# Mom's of crappy sleepers - all the stuff you tried that did not work/fit



## Rox5266 (Nov 26, 2004)

You know, I have read a lot of books, AP and not AP (although never Ezzo- ewww!) in an effort to get my dc to sleep better. But at almost 4, he STILL is waking 4-6 times at night more often than sleepng through.

This is a list of things recommended to selp him sleep better that never worked for me:

*1) Routine Every time I would find a bedtime routine that seemed to work, my ds would turn the tables on me and it would not work anymore.

Earlier bedtime Hah! The earlier he goes to bed, the more frequent the night wakings.

Nightweaning Don't I wish! Even on the rare nights I don't nurse him back to sleep, he still wakes up and has to be comforted back to sleep somehow (backrubs, singing, pacing up and down).

Creating new sleep associations This has only worked a couple times. He still wants the boob and he still wants Mama when he (partially) wakes.

They will learn how to self soothe Right, I have been waiting for this to happen for almost 4 years. If I don't attend to my ds at night the whineing and moaning just gets louder and louder until my dh storms in and the neighbors complain to my landlords.

Sleep maturity Just when is this elusive sleep maturity supposed to happen? My ds still wakes sometimes every hour. A good night is when he lets me sleep 2-4 hours before the night waking begins.

So, there is my sorry a$$ predicament (sigh). Sorry for any ranting, but 4 years of sleep deprivation can tend to make you cranky.







:

I'd like to hear your situations, if anyone would like a chance to tell them.*


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## vegaenglit (Aug 4, 2005)

i dont have any advice but was flipping through NCSS for toddlers and what you describe sounds like what might actually be a sleep disorder.

what about asthma or some other breathing thing? sometimes a fan on low will create enough white noise and move the air around enough to create a better environment.


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## Mama Lori (Mar 11, 2002)

I don't know either, this sounds familiar (though mine is 2yo) but I was thinking that calcium is good for sleep so maybe it would help to have some before bed. There is a great product called A to B Calm that is a calcium/mag powder, very absorbable, you can mix a little into some chamomile tea at night and it is very calming and sleep promoting. It did wonders for my insomnia during pregnancy. Maybe it would help your little one. Come to think of it I'm going to try it for my dd! Good luck, hope you can get some sleep soon.


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## L&IsMama (Jan 24, 2006)

Honestly? Time is about the only thing that *has* worked for us. My oldest,who's 4,is now a "good" sleeper,meaning he sleeps thru the night. My 2.5 yr old is *just now* starting to improve on sleeping longer stretches,except the past few nights cause he's sick,but that's to be expected. Even without nightweaning him yet,he is starting to sleep alot longer stretches. And he is a very light sleeper,has been since he was born. He was,like I said up until very recently,waking all night long.


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## sarahsmiles (Jan 9, 2007)

The Pantley pull-off does not work for me.
Putting a pillow or other mom-smelling object next to sleeping child so I could slip away does not work for me.
Pretty much all the advice I've heard/read does not work for my super-crappy sleeper.


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## Momma Aimee (Jul 8, 2003)

I am in teh process of contacting a sleep center about seeing a specialist.

I have tried everything save CIO

NCSS is BS -- and that is my nice anser. ask me how i really feel.

it is all the holier than thou sleep books that say ... oh a little routine, a new sleep buddy and BOOM there you go.. that make our life harder.

as if we are at fault for our children not sleeping.

my son is 17 months old and has sept 3+ hours 3 times in his whole life.......i remember each of them







he generally wakes every hour, if we are having a bad night it is every 45 minutes and takes 2+ hours to go back to sleep.

bedtime has no effect on over night lseep -- all it effects is how long the first going to sleep taks, and how many meltdowns we have before we go.

nightweaning is a joke -- he wakes without asking to nurse 2 or 3 times pre one time he does wwant to nurse, the one time i tried Dr Jays night wean -- he screamed franticly for 2 hours of rocking and singing and wlaking and cuddles and so on -- and went into a panic took 3 days to get sleep back to our noramlly bad level.

sleep buddy / assocation -- he has a puppy -- he will throw it off the bed to get to me at night then call for it in the morning.

maturity / self -soothing........ i keep waiting. if i do not rub his back, shhhhhh and work to get him back to sleep he sits up, climbs on me and tries to start the day -- be it 11 pm, 2 am or 4 am......he will not put himself back to slep no mate how tired. seesm to me at 17.5 month he should be mature enough to sleep more than 2 hours on a normal basics and usally he sleep sless than that.

white noise -- helps a little -- in the going back to sleep when he wakes (cuz he can't hear DH) butttttttttt it does nothing for sleeping longer.

a very tired momma


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## TattooedMama (Aug 31, 2005)

Does your dc have any food allergies that you know of? Sounds like a possibility to me.


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## Momma Aimee (Jul 8, 2003)

no food issues here.

no change in sleep no matter what my diet (we did elim diet for GER)

no reaction to any interduced food

no other symptoms of food allergy










if it was only that easy --

A


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## ~~Mama2B~~ (Mar 9, 2006)

No advice but thank God I'm not alone. I was begining to think I was doing something wrong... Maybe I just have a crappy sleeper!

Kristi


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## slaintejean (Dec 28, 2006)

Amen, amen, amen! We could have a sizable college fund for my 18 mo. daughter with all the cash I've shelled out for sleeping books!







:

My latest brainstorm is the pure sheer physical exhaustion technique, and it is getting me better naps. (Nightime, and getting her out of our bed, is a whole 'nother project, one I can't even contemplate at this current point of sleep deprivation).

Basically, I run her ragged (outside, fresh air, playgrounds, etc.) all
morning, stuff some lunch in her, and then drive her in the car listening to one particular song on one of her soundtracks until she conks out. If the transfer into the house is done very carefully, I've been getting solid two hour naps with the white noise machine set to "ocean waves".


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## Rox5266 (Nov 26, 2004)

I don't believe my ds has any food allegies - wouldn't there be other symptoms besides crappy sleeping? I am getting an expensive air purifier from Sharper Image to see if any airbourne allergens could be the culprit. Although he usually does great for naps, sometimes sleeps too long (3 or more hours







: ) and is then up until after midnight - and naps in the same room he sleeps in at night.

I would love to get a sleep study done, but I don't have the money (my insurance has a $2,000 hospital co-pay







: ). If anybody knows of anyone doing sleep research in the Norhteast US that needs voluteers - I'd love to get my ds signed up!

I am going to try and night wean (because I can't stand nursing him at night anymore) but it is not easy (been trying to not nurse at all but when you are exhausted, at your wits end, and wondering if you are going to fall asleep at the wheel in the morning you get desperate sometimes).

I am beginning to think that my ds is just immature for his age withe sleeping, just like he is dealyed with other things like speaking (he is a year behind).


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## Annikate (Aug 2, 2005)

Sounds like a dietary thing to me. You don't always notice by doing an elimination diet. Sometimes the *allery* symptoms do not show up in recognizable forms either.

You can read our story of sleeplessness in my siggy.


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## lizajane30 (Mar 19, 2005)

Things we've tried that didn't work? That list is too long. Easier to list the thing we haven't tried: CIO.

Some nights I think there is seriously something wrong with our 16mo DS and I wrack my brains trying to think of what kind of doctor or whatever could diagnose and help our situation. There's a possibility that DS has ADD (it runs pretty strongly in his paternal line) and I've heard that ADD/ADHD kids tend to be bad sleepers from the start.

Of course, knowing this is a possibility still doesn't get me any more sleep.

For us, a good night is 6-7 wakings. A bad night is 12 or more. This is no 12-hour night, either...I'm talking 9 or 10 hours. That's right, we often have more wakings than we have hours of sleep.

I have mainstream friends who sleep-trained at 4 months, whose kids sleep from 7pm to 7am, every night. Sounds great, right? If it didn't involve breaking their spirit, I'd be all for it.

Nice to know I'm not alone.


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## mamababamba (Jan 26, 2005)

In the midst of it there is no end. I was there for three years and in recovery for two...perhaps at 5 and a half we are there. DS slept for six hours straight at age 3. Before that 2 hours was a long time. I too tried everything until I gave in to time. At Christmas we put his fish tank in his room and now he sleeps there until about 4 in the morning. Hugs to everyone going through it. No answers. I think it would have taken a lot to CIO with ds and would have broken me more than the sleep deprivation.


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## mmfoote (Mar 6, 2006)

Hi there....I too have verrrrry bad sleepers. I noticed in one of your posts that you said your son still takes naps. My DS1 did not start sleeping better at night until he no longer took naps during the day. I thought that he would initiate when he no longer needed naps, but some days he would want to and other days he would kind of fight it. So, I decided to *assist* him in giving up his naps.

It wasn't always easy, because he would get tired some days. I planned all my errands for morning trips and stayed home during the afternoon (because he would fall asleep in the car), so that I could make sure to interact with him and change activities if he seemed to be getting sleepy. It really helped though. It was like he was just more ready for sleep at night. Don't get me wrong - he *still* wakes up at night, but settles much easier and usually goes down pretty quick at first.

And after a few weeks, it was a very natural process for him and he recognized too that he no longer needed the naps. I know its not easy as a parent because we depend on those naps for downtime too, but we also need sleep at night! And I know everything says "better daytime sleep = better nighttime sleep", but that was absolutely not the case with us. Eliminating the daytime sleep completely was the only thing that worked. Even now, if DS1 falls asleep in the car for even 5 minutes in the afternoon, it will take an extra 30 minutes to an hour to get him to fall asleep that night!

Anyway, don't know if that will help your situation, but I know how frustrating it is to have children who have trouble sleeping. Hang in there mama!


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## MotheringBliss (Mar 20, 2005)

I found that my daughter was sensitive to electromagnetic frequencies transmitted by cell towers.

How did I conclude this? She was completely nocturnal unless we were out of cell range. Then and only then did she sleep normally.

There is information outlining how the EMFs interfere with melatonin production and subsequentially sleep patterns.

I purchased a shielding device covering a 50 sq.ft. radius in our house. She did not sleep at night without it until she was 6.

Couldn't hurt for some of you to test this out. Take a mini vacation out of cell range and see what happens....







:


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## myjulybabes (Jun 24, 2003)

No Cry Sleep Solution...has that ever fully worked for anyone??? I mean, actually got your kid to sleep through the night? I don't totally hate it, because it was a partial sucess for us...took us from about 10 night wakings to 4-5. But then it just stalled out.

Nightweaning definitely didn't work. Oh, I got a little more sleep... because dh was the one rocking and bouncing and shushing for hours. But ds? Nope.

A really modified CIO when he was about 2 got him to learn to put himself to sleep at bedtime, but didn't change nightwakings. The noises he would come up with to see if we'd come get him were pretty entertaining though. I generally don't recommend CIO, but we knew him and his temperment and he treated the whole thing like a game. On the rare occasion he started to really cry, we went to him immediately. Sensitive dd? Oh geez, that NEVER would have worked, never would have tried it, or she'd still be glued to our legs to this day.

The only thing that eventually helped was time, and a big boy bed, with a baby gate across the door to his room. That way if he got up, he could get down and play with a toy until he felt sleepy again. Unfortunately, at 5, he's now figured out the gate and comes to join us.







Have I mentioned he's very tall and likes to sleep sideways across the bed? Ohhhh my back.....


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## Jenifer80 (Apr 19, 2007)

I couldn't read and not respond, but my DD (she is 2 now) ended up having a milk allergy. Once that was determined, she slept.
Now, DS2 is 9 months old and has asthma. He was just diagnosed last week after we switched dr's. He was sleeping so wonderfully until he was 5 months old. Then he kept getting sick with bronchitis and between the boughts of that he would wheeze even when not sick and the sleep issues started the 1st time he got sick. He's now on Flovent and is starting to sleep SO much better!
My niece and nephew also have respiratory problems with allergies (one has environmental the other is food) and asthma.

This may not be the case, but it's worth having it checked out by your Ped. I was reading about childhood asthma last night and there are so many children that go undiagnosed because they don't present typical symptoms.

Another thing- caffiene intake! There are so many foods that contain caffiene. DS1 was such a crappy sleeper until he was 3 years old. We eliminated ALL caffiene and a majority of his sugar (even though he never got much sugar from us) and he started sleeping and not fighting us at night. He was the WORST sleeper!
I was so sleep deprived with him I once answered the door wearing a bra and lounge pants!


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## ecoteat (Mar 3, 2006)

We've only been at this for a year, but we've tried the following:

Put to bed in crib: She'd still wake up after an hour and need to nurse again. Then she'd wake up again an hour or 2 later, so I'd just bring her to bed.

Swaddling: Doesn't keep her from waking up, but does keep her from kicking herself into a more awake state when she does.

Music: We bought a stereo for the bedroom so we could play some sleep-inducing music all night. Didn't do a thing for dd, but ddrove dh crazy.

More/Less naps: I see no correlation between napping and nighttime sleeping in a given day. Once her naps generally improved, so did her nighttime sleep, but that was just a matter of waiting through the tougher phases.

Pacifier: Keeping one handy or having her try to fall asleep with one didn't help at all.

PPO: We do it, but it doesn't change her sleeping patterns.

I really think now that it is beyond my control. I'll probably nightwean this summer, but I'm not getting my hopes up about dramatically better sleep. In the summer we sleep with fans on--I wonder if that will effect anything?


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## Mom2Joseph (May 31, 2006)

Our DD has severe food allergies and severe silent reflux. Nothing has worked. We never tried CIO and we just gave up about 2 months ago because it was driving us crazy. She can go 15 - 16 hour days and maybe nap 20 min....then wake up every few hours at night. I know the food allergies are a huge part of it but she seems settled now but she has never learned *how* to go to sleep. Some nights we have to drive her around as that and feeding is the only ways she can go to sleep. Other nights, when we were truly desperate, we would watch tv with her till we all just fell asleep together on the couch







:







:







Not our proudest moment but we were getting maybe 2 hours sleep a night. I almost fell asleep at the wheel with both my kids in the car and could have killed us all. I knew then we had to figure out something.

Never bought the NCSS. And Dr. Sears didn't work for us either (dissapointing because that worked great with our DS).

No advice, just sympathy....


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## Elipsisqueen (May 7, 2007)

Earlier bed times don't work for my son either!

-One thing that I learned from reading Weisbleuth (yes, there's a lot of ridiculous stuff in his book, I know) is that "Sleep begets sleep." If your child gets sleep-deprived, it can turn into a vicious cycle. Doing whatever it takes to get my son to get enough naptime in during the day really helps his night sleep. If he misses a daytime nap, it's an "up every hour" kind of night.


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## tsume (Jun 4, 2005)

Our first was 17 months before he slept any stretch at night (and it was a 10+ hour stretch) - before that he was nursing every hour at night and 8 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period was "good".

Our second is almost 4 and she still wakes several times a night to nurse. She also wakes at the butt-crack of dawn.

We put some black foam board in the window and that helped her not wake at first light. I took the black board down when we had our homebirth and she started waking up early again. We're going to replace our "blackout" this week.

I've also had really good success with EFT (tapping) Even though I have to sleep all night and not nurse / I'm an awesome girl and Momma loves me. Of course I have to remember to do this.

Our third - she started sleeping through around 2 weeks. Thank goodness she wasn't our first!


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## lizajane30 (Mar 19, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *tsume* 
I've also had really good success with EFT (tapping) Even though I have to sleep all night and not nurse / I'm an awesome girl and Momma loves me. Of course I have to remember to do this.

What does this mean? I will try anything new!


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## tsume (Jun 4, 2005)

You can Google EFT and come up with some web sites. This website has a "get Started For Free" I'm assuming the video shows you how? The video isn't loading for me.

I'll have dh scan the paper our counselor gave us (stick drawing of a boy and girl with directions) and e-mail that to you. In the meantime I'll type it out:

Remember to tap on the side of your hand, while saying:"Even though I _______(have this problem -- whatever your problem is. . .), I am an awesome boy/girl" 3 times. Then start at your head and follow the points on the pictures while you say the problem. Do as many rounds as you can; then take a deep breath, and if you can, a sip of water, too.

Here's a picture with the approximate tapping places. #7 should be on the side under the armpit area. You say the problem while tapping at every number - so, you'll say it 7 times. And you constatnly tap while saying hte problem - you don't just tap once. Clear as mud?

A Mothering post with some affirmations and some problem statements.


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## 4evermom (Feb 3, 2005)

I think the "elusive sleep maturity" develops after age 5. My ds is sleeping much better, though he still wakes 2 or 3 times a night, or goes through a few hours of serious tossing and turning w/o actually waking completely. Much better than every hour or two







.

I found the "sleep begets sleep" to be true. Ds always slept much worse if he didn't have a nap (at age 3 when many kids were dropping them). He napped regularly until he turned 5 and still takes naps sometimes.

White noise helps a little but my ds has always been extra sensitive to noises.


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## beachcomber (May 11, 2005)

I'm having all the same issues with my 16 month old DD. We have a protracted bedtime routine that starts at about 7 each night. We bath, brush teeth, massage, read books, then put her on the boob to sleep and do a gentle transfer to the crib that works 2/3 of the time. Usually she wakes up, gets mad and it's back on boob until she's asleep. She wakes up at 11:30 and will NOT go back to sleep unless she's put on the boob again. I can sometimes get her back into her crib. Usually not. Then she wakes up again at 2 and MUST nurse. I bring her to bed but unfortunately, she nurses and pops off then wriggles back on then pops off, etc., until we get up at 6. I get no sleep.

She always wakes up at least 2 times a night. Usually she wakes up 1/2 to 1 hour after being put down, then 11:30, then 2:00, then 3:30, then ... We tried earlier bedtime. No luck. We tried ensuring no nap after 4pm. No luck. We tried no carbs in her dinner. No luck. Soothers? Hah! Dad putting her to sleep and dealing with night waking? HAH!! HAAHHH!!!

I have finally accepted that what she wants is to be on my breast from the time she falls asleep until the time she wakes up. Nothing else will substitute. Stuffies get thrown at us. She cries and cries if we hold her, pat her back, rock her, walk with her, etc. She only stops when she's put on to nurse. Then she's quiet and asleep within 10 minutes. The only problem is that I can't move or she wakes up and I have to start over.

I really wish she was a better sleeper but after reading lots of books and trying elim diet, checking for allergies/asthma, etc. I've come to accept that what she needs most at night is ME. Until she's ready to sleep alone, this is just going to be our reality.


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## nylecoj (Apr 24, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *beachcomber* 
I have finally accepted that what she wants is to be on my breast from the time she falls asleep until the time she wakes up. Nothing else will substitute. Stuffies get thrown at us. She cries and cries if we hold her, pat her back, rock her, walk with her, etc. She only stops when she's put on to nurse. Then she's quiet and asleep within 10 minutes. The only problem is that I can't move or she wakes up and I have to start over.

I think I'm in a similar situation here, but I have a couple of questions. Dd is almost 5 mos old, and does have reflux. She typically will fall asleep nursing during the day -- but she only sleeps for 20-45 minutes. At night we have a very specific routine and it works about 1/3 of the time. She will fall asleep and then wakes up about an hour later and has to nurse again to fall asleep. We've tried rocking, lullabies, walking, etc., but she only wants me.

My question I guess is that if I keep nursing her to sleep everytime because it works, will that be the only way she can soothe herself to sleep as she gets older?

Also, we tried co-sleeping but it didn't work for us because she wakes up more when dh moves around -- when he's not home it's okay though.


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## Mom2Joseph (May 31, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nylecoj* 
I think I'm in a similar situation here, but I have a couple of questions. Dd is almost 5 mos old, and does have reflux. She typically will fall asleep nursing during the day -- but she only sleeps for 20-45 minutes. At night we have a very specific routine and it works about 1/3 of the time. She will fall asleep and then wakes up about an hour later and has to nurse again to fall asleep. We've tried rocking, lullabies, walking, etc., but she only wants me.

My question I guess is that if I keep nursing her to sleep everytime because it works, will that be the only way she can soothe herself to sleep as she gets older?

Also, we tried co-sleeping but it didn't work for us because she wakes up more when dh moves around -- when he's not home it's okay though.

Just wanted to say, that if your babe has reflux, do whatever you can do to survive the first 9 months to a year and then worry about the nursing to sleep!


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## nylecoj (Apr 24, 2007)

Okay - more questions. Lately, dd gets up every 1-2 hours all night long and sometimes stays up for 1-2 hours. I am wrecked - and she is obviously showing signs of sleep deprivation.

I have tried the following things with no results at all: (And yes, of course we have a bedtime routine)

rocking
cuddling
co-sleeping
swaying
white noise machine
nursing
letting her fuss a few minutes in her crib
watching SpongeBob for 15 minutes (I know, I know a last resort)
patting her tummy
rubbing her back
talking to her softly

I think that's it, but honestly I can't remember. We aren't co-sleeping right now because she doesn't sleep any better and keeps dh up all night that way too. He gets up with her and helps out but nothing he does has an effect on her either.

Does anyone have ANY suggestions? She does have reflux so I tried eliminating caffiene and milk, but neither of those made a difference.

Help please!


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## apple_dumpling (Oct 20, 2004)

Ny, is your dd on any medicine for reflux? My dd had severe reflux until around 19 months or so.. she did eventually get some relief on prevacid (she tried zantac too but it didn't help her) I was hesitant to try the medication, but she was in such pain. She's still a crappy sleeper today, but the reflux is a whole different area IMO.... you have to treat that before you'll get to the root of any sleeping issues.

Do you have her propped while sleeping? DD barely slept a wink until we did the prevacid and got a tucker sling/wedge (insurance covered it) It's a strange wedge, and they kind of get swaddled on there by velcro (it sounds weird I know) dd slept for three hours the first night we put her on that.

There are also some mamas in the SN forum who have some experience with severe reflux too... the pp was right when they said to do whatever you can do get through that first year/year and a half... it does get a little better eventually, but that first year is super rough with reflux.


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## edenwoods (May 15, 2007)

I'm thankful for other's stories and advice. my 9 month old has been waking every hour for most of his life. we too have tried everything other than cry it out. my real worry is for my marriage:yawning: ... 2 exhausted parents don't make for a great relationship. we also disagree on how to deal with the frequent night wakings. he wants to try "cry it out" and i would rather be up all night nursing.
eden, mom to eli 8/8/06


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## MamaHippo (Dec 4, 2004)

My DS didnt sleep longer than 3 hours at a stretch until he was 18 months old. But I am happy to say that he's almost 3 mow and sleeps like a champ, though he doesnt nap unless sick.
Here's what didnt work:
CIO (







yes, i tried it, in desperation)
earlier bed time

What DID work, to varying degrees:
NCSS ( especially the Pantley Pull -Off)
nursing to sleep ( he nursed down until he was 2)
having the lullabye tape playing softly


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## nylecoj (Apr 24, 2007)

Yeah, I'm a little embarrassed, but I tried CIO for about 10 days - it made things worse, not better. I was desperate, but honestly being here has really helped me.

Anyway, as far as reflux goes, she's not on any medication and I can't tell if she's in pain or not, otherwise I would have explored that option a little more. She spits up all day long but it doesn't seem to bother her --- of course, she's not on her back most of that time so maybe that's got something to do with it.

She does sleep flat on her back - I had a phone book under her crib for a while, but she is so mobile that she was sliding all the way down to the bottom of the crib and then getting frustrated.

Apple, can you tell me more about the tucker sling/wedge thing? I'd love to check something like that out.

Thanks!

(She did sleep a little better last night with the white noise machine - and she got a very long nap yesterday. She slept for 2 hours for a nap, which she's only done a handful of times)


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## GracesMama (Oct 24, 2006)

What hasn't worked for us (DD is 21 months old):

earlier bedtime (just took longer to get her to fall asleep)

putting her in her own bed (I had to get up several times a night to nurse her back to sleep. I'd rather just wake up enought to latch her on and then fall back asleep)

regular naps (she naps great, but takes forever to fall asleep at night and wakes up 5 - 8 times a night)

DH comforting her when she wakes up (she just screams or decides it's time to get up and it takes hours to get her back to sleep)

bed-time routine (we have followed the same routine since she was an infant...calm bath, stories, nursing...she even tells me she's ready to go to sleep, but then she spends hours nursing, talking, rolling around!!)

I think I could go on and on...


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## MamaChicken (Aug 21, 2006)

We tried everything with DS. He didn't sleep more than 5 hours straight until he was almost 6. Now at 8 he finally sleeps through the night.

So far DD (1 mo) sleeps better than he did at 3 years.

No advice, just utter sympathy.


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## mamamelia (Apr 14, 2005)

my dd re-wrote the books on crappy sleep. she was a 20 minute gal for a very, very long time. i seriously wanted to die. i stopped sleeping because i feared being woken again.

at 32 months, she will "sleep through" for about 6-8 hours with about 2-3 minor nightwakings for either the bathroom or whatnot. she is fully nightweaned and still wakes up. it is 3 FREAKING AM right now and she just went to sleep 25 minutes ago. i've just chalked it down to she doesn't like to sleep. never liked to sleep and probably never will. so everynight we sit up like a bunch of idiots till 2am playing with playdoh and lego.


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## BlissP (Jun 24, 2005)

I have a really odd problem with my 5 mo old ds...he will NOT nurse to sleep. I know that you aren't *supposed* to get them to rely on the boob to go to sleep, but right now I would give ANYTHING if the boob would put him down. He gets really aggravated if I try to get him to nurse to sleep. Now, during his night wakings he will nurse, so for that I am grateful, but to put him down for naps or for the night...if I even take it out he gets pissed.

What's that about?


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## 2mama (Feb 3, 2006)

We have a very bad sleeper too. At 10 months he was still getting up every hour at night! And would only sleep if attached to me, Including naps. Then at 16 months I got prego and my milk supply dipped almost immed.

I had to night wean as nursing at night made my skin crawl while pregnant. Honestly it was very had to do I would literally role over when he would wake at night and stretch my arm so I could have my arm around him. I he would fuss a bit, but he aways had mama right there by his side. If he fussed cried I would give in and nurse. After several weeks he began sleeping in my armpit and continues to do that after almost year! He will now even sleep in dh's armpit!!







DS still wakes at least 3 times a night but it has improved soooooo much.

Just remember that you did not make your child this way, he she was born this way. I have done everything the same for all 3 kids and sleep is so dif with each one.

dd#1 okay sleeper- slept through ay 3.5 years but wasn't *bad* before that.
ds- horrible sleeper (see above!)
dd#2 great sleeper at 2 months goes 4-5 hours at a time at night!


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