Mama Looking for Advice

Posted by  | Friday, April 4, 2008  at 2:14 PM  
Hi ladies! There is a sub-conversation going on in the comments of my post for this week about newborn sleep that I thought I would bring up to a post so more mamas would participate. Here is the latest comment:

"I haven't read the book you suggested [Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child], but I have heard really good things about it. I did Baby Wise with Luke and we loved it, so did he :)I know there are so many different views on the CIO and I am at a crossroads right now with David...like I said, it worked really well for us with Luke but he was 9 weeks (can be a big difference than 4 weeks). Just for more info if anyone has any advice...he is discontent to be held to go to sleep. When he does fall asleep during the day he is not sleeping long at all. He eats well on a pretty descent schedule. Gaining weight. Good diapers. Does not seems gassy. Just TIRED!! Any advice is welcomed. Thanks!!"

To sum up, Shannon's second son David is 4 weeks old and she is wondering about using Cry It Out with him. She has been doing CIO but isn't seeing the same amount of success as she did with her first, Luke, at 9 weeks old.

I am not an advocate of CIO at this young of an age, but I know there are other moms out there that have tried it. Could some of you please comment and help Shannon out?

Thanks!

6 comments:

MMS said...

We went through a time where Noah did not sleep during the day well at all. It was the worst at about 4-6 weeks and got better at about 8weeks. During that 4-6 week trial, I bought they _Healthy Sleep Habits_ book. The author explained the "six-week peak" meaning that most babies gradually become wakeful and fussy when they come out of the newborn fog. The wakefulness and fussiness peaks at six weeks and gradually subsides. During that time, we put Noah in the swing for naps because that was the ONLY way he would sleep during the day. That was the one no-no since the Heathy Sleep Habits guy says that motionless sleep is best, but we had to do it. We had to gradually wean him off of the swing later, but the swing is what got us through. I also used a lot of white noise (hair dryer, sound machine) to help soothe him. Essentially, we survived until the six-week peak was over! That was our experience!

Ruth Palmer said...

My question would be how long are you letting him CIO? We used CIO w/all 3 of our kids, but at 4 weeks old, the CIO only consisted of about 5-10 minutes. If they were still crying at that point, I usually knew something was wrong. Like a dirty diaper or hungry...

If nothing is wrong, I'm not sure what to tell you. Do you have him sleeping in your room? That's another thing we never had any of our kids sleep in our room - they were in their own crib from night 1 just so they got used to it & it seemed to help them sleep better. (maybe because of the consistency?) Actually I slept better too because I didn't hear EVERY little noise they made, and I only got up to feed them when they cried for more than a couple minutes. It's amazing how many times they would settle themselves down if I didn't hop right up & feed them every time they made a little peep.

So, I'm not sure what exactly to tell you, but hopefully you'll figure something out! Keep us posted!

tenjuices said...

Ladies? Why is everything addressed to women on this site?What about us men who read the blog.
Sincerely,
Hugh Carson

Ruth Palmer said...

nice try Ed!

Rachael Davis said...

I agree that your little one seems to be a bit young for an official cry it out. Perhaps a little time to fuss and settle himself to sleep, but your little one has no other way to communicate with you right now besides crying. Lest you think I'm in opposition to cry it out, we used it with our daughter beginning around 4 months because we had to. I would have rocked her to sleep forever, but she was fighting it, and I knew she had to learn to put herself to sleep. With the next one, we'll begin immediately putting them down awake but sleepy.

Ruth and Mary had some wonderful ideas/suggestions...another thought I had was swaddling. Our little girl was very aware/alert, and swaddling always seemed to help settle her down.

Shannon Bradley said...

Everyone's suggestions have been such an encouragement...thank you for taking the time to respond. I am excited to try a few new things with David. Ruth, I am glad you brought up the sleeping location, because he is in our room, whereas Luke was out after week one. We only have a 2 bedroom and adjoining neighbors so we thought our room was best for now. I think we may try the hallway or something! Thanks!!
It is good to know others have had the same experience. Sometimes you just need to hear it. :)

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