HELP!
Okay - so I'm losing it. Dahlia has stopped sleeping through the night. Due to probably a number of factors 1) teething? maybe...no concrete signs but she's 10+ months old and has no teeth yet so.....maybe; 2) getting part of the family cold? Feeling lousy? perhaps but no other real signs. A runny nose a couple days ago but nothing since; 3) still adjusting to her new room/home? perhaps but it wasn't a problem for the first month so.....
??
I understand that there are growth spurts and phases where this happens...but is killing me is my entire LACK of self discipline when it comes to NOT giving up and bringing her into bed with me. I get to the point in the middle of the night where I can't take it - I can't take sitting up with her and rocking her to when she falls asleep but the moment I set her down she wakes up; listening to her fuss and cry - usually I don't let this go on but last night I tried and she fussed, & cried (a little) and played with her crib soother (on-off-on-off-on-off....) for an hour. I'm exhausted. I have a cold and I fear I'm just teaching her BAD BAD habits. I don't know what to do.
It leaves me feeling very inept.
Any advice?
??
I understand that there are growth spurts and phases where this happens...but is killing me is my entire LACK of self discipline when it comes to NOT giving up and bringing her into bed with me. I get to the point in the middle of the night where I can't take it - I can't take sitting up with her and rocking her to when she falls asleep but the moment I set her down she wakes up; listening to her fuss and cry - usually I don't let this go on but last night I tried and she fussed, & cried (a little) and played with her crib soother (on-off-on-off-on-off....) for an hour. I'm exhausted. I have a cold and I fear I'm just teaching her BAD BAD habits. I don't know what to do.
It leaves me feeling very inept.
Any advice?
Comments
I would sleep on her floor. I don't know if you have hardwood floors and no option to put anything down on the floor but we would (and still keep) a pillow under her crib and an adult sized blanket. (I was going to bring up my camping pad but she stopped waking up.) She would respond better if she knew one of us was in the room. It sucks b/c your back hurts like hell but we would get some sleep.
And Orajel. Not sure if you've tried it or if you are anti-teething stuff but this worked for us. I think it was actually psychological too (just a theory). When she would see me pull out the bottle she would open her mouth and calm down. Addicted? We only used it sparingly but she apparently knew it's purpose and appreciated it's effect.
Also, what I did with Bridget was lay her down when she was as drowsy as I could get her without actually being asleep. When I would lay her down, I'd stand over her for a while, whispering to her with my hand on her tummy/chest to keep up the warmth and pressure. Over a couple nights it took less time of me standing there for her to go back to sleep.
Hope that helps!
My thoughts, now that I have been a mom of a 10 month old (which makes me the ultimate expert, HA!): only worry a little bit about the "bad habit". Enough to make you want to put her back in her room eventually. Exceptions can be made for a child who is in pain without it being the rule for their whole life. If she were 5 and and sick, you would let her have special things that comfort her, right?
We rely on tylenol and motrin for teething.
Once things get back to "normal" with both Dahlia and you - you can go back to the old routine, knowing that it might take a few nights to get it down.
At any rate - good luck with whatever you do. I feel for you!
You are doing GREAT!
I know that's shocking to some, but there's plenty of fairly mainstream stuff out there that supports it (Dr. Sears, etc), especially for working moms and it definitely makes for more sleep for mommy! At least for now...