How to teach Aryana to sleep has been occupying my thoughts lately. She is so squirmy that she constantly wakes herself up. We swaddle her as tight as we can (and believe me Ben can swaddle her tight) but she still wiggles out of it. She also tends to awake the second we put her down in the pack-n-play. This has resulted in a few nights of frustration and screaming. So we've resorted to letting her sleep in our bed. Which is strongly discouraged by literature and my pediatrician. From talking to people with children I only know one family who did not share their bed with their child in the first 3 months.
The plus side to this is I don't have to leave the bed to nurse her and I can pin down her arms so she doesn't wake herself up. But she tends to soothe herself with sucking so she'll stay latched for hours. I'll wake up an hour later and she's still latched to me. She will not take a soother. Ben and I forced her once and I felt terrible. I held down her arms while Ben held the soother in her mouth. She screamed bloody murder but after awhile she did take it for a bit. She also tends to gag on her own spit when we try to give her the soother.
We've researched different techniques to help get a baby to sleep on their own. They would be helpful if one technique did not always contradict the other. One article said the baby should be put down drowsy but awake so the last thing they remember is their crib. The baby should NEVER fall asleep nursing (did this author ever have a child?). Another article said the baby should be held for 30 minutes into their sleep cycle because then the baby is in a deep enough sleep she will not awake when you put her down.
Hopefully, we'll figure out what works best for Aryana soon. It would be nice to have a couple hours of sleep in a row, without her in our bed!
Speaking of which...Aryana awakes.
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9 comments:
Oh, I am so sorry you are having sleepless nights! I never did figure out how to make a baby sleep. If you don't get it figured out, about 5 years should do it...
Take care!
We never had Jaela in our bed. Ever. Except one time, I fell asleep feeding her and I woke to a thump..yep that wasn't a good night. Anyway, I'm not giving advice (haha, I hated when people gave it to me), but I would keep her out of your bed. More for safety than anything...I hope you get some sleep! Jaela was an awful cryie newborn which resulted in her screaming it out in her crib at 2 months. She's a doll now though :)
She will learn how to sleep on her own. Honestly, she will. Some children just take a little longer to learn than others. Go with what feels right in your own heart.
even Lev, who is a very calm and quiet baby, only now is sleeping through the night (and he's 7 months old). some babies just aren't good sleepers right away. She'll figure it out. It will just test your patience in the meantime. There was a book/video called the happiest baby on the block that was very useful.
I hear beer works for times like that. Not for Aryana, for YOU. She'll get it eventually.
I understand she won't sleep through the night at 9 weeks old but she wakes up a minute or two after we put her down. I would be happy if sh slept for 2 hours on her own.
My girlfriend had that with her son too :( They actually double swaddled him in 2 big recieving blankets, because he'd squirm and wake himself.
I guess I should have said why they used 2 blankets, it just kept him wrapped tighter and he couldn't squirm out of it...
Don't feel bad about her sleeping in the bed with you, sometimes it is a necessity! Hang in there it does get better!!
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