I've always thought that I was pretty good at getting my kids on a good little routine for sleep.
Grace has always been a pretty good sleeper. However she did wake up once a night until she was a good 8 months old, she would get up, eat and drift back off to sleep. I always thought the breast milk didn't fill her up as much. But after that she was a pro. Even today she sleeps a good 10 hours at night (if not more) and usually a hour to hour and half nap. Yes she is nearly 4 and still takes a nap. Honestly, she does okay without it, but after a couple days she is wreck so she gets a nap unless its a school day.
Emma on the other hand was a fantastic sleeper really from day one. I remember in the hospital her going 4-5 hours at night. Pretty much unheard of - or least it seems most of my friends weren't so lucky. She dropped down to one waking within a couple weeks and was sleeping through the night (9pm-6am) by 2 months. Oh and she had several daytime good naps. She really has been a good sleeper and for the most part is still, but we are having a problem. She is having a hard time settling to go to sleep for naps and bedtime. I know she is tired, but has been fighting us terribly. She cries when we put her in her crib and that has been lasting for a good 15+ minutes and then she will play for another 15+ minutes and then this is followed by a 3-4 hour nap during the day or 11 hours at night. I've tried talking about and for the most part our days are much alike.
So my question - any ideas? At night our routine is bath (every other night), pjs, hang out, brush teeth, books, etc. 95% of the time its the same. During the day she always goes down shortly after lunch for nap. We eat, clean up and usually read a book or something quiet for 15 minutes or so and then I lay her down. This has only been lasting for the last month or so. Could it be just a phase. I'm starting to worry because we are planning to transition her into a big girl bed this Spring/early Summer sometime so I want this to be a thing of the past or bedtime will really be bad.
OH and I should add that Adam and I were rocking her when this all first started to get her to relax or calm down but it didn't help and honestly I think it was starting to make it worse. So the last few days we have just been saying "its night night time and we love you".
Any recommendations? Really hoping its just a phase.
It's crazy for me to think that we moved Grace to a big girl bed at this age. She was 22 months when we moved here (yes we have been here 2 years!). I could not imagine Emma in a bed. SCARY!!
- Lisa
- Hi, I'm Lisa! I live in Texas where I was born and raised. I am married to the most wonderful man, Adam, who is my college sweetheart! I use to work in Human Resources doing benefits, but after my beautiful daughter, Grace, was born in February of 2006 I decided to become a Stay-at-home Mom. We had our second daughter, Emma, in March of 2008 and our third and final little girl, Layla, in March of 2011. We feel wonderful blessed to have three little girls running around our house! So here is a little taste of what a day is like in my shoes. ENJOY!
My girls
7 comments:
Is she teething? My son just went through a similair phase and he ended up with 4 new teeth. It lasted about a month..Hes about 18 months...
(I can't remember if they teeth around 2)
Tasha
Another thought is that she is now very aware that you, Adam, and Grace are not napping, therefore, you are playing and she probably wants to do that instead of napping. I just remember Annabelle becoming much more aware of what we were doing during naptime or bedtime. Just a thought. Unfortunately, I have no advice. Hopefully this is just a little rough stage and it will pass quickly. I'm sure she'll be ready for a big girl bed by this spring/summer!
Avery went through that same thing, but she's over it. She's still hard to get to bed at night some of the time, but is currently napping.
Hey girl! Reagan was a stubborn little baby with sleep, and really still is. At 18months we would put her in her crib and she would scream for up to 30 minutes. We went ahead and put her in a big girl bed. We did have to lay down with her for awhile to teach her it was night time, but it eventually worked out. We just made a big deal out of getting her own bed and cute new bedding. Good Luck!
Oh my... 22 months, that's pretty impressive. I can't imagine Averee in a big girl bed in the next month, let alone next spring or summer. I just know she'd stay up and play and I'd find her asleep on the floor in her closet or something crazy...haha!
I say just stay firm, put her to bed and tell her it's night-night time and maybe it will pass and she'll go back to falling asleep without a fit. I just find that Averee naps best when we keep a schedule and put her down the same time. Seems like around the holidays we always get off and it's a little harder to get back on track. We're still working on it.
Maybe Emma's will need to be in her crib a little longer than Grace did, and that's okay. Or you could really be surprised in the next few months....time shall tell!
Hi Sweet Lisa,
A new routine in Emma's sleeping pattern says you are right on track for the transition.
TELL EMMA YOU RECOGNIZE A CHANGE...SHE IS BECOMING A BIG GIRL AND YOU ARE GOING TO HELP TRANITION HER
FOR NAPS ONLY (AT 1ST)
MATTRESS ON THE FLOOR.
aknowledge her, then support her, then use shots of tequilla.
I know I have ZERO experience at this, but a friend of mine uses a noise machine under her kids' cribs or baby bed and that works for them. Hope you're doing well!
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