Sleep Recommendations

Hi all,

Jackson goes down well for his 9am sleep and his midday sleep (supposed to be a big one but he sometimes wakes early).

He should have a sleep around 4 - 4:30pm and then go down to bed about 7pm. Both of these sleeps are MAJOR battles now. They didn't used to be like this, but now Jackson thrashes and cries and gets really worked up. Sometimes recently I have not been able to get him to have that afternoon sleep, and you can imagine the meltdowns that occur after that.

Can anyone make any recommendations on some good books that have worked for you, so that I can try some different things. If you had a baby that didn't like to settle, what worked for you in the end? We have good routines but he still gets really worked up.

And tell me they grow out of this unhappiness?!?!?

They definitely do grow out of this unhappiness, and become fantastic little people who are so much fun to spend time with . My memories of Jimmy aged 3-4 month are of a very unhappy wee chappy who had trouble self-settling at night and found it virtually impossible to go to sleep for naps during the day. In desperation I bought and read the two 'Secrets of the Baby Whisperer' books and tried various things Tracy suggests. By 6 months he was sleeping 12 hours every night and settling well for naps every day. A few months later he started to show he was excited and happy to be having a nap, and now at 14 months he says "nigh nighs" if we ask "Are you tired?" and crawls into his room and waits to be lifted into his cot!

Some of the things I found helped in our situation included letting him have more naps during the day (he's always needed a lot of sleep, and was most likely overtired much of the time only we didn't realise) and making his cot a "fun" place to be - not somewhere he associated with meltdowns and tantrums.

He may be showing signs of wanting to drop the third sleep. To keep Sophie going on this one a little longer I would put her in the buggy and take them to the park so Sophie would have a 30 min nap and Amy could have a run around at the playground.

Both of my girls are "Contented Little Baby" graduates! . It is VERYstructured but I have tweeked it to suit us and they have both thrived on that routine and stability of knowing what comes next. Both are great sleepers and we Gina Ford!! Wellington Library has her books if you wanted to have a look at them.

Hello Lauire

As you know, i (almost literally) threw all my baby books out of the window in a fit of anger.

I then decided to let C fall into her own routine which she did fairly quickly. Gina Ford et al would probably have a fit if they knew, but C usually sleeps most of the morning after a feed (i.e. from about 8.30 am to 11.00). She will then be up till about 4-5 when she will have a nap of about an hour, then up and feed / bath / play etc till she goes down for the night at about 8.30. So she only really has 2 naps - if i go out in the afternoon she may nap briefly in the car but not always.

She has recently started sleeping straight through with no dream feed from about 8.30 - 6.30 or sometimes later.

Have you tried letting Jackson lead and seeing what happens for a week? My main problems with the books is they tell you when to put baby to bed, but not what to do if he doesn't want to go to sleep!

Good luck hon - let me know if you want a supportive meet up!




Edited by Susiec

Thanks Sue - just saw your post.

I would be happy to let Jackson lead, if it weren't for the difficulty feeding him. I honestly have to have structure for that very reason.

Although we tried Gina, we've been totally flexible with trying different things. For instance last week we tried having his long nap in the morning instead of the afternoon.

If he would just eat well, I wouldn't care. But when he doesn't sleep, he doesn't eat, which means he doesn't sleep..... GAH!

Trying to introduce a dummy. I had been told not to (can affect eating), but maybe it will help. Problem is, I think it may be too late to do so....

Hi there,

I had this exact same problem at between 4 - 5 months and it was just a phase. I ended up feeding DD to sleep during the day as it was the only way to get her to sleep. Feeding to sleep is one of those big no nos according to baby books, but when you're faced with an overtired hysterical baby you do what you have to do!

I'm pleased to say that the hysterical day sleep phase only lasted for a few weeks, and I've never needed to feed to sleep since.

Is he still in his hammock?

Only asking cos a lady at my ante natal group was struggling with her wee girl and yesterday she said she randomly put her on their bed and she just fell asleep for 3 hours, so now she thinks she needs to move to her cot - she wouldn't go down before 11pm and never napped for more than 45 mins, so its worked for her.

We spent most our coffee group talking about the delights of settling so its a hot topic.

I have the same routine as you Laurie...eat at 7, 11, 3, 7 approx and the two two hour sleeps and I have a short 30 min nap around 5ish.
I know thw nap helps her and she will not last the distance without it...Like someone said before, a wilk will help. Even if he doesn't sleep he will have a good rest. BUT I guess it doesn't help if DH takes the buggy to work!!!
BTW Sophia faught going to sleep today but i put her fish on to watch and she is now happy and asleep :o)   
Tracy Hogg is good but i think she is pretty much the same as Gina.

Yeah, I think I might do that. Only I am a shorty and can't reach the top of the window, and there are no chairs upstairs! Will have to make soemthing work.

Still, if we get the house, that will make it a lot easier.

Had a break through with the 5pm nap. He calmed down with the dummy and went to sleep. And the dummy stayed in the whole time.

**prays we've found a solution.... waits with baited breath for the next attempt***

Ahhh dummies, life savers I call them!!! Caden goes to sleep with his and it just falls out his mouth once he falls into a deep sleep.
He can put it in him self now aswell and he takes it out when he doesnt want it and then will find it again when he wants it lol