Crying it out

I had similar problems with the second nap of the day when my daughter was a about 7 motnhs. She would go down for her morning nap and at night time without a fuss but the sleep after lunch was a nightmare.

I resorted to giving her lunch and then giving her a quick bath, sometimes even in the sink, and more or less doing exactly as I would do for her evening routine. It worked for her, gradually we stopped having to put her in the sink(!!!) and we now manage about 2 hours sleep after lunch.

I don't know if that's of any help, just an idea.
 
That's an interesting idea. I'll give that a go and see if it works. Did you have issues getting her past 40 minutes?
 
Before we tried this yes. She would usually go down without too much trouble but be awake after 45mins- 1hour. She would then cry/chat/ entertain herself for the rest of her nap time. It was a last resort for us and I think my husband thought I was mad and should just accept her nap would be 45mins (easy to say from the office! and not having to deal with a long afternoon and overtired baby). It worked for us, so maybe worth a try... at least its something new to try!
 
milkmonster, thanks for the suggestion ......i think u could be right about him being hungry....maybe tomorrow i will give him more dinner and little more milk at bedtime and see what happens.//////today when he woke up at 6.00 am i tried like u said to give him his milk earlier and see if he went back to sleep but he just kept crying and when i picked him up he was readyu to play ....so i guess it could be hunger.....wish me luck!!
 
putput, thanks for sharing yr schedule....i don;t think i am a great expert but just giving you mine so u can compare and maybe pick up something.
6.00-wake up
6.00 - 7.00 - playtime with mummy trying to doze off inbetween
7.00- milk
7.00-8.30 - change, play
8.30 - stroller walk to his bro's school
9.00- breakfast
9.40-nap for 40 mins to an hour
10.45 -bath
11.00= milk
11.15-12.15 - play
12.30- lunch (very very little) - do u think this is too close to milk time?
12.45-13.45-play
13.45-nap for 40 mins to an hour
15.00 - milk
15.00 -18.00-play witha small snack in between
18.00- dinner
18.00-18.45 - play
19.00 - milk and sleep till morning

reason i am emphasising on playtimes in my schedule so that u see if yr baby is getting enough of it too......normally the 3-5 pm block i try taking my kids out to the playground /elsewhere so that they r both happily tired when they come home.
 
putput, i read yr schedule again, i think 11.30 to 12.00 is too short a gap for yr baby to get tired.....u need atleast an hour;s gap with full crawling and playtime before she is really ready for a nap.
 
good luck putput! nap time is the only time i get a break so i totally feel for you! Agree with mushi that your baby needs at least 1hr of real playtime/stimulation to get tired out but if you're sure that's not it, then hopefully Nics suggestion will work!!!

mushi, i usually feed solids first and then top up with milk. that way i know he is really full. how much solids is he taking each meal? if your baby isn't taking a lot of solids, it could be a sign that you need to space out the milk or switch to feed solids first. For my elder son, I dropped formula at 12mths so by 10mths, he was on a mostly solids diet with milk top up after meals and at snack and bedtime. I plan to do the same with my younger son.
 
Hi there,

After her morning nap she is getting approx 1.5 hours of playtime so it's not that. Mushi, my daughter is getting approx same amount of sleep as your little one but do you feel that's enough as my concern is my daughter's not getting as much sleep as I feel would benefit her throughout the day. Does your son not get grumpy/irritable from 1.5-2 hours of sleep only during the day as my problem is that my daughter does so clearly needs more sleep? i can get her to sleep for her naps by rocking her; it's getting her to sleep without rocking that's causing the problem!

Ok, now, I'm off in 2 weeks for a break to see my family. I don't really fancy having her cry throughout the day while training her so do I now wait till I get back or do you think 2weeks is enough to get this sussed?

Btw, you've all been absolute stars for being so helpful and taking time out to help me get this sorted!
 
"I don't really want her crying throughout the day while training her" - I was referring to during my holiday.
 
putput, my son used to wake up EVERY HOUR at night and he would be cheerful during the day inspite of that so i really can;t complian about him being cranky with a FULL NIGHT's sleep and 2 hrs daytime naps.....to answer yr question i think some babies need lessser sleep that others.....i would like to think that way instead of coaxing/forcing themt o sleep for another sleep cycle.....sometimes however when he wakes up in just 30 mins at afternoon nap i ask my helper to rock him back to sleep......this is more for me so taht i get more time to myself cause i know that if i dont do that extra sleep cycle he would be just as fine!! so pls. check if yr baby really needs extra daytime sleep? one thing i read in one of yr comments is that yr baby wakes up at night 2-3 times.....now how long is she awake at that time? cause mine sleeps thru the night ..i would say 2 weeks is enough time to adjust her to a new schedule --- infact my baby got it in 2-3 days and i was in a similar situation like yours.....i completely enjoyed my trip after the initial period of adjustment.....since i had scheduled every hour for my baby, i knkew when to stay at home and when to plan actvities outside with friends leaving a helper behind.....so pls. do work it out now before u leave.
my own personal suggestion is that u ensure she sleeps thru the night by herself.......daytime u can manage rocking her to sleep if self-soothing is getting too difficult to achieve after 3-4 days.......all the best!
 
so did the bath help?

agree with mushi that some babies just need less sleep than others, both my kids are really unmanageable if they don't get enough sleep.

I found once i was able to sort out the night sleeping - as in, no wake ups, the day time naps went better as well and were more consistent. sorry i must have missed that your baby still wakes in the night. if it were me, i would work on fixing that first because somehow it does affect everything else. including appetite (my sons don't eat well if they're tired) and general mood. how do you get her back to sleep in the middle of the night?

for us, and i have 2 really fantastic sleepers now, it took a really long time for both of my sons to get into a good sleeping routine, nearly 2mths. but each child is different and my younger one requires much less sleep (i can hear that he wakes up once in the early morning and then will babble back to sleep) than the older one and can overall cope better when he's tired.

is there any time change for your travel? when we travel, we are more flexible and don't stick with our schedule. I would suggest you stick with it for the next 2 weeks but be flexible but as close to your home schedule as possible. if you're too stressed about it, you won't be able to enjoy your holiday and the whole point is to have a good time and relax. you can resume your sleep training when you get back. who knows, by then your baby may have gotten the hang of it. My elder son learned to sleep through in canada and came back to hk without too much trouble...well again a few weeks but that was not too much trouble by our standards for him.

i'd work on getting her to sleep through the night during the next 2 weeks and see if it helps the day time naps.
 
Hi both,

No issues with nighttime sleeping. She sleeps through the night : 6.45pm-6am. That post may have been when she was 8 months and I'd just started sleep training or when she had an ear infection, although when I started sleep training her for daytime naps, she did start waking up crying at night but would settle after 20 mins. Her mood also changed during the day - she was miserable! ...and she had way more bowel movements, for some reason, especially when I would leave her to cry. When I caved in a few days back, I haven't gone back to day training as I wanted to hear back as to whether 2 weeks is enough time to get daytime naps sorted. I'm definitely keen on Nic's idea so will be giving that a go but is 2 weeks enough time as I don't want to be 'training' at my parent's place and confusing my daughter even more? Mushi, apologies if it came across like I was implying your son is not getting enough daytime sleep as that certainly wasn't my intention. I meant to say that my daughter definitely needs more as she wakes up crying from her afternoon nap (and looks like we would if we'd been woken suddenly in the middle of the night) and is shattered by around 4pm.
 
oh putput, if my son wakes up crying, it usually means he didnt get enough sleep....i will go in, calm him with a hug and a few pats and then leave the room. he would cry but eventually fall back to sleep and wake up babbling. your daughter sounds like shes tired...

mine took longer than 2weeks to stop crying before bedtime...but if you have the am nap sorted and its just the pm nap youre working on i think 2weeks should be enough time. i say stick with it!
 
aaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!
Having given you my advice and deciding to let my part time helper look after my daughter while she had her 2hour lunch nap (which she has every day give or take 5 minutes) so I could go out baby-free, for the first time in months...... she woke up and the helper called me after 30minutes.
I am SO disappointed! Sat here now listening to her cry, dreading how long this afternoon could be!
 
Oh no! Sorry to hear that. It's so tough especially when it all seems like it's sorted out! Hope she settled quickly.
 
oh no! hope she sorts it out soon!!

they are always like that!!! always go to bed without a fuss, but if i make plans, there will be something that comes up, poop, not wanting to sleep...something that will make us really late for whatever we planned on doing that night....

don't give up! try an outing again soon!!!
 
hey putput..absolutely no offense taken, i did not even think like that!! so r u continuing with CIO or not?
Milk monster, your suggestion on feeding more milk/food to my son at night worked! although he still wakes up at 6.00 am he does not wake up yelling but he starts with babbling and after 10 mins lets out a small shout.......my question do i go to him while he is babbling or when he starts shouting.....would he feel he needs to always shout/cry to get my attention?.,,,,but a BIG THANK YOU before that.
 
great!!! i am so happy it worked for you too!!!

What happens after the big shout? does he go straight to crying or does he babble more? If my sons were crying, i would always try to wait until there was a lull in the cry before i went in to get them. We always try to get the kids before they start really complaining or crying so they don't learn to do that for us to come into the room. so yes, if he's complaining after the big shout, then yes go in and get him when he is babbling. if you are trying to extend his wake up to 7, then wait until the very last minute before he complains, you can tell if you listen to his babbling, it will get more annoyed sounding and go in before he complains. you are basically trying to extend his patience. by getting him just before he gets upset, he will learn that and trust that you will come to get him at the right time and that he should just wait for you. you will find after a week or so, he will babble for longer and be happy to wait for you. well...that's what happened for us so hopefully it happens for you too!!!

xx
 
sorry forgot to mention too that anytime my kids wake up earlier than usual, or wake in the night, i always assume it's because they need more food the next day and always let them eat as much as they want at each meal. i think kids know how much they need.

As long as it's before bedtime, they can basically eat as much as they want. for example, 9mth old son seemed really hungry when drinking his last milk before bed at 7,he slurped up the bottle and looked unsatisfied so i fed him some rice cereal and he ate 50ml of it until he turned his head away, then I offered him some more milk just to make sure he didn't want any more. he drank maybe 10ml and didn't want anymore so i know he is really full. i then put him to bed as usual. it must be a growth spurt or something because that is a lot of extra food for him. but i'm sure if i didn't do that, that he'd wake up at night (he doesn't cry at night anymore but sometimes he will be restless and i can hear he is not sleeping deeply) or earlier in the morning because of hunger.

This method has worked for both my sons and basically solved any of our sleep issues.
 
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