Getting Ali to Sleep

My lifesaver was the book "No-Cry Sleep Solution" by Elizabeth Pantley. It took about 2 weeks, but I saw a HUGE improvement in my kids. Anytime I "fall off the wagon" and become inconsistent with the bedtime deal, my kids regress. Each time, I go back to her book and they are back on track within about a week. (They are 4 and 2 now.)

As for the cereal thing -- I know some people swear by it, but all 3 pediatricians I've used have said no way to that. If she's like my kids, she's probably not hungry but having trouble with fully waking up each time she enters that "light sleep" phase. It's the same phase where we grown ups roll over, look at the clock, and go back to sleep. She's just not going back to sleep. You can help her with that without going through the agony of "cry it out."

Also, with time, she may sleep longer, too. While 3 months seems like an eternity when you're sleep deprived, she's still very young. Things will improve.

Is she hungry? Have you asked her pediatrician about adding baby food to her diet or cereal? This sounds a little extreme so I would definitely call her pediatrician and ask for some advice. Also, if you go to the gerber website, they have a scale of what foods would be appropriate and they don't go by age, they go by what she's able to do (sit up, crawl, ect). Good Luck!

Along with a good cereal bottle you might want to try a good warm bath with the cammomile and lavendar in it johnson and johnson makes it. It worked wonders on my granddaughter and is working great on my new grandson. You also might want to ask family or friends to help you right now with baby being so young. You need your rest as well.

Have you tried cereal bottles. I know the doc doesn't recommend them. But every child i have been around including my 2 have had cereal bottles right before nap or bedtime. It fills them up more. both of my kids were sleeping through the night when they were a month old it helps it really does.

How I feel ya! My daughter was the same way around that age and I thought that I was going to lose it! I tried EVERYTHING!! What worked best for me, and really only worked some of the time, was a feeding, nurse if you are breastfeeding, or try a little bit of rice cereal in her formula, and the blackout shades, which are working wonders even now that she is 2. Just keep telling yourself that it is just a phase and soon she will out grow it and learn to sleep through the night. Till then just keep rocking her, pray, and know that you are a GREAT mommy, even if you're exhausted to the bone.

Hi M.. I had a similar problem with my youngest who is now two. He was the lightest sleeper, any noise or light would wake him up. I think it was around 9 months, I bought a black out shade. This is what did the trick for him. He was one that needed darkness to sleep. Which was total opposite from my first. Even at night, no nightlight, no faint music playing, just complete darkness and silence. I got my blackout shade from ebay, because Pottery Barn Kids does carry them, but they are expensive. Ebay had one at a reasonable price, and was totally worth him finally taking good naps and sleeping through the night!

You have received a lot of good advise already, I really hope something works for you. My son is now 2, but for the first 8 months, I never got 1 full night of sleep, so I feel your pain. I went back to work after six weeks, so there was no rest for the weary. We tried moving his crib to a different bedroom, the blinds, soft music, etc., nothing worked. Finally around 8 months, I noticed that when the fan was running for the AC was when he would fall asleep, and it seemed to be in the dead silence about 2 am that he would wake up every night. So we started leaving the fan "on" all night, instead of on "Auto", and he was finally sleeping 7 hours, which compared to 3, that was a blessing and I felt like a whole new woman!! You do adjust a bit to the exhaustion, not that you want to, but it will get better. Good luck.

Hi M., I know exactly what that is. The bouncing chair works here for longer day naps, I leave it vibrating sometimes. Sometimes a loud constant noise will make them sleep, have you tried the vacuum cleaner? I used to vacuum a little his room holding him, and when he slept I would still leave it on for a couple of minutes... The other thing that is working now is the baby bjorn thing...
Now, I believe this is a phase (hope so), and he will be getting a better sleep by four months. And there may be a belly upset also, if you are breastfeeding watch what you eat, if not, maybe talk to your pediatrician about trying another formula for a little time. I hope it helps.

I feel for you!! My son was the SAME WAY for 6 months straight. He had an intestinal hernia, GERD, colic, reflux, milk allergy, etc.... He slept 20 min max, for a cumulative total of 3 hours/day max. He didn't start getting sleep until I changed him to a synthetic formula called ALIMENTUM by SIMILAC. I would recommend trying that. Try to get her to sleep on her belly too...that helped Joey alot. Talk to the pediatrician, which I'm sure you've done...perhaps try to get a referral to a pediatric gastrointerologist. I recognize this isn't really a solution if it hasn't already happened, but could your husband trade nights? eg, I take Mon, Wed, Fri and Sun, and my hubby gets Tue, Thur and Sat. When my son was young tho, I went from an abusive marriage to a single mom so I get the "doing it all yourself" thing.

Also, try everything you can in terms of baby equipment. We've got a glider from Fisher Price that's purported to be awesome when nothing else works. Try Gripe Water too...

Get your support network in motion, whether it be family, friends, church family, or a paid babysitter. Get someone to care for the baby soon so you can sleep. Once a week if you can get it. You can't care well for a newborn without sleep. You can't make decisions or even react normally without adequate sleep. If nothing else, call in sick to work, drop the baby off at child care, go home, set the alarm for 5 PM and sleep.

Good luck....let us know if anything works.

Hi M.,
I am a single mom to a now 2 year old. It was very difficult at first, not knowing what to do or what i was doing wrong. My son was a BIG eater, so even though the Dr. advised against it, i would put a tsp. to tblsp. of plain cereal in his bottle before bedtime. That did help a little for a while.
I think that the biggest contributor to the sleeplessness was the lack of schedule. Not that I was intentianaly doing something wrong, it was the "trying something new every night" that was the worst thing for him.
As soon as I said, Ok, this is the routine, this is what i am sticking to every night, (i.e. bath, quietly putting on the PJ's in a dim room, and turning on some soothing music or white noise maker) and did that for 2 weeks, EVERYTHING CHANGED! And for the better! Within 3 weeks to a month of doing that same routine EVERY night, things seemed to click for him and he just knew it was time for sleep. So this way when he would sometimes wake up in the night, i would turn on the "dim" light that i used after bathtime, changed his diaper then went back to the same routine of white noise or soothing music (personal preference). I think that the hardest thing on them is the inconsistancy.
I would just find something that you are comfortable with and do that same thing for 2 weeks and they will totally adapt to that. Best of luck to you!

Yes, GERD could be some of it, but I don't think that's it - your problems don't sound like my son's GERD.
Right around the same time, my son started cat-napping and was cranky most of the time he was awake. I got the book "Healthy Sleep Habbits, Happy Child". It changed our lives! I was so used to him just falling asleep when he was ready I kept waiting for that and he wasn't doing it any more.
It teaches you signals he gives when he's tired. I came to find that the first time he got cranky, I would put him down and cover the cradle so it was very dark. He would almost always fall asleep and stay asleep. Sometimes he would wake up and I would go up, re-insert the pacifier and he'd sleep even longer.
Also helpful is white noise. You can buy a white noise machine, a CD of white noise ("For Crying Out Loud"), or just plug in a loud box fan!
PM me if you need more help, but I would really try the book! A note about the book - depending on your parenting style, you have to take the book with a grain of salt (or a shaker some times). But you will learn a lot about sleep habbits and sleep needs for different age groups.
Good Luck!

Since it sounds like you aren't there during the day, I'm not sure my advice will help, but I have two (twins) and both of mine were the same way until I got them on a regular daytime sleeping schedule. Once they were taking good daytime naps they both improved dramatically at night. For me the key was not letting them stay awake more than two hours in a row. Even if they didn't seem particularly sleepy. After just a few weeks they were improving on the daytime naps and the nighttime soon followed. I feel your pain and I hope you find a solution that works for you because no sleep is just torture.

Have you tried swaddling? Sometimes just being tightly wrapped will help a baby stay asleep. There are books that will teach you how if you don't already know how.

Try the Miracle Blanket. It's a swadler blanket that truly is a miracle. www.miracleblanket.com. We've used it with both of our boys and it's the only way we can get a decent stretch of sleep. My youngest is 4 months old and sleeps through the night as long as he's wrapped tight.

Good luck!

Hi M.,

I can empathize with what you are going through. My son did not sleep through the night and took lots of catnaps until he was well over 8 months old. It was very frustrating to hear well-meaning suggestions from other parents about how to help him sleep longer. None of the suggestions worked (and some we just weren't comfortable trying). I read a few books on sleep techniques for babies....again the one's I tried didn't work and others I wasn't comfortable attempting. It was at it's worst when I started working again when he was 4 months old and I was constantly tired.

At 4.5 months I finally accepted that he just wasn't a good sleeper and that this was temporary (I hoped!!) and eventually it would get better. I didn't feel the best all the time, but rather than using the little bit of energy left in my body to be frustrated or crying (I cried a LOT) about him not sleeping, I just maximized the sleep I could get. When he would wake up at three in the morning, I'd sit in the glider with him and catch a few minutes of sleep while holding him (he usually just needed to be held...even if he didn't fall asleep).

One technique that did work to calm him down (and sometimes helped him sleep longer) was swaddling. A friend gave us a copy of "The Happiest Baby on The Block" and we swaddled and used white noise and "shhhh-ing" that is described in the book/DVD. It worked for us.

Anyway, I know I haven't offered up any advice, but just know that you aren't alone! I hope that you will have some sleep coming your way soon.

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Hi, M.! I don't know if this will help, but we (still) use a sound soother... we got ours @ Sharper Image - "Ebb Tide" is our son's favorite sound setting. It's great b/c it drowns out a lot of the sounds outside of his room and it's rhythmic, so it's very calming. He also loves flute music and my husband loves to sing to him. Warm bottles were also a big help way back when (Dylan was adopted and was bottle fed - he's 2 now). And mylicon was a big help, too, when his tummy was upset - sometimes the gas kept him awake. Best wishes and lots of rest ahead! Dylan started sleeping through the night right around 3 months! Sweet dreams! B. Schrock

My son is ten months old and does that somedays...It drives me crazy.. what I have found to work the best is to lay down with him on the sofa, put him on my chest and sing/hum to him and rub his head or back....it is actually calming for both of us....and it is nice to just sit there and relax with my baby in my arms....he usually falls right to sleep and then after about five minutes I can get up and put him in his crib and get on with my things.....I did this when he was younger as well and it worked wonderfully.....I know it does take you aways from doing some other things while the baby falls asleep, but sometimes....they just need to know you are there and you are gonna stay there with them.....hope this helps

make sure she is good and full before trying to get her sleep. if they are hungry, babies will not sleep. maybe try putting a small amount of cereal in bottle to thicken it up and satisfy her. but just be patient. most babies start sleeping in longer stretches around 4 months or so. sleeping through the night is more a milestone than a learned activity. also make aure the temp is comfortable, she could be too cold or too hot.