I'm pulling the mommy 911 card. For my sanity, I need advice. I'm about to lose my mind over here! For the past 3 days or so...or since she's been over the virus, we're having major nap issues. I nurse her to sleep (I know, I'm not supposed to) for her naps and everything is just as it always has been, until I go to lay her down. She jumps right back up and screams. She WON'T nap. I know that she's tired because when she gets up, she's a crank. Bad. I tried to let her cry it out and she screams (at the top of her lungs, and how that is different than the bottom of her lungs is beyond me) and she won't stop. I let it go for 45 minutes! 4-5! I've tried going in every 3 minutes. I've tried going in every 1 minute. I've tried going in every 5 minutes. NOTHING WORKS. My child is wearing me out.
What do I do? She needs the nap. If she doesn't nap, she cranks all day long and then tries to go to bed at 6. That's not going to work in this house. I'm going to video her tantrum for you....
My "instinct" is that she's not in pain. My "instinct" is that she is trying to win this napping game. For ten months she has won. EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. I give in. Well, now it's not cool anymore. Now it's getting to the point where Richie and I dread nap/bed time because we know that she will fight us (and win).
If I go and get her up, she will not let me put her down. I'll be stuck with her on my hip for about an hour. She'll freak if I try to make her play or if I try to put her back down for a nap.
My baby didn't do this....at about 9.5 months she turned into this napping monster. What is going on?!
HELP!!!!!
Edited to add: I couldn't even finish my post, her crying literally gives me cramps. My uterus craves to help her when she's like that. That's got to be the explanation. Her crying got so hard that I thought she would hyperventilate. So she won. Again. And as soon as I picked her up, she sighed like she was saying "good to see ya, ma!" And now she's on my lap, singing, and trying to stop me from telling you the awful truth about this little beast that we call Kinley. She keeps typing keys and making me have to fix it. Grrr. I'm going to go rock my baby.
Edited again to add: Well, at 12:45 a.m. she was up screaming her head off again. We did the in and out thing for 45 minutes and not once did she let up. At 1:30 I gave in and get her out and rocked her in her room. At 1:50, I gave in again and let her nurse. At 2:00, I was back in bed. I dread the day today. I know she's going to do the screaming thing at every nap opportunity.
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5 comments:
I was reading an article that said that our babies are to the point now that they think "I cried yesterday when I didn't want to nap and mom came and got me" so they just do it again the next day and the next day... So unfortunately the only advice I have for you is cry it out but don't go into her room, Anika always wakes up more when she sees me, maybe Kinley is the same way. We did CIO with Anika a few months ago and now she is an amazing sleeper if she is tired. Good Luck! I know how hard it is.
She might be to the point where she needs total extinction CIO. As Krista mentioned above, she may now be smart enough to remember you coming in the day before and will just cry until you do.
She may also be overtired, which can make it really hard for them to fall asleep, even if you're nursing her to sleep.
We've done CIO since the beginning, and it's hard! (Actually, it's probably harder at this age because they're so much smarter and more stubborn.)It is SO worth it though! Good luck!
It's very, very hard! I heard on Dr Phil that when babies are allowed to "cry it out" that that causes slight brain damage. Plus it teaches them not to trust people. Calvin was a perfect baby. Then Caden came along and was fussy from day one. He didn't even start sleeping through the night until he was two! Being up several times a night for two years was a nightmare and we don't have family in town so we NEVER got a night off. It was very hard on us and the stress of the situation took us to our breaking point. We tried the "cry it out" technique several times, but I could never take it. My theory was to just love Caden as much as he needed me to love him and when he was ready and felt secure enough to be more independant and lay quietly in his crib he would do it. That's probably why I had two years of hell, but now looking back (he's 4 yrs) I feel confident in the way I handled it. Every child is different. Boy I learned that in a big way.
Joy, I have no advice for you other than to trust your instinct as to what this particular short person needs. You are her advocate.
I know it's hard. Hang in there.
Even 5 minutes isn't long enough for her to calm herself down. Try to let it go a little longer than that.
http://www.isabelagranic.com/bed-timing/2009/06/what-are-the-longterm-outcomes-of-letting-your-baby-cry-while-sleeptraining.html
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