Hellobee Boards

DD has/had a hard time sleeping. She just wasn't/isn't into it. I am the same way (well, not anymore!) Does your LO sleep in the car or stroller? We have had to use the ergo as well.

Oh geez, I couldn't read sleepy cues past 3 months. She just seemed to stop doing it. So if you are a failure, then so am I. What I did was play with the times. At 5 months, you are aiming for the two hour wake time max (according to Oh geez, I couldn't read sleepy cues past 3 months. She just seemed to stop doing it. So if you are a failure, then so am I. What I did was play with the times. At 5 months, you are aiming for LO to be asleep by 2 hours max
(According to https://docs.google.com/document/d/11GHo4keUb2TVJUlSL1kD6HQcEgaNFBmzoQoOzcpcyas/mobilebasic?authkey=CPXE1bsO&pli=1&hl=en). If you think that's too long, put her down 15 min earlier and see what happens. Maybe her max wake time is 1 hr 45 min or 1 hr 30. My LO needed to be asleep at 1 hr 45 at that age. If you can't read her cues, go by the clock.

Other thing I'm thinking is could she be teething? My LO's sleep when just stupid when she teethed the first time.

The overtiredness cycle is the devil! Ugh. What worked for me when my LO wouldn't sleep was either swing or... the ultimate secret weapon... baby wearing in the baby k'tan or once she got a little older, the ergo. Hope you can get her on a schedule or something soon!

@abbydabbydoodlebug: Hopefully that works! The other thing I thought of was that somewhere around that age, my LO didn't want to be helped to sleep anymore. I used to rock and sing to her until she was drowsy and then she'd go to sleep. But then she started to cry and cry and it would take 20-30 min to get her to sleep. Eventually, I just put her in her crib (thinking that if she's going to cry anyways, she might as well do it in her crib), and she was out in 10 min. Way faster than when I was rocking her. The next nap, I put her in her crib and she was asleep in 5. So, if the get-baby-more-sleep-to-get-rid-of-overtiredness plan doesn't work, that might be something else to try.

Good luck! I hope she has a big long nap!

@abbydabbydoodlebug: i support you on the birthday present idea! my friend used a sleep consultant--one that actually came to her house for 5 nights. definitely was not cheap but she says it was the best money she ever spent.

i think it's up to you whether you go in right when she wakes up or you wait a little. no harm in waiting if she's amusing herself, still waking up, etc.

that's a good sign she's waking up and not crying right away--that could mean that she's gotten good rest. a 1.5 hour nap is awesome!

how much of a time lag is there between when you see her wake up on the monitor and when you go in to get her? in any case, timing it from when you go to get her makes sense, at least logistically, because when you see her awake on the monitor but quiet, it isn't clear when exactly she woke up. so if timing it from when you go in is easier for you, then stick with it.

one other thing, sorry for the novel--my LO's awake time lagged behind that of the google doc. i used to try and rely on that, but was finding that LO's manageable awake time was shorter than the average range, and he needed more sleep than babies of a similar age. i felt "pressured" for LO to keep up with the pack, but in hindsight that was silly. i felt i was doing something wrong in that LO needed more sleep, but that's how it was. of course he still had problems going to sleep.

@abbydabbydoodlebug: whoohoo!

@abbydabbydoodlebug: I reached the end of my rope when LO was six months old. We got the sleep sense book and it helped. We had a week of getting used to it and LO took to it beautifully. We still have some bad nights, but they are a few times a month, not every night and only when she is teething or something. It doesn't hurt to look into it.

@Grace: SUPER helpful chart!!!