The Real Reason Jasper Won’t Sleep Anymore..
January 12th, 2009 by ariana
Ha! Just kidding. I wish it were as easy as him kicking a latte habit :)
But seriously, the time has come for a discussion of sleep, (or lack thereof.)
The dreaded four month wakeful period/sleep regression is fully upon us and it sucks. Bad.
Jasper is waking about 3 times to eat, which I think is fine because he is going to bed earlier at around 7pm, so one of those feedings is the night feeding he used to have before bed at 8pm or so. I don’t mind these wakings because we are co sleeping and he goes right back to sleep.
It’s the fighting being PUT to sleep that is killing me. My back hurts from rocking/bouncing a 16ish lb baby and there are some days I just don’t think I can do it anymore. And even though I am willing to do the bounce/rock dance, he STILL doesn’t go to sleep much of the time… or he does, but the second I put him down he’s up again, but this time MORE wired than before. And even if he does stay down at night, he usually wakes again 30 minutes later, and again 30 minutes after that. Sometimes I feel like my entire day consists of trying to put him down for naps/bed and It’s exhausting!
He’s a bit too young for sleep training, but nothing else is working. I let him fuss/cry for a while out of desperation this weekend and it failed miserably. he didn’t put himself to sleep which means if we do try a hardcore CIO method we are probably in for HOURS of crying which will be too torturous for me to endure!
Then there is the issue of his GI problems.
Without fail, he gets gassy at a few hours after eating and starts thrashing his head around at night. I used to pick him up and put him on his chest to comfort him, but this was far from ideal as he could thrash around for hours which made ME getting any sleep impossible.
This weekend I started letting him sleep on his tummy where he can fart and burp and thrash to his hearts content.
It’s miraculous how much better he sleeps this way, but of course I am tortured about this decision.. I know he has amazing head control and he is SOOOO close to rolling over on to his tummy on his own anyway, but the “back to sleep” nazi’s have successfully struck the fear of god into my heart.
Once we get back to our house (we have been staying with grandma and grandpa while Jeff is away) we can hook up the angelcare monitor we got months ago and I will sleep a little easier but I still worry about the fact that neither his co-sleeper nor our bed have organic mattresses. (In countries like New Zealand where they “wrap” the mattresses to prevent off gassing of materials SIDS is virtually non existent.) Luckily he has a fantastic organic crib mattress in his nursery at home, so once we transition him in there I will feel much better about the whole situation.
But in the meantime, I am at least enjoying 4 hour stretches of relatively uninterrupted sleep in between feedings – once I actually get him down for the night that is!
So my questions to you are:
A) Does your DC sleep on his/her tummy?
B) If so, when did you start and did you feel conflicted about it?
C) If you did some sort of sleep training, how old was your child?
D) How long did the sleep fighting/4 month wakeful last for you?
E) Any other words of wisdom?
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Stella was able to roll over fully back to front/front to back at about 4.5 months. So after that I really wasn’t able to stop her rolling around in her sleep. I would suggest letting him fall asleep with a paci, if you don’t already. This considerably reduces the risk of SIDS.
We did sleep train with her at about 6 months….it only took a couple of days. We did nighttime and naptime together which is recommended. Naptime is the hardest.
We also have the angelcare monitor, but when it came down to it I didn’t use it. First of all, because the alarm went off once when it shouldn’t have..she wasn’t sleeping. I was testing it with my hand….thank goodness..also, I wasn’t sure how I felt about having something electronic so close to my baby.
My only pre-sleep training advice is to have a paci, noise machine and a totally blacked out room. Plus a routine which I know you already have…
Good Luck
Also, the wakeful period for us didn’t last any longer than a week and a half…I think. Long time ago……
I put all five of my kids on their tummies in the first few weeks. I also put them in their own room after about a month. My ped. told me with my first that the sooner he was in his own room the sooner he would sleep through the night. He was right. They all slept through the night within a week or two of being in their own room.
When they were in my room, I woke to every sound they made, and thinking they were waking would try to give them a pacifier or sooth them back to sleep in some way. Which as it turned out was just waking them up more.
Once, they are in their own room, I don’t use a monitor. I’m right across the hall. And once I hear them, I wait about ten minutes before I go to them. They usually put themselves back to sleep.
I am going through a wakeful period with my 9 month old now. His schedule was pretty much nonexistant over the holidays. I feel for you. Hopefully things will get better soon.
Hi Ariana,
We started “sleep training” w/ Liam a few weeks ago (right after we made it through the 4 mo. wakeful, which for us lasted around a week, week and a half maybe?) I am pretty sure you have subscribed to all of the same sleep “insurance” tools that we do – but, here is our scoop, and what seems to help.
- gripe water seems to calm the tummy for Liam, and seems to work better than the mylecon drops (i like that its natural) You really can make your own gripe water w/ some fennel, anise or ginger I have also given Liam some cammomile tea (maybe an ounce or so).
- white noise
- sleep sack (this thing is AWESOME)
- consistant bedtime routine (bath, story, nursing) we use the California Baby “calming” line which smells great, and i swear has some kind of sleep inducing ingredients.. http://www.californiababy.com/index.html
- paci to fall asleep
- Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child by Weissbluth is the general route we are taking w/ the sleep training thing.
i really am amazed at how the sleep training has been helping – with the consistent naps, and letting him CIO a little (we are doing the GRADUAL extinction) he has adapted and has STTN 6 out of 7 days last week.
good luck! it can only get better :) we are rooting for you! and re: sleeping on the tummy – if he feels better and sleeps better that way, and has great head control, i would go for it – maybe throw a quick call into your doctor, just for your own peace of mind since you are feeling conflicted.
Amanda, I definitely need to call you.. I have the Sleep easy book and read it all the way through. I can’t believe Stella was rolling both ways at 4.5! Oh, and he does use the paci. My god, if there was no paci I don’t think he would EVER sleep! Oh, and we do use noise machine and black room.
Lelu, did you breastfeed? If so, when you transitioned to crib were your children STTN? I ask because when I think about getting up and going to the nusery a few times a night to nurse.. well it just seems so much harder than co sleeping!
Kari, it’s so good to hear your experiences even though I’m envious you seem to be light years ahead of us in this department :) I have been reading wiesbluth’s book. I think jasper would CIO forever before falling asleep which I sort of tried over the weekend and gave up after an hour of fussing/crying. And he definitely starts crying harder when I pick him up / check on him. How long did Liam cry the first few times?
I breastfed the first four for a year and am still nursing #5. It can be a pain to get up and get him but might be worth a try if he learns to sleep better.
Hi Ariana,
I have written to you before about my son Kirk’s gas and reflux issues. While all of that seems to be under control now Kirk’s sleep was the last hurdle we faced for a while. Until Kirk was 2 months old he slept on our chests and would only nap if I held him. I too used to have to rock him to sleep and Kirk is a big baby–he weighed 9.5 lbs at birth!! Kirk turned 2 months over Thanksgiving and my mother in law suggested letting him try to take a nap on his tummy. I immedialtly thought about SIDS but I agreed and stayed in the room for his nap watching him. I really thought he woiuld wake up in 5 minutes anyway. Well he ended up sleeping for over an hour. Within a week his head control was getting better and I decided to try to put him on his belly to sleep. He slept the first night from 8pm-3am and woke up to eat and went back to sleep till 7 am. I could not believe it. Since then he has always slept on his tummy. I still have him next to my bed in his cosleeper beacause I wake up and peek at him throught the night. I am not comfortable moving him out of our room yet. He now sleeps from 9:30pm- 7am without waking up. He also weighs 16lbs so he has the calories to sustain a full nights sleep. My husband and I have always liked the lull of a fan so that has always been on in our room so maybe that helps Kirk sleep too. We do not use blankets when it is cold only sleep sacks. I also can now tell when he is tired during the day and I just lay him on his tummy and he will just lay there and whine himself to sleep in a few minutes. My back no longer hurts as much as it used too. Sorry if I am all over the place with this email but was in the same position as you not that long ago and wanted to share how we got Kirk to sleep throught the night. I was and still am just as scared about SIDS but now at 3 1/2 months he has wonderful head control and using the video monitor for naps makes me comfortable letting him sleep on his tummy. I almost forgot I hold him upright for at least 30 minutes after he eats for the reflux so maybe that helps him sleep too!
Hope this helps:)
-Meggin
That sounds like my 7 week old! Only, just the nighttime part. He is good about napping. I have to put him in the baby bjorn, bounce around and place a blowdryer ext to his ear many nights to get him to sleep. On top of that he’s had a stuffy nose from the dry air for over a month so he wakes up every 1-2 hours after around 2:00 am most nights because of that. I also co-sleep and I’ve also been told that if we put him in his own room it would be bettr. But I can’t stand the idea of him thrashing around trying to clear his nose so he can breathe without me thre to make sure he can! I am also fearful of going against the back to sleep nazis. I do use the alternative side-lying position and that helps his nose, but he is an active sleeper and rolls onto his back most of the time. It really is frustrating, but it will pass and he is so darn cute it’s hard to be upset about it!
I wish you the best of luck working it all out!!!
What worked for my daughter, and then 8 years later with my Jasper… Wear a tee-shirt all day ~ OK, honestly, as long as you can before you are desperate to get in a shower… Once the shirt is good and mama-stinky, put it in the crib with him when you put him down… The shirt smells like you, it’s cotton so it’s totally soft, and it will comfort him without you having to be there 24-7… it was the only trick that worked and made me not slit my wrists (joking, but you get the frustration level!) Change out the shirt every 3 or so days… you’re golden.
I can’t remember a thing about our kiddo’s sleeping, other than that I did get up to nurse, which really wasn’t so bad. Although he wasn’t the best sleeper, he wasn’t near the nightmare (sorry!) that GI Jasper is being for you. But our good experience with number 1 could be completely offset by what could happen with number 2: we just found out recently that I am with child! So I’ll keep ya posted. But by the time this sort of woe of yours is mine, you’ll be looooong past it–thankfully!
Hi!
Those early (sleep deprived) days are the hardest. We transitioned our 8-month-old Penelope to her own crib when she was a wee 6 weeks old. It was painful (mostly for me) but now she is a great little sleeper, and has slept through the night for quite awhile. I’d recommend a paci, white noise, and determination. Especially since he is a bit older, he might fight sleep… but it sounds like you both really need it!
Recently we shared a room (on vacation) with her and learned a valuable lesson. She shuffled and whimpered a bit at 3am, so I peeked over the edge of the pack-n-play because she woke me and I wanted to check her. She saw me, then started crying REALLY hard. I picked her up, and she smiled. We were up for two hours (in the MIDDLE of the night) trying to get her to go back down. It was really difficult. Those missed nighttime hours of sleep made her SO overly tired that naps were a mess the next day.
The next night we put her down, set up an air mattress in the next room, and all slept uninterrupted through the night. Separate rooms make all the difference, instead of continually waking eachother up, we’re able to shuffle about and fall back to sleep seamlessly. I really think that once you get his nights sorted out, everyone will be happier.
As for the tummy sleeping, I second the idea of giving the pediatrician a call to assuage your fears… it sounds to me he has the neck control to make it safe, but a confirmation could make you feel better.
Sorry for the novel… Good luck with Jasper!!
–Alicia
We moved Stella into her own room at 6 months of age. She still had a feeding around 4am. And even if she has a bad night and wakes a few times it is so much nicer having our room back. Imagine reading part of a book before you go to bed….leaving the light on..oh heaven!!
Love the latte video!
I put Little J on his tummy once (for the 1st time) last week, when I felt I had no other options because he was so tired but still crying. I had the same fear of God you mentioned, so after 45 minutes, I picked him up and turned him over and he stayed asleep on his back. He sleeps 6-8 hours a night now, on his back, and I am in heaven. I am not experiencing the 4 month wakeful, but I think I paid my dues, since he turns 5 months in a few days and this is my first opportunity feeling rested since August! I’m sure you’ve read that I’ve been concerned/frustrated.
So, my advice is follow your mommy instincts. Look at him, he’s perfect! You’re doing GREAT!!
I have nothing to add that hasn’t already been said so I will just say that Jasper is getting cuter by the day! Keep the pictures and videos coming.
I always learn something from your blog! Those mattress wraps are only $28! They make them for pack n plays too! Sorry, I have no sleep advice. Good luck!
My son was super fussy/colicky but at 5 months we let him cry it out. We also had him sleep in a room that was above our living room so he learned to sleep with noise. A few nights of crying then he learned to settle himself and has been a champion sleeper every since then. The colic also went away at the same time. My stepson coslept till he was 4 and we had a HORRIBLE time weaning him from it. He would stay awake on purpose till all hours making noise and even began sleepwalking! We all have to develop a self comforting way to go to sleep babies need this too!
First of all, huge congratulations to you jbhat!!!! :)
Second of all, sounds like we maybe need to consider transitioning Jasper into his own room. My hesitation has been that he doesn’t just sort of wimper and then go back to sleep.. he fusses while still asleep, and then will settle back down if you tend to him. If not, he starts all out crying and wakes up. Also, it’s usually gas or some sort of discomfort that is causing him to wake, if it were just normal waking I’d feel ok not “comforting” him.. but he nearly always has to fart or burp or something. I guess we could try it for one night..
As far as asking the pediatrician about tummy sleeping, I don’t think there is a health professional alive that will officially condone tummy sleeping for fear of a major lawsuit :)
Thank you everyone for sharing your stories.
the tummy sleeping thing is pretty interesting. it wasn’t too long ago when EVERYONE had their kid sleeping on their belly (like all 4 of my nephews.) it’s a tough call. I would do what feels right for you. sometimes, as you know, too much “knowledge” and information can be overwhelming. follow your instincts — that’s the correct answer.
love the video! what a handsome one!
Hey there! I just found your blog through the mom bloggers club. Welcome :)
I have a 27 month old little man. We moved him to his own room at 6 months. Before that he slept in a cosleeper attached to our bed. The change was made at 6 months because he was too big for the cosleeper… and he began sitting up.
To get him to go to sleep on his own I would put him in his crib… when he cried (he always did at first) I’d wait 3 minutes (seems like an eternity) then go in and console, but not pick him up… then I’d double it. 6 minutes before I went in… and so on. It never took more than 20 minutes.
My son didn’t have any tummy issues but he was a terrible sleeper. I put him in his own room when he was 6 weeks because every little noise he made woke me up. Like you, it took forever to get him to sleep, and when he woke I had to nurse him back to sleep. I usually just went to him and pulled him into the guestroom bed and nursed him there. We’d always fall asleep but I’d put him right back into his crib as soon as I woke up. DH wouldn’t let him cosleep with us because he’s a heavy sleeper and was afraid he’d roll over on top of DS. But after that first feeding it was up and down for the rest of the night. What it came down to was that when DS woke up he didn’t know how to put himself to sleep so he used nursing to do that.
After the 4 month wakeful period it all went downhill from there. He was waking several times a night and I was trying everything every book ever told me to do. Right before he turned 6 months we went on a trip and he started waking every half hour! I thought I was going to die. When we got back home I did CIO. I did start by going in every few minutes just to let him know I was there but he’d get furious that I wouldn’t pick him up and I stopped going in. It took about a week but it worked. I did still do two night feedings after that and I’d put him back in his crib immediately when he was done….awake! He quickly dropped the first night feeding and about two weeks later he dropped the 4am feeding. Now he’s a champion sleeper and he’s almost 2yo.
So that’s what we did but like I said, he didn’t have any tummy issues. I hope Jasper starts sleeping for you soon!
I have been perusing the responses as I am dealing with the 8 month old wakefulness. (I don’t think there is one, but we have had 8 months of sleepless nights). Miles does not roll over regularly from tummy to back and vice versa, but he can, and has extremely good head control. We found that putting him on his side (and then he rolls to the tummy) has helped. Our pedi strongly suggested with stick to his back, but she is not with us every night for the 4-5 times he gets up. We have a fan going, and his crib is extinct of any toys, blankets, etc.
It seems that everyone has their own arsenal of tools for getting babies to sleep. As someone who has not had sucess, I probably cannot provide great tips (I am looking for some!) but can offer support and reminders: breastfed babies are more likely to get up at night–and some research indicates that for them, a 4-5 hours stretch and then getting up is normal and expected. There is lots of information regarding co-sleeping/bed sharing versus crib sleeping, and I think ultimately it is a personal decision, but that trusting your intuition should guide much of your decision making. We finally moved Miles to a crib around 6 months, but he ends up in our bed most nights at around 3am.
Sleep training/CIO: I have been so tempted to try this, and fear that with each week that passes by, if I do engage on the journey, it will be worse. I know it works well for so many people, but I am not sure what is holding us back. I’ll be interested to read if you do utilize some sort of sleep training.
Good luck!
I read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and I thought it was pretty harsh for a little baby. Crying it out for an HOUR is really extreme to me. The Ferber method seems far more gentle with it’s graduated approach, and there are plenty of happy testimoials out there!
My little six-month-old nephew was terribly gassy and fussy until he started cereal mixed with breast milk at 4.5 months. The gassiness was over within a week, and everyone is sleeping better in their house. I know solid food is a big decision, but it’s something else to consider.
No advice, just empathy. Both my girls, who both have/had terrible reflux started sleeping on their tummies as soon as they were able to roll over. I used roll Chloe back over onto her back all night long and she would just roll right back over. When it suddenly occurred to me that it was stupid for us both to be up all night rolling and rolling back over, I stopped and she was fine. Ginger started rolling over onto her tummy at 5 months and preferred being there. I think it’s harder for her to throw-up that way. For both girls, when they were sleeping on their backs, they’d always wake up with throw up in their hair (and I was a nervous wreck every time I put them down for the night because I was afraid they would choke in the middle of the night!
As for sleeping through the night, except for when she’s had an ear infection, Chloe has slept through the night since she was four months old. Ginger has NEVER slept through the night (except for a handful of freak occurrences and she turned one back in August!) We’re having an especially hard time with her lately. She will not go down before 11 p.m. (and will scream and scream and scream if we attempt anything earlier – believe me – we’ve tried) and then she’s up again at 3 and up for good at 7. And she doesn’t nap. I’m seriously going to lose my mind.
Ali, I think there is an 8/9 month sleep regression. See here:
http://www.askmoxie.org/2006/02/qa_what_are_sle.html
Interesting about the solids Marybeth!
Stephanie, you poor thing! I must admit its a little disheartening to hear that the sleep problems don’t necessarily end.. ah well, by then I won’t remember what it’s like to sleep anyway ;)
Hi Ariana. My first child was born in 1978 (yes I’m old). At that time we were told the child should sleep on his back. Seven years later I had my second son and the doctors’ advice changed. Now children had to sleep on their stomach so they would not aspirate spit up. We also used bumpers and blankets.
Jasper is just beautiful.
I don’t have any pears of wisdom but I do have the angelcare monitor and use in my daughter’s bassinet and love it! You can probably set it up in your co-sleeper if that’s what you use. I sleep so much better knowing that it’s on for what it’s worth.
Congrats on the 4 hour stretches! You deserve this. And I agree with the PP, your son is so gorgeous!
We’re going through some sleep issues now with Sofia, who will be 7 months this Saturday (but was also born 5 weeks premature). She got her first tooth and I went back to work last week, and this has all coincided with some serious separation anxiety (my mother and mother-in-law are taking care of her), and at night, she’s gone from being a really good sleeper to waking up every hour or two and crying until I feed her, which I think is starting a bad habit. We did a little bit of sleep training (Ferberizing) a month or so ago for naps, and sometimes it worked, but other times she’d just get hysterical and I’d end up giving up and putting her on the boob or in the stroller again. I think we might have to do a little cry-it-out at night now to try to get her from being dependent on her new prop, but it’s so hard! She also sleeps in her swaddler and can’t be weaned of that yet, so no help there with the stomach sleeping…but we do have her in her own room, though I frequently end up there. Good luck with whatever you end up doing! It’s hard because there are so many different methods, but the one thing they all have in common is insisting that you need to choose a consistent approach…
Hi Ariana, I just started putting A to sleep on his tummy. (He’s coming up on four months old). I did it mostly because I want him to feel more comfortable on his tummy, and the flat spot on the back of his head is driving me CRAZY. But I started during a period when he was having a lot of tummy aches, and it totally helps with the gas, etc. So far, I just put him there for naps, but he still goes to bed at night on his back. I was worried at first, but he’s done fine. Good luck!
Hi! I just stumbled upon your site and just finished reading this post about sleep training. We trained our daughter at 3 months but did a combination of “Health Sleep habits, Happy Child” and “Baby Whisperer”. We did the cry it out method but did a “dream feed”(you feed them while they are half asleep to sustain them through the night) at 11:00pm every night for her until she was about seven months old. Worked like a charm! Olivia has been sleeping through the night since 3 months old and she’s now 22 months old. We’ve even just moved her into a toddler bed and the sleep training has DEFINITELY paid off because the transition was seamless. Good luck!
Hi there. I have a 6 month old and I feel your pain with the rocking to sleep for every nap and night. We did this for 3.5 months or so then did cry-it-out at that point after a horrible trip out of town where she wouldn’t go down after 2+ hours of rocking. I’m 34 so not the young sprite I once was so my back was totally killing me. I too thought baby would never be trained with CIO but after one day of her crying (it was a LOT) she was totally trained. Now when she waked up, I look at the clock and around 1.5 hours later, I watch for her yawns and sleepy eyes –put her in her swaddle (we only swaddle the legs) then stick her in her bed with the mobile on. She watches the mobile for a few minutes then saws logs. Let me tell you, once Jasper is trained it will be so liberating to just put him in the bed then walk away. It’s like heaven. We bought a mattress cover btw but really, I think the whole SIDS thing is so overblown. Babies probably have a much higher chance of harm from airplanes etc than SIDS, but I get it, I was there. You’re doing everything else right with the SIDS so I think putting him on his tummy would be fine. I wish you all the luck and godspeed.
Hi Everyone! I have a 10 week old and I’ve been trying to do a combo of the Baby Whisperer and Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child for 5 days now and I have to admit, there has been some slow progress. My DS wakes every 3 hours to feed and then I try to get him down at 1.5 hours after he wakes. Sometimes it’s easy, other times it takes up to 2-2.5 hours. Of course, he’s better during the day, and then he is wide awake at his 4AM feeding. I am slowly weaning him from his 1AM feeding with a pacifier. I just can’t stand to hear him cry, but if things don’t improve within a couple of weeks, I am going to attempt CIO, or partial extinction.
Katie, I was wondering, did you put your DD down to sleep with CIO after every feeding or just at her bedtime feeding? My DS goes to sleep easily after his bedtime ritual, but all the other times, he fights sleep and ends up crying so much that I pick him up. I usually feed and then play with him for an hour and then I want to just be able to put him down to sleep, but I’m not sure if I do it gradually or do I do it at every nap time for a couple of days.
Thank you! All the comments have been so resourceful to my sleep deprived body & brain.
Hi Ariana!
It’s Monica (Moni76 for the knot):)
Before I answer the questions let me first say that I love your blog! I read it religiously. I relate to you so much because my son Adam – who just turned seven months old has reflux. There are so MANY of your posts that I could of written myself word for word! Right at six months Adam’s issues went away – it was like a light switch was turned on. He’s now off zantac, doesn’t spit up anymore, STTN, and doesn’t have too many gas/tummy pains. As you see things DO get better and in just a few weeks you will be amazed at how different life with Jasper is. You will feel like you have a different baby! At least that is how i felt.
So getting to your questions…we started with the Baby Whisperer but had to make major adjustments due to my sons reflux. Adam did not nap anywhere but in my arms for the first four months – NOT by choice but it was the only thing that worked. At night he slept in a bassinet next to me, with the mattress super elevated but he still woke up several times fussing – the problem was almost always gas. Once his tummy was more developed, by five months of age, he started napping on our bed. After 3 weeks of seeing that he was sleeping on our bed without any problems and no wedge to incline him, we moved him to the crib and were able to follow the baby whisperer’s E.A.S.Y schedule with no problems. It took me about 1 week to get him to fall asleep in his crib for naps and at night time but he would always wake up once or twice in the middle of the night crying. I would walk in, sshshhh him, and put a paci in his mouth and that would do the trick. This however got old after a while. So I ended up doing FERBERS aka the cry it out method. I resisted it for a while but my friend convinced me that it worked so after an awful night of having to wake up several times to put the paci in my sons mouth, I woke up the next day and said to myself “ok no more, today is the day”! I did FERBERS once adam was off zantac(at exactly 6 months). I wanted to make sure that his crying wasnt related to his reflux or gas. It was absolutely heartbreaking but I was ready for the challenge. The most important thing i learned from Ferbers AND baby whisperer is that you cannot rock your child to sleep. If you let them fall asleep in your arms and then put them in the crib they will most certainly wake up. I’m sure you have already read this – I did – but i didnt want to believe it. Once we did Ferbers you have to put the baby in the crib while he is still awake – he can be groggy and half asleep but not fully asleep. Adam would cry as soon as I would put him down but I wouldnt pick him up. It was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life – to just let him lay there and cry but it only took TWO nights of doing this. By night #3, I laid him down and he didnt cry – he just rolled over and closed his eyes. From that night on I was a changed woman! :)
I ALWAYS lay him on his back but when he was at the peak of his reflux – when it was REALLY bad my pediatrician (who also had a baby with severe reflux) told me to put him on his tummy. Yes she actually said it! She said that it’s not recommended but it worked for her son so she told me to give it a shot. At the time, adam was in sleeping next to me so I felt safe trying it but Adam hated it. He hated being on his tummy (still does) but now that he rolls over, he ends up sleeping on his tummy. I’m not concerned about sids cause he is strong enough to move around and lift his neck. My sleep training advice to anyone is to have the monitor that has the video – it’s awesome to be able to see your baby without having to walk in and possibly wake them up due to a noise that you made. Also, have a noise machine, totally blackened out room, and prepare yourself mentally for the crying – it’s hard but you cannot give in -you have to tough it and stick to it if you decide to try it. Best of luck.
Hi Ariana!
What crib mattress did you get?
Thanks
Gwen
@Moni, its so good to hear from you! I’m so relieved that Adam’s reflux seemed to go away at 6 months.. there is hope for us! :) You are right about the video monitor, we LOVE ours!
@Gwen, it’s this one.
thanks! thats the one i was looking at. did you buy any of the mattress pads from the same line?
Gwen, I didn’t, but I don’t think they were available until recently.. I was just looking at them, I might get one too!