Ikaikas sleep schedule sucks.
In fact, it doesnt even really exist, which is probably what sucks about it.
He consistently wakes up at least once during the night. This is usually around 330 and he doesnt even go down for good until around 11 or 12 so thats only 3-4 hours of straight sleeping! Ive tried feeding him full bottles and solid foods to "fill him up" right before bed, but that doesnt seem to make any difference. He naps great during the day. He takes a nap every two hours or so and stays down for a decent amount of time. He will even put himself down (we just plop him in the playpen and cover it with a blanket and he babbles to himself quietly and then drifts off to sleep...unlike the night where we have to pat his back and be silent for him to even consider sleeping)
His inability to sleep through the night never really bothered me until the other day I started noticing that he was sleeping through the early morning hours and (more importantly) not interested in eating during the late morning/early afternoon. So my thoughts are something along the lines of hey dude, if you are going to cut out a meal why not make it the one at 330 in the morning and save your mother some grief!
Which leads to my new plan. I still feed him around 11pm if he wakes up, mostly because Im awake anyway and its no biggie for me. Then I put him down and thats it. No food until at the VERY earliest 6am, preferably 7. Weve been trying this out for the past few nights (teething is not the ideal time for this kind of an experiment but whatever) and its gone okay. The first night he kept waking up and screaming crying and would not go back to bed and ugg...horrible. Last night he still woke up several times but it was easier to get him back to sleep. I caved at 6 and fed him just a little so he went back to sleep, woke up at 9 and was STARVING (which is what I was hoping for).
So Im optimistic that with just a little tweaking here and there, this plan will lead to a child that finally sleeps through the night (or at least a child that only eats during the day).
Can you try to eliminate the last nap of the day?? If he is napping every 2 hours I would try to keep him up for the last one. I don't know just a suggestion. Also can you let him cry himself back to sleep at 3:30 in the morning?? I know it is hard but he might get so tierd and think forget it this isn't working. I remember doing that and caving in and picking the girls up and feeding them or whatever. Just the whole ignoring the fact that the baby is crying and up in the wee hours in the morning is tough. I always thought I am laying here wide awake why don't I just get her and make her happy and quiet. Oh...fun times!! Love You! xoxox
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