In the meantime, our plumbing job wasn't so "plumb" and now we have water leaking out of our new dishwasher. We don't know whether it is a problem with the way things were hooked up or if we just have bad pipes. Oh, the joys of homeownership.
Last weekend the drywall guy brought his two kids to the house with him. Ed took pity on them and brought them over to our old house to play with Samuel. They went to the park, ate a snack and lunch, and played toys with Sam. I think we ended up watching them for about 4 hours. Here they are in the living room:
I am also having a terrible time with Joel and his sleep habits. Now, I fully admit that is is 99% my fault. He pretty much has to be held to sleep.
And he is sleeping with us at night. Our crib is still not put together (waiting on the carpet guys) and so Samuel is sleeping in the pack n' play. This leaves Joel with no bed to sleep in. I'm at a loss as to what to do about things. Our doc said to wait until 4 months to go with Cry It Out. Any great suggestions? Please give me practical, step-by-step advice if you have any. I've gone back and read all of the most popular books on the subject, but don't feel like I walk away with concrete steps. Let me know...
8 comments:
Why are you waiting until four months to let him cry it out. We trained our son to sleep through the night by 2 months, and it wasnt hard at all,about 10 minutes of crying for a few nights. It wont hurt them to let them cry earlier than 4 months old.
Does he sleep on his stomach or back? Just curious since in the picture he's basically on his stomach on Ed's lap. I know with Mackenzie she slept so much better on her stomach....even though everyone says to put them on their back. Just another idea...
Hi Leah,
Noah was addicted to his swing in the early days. He would not sleep during the day if he wasn't swinging. He was always fine at night for some reason.
Anyways, we started weaning him off of the swing at about three months. We started off by putting him in his crib for his first am nap. I know he fussed for a while at first (I'm not sure how long b/c I would always get in the shower after I put him down). Once he had gotten used to the am nap in the crib, we then switched his first pm nap to the crib. I kind of cheated with this one since I had Chris' mom handle that transition while I was at school. I couldn't take it again! Anyways, I don't think I could've done CIO at night at three months, though--mainly b/c when they're so young they do need to eat at night. During the day, it wasn't so bad because I knew that he wasn't hungry since he had just eaten.
When my sister was transitioning Cooper out of her bed, she started by putting him in the bassinet basket in their bed, then moving the bassinet next to their bed, then moving the bassinet away from the bed but still in the room, and finally the bassinet basket to the crib. It was a process, but it worked for them!
I also got one of those sound machines (they have them at Wal-Mart for $10) and put it on the waterfall setting and turned it up really loud. He really found white noise soothing--still does, actually. I don't know if Joel would or not, but he may if he sleeps on you while you're doing other things and is used to some noise.
Sorry for being lengthy! All things aside, Joel is SO precious!!! Congrats on your new place as well!
My main problem is that Joel cries his head off anytime he is put down to sleep. He also just cries a lot in general. I've tried putting him down when he is awake but sleepy, putting him down after he's fallen to sleep, laying down with him to fall asleep and then walking away, etc. Nothing seems to work. He just starts screaming and is seriously full-throttle upset. It's not like this little "fussing" or "whimpering" it is mad as heck, red faced, SCREAMING. I think he would actually sleep through the night pretty well - he does well even with sleeping in our bed. I only nurse him once, maybe twice. The problem is more with napping properly.
We were told to wait until 4 months b/c he could organize his sleep better at that point. And I felt bad about doing it earlier. BUT, I know that it would benefit him to sleep properly b/c he is so disorganized in sleep and it is SERIOUSLY stressing me out (and Samuel too).
He won't sleep on his stomach, but he does like sleeping in the football hold like that. But he goes crazy if you put him on his belly. I've tried!
Any more ideas?
Hmmm...I think it's just gonna come down to whenever you're ready to see how long he really cries full throttle. He may sound like he could go on & on when he gets upset like that, but unless you're willing to let him cry a little while (10 - 15 min??), you may never know how long he will actually last. You might be surprised that even though he sounds so upset, he would only last 5-10 minuntes because it would be hard to stay that upset & cry that hard for very long at his age. So I guess I'm suggesting cry it out, but not for like an hour or anything like that. If he really can last more than 15 minutes, then I'm not sure what to tell you!! Guess you just have a stubborn little boy on your hands :)
Wish I had better advice, but I'm just afraid that anything else is just pacifying him until you have to resort to crying it out anyways.
Ruth,
I have tried giving him time to see if he would settle himself down. A few times I've done 2 15 minute sessions. He will scream for 15 minutes, I go in and soothe him (picking him up) then lay him back down and he screams for another 15 minutes. At that point I feel bad and pick him up. I don't know how long he can go b/c I've never made him go longer than 20 minutes at a stretch. But he doesn't tire out during the 20 minutes - not like he settles down and then starts up again. It is just screaming and hard crying the whole time.
I guess I just don't know if I'm prepared to let him cry for 60 minutes at naps and as long as it takes at nighttime (the usual prescription for CIO) b/c he's so little and it doesn't seem like he's going to give in easily. I was hoping to find some baby steps to take so that at 4 months we could do the CIO and it would be successful.
yikes! Yeah, I wouldn't let him cry for any longer than about 15 minutes at his age. I never did with my kids. Like I've said before, my idea of CIO at a young age was only like 10-15 minutes and that was always long enough.
I'm not sure what to tell you! Sorry! Looks like you've just got a stubborn little boy on your hands! :)
Okay...so I posted my thoughts on another blog post "about the treats"...and just for your encouragement on CIO...Our Katie is a passionate little girl..We have worked and worked on her sleeping. My comments about putting her down really eary for her bedtime are the best thing I have found. It took about 4 nights of this, but really everything else started to fall into place. And Katie has successfully screamed like you are saying Joel does, on time for 2 hours. It was a very low point, but I needed some time with Jesus. And SHE IS ALIVE, and STILL A very happy baby. Just so you know, Katie is not harmed at all for crying. I would work on CIO at nighttime (though I know it is very hard to listen too!)and then when he is sleeping well then, work on naps. Give yourself grace Leah, you're doing the best you can...The Lord will answer I just know it!
Sorry for all the rambling...hope it helps at least a little bit!
Gi
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