Anna in her Rock n' Play. She slept well here for a while. Things went downhill when we made the move to the crib.
I will not lie. I am not one to gush over rocking my baby for hours on end, especially in the middle of the night. And this one, our third baby Anna, may have needed the most middle of the night rocking yet. She is wearing me out!
I am editing this to add that although this is tough for me, I am thankful for those times of just me and her with no siblings to interrupt. Getting to pray for her and have sweet quiet time is a blessing. Maybe she just wants the quiet time with Mommy too and I should be flattered that she is still not STTN. :)
Our first was a sleeping champ. He was the dream baby! He had a schedule from very early on and we honestly did very little sleep training. He loved to sleep and it came easily. He STTN at 12 weeks (and he was a preemie that was 7 weeks early!).
Our second was our fussiest. Sleep did not come as easily and still to this day she needs less sleep than her brother. She required the carseat on the dryer to sleep for the first several months of her life. However, after about 12 weeks or so, she would stay asleep easily at night once you got her to sleep. She also probably STTN around 3 months. (Too bad I don't have true record of this!) Eventually we had to let her cry it out at bedtime, around 4 or 5 months old. But I knew that once she went to sleep, she'd sleep through the night.
Enter the third child. Not our fussiest, but easily the one who has had the most night wakings. The longest stretch of sleep she has given us was 8 hours at about 9 weeks old. However, it happened only one time after a traumatic ER visit when she was pretty sick and feverish. It was totally a sick thing. Since then, the longest she's gone is about 5-6 hours. I know that doctors consider that STTN, but I don't. :)
The biggest problem is how long it takes her to fall back asleep after waking to eat. She is 4 months old now and one night last week I was up with her from 12-3:30am!
Let me give two key pieces of info now:
1. She still falls asleep in her swing for all sleep times. Naps are 100% in her swing (which is completely against the advice of my FAVORITE sleep book...but with the third, you really do whatcha gotta do!). Swaddle, paci, swing and she's out. At bedtime, I move her to the crib an hour or so later. She's down for the night around 6:30 or 7, but wakes between 12 and 1am and then often after that.
2. We were not ok with letting her cry too long due to the hoarse voice she has had since about 5 weeks old. We didn't want to make it worse by letting her cry for an hour at bedtime and naps (something I am totally ok with, though I know - and completely understand - that some aren't!). We think its due to reflux and she's been on a stronger med for a few weeks now.
I'm fairly certain these two things have contributed to her night waking frequency. I cannot wait for her to sleep from 6:30pm to 6:30am.
I tell you all this to preface the poll I've added to the right sidebar! Maybe this is selfish, but I think I want to know that my other two STTN on the early side and that our third is only slightly spoiled. :) Meaning, she's more average in the fact that she still hasn't STTN at 4 months. Please, tell me that is true and that I haven't ruined her sleeping habits for the rest of her life.
Since you can't vote more than once, just pick one of your children. (Maybe the one who STTN the latest?? :)
We are officially going to be crying it out at bedtime tonight. No more swing for bedtime. Once we master bedtime, then we'll move to ditching the swing for naps. She has a good routine, so hopefully this won't be too painful.
Pray for us! And offer your own stories that will give myself and others hope that babies do eventually STTN.
4 comments:
I have always had "late" sleeper throught the night :) My oldest (a boy) was 9 months old and he was my earliest. The other 2 (girls) were well over a year before they consistently STTN...usually waking 1-3 times. It is a rough time, but looking back from this side of it I realize how quick it actually was. As I am 7 weeks from delivering our 4th (and most likely last) I am going to try and remember that and treasure the extra snuggles and time I'll have with them during those early hours. Sleep will eventually come again :)
Matt was 15 months before he was STTN, but Jack was only four or five months I think. I think Matt's reflux played a huge role in his inability to sleep through the night. Good luck!
You are making me super nervous saying your third is the latest to sttn! Neither of our boys consistently (in my world that is more nights than not) sttn until about 19-20 months. We have done tons of crying it out and I guess we just have super stubborn kids that will cry for an hour+. Our prayer for the gremlin growing in me (yes, we are calling this one a gremlin until we find out what we are having) is to be a laid back sleeper. ;) all that to say, good luck and I hope you get sleep soon, not sleeping stinks
My first at three still gets up a few times a week and didn't officially STTN until about 20months. My second was a 5-6 hr a night sleeper until she hit four months. Now she is up every 2-3 hr. So we have bad sleepers at our house!
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