Rage, rage against the dying of the light...
Sleep has remained a complex event in our house. Night sleep has been difficult since four months. Day sleep has it's good and bad moments. One thing we could always count on was our boy going to bed. He's always been No Story, Sleep NOW.
Not anymore.
Finn is consolidating into one nap and it's wreaking havoc with bedtime. Our sweetness who used to nurse to sleep now kicks and pushes and wiggles until I hold him so he can't move and he ends up screaming himself to exhaustion. Then he can finally nurse to sleep.
M. and I are adamantly against leaving Finn to cry but lately I feel useless as our son screams in my arms. I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing is different except that he's wrapped tightly in my embrace as he sobs and sobs and sobs. I'm not sure me being there is making any difference at all.
We've always been good at stopping and taking inventory, so that's what we've done. I can't force Finn to cry anymore just so he can work out his frustration and pent up energy. It's breaking my heart. So we're seriously analyzing how we do bedtime, when we do bedtime and trying to figure out what we can do to help our boy.
Hopefully Finn just has to get past this and then he'll go back to No Story, Sleep NOW! But if he doesn't, we'll keep handling him with love and gentleness as we shepherd him to sleep as well as through life.
posted by Sacha @ 9:04 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
It took us a while to figure out the new routine when Erik started giving up one of his naps too. We did figure it out eventually and he now sleeps well both at night and for his afternoon nap. (The morning nap is history.)
He also sometimes has those nighttime screaming moments you're describing. He hasn't in a while but we've definitely experienced them several times. We discovered that he really didn't want to be held. It pissed him off more. He did much better if we just put him down in his crib and stayed in the room until he calmed down. We were still right there. The difference in the time it took to get him back to sleep was major - an hour if we tried to hold him; 2-5 minutes if we put him back down. Not saying that will work for Finn, but that's what worked for our boy.
Good luck in finding the new bedtime/ naptime routine.
Would it be possible to start the bedtime routine earlier? He may be so tired from only one nap that by the time he gets to nursing time he can't make heads or tails of anything (even the boob!).
The thing that's great about you guys is that you are willing to try something different when what you're doing isn't working anymore. I hope you guys get this bump smoothed out soon.
the advice given sounds great. earlier bedtime, not holding him. I would recommend trying those things too.
Bedtime can suck sometimes. I hope it all works out smoothly in the end.
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