what happened to my good sleeper?

[Mbrown602]

My baby is just 13 weeks today. She slept in her crib for the first 6 weeks of her life then she wouldn't sleep there any more so we co-slept. Co-sleeping wasn't working out for me (I barely slept) so we were putting her in her carseat for a while to sleep and that worked like a charm until we heard that's dangerous. So last week, we tried to reintroduce Nadia to her crib.

It hasn't gone so well. I will usually sit with her in the dark in her bedroom with a pacifier and play classical music till she falls asleep then move her to the crib where she may wake up and be lulled to sleep again with a pacifier. Then, she'll sleep for a few hours but then wake up crying so that you have to go back in and hold the pacifier till she falls asleep again. Last night, she did this 5 times. She isn't hungry, she just wakes up crying. We are not fans of the cry it out method, but when you have to work in the morning you can't keep getting up and holding a binky in her mouth.

Sad thing is, my fussy baby was actually a good sleeper who started sleeping about 7 hours a night around 5 weeks of age and would only wake up in the middle of the night here and there for a bottle but not every night. So what happened? Anything I can do to get her to sleep through the night again?

[fbsurvivor]

If you don't want to use the carseat, you might try a bassinet, anything that is smaller than a crib.  I think part of the appeal of the careseat is that it's smaller, more womb like.

Also, have you read Elizabeth Pantley's "No Cry Sleep Solution"?  That book has lots of suggestions on how to get babies to sleep without CIO, but you have to be super disciplined about it.

The other thing we would do to keep the pacifier in was use a sun hat with a strap.  That's dangerous, though, so you have to decide on sleep or risk.

At that age my daughter was up every 1-2 hours, so I feel your pain.  It's really tough.  I also couldn't get myself to do co-sleeping until she was much older except for naps.  I just couldn't sleep and I was terrified of something happening to my daughter.  We tried the co-sleeper as well.  The problem with that was more related to our bed.  Since we have a platform bed, I had to lift her to get her into the co-sleeper and she'd wake up.  That's another option, you might try, though, the co-sleeper.

The other slightly risky option are those sleep positioners.  Those worked until my daughter started flipping herself over and that terrified me, so I think that's why we stopped.

[Hollyadmin]

I forget...have you tried putting her in the swing at night? We transitioned from the swing to the carseat, and Sammy's sleeping went out the window. Once he got better in the carseat, we put the carseat IN the crib, and once he did better with that, we were just able to put him in the crib (playpen, actually). I agree with Laura - is there some kind of sleep positioner you could use to simulate more of a sitting up experience in the crib?  You might want to check out this site...I know they have some good sleep positioners. The owner of the shop, Annette is awesome...I'm sure she could suggest something if you like.  http://www.pollywogbaby.com.

[Mbrown602]

Holly, I've tried to put her in the swing at night and she cries. She only likes the swing for napping during the day. The main reason we stopped the carseat thing is because she started to flop forward -- and from what I read babies who can't support their heads well yet can flop forward and possibly asphyxiate themselves after spending hours in the carseat. It has something to do with them not getting enough oxygen after sitting in that position for hours.

I've noticed she flops forward like that when she naps in her swing too. Or she curls up into a ball and slumps toward the side of the swing. My husband and I are constantly straightening her up. She does it on purpose though, because I've watched her do it. It seems she still wants to curl up into a little ball like she's in the womb.

So, I decided to try the bassinet again last night. She went to sleep but was up crying within 45 minutes. Giving her a pacifier calmed her down. Then at some point, she ended up back in bed with me because she was just waking up too much.


So, not sure what I will try tonight. I'm trying to think of something that would make her feel like she could curl up in a ittle ball because it seems like what she likes?

[Mbrown602]

Oh, and I did check out the pollywog web site but wow, those wedges are expensive! We play white noise on our laptop when Nadia naps during the day so I'm thinking of trying that at night in her bedroom.

[fbsurvivor]

We used a positioner that was like $30 from Babies R Us.  As your daughter gets older, though, you have to be careful because they can flip it over on themselves.  The velcro that sticks it to the mattress can come undone. A friend of a friend did a CIO where she did 1 minute intervals.  I did 5 minute intervals at 14 months.  Basically you let them cry for 1 minute, go in for 1 minute, let them cry 1 min, go in 1 min, and you do this all night every night until they are sleeping through the night.  At 14 months it took 3 days.   For the friend of a friend it took 2 weeks.  I highly recommend Elizabeth Pantley's "No Cry Sleep Solution".  She has a lot of suggestions.
For the slumping, are you using that little thing in the carseat that keeps their head positioned?  It's only horizontal, so I'm not sure if that helps.  I think we used to stuff towels or blankets in there.  Also, for our swing, we basically had an attachment for the carseat that turned the carseat into a swing.  This is what we would do.  We'd swaddle her, put the pacifier in, strap it in loosely with the strap of a sunhat, then put her in the carseat and swing her by hand (these were big swings).  Then we'd put the carseat in the swing attachment at full speed.  This was after she had been nursed.
   After reading The Happiest Baby Book a 2nd time, I realized that there are 2 important things to know: 1.  You need to combine calming and soothing techniques.  2.  There are things you do to calm them down and then things you do to keep them calm.  The same thing goes with sleep.  There are things you do to get them to fall asleep and then things that keep them asleep.  White noise, swings, music, tend to keep them asleep or calm, but won't get them asleep. 

[fbsurvivor]

One other note about the carseat.  We had an infant carseat and I would put it on the floor next to our bed.  Those carseats are designed to rock, and when not in the car, the carseat would kind of lie back, so she wasn't completely upright. 

One other trick our daycare provider taught us was the pat.  If my dd started crying in the night (not full blown, but the first cries), I could pat her belly or chest and she'd often go back to sleep.

[Mbrown602]

Nadia hasn't done too bad the last few nights. My cousin suggested we put her in her bouncer chair. That seems more on a flat level than the car seat. It seems to work. I can get her to sleep by playing soft music and holding a pacifier in her mouth while she sits in that chair in the crib. The last two nights she was asleep by 9 and got up once or twice in the night to eat. Then she'd be up for the day by 8:30. She seems content this way. She just won't sleep lying on her back. We'll have to try again for the crib when she's a bit older.

[fbsurvivor]

You are doing way better than I was at that stage.  I'm glad you feel comfortable with the bouncer.