Sleepy head
I've hit a dilemma and I'm not sure what to do. Despite the above picture, this little boy isn't sleeping well during the day and it's making him miserable. He likes to feed and then have a little nap, we've been doing that since he was born 11 weeks ago. Then depending on how tired he is I put him down in his rocker or cot to see if he'll sleep longer then 15 minutes, but he usually wakes. Whatever I do he never gets himself off to sleep, he's usually rocked, bobbed or fed to sleep. Both my other boys never had this problem. Can you see my dilemma? Is it time to use the controlled crying technique? The one where you leave your little one to cry themselves off to sleep for a few days until they've learnt they can sleep by themselves. Is he too little to have that traumatic experience? It's such a toughie. I think maybe it is time. I've tried carrying him around in the baby sling, he likes it too much and sleeps constantly, then won't sleep at night. He's miserable as it is, and as much as I love this little man, I simply cannot devote every waking moment to keeping him content, as much as I'd like to. Just a few difficult days, and maybe I could get him into a better sleep pattern? I think I'll make a decision then pray about it. Maybe that's the best course of action. What would you do? I'll let you know what my decision is and how it goes.
4 comments:
When was your little boy born? My little Felicity was born 15th December - they must be pretty close in age. She hasn't really got into a proper routine either, especially with feeding, it's so sporadic. She sleeps best early evening time though, usually from 6pm until some early hour in the morning.. it could be midnight, 1am, 2 or even 3am - but then she likes to be awake for an hour or so before going back off to sleep. I'm hoping this will just extend to a normal hour in the morning. I'm inclined to let her sleep whenever she wants to.. but I am all for the leaving them to cry if you know they must be tired, even at this young age. I've left Felicity to cry it out a few times, sometimes just because Cara needs me, but it doesn't usually take her long to drop off.. and now she usually just drops off completely by herself. I guess the difficulty comes in deciding how long is too long to leave him.
This is a long comment - sorry about that, and I hope you don't mind my reading your blog.. :D
If you can get your hands on it, the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" is worth its weight in gold. It's not easy reading, but it's full of the best advice and that sort of thing, sanity for the sleep-deprived mommies of the world!
Thanks for your advice, really appreciate it, and I'll look out for that book Amber, thanks.
Definitely read Gina Ford's The Contented baby Book. Her 20 yrs experience as a maternity nurse is golden. I used her routine with Reuben and he slept from 7pm til 7am from 4 months old. Now Elijah is sleeping 7pm til 6.30 and he's just 4 months too. At 3 months it's a great time to start with regular sleeps and stick at it, after a month you'll feel like a new woman having had sleep! I love the routines especially because it fits around having older children and school runs etc. I love knowing Baby is happy and so I am happy too. It's worked with both of mine. :-)
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