Major Sleep Issues with DD-WWYD

Wow, i am at a loss..maybe i am doing something wrong? My DD is just over 7 months..she fights naps like i have never seen, i even tried CIO at night because she will go down and wake up at like midnight and then like every 2 hours...i tried to feed her-sometimes hungry but not always...i upped her food during the day...in the nightwakings, i will let her go and she will play in the crib for over an hour at a time..no toys or anything in there she just moves and rolls..so, then she gets upset and starts screaming..i let her go and she makes herself throw up..i have tried several times but by the throw up point i just dont have it in me..she is teething, bottom 2 are in but doc said top 2 should be coming in soon, well, that was a month ago!!! I am wondering what i am missing...naps, she will go down some days but most she will fight like i have never seen, scream her lungs out after a half hour and want nothing to do with going back down, even though totally tired! She has a little temper, lol...or should i say very strong willed! It is really taking a toll on me, i work full time and seriously have no clue what to do!!!! She has been doing this for months...she slept through the night from month 3-5 and now for months has been like this..i figured i would get a break but man, i dont know if i can do this anymore!!!! No sleep for months is tough...

Re: Major Sleep Issues with DD-WWYD

Can you post her schedule for me- naps/bedtime, etc?

Re: Major Sleep Issues with DD-WWYD

Trust me, I know how you feel and how exhausted you are. I’ve been there many many times over the past year. Ds was always a horrendous sleeper and both my husband and I work FT. Months 3-5, he was a catnapper and would only nap in his swing. Then the swing wasn’t cutting it and we’d have to walk around the house bouncing him. But the 2 minute process soon became 20 minutes as time went on. It was exhausting and because he was a catnapper it felt like we spent the whole day doing it, not to mention he got heavier and heavier as time went on. Finally at 5 months old, we did CIO for naps. Best thing we ever did. The first time he cried for 40 minutes before falling asleep. Within 3 days, he started going down without a peep, thank god. Ds was also not sleeping at night either (would wake 5 times a night) which was the result of his short naps and vice versa. It was awful.

At 5 ½ months, we did CIO at night. We got it down from 5 wakings to 1 feeding a night. But each time he got sick, we were at square one again and had to do CIO all over again.

Okay LONG story, short… at night here is what I’ve done. She is clearly waking out of habit and for comfort, right? As soon as you pick her up, she stops crying right? What I did was gradually reduce the ounces in his bottles at night until he got down to 2 ounces and not even finishing it. Obviously he wasn’t waking out of hunger. Then we did CIO so we knew it wasn’t about hunger and didn’t have the guilt that we were starving him.

Forget the teeth! Ds got his first 2 teeth at 8 months and his top 2 starting coming down about 2 weeks ago (he’s 12+ months). They’re always teething if you ask me. Ha!

Clearly she is very overtired. Overtiredness leads to more night wakings and the fact that she’s not good at sleeping at night OR daytime… is not good.

I hate to say it, but unless there is a schedule problem of hers… you might have to do CIO for daytime and nighttime. I know you said she throws up, but when she does that… you go clean her up, clean up her crib and put her back. The more you go right in and soothe her back to sleep after she throws up… the more you’re teaching her that that is all she has to do to get her way. KWIM?

Re: Major Sleep Issues with DD-WWYD

Schedule, lol?! We have been trying for months..my nanny has 17 years with babies and cant get her down at all on one..it is awful...
she wakes anywhere from 445-6..usually around 515...she was going down at 630 but because of the nap issues she takes later ones sometimes and i have to push it to 730...she just wont go down as early...
in the am, she is usually down for a nap 2.5 hours after waking...she will take 1.5 hours..does great...lately...up say 930 so we try to push her to 1230 bc when she would go at 12, she would be up by 1 and refused to take another...so, we were trying to get her to go later etc...well, still isnt working...one day she will do a good hour, the next we are lucky to get 30 minutes...then it is a battle, she squirms screams, makes herself sick if you try to put her down...i have honestly never seen a baby do this nor has my nanny so we dont know what to do..if we do CIO she throws up within 10 minutes..she is beside herself...

Re: Major Sleep Issues with DD-WWYD

I know how you feel. I'm dealling with this right now. We're on day 7 of CIO and my DS still cries for at least a half hour in the crib (last night he woke at 245AM and cried on and off till 430AM).

Its insane. I'm sticking with the CIO (I've put in a full week). I don't know how far until I'll give up.

All I can offer is

Re: Major Sleep Issues with DD-WWYD

I gave up on CIO because my DD (7 months now) would cry and cry and cry and I just felt I was doing more harm than good. If she resists a nap or sleep, I don't force her. But I don't let her play either. I will nurse her, hold her, put on an Einstein video, anything relaxing until she passes out. A stroll in her stroller or a car ride will knock her out if she is tired. I dont do that for bed time, but for naps. At night, I nurse her until she falls asleep. She usually sleeps through until anywhere between 3 and 6. (But she often refuses to sleep in her crib before 9:30/10. If I put her in the crib before then, even if she is asleep, she wakes up in 5 min-30 min crying and the process starts all over.) When she wakes up between 3 and 6 am, I bring her into my bed, nurse her, and depending on the time and how quickly she falls asleep, I sometimes let her spend the rest of the night there and sometimes put her back in the crib.

Re: Major Sleep Issues with DD-WWYD

Okay so let me get this straight… she’s 7 months old.

-She wakes at 5:15am.
-Naps at 7:30am for 1 ½ hours.
-Wakes at 9:30
-Nap at 12:30 for maybe an hour

What time does she go to bed?

Honestly, she’s not napping enough and it sounds like you’re keeping her awake too long. Now I know every kid is different, but at 7 months, my son was still taking 3 naps a day and I ‘think’ he could only stay awake 2 hours in between. Maybe 2 hours and 15 minutes in between naps.

Also if he’s waking from her nap at 1:30-2… what time is bedtime? Chances are going from 2pm until say 7pm for bed is just way too long for her to be awake.

Re: Major Sleep Issues with DD-WWYD

Okay i found my sons 7 1/2 month old schedule from an old post...

Here is his normal schedule:

6:30 wakeup and has 6-7 oz bottle

7:45 has fruit and yogurt

8:45 nap for an hour

9:45 has 6 ounce bottle

11:00 has fruit and veggie

11:45/12 naps for an hour and a half

1:30 has 6 ounce bottle

3:30 naps for 30 min to an hour

4:30 has 6 ounce bottle

5:30 has fruit/veggie

5:45pm bathtime

6:30pm bedtime

*as for activities… we don’t have a set schedule with that. It goes from him walking around the house in his walker (more like chasing our cats and dog), to playing on the activity mat, jumper, exercauser, books, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, going outside to throw the ball to our dog, going for a walk or running errands.

ETA: ds is 7 1/2 months old.

Re: Major Sleep Issues with DD-WWYD

Yeah, she is a little over 7 months..on days she is up at 1ish i put her down by 615-630...i am beat..lol...maybe i should go back to 3 naps and see what she wants..when we did every 2 hours she napped for 30 min and that was it? I may give it a try again!

Re: Major Sleep Issues with DD-WWYD

I agree with PP. She needs another afternoon nap. 5 hours is too long for her to go without sleeping.

Does she give you any cues?

Re: Major Sleep Issues with DD-WWYD

Re: Major Sleep Issues with DD-WWYD

so, i finally got her down for a nap at 355..do i wake her up at like 445 to get her back down by 745? I just think she could go hours at this point...

Re: Major Sleep Issues with DD-WWYD

My DD is only 5 months old, but I would say your DD definately needs another afternoon nap! 1:30-6 is along time for her to be up. If you can get the nap situation straightend out she will probably most likely sleep better at night.

Before coming back to work last week, this was DD's schedule at home with me.

Wakes - 6:30-7:00am - 6 oz bottle (she used to go back to sleep after this, but she stopped that within the past 3 weeks).


9-9:15ish - goes down for a nap
Wakes between 10:30-11:00 (the other day she went to 11:30, but I actually woke her from that nap, she could have gone longer!)

10:30-11:00 - 6oz bottle
This is when we'd get out of the house, after this bottle.

She'd catnap around 12:30-1:00 for 20 minutes or so.

1:30/2:00 - 6oz bottle
2:30/3:00 - nap

She used to sleep until 6 or 6:30, but I don't allow that anymore, if she is not up from this nap by 5:30, I wake her up.

5/5:30 - 6oz bottle

7:00 - bathtime
7:30 - 6oz bottle
7:45ish - bed

She is sleeping through the night.

She is in daycare now and not napping well, so I let her nap in the car and if she's still sleeping when we get home around 5:40-5:45, I let her sleep in the carseat until 6:15ish.