Have you tried swaddling? I swaddle then rock my DS for a bit He goes to bed a bit later tho as he naps later. |'m afraid to say sometimes its just persistance ... doing the same thing over and over. Maybe she's not tired yet? Have you tried it an hour later?

Thanks for your response! We used to put her to bed quite a bit later, but have slowly gotten earlier and earlier based on when she is tired and when she naps. Lately she has been exhausted by 7 or 7:30, like can barely keep her eyes open. But, it's like she gets her 2nd wind as soon as the bedtime routine starts. I'm almost wondering if we shouldn't do a routine, and just change it up every night? But, everything you read says you have to have a routine.... Up until recently she was swaddled every night, and since Christmas time I have been trying to do the sleep sack sometimes instead of swaddling because I am nervous about swaddling since she has learned to roll over. Maybe I'm just being paranoid (??) but I worry that she could roll over onto her face and not have her arms free....But, these recent nights I have ended up swaddling her after our 3rd or 4th attempt at going to bed. Maybe I should just swaddle her from the beginning? Is 4 months too old to be swaddling? Thanks!

My DS is almost 9 months old and is still swaddled. Once he started rolling over I was terrified that he was going to roll onto his face and not be able to breathe, but after 1 week of me sitting there watching him while he slept I figured out that he turns his head to the side. He will absolutely not sleep unless he is swaddled. We are going to let him stay swaddled until he just doesn't fit in the swaddler anymore (he's in the biggest size they make) after that we are going to go cold turkey and deal with the crying (not screaming, just your normal pissed off cause you're not getting your way crying) until he learns to sleep on his own. For now the swaddler works for us and we're sticking with it. He has a sibling arriving in August...we are going to do our best to keep this one unswaddled from the beginning, but you never know...they tend to make up their own minds.

Wow. Sorry to hear for your difficulties. I've heard that some kids just aren't good sleepers. My neice and nephew are horrible sleepers. My nephew is will be 3 next month and still wakes every night. Well, as much as I've heard this and my SIL tells me it's just the way they were born I think that if you figure out what makes your kid tick then you more than likely should be able to correct the problem.

Both of my kids were sleeping through the night around 7 weeks. It could be I'm just lucky but I attribute it to finding a bedtime routing that works for them. If you've tried one and it's not working I would suggest changing it up. Do you give a bath at night? How late is her second nap? Maybe it should be moved up or maybe bedtime should be a little later? You said she starts arching her back... my son did this only in the evening time and I found that he had acid reflux really bad. As soon as he got his medicine and gas drops it worked like a charm. I give gas drops as a preventative measure, and you could try that too.

I would just keep doing what you're doing in the sense of trying to find out what's going to work for the little one but try and be consistent with a bedtime routine that includes a bath. From what I hear that's a good start to getting them to sleep through the night and it worked for us.

Good luck! I hope it gets better.

I would suggest changing up the routine so she doesn't get worked up beforehand. It sounds like the process is what is upsetting her. Try mixing it up. We also just let my daughter cry it out a few nights. It only took about 3 for her to get over it. It suked, but it worked. She is a great sleeper now.

I agree with the swaddle. I would add a white noise maker (like crashing waves) and a light projector or something for her to stare at while she falls asleep. My DD (14w) arches her back when she is very tired. She arches her back and turns her head to the side...she also cries when she is super tired. She starts to calm down a little when she gets in the swaddle and then calms down completely when she nurses. She sometimes waks up when I'm burping her and gets figity. I've laid her down pretty awake and she'll stare at her light show on the ceiling and fall asleep. The white noise machine helps a lot.

Thanks for all of your responses, ladies! We have gone back to swaddling, and it seems to be helping. Also (don't think I'm crazy) but we moved her crib into our room. She had been sleeping in a pack n' play in our room, and I'm just not ready to have her in her own room, but I started thinking maybe she would sleep better in her crib. So, my poor husband dismantled it in the nursery and set it back up in our room. We've also started trying some different things with the bedtime routine, switching it up a little each night. That, and the combo of the crib and the swaddle (and maybe just some good luck) has made for a WAY easier bedtime and we've now had 3 nights in a row of no crying and her going down on the FIRST TRY! Woohoo! I like the idea of the white noise machine...we have a stuffed animal that makes white noise that we put in with her every night, but the problem with it is it shuts off after 45 minutes, and sometimes that seems to wake her up. So, I'd like to get one that doesn't shut off.
Thanks again

my daughter is five months old and still loves being swaddled. only way she will sleep.

I think your problem is that she only takes 2 naps in the day. At that age both of my boys needed a nap after 2 h of awake time. That equals 4 naps a day. My first son never showed signs of being tired after 2h but if we swaddled him and started rocking and such he'd fall asleep. If we did it right he'd be asleep after 5 mins of that. My second son is much calmer and with him I wait until he starts fussing, which is usually around 2h of awake time mark, and then I just rock him a little and pat his back and he's asleep quickly. Actually he's still sleeping after 2h of awake time and he's 7.5 mo. My first was at 3 naps a day at that age I think and he only got to 2 naps around maybe 10 mo. I am pretty sure most kids your DD's age nap at least 3 times a day if not 4.

Another thing I'd try if you absolutely can't make her nap more than twice is to put her to bed earlier. She's so fussy at night because she's too tired. My older son did the same thing around the same age - all the crying while I rock him to sleep, etc. I read many books and tried many things even CIO since he was crying anyway. Nothing worked. But in a month or two tops this passed. He's never been a great sleeper, not even now (2.5 yo) but it really gets better with time. I think for some kids sleep is the learned thing. Just keep trying.

She will get used to the crib too but it will take time. With my older it took about a month of trying. Each night I'd put him down asleep but not fast asleep and he'd wake up and cry, I'd take him, rock him to sleep, put down, repeat. I would do that until either he stayed there or I grew tired of trying at which point we'd both go sleep together in the big bed. Eventually after a month or so he would consistently sleep in the crib.

Another thing to try at nights when you absolutely have to put her in crib is to rock/hold her for 20 minutes AFTER she fell asleep. By that time babies get into deep sleep and she won't fight the crib. I which you luck. I remember how hard it was for us.

I was just coming in here to ask about the exact same thing! My son is almost 4 months and suddenly fighting me on bedtime every night! He used to just fall asleep while eating and I could put him down and now, well, he does exactly what your daughter does. I could have written that entire post.