which we've used when Kyle has been very grizzly - he is mesmerised by it! I think it would keep him awake rather than send him to sleep! x

First words! How exciting!!

 

[history_girls]

Thanks Tg - a sunny weekend two weeks ago and her first time on a swing! I must admit I've been using the Dad shouting as the - she wants you and she plays along! She stops as soon as he appears and keeps shouting if its me or the dog.

Pm - love the piccie!

 

[TennisGal]

Such cute piccies

Right, am off to watch the news (again) and coerce DH into a neck massage!

 

[Poppy7]

Hi everyone,

Last night was also good considering the circumstances. Elliott woke at 11.40pm and I fed him...he then went through until 4am!!! I fed him again and then he woke at 6.20am. I bought him in bed with us for a cuddle then as he still is rather poorly and sounding so awful. This morning I called the Doctors at 8.10am for an appointment and they could fit us in at 8.40am!! Eeekkk...cue a mad rush as we were both in our pj's and the Doctors is about a 5-10 minute walk. Anyway, we made it with help from OH and it turns out porr little Elliott has another viral infection. They won't prescribe him anything ad I just have to keep him topped up with Nurofen and Calpol.

Daytime naps haven't been great lately. I also find it hard to let him cry right now as his voice is so hoarse. Therefore naps today have been taken in the pram as we were out anyway. We will get back on track when he is better. In the pram he goes to sleep extremely quickly. At home he tends to fight them more

Polaris :wave: I hope they get you back on line soon. I know all too well how difficult it is to type on an iPod!! I am on my laptop now but normally I'm on my iPod and it takes ages!!!

HG...re. the ealry waking. When Elliott does this I offer him a bf and that normally sends him back for another hour or so. However, as your LO isn't hungry I don't know what to suggest. Bringing them in bed with you is the quickest easiest way but it's so hard as you don't want to cause bad habits. Dana sent an e-mail the other day about early morning wakers. Have you seen/read it?

PM..well done I'm sure you haven't jinxed yourself and I hope it continues for you.

Cattia...glad you had a lovely holiday. Where abouts in Devon did you go (Devon is our "neck of the woods"). Sorry to hear you are back to work shortly. Enjoy the next 6 weeks and try not to think of work!!

Bump...glad to hear your night got better Enjoy swimming tomorrow. We swim with Water Babies and Elliott loves it.

I hope all our new members are okay. Would love to hear how you're getting on.xx

 

[jacs]

Hi PM, looove the pic, just too cute!
Ah, sleeping with his arms in the air! How do they do stuff like that?! Sounds like things are going really well
Yes, this is Evan's first tooth, so very exciting! I was thinking about the toothbrushing thing as well - we already have an epic bedtime routine!

 

[Foogirl]

Right a question sleepsensers.....

what do you do when they wake between 5am and 5.30?

Lo has done this 5 days in a row. I don't want her up until 6.30 as she is then much chirpier during the day. The thing is she is happily awake but I worry she needs more sleep for a day with the CM.

Things I've tried:

Dummy
In with me (worked but a habit i don't want to keep - emergency only!)
Music on baby monitor
Despatching OH to be a Phoebe cushion.

I'm not sure she will resettle with the SS method as by the time I've done that it will be time to get up. stupid work. it wouldn't matter if we didn't have to leave.

This seems to be common, I posted on it the other day. Decide what time you want the day to start. If she wakes at 5.30 and gurgles happily in her cot, leave her to it. If she wakes and is fractious, treat it as a night wakening and follow the process for that. You might be trying to settle her right up until you have to get up but it's the best thing to do, to ensure she gets into the idea of when the day starts. It may take a week or two but she should get the message and sleep later. If not, you might just have to accept your day is going to start early for a while!

There is another option. You can go in about 20 mins before you know they usually wake and gently and quietly rouse her. Not so she is fully awake, you just want to "adjust" the depth of her sleep and break her sleep cycle, if you know what I mean. She should then go back into a rhythm and wake up later. But of course doing this, you do risk waking her right up and all hell breaking loose.

Abby did it and we followed the option of just leaving her. It didn't take long til she was waking later. About a week or so I think.

FG - Hope Abby is ok is she sleeping through the night?

Yes, mostly. A few early wakenings in the last week but I think that is because she is starting to need less sleep. But she still seems only able to be up for 90 mins at a time so I'm not sure quite how to deal with it. I've asked Dana for help.

 

[jacs]

Hi Foogirl, we're similar. I know Evan is younger, but he did a little stint of staying up for 2hrs, then for ages he has been back down to 1.5hrs. As ever, we still have early wakings too.

I've emailed before about stuff, and have never heard back (didn't even get a reply to the 'can I email you?' email!).

How do you get in touch with them?

 

[history_girls]

Thanks guys for the tips. We tried this morning the waking her before she woke. So I went in at 4.45 woke her up and she went straight back. Then she woke as normal at 5.05am!!! so put her music on via the handset and she actually had another half an hour. she gurgled to herself for twenty mins then we got up.

She has only had half a bottle this morning so she isn't wanting milk. the monkey. My rule is if it is after 6am fair game. She is dribberling like made this morning so maybe tootie pegs are bothering her!

Other than that a fab night!

Hope all ok - right gotta run, bnb isn't part of our morning marathon!

 

[TennisGal]

Ladies - B.A.D night! DD woke up a few times, and just shouting. We tried everything (SS and non-SS) to settle her, but she was experimenting with reallllly major shouts! When she refuses to sleep on me or DH, that's major

I have no idea what it is...she's not even BFing very much (tiny bit during the night, refused morning feed)

She's fine this morning, but drooling loads. I wonder if it is teeth? Or whether she's having (another!) growth spurt?

Either way, I am v.tired. We're going for a nice walk and some chilled time together

 

[PieMistress]

Morning Everyone!

Well, as expected last night wasn't as good as the previous one. He woke up at 1.30am so fed him, then up for the day at 5.45am (despite our 6.30am embargo - it's just not possible to get him back to sleep at that time without major upset). Looks like a few of us are having issues with early wakenings at the moment?

My other issue at the moment is during night wakenings - feeding vs using SS? What OH & I have thought is that if he wakes 5hrs after his last feed then we will use SS, otherwise I will feed him?? It's difficult as he doesn't usually wake up crying in the night - he starts with whimpers then they gradually escalate and I don't know if he's hungry (until he starts crying and doens't pause) or just annoyed he can't get back to sleep (in which case he pauses inbetween his cries). However I don't want to leave him too long if he is hungry! Dana said if he's hungry go to him asap and feed him, otherwise use SS so he knows what to expect - my problem is though that i'm sure he will be confused as some nights he gets fed if he wakes up (and other night he didn't as it was soon after his last feed).

Sorry, does any of that make sense??

TG - Sorry you had a bad night! These LOs certainly know how to keep us on our toes don't they! Drooling and being off food sounds like teething? Hopefully the fresh air will send her into snoozville!

History - You must be knackered! Sounds like teething could be bothering lots of us just now.

Jacs - I emailed Dana (instead of my allocated 15 min phone call) and it was ages before I heard back. She suggested I upgrade to their Gold package (at considerable expense) for email support - but I declined as they had agreed to answer my email instead of having a phone call due to the time difference.

Foo - We were swithering this morning about what to do when Kyle woke at 5.45am but decided just to get up. I am so indecisive about this as I know he will be hungry but if I feed him and put him back to sleep he then won't be hungry first thing, plus it will last 45mins+ anyway so will take me to 6.30am (my ideal get up time?). I doubt if SS would work at that time (as I know he is probably hungry). ARGHGHGHGHGHGHHGHGH! I tried 'wake to sleep' once when he'd had a good 2hr nap and was still asleep (so didn't matter if he woke up properly) but he did wake up properly! Now i'm too scared to try it at night (but his wake up times are inconsistent - I think it's only if they are waking up on/around the same time you should try this - is that right??)

Poppy - Hope Elliot gets better soon !! I didn't get that email from Dana about early wakenings so have emailed her to ask if she can send it to me.

Righty-o. Better get up and dressed, Kyle has been asleep for 1hr and could wake up any minute!!

PPS - How many hrs naptime a day (total) are your LOs having jsst now? Kyle has anything from 3hrs - 5hrs depending on how early he got up.x

 

[Poppy7]

EARLY WAKING...

Hi ladies....this was the email from Dana about early waking...

Hello,

Are you a morning person?

I'm not.

And when you take a woman who likes nothing better than
sleeping in on the weekends, and add a baby who wants to
wake up for the day at 5 a.m., well... let's just say that
EVERYONE starts the day off on the wrong foot!

That's why I wanted to get in touch with you and talk a bit
about something that many parents experience when they
start "The Sleep Sense Program," and that's what I like
to call "Early Riser Syndrome." Here's what happens:

Your baby or toddler, who has up until recently never slept
for more than 5 or 6 hours at a stretch, is suddenly
sleeping from 7 p.m. until 5 a.m. That's ten hours of sleep
in a row... Not something your little one is used to!

So it's natural for your child to feel pretty darned
refreshed at 5 a.m.! The only problem is, YOU didn't go to
bed until 11:00 p.m. and are in NO MOOD to start your day at
this early hour.

Now, this early waking is quite common during the first few
weeks of using "The Sleep Sense Program," but should eliminate
itself before long.

In the meantime, here's the best way to deal with an early
riser:

1) Decide on a realistic time for you to start your day,
keeping in mind that 90% of babies will probably wake up
sometime between 6 and 7 a.m. (I personally decided that 6
a.m. was the earliest I could stand to get up.)

2) If your child wakes up BEFORE you're ready to start your
day, do exactly what you would do if your child woke up at 2
a.m. (Go into their room, calmly remind them that it's still
nighttime, and that it is time to go back to sleep.)

3) Go back to bed.

Now, your child will probably not WANT to go back to
sleep... After all, he or she is feeling great and might
spend an hour shouting or playing or whining.

But it's important that you at least leave your child in their
room or crib until YOU are ready to start your day.

If you don't, you'll often find that your child will wake up
earlier and earlier. And pretty soon, you'll be starting your
day at 4 in the morning!

Now, it might take a few days for your child to "get the
message" that he or she isn't getting up until YOU are good and
ready, but eventually they WILL catch on.

Hope that helps, and let me know if you have any questions!

Sleep well,

Dana



Sleep Sense Publishing Inc, PO Box 1151, Sechelt, BC V0N 3A2, CANADA

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[jacs]

Oh this is all going very strange

So Evan wakes up crying his eyes out at 5am. My first thought was 'gutted, it's my turn to get up with him!', then I realised he doesn't normally cry when he wakes (I was very sleepy). Anyway, he had pooped, and I thought I might as well feed him and put him down (although by that time it was 5.30am and he gets up at 6am, so I wasn't optimistic).

Amazingly, he went to sleep, and didn't get up until hubby's alarm woke him at 7.30am!!
Totally unheard of for us, this is the first time we've got past 6am.
However, he has cried on and off all morning, went down for his first nap and woke after 5mins, again screaming the place down.
This is what he has been doing with his afternoon naps - no way are we dropping any more!!

I feel like I don't know what I'm doing any more, I'm questioning everything I do - does he want this nap? Should I leave him? Is he rubbing his eyes because he's tired, or because he's flicked porridge in them?!

Got a crappy cold today - think I'm feeling sorry for myself

PM - we had this dilemma when Eva was having night feeds. We had a 4hr rule like you, to help us. I reckon if you know he's hungry then great, but if you don't, I would leave him a bit - it's not ideal, but he won't come to any harm waiting another few mins. Or, you could start recording feed times and amounts, round the clock, to see if you can see a pattern that might help predict when he wants a feed. I find that if Evan hasn't had much milk through the day, he might wake up through the night.

TG - You have my sympathies! We always seem to have out highs and lows at the same time! Got everything crossed that it's not a growth spurt, after the mammoth one she had last time! Could well be her little teeth, hopefully she'll make up for it with lots of long naps today.

HG - that sounds great! If Evan goes back to his usual early starts, I'll give that a go.

Poppy - Poor little Elliott! Bless him, I hate that LOs can get poorly. Hope he manages some rest today.

 

[Poppy7]

Aaaawww Jacs I'm questioning myself all the time too. Am I pitting him down to nap too late? Am I putting him down to nap too early? I don't want to let him cry because his throat hurts... Etc etc.... I feel so sorry for him being poorly.

Elliott also woke at 5am crying with a massive poopy nappy!! I changed him and them hevalsovwent back to sleep until 7.30am - how bizarre lol!

Last night wasn't too bad for us....

Asleep by 19.45
Woke at 11.30ish crying - fed him as his throat is still sore
Woke at 2.15am - fed
Woke at 5am - poopy nappy change. Quick feed and medicine
Woke at 7.30am!!!

This may seem like quite a few wakings but it's still a huge improvement for us and completely manageable. Also, Elliott is poorly so waking up uncomfortable.

What a good boy

 

[TennisGal]

I feel like I don't know what I'm doing any more, I'm questioning everything I do - does he want this nap? Should I leave him? Is he rubbing his eyes because he's tired, or because he's flicked porridge in them?!

Me too! I'm toing and froing like anything this morning...DD doesn't want to nap (she's currently bouncing in her jumperoo and waving to boy-cat!) and I'm wondering what is best to do.

We always seem to have out highs and lows at the same time!

I know! I take heart from this, as our LOs are so close together!

Sending you a MASSIVE a cold sounds like the last thing you need. Hope lil man has a decent nap this afternoon. Maybe his lie-in and his tooth are troubling him?

PM -

My other issue at the moment is during night wakenings - feeding vs using SS?

I still dither about his - basically, I give DD a set amount of time to grumble, with one of us comforting...if she doesn't calm down within that time, I offer a feed. If it's been a long while since a feed, I tend to offer quite quickly (as I figure she's probs hungry) or if she's had a busy day, I offer quickly. Last night we did this, but she didn't want to feed or settle! So not sure what was going on!

DD is currently napping anywhere between 30mins to 4 hrs!!

Poppy - thanks for the email, and glad to hear Elliot is doing so well!!

HG - sending you some and some sleepy dust...sounds like it could be those pegs!

FG - hope you get a good response from Dana

RIGHT, waiting for the weather to improve for a walk...we've been reading and playing all morning, and just waiting for DD to want a nap. She looks tired, but is still jumping away!!

 

[BertieBones]

Hi everyone!
well last night was my first night trying SS with my LO and heres how it went...

did bedtime routine then...
7.30 - put down in crib - a lot of crying!
9.15 - LO finally asleep
10.25 - woke + cried until 10.34 - fell back asleep
11.30 - woke + cried until 11.45 - fell back asleep
12.25 - woke + cried - wouldn't settle so fed
12.40 - BF until 1am
01.00 - cried in crib - fell asleep @ 01.30
3.45 - woke + cried until 3.55 - fell back asleep
5.14 - woke + cried until 5.28 - wouldn't settle so fed
5.30 - BF until 6am
6.00 - cried in crib - fell asleep @ 6.30
7.20 - awake for the day

was just wondering if this is how it is supposed to be?

Also I havnt attempted naps yet as i dont know where to start, any help would be greatly appreciated?

thanks a load
sarahx

 

[Foogirl]

Sounds about right Bertie.

You should find the second night involves a lot less crying and a lot more sleeping!

Remember you are probably breaking them of a habit and you are teaching them a good skill. It won't always be plain sailing - although some are lucky to have a good first night.

Just stick at it, don't go back to the old ways and it really will get a lot better.

 

[BertieBones]

Thanks Foogirl.

I just didnt know coz it was my first time.
He's started sucking his thumb now though... dont know if that is ok or not
How did you handle napping?

sarah x

 

[cutie4evr01]

Wow this thread moves fast!! I will not be able to keep up with everyone!

Jacs, great news about sleeping until 7:30 - maybe this is the start of later mornings? We are struggling with naps also, although we've only just begun. I thought I knew when she was tired due to eye rubbing, yawning, etc., and sometimes she goes down easily, but then when she takes an hour to go down, I second guess myself and think she must not have been that tired.

PM, we struggle also with night wakenings whether to feed or not. Usually if it's been a long time, I just go feed her directly, but if it's only been 2-3 hours, I've been sending DH in to try to settle her, and then if she doesn't settle I feed her.

We have had 2 more good nights (I think we lucked out with the nights). She goes down just talking to herself or her flower blankie, wakes twice in the night for feeds, and then goes to sleep again on her own talking to herself. Last night when she woke for her second feed (around 4am), she started crying when I left. Since she's never done this any other time (during the night I mean), I went back to sit beside her crib and talk to her and I ended up putting her glowworm that plays lullabies in her crib to distract her. So she watched that for 5 minutes until it went off, then whined a little and fell asleep. Does this count as a sleep prop? I know the book mentions white noise machines as a prop, so I'm thinking this glowworm may be considered a prop also. But stuffed animals are ok, so I wasn't sure. I was thinking about trying the glowworm during naps - do you think that's ok?

I'm not sure how naps are going as my LO is at a babysitter's house on Mon, Tues, and Wed while I'm at work. The babysitter knows we are working on self-settling and I've told her what we've been doing at home so I'm hoping she's trying to follow it there. She tells me when C napped when I pick her up, but I'm not sure how much of it was sleep vs how much was grumbling. I'll be interested to see how naps go when she's here with me on Thursday. Does anyone else have a LO in daycare, and how do you handle naps while they're over there?

Someone asked about how long they nap in the day in total - C will nap anywhere from 2-4 hours a day, usually over 3-4 naps. I've been basing her naps on her tired signs as well as her wake-up times (which vary from day to day), but I'm wondering if we should be trying to get her to nap at more regular times? The "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" book says she should be napping around 9am, around 12-1pm, and possibly a short nap late afternoon.

MissT, I live in the USA, in Georgia. Was Mother's Day in Australia this past Sunday also?

One more question: my LO has been rubbing her left ear a lot lately. She also has been rubbing the back of her head. I was wondering if we should have her checked for ear infection, or is this ear/head rubbing something they do to settle themselves? Have any of you noticed anything like this?

Hope everyone is having a good day!

 

[cutie4evr01]

Thanks Foogirl.

I just didnt know coz it was my first time.
He's started sucking his thumb now though... dont know if that is ok or not
How did you handle napping?

sarah x

Hi Sarah,

We did the same for naps as we did in the evening, either sitting beside the crib or else leaving and checking in every 5 minutes. I must warn you though, for us this weekend, naps were a lot harder than bedtime. I think I'm still figuring out the timing of when she's ready for a nap. After a stressful one hour of on and off crying for a nap on Sunday afternoon, I think I'm going to follow the rule of thumb a few others on this thread have mentioned, which is to try for a nap for 20-30 minutes, and if she doesn't go to sleep, get her back up to play for a while and try again about 30 minutes later. Good luck!

Also, I think thumb sucking is ok - my LO sucks her hands a lot also.