Sleeping tips - everyone come in!

[richaroodo]

I swear by swaddling. I use the A&A blankets to get a nice tight wrap and he is asleep in minutes. As mentioned above I only put him in a onesie or even just a diaper if it's warm.

[scotty138]

With both of my boys swaddling has been key. M has reflux and sleeps so much better in the rnp than his bassinet.

We cd and I have switched him from fitteds to pockets at night because of the stay dry liner. He really hates feeling wet and has been sleeping much better since we switched.

[renbee]

@unicornofthesea how did you know your DS had milk sensitivity? I'm wondering if my DS has it because he is always so gassy and uncomfortable.

[sammie]

I don't think my little guy is particularly easy (six weeks this week), but he is good about going down at 9 pm every night with little trouble and sleeping for about five hours in the first stretch. Usually another 3 hour stretch after that and then maybe a few half hour - hour stretches. We change, swaddle in an A+A (only a kimono style onesie underneath) and put him in the RNP (no motion). I try to get dad to do that routine. I move him to the bassinet when I go to bed.

During the night I don't talk when I feed and change. I have a little red night light that I use and don't turn on any lights.

I also swaddle for what I expect are his longer naps.

ETA I let him sleep as much as he wants during the day and will try to get him to nap if he's been awake for more than 2 hours.

[renbee]

For those of you that swaddle- do you swaddle for naps during the day too? I can't really get DS to take long naps but I'm thinking I might need to swaddle him. I'm just concerned because the instructions with the swaddle said not to swaddle for more than 10 hours a day.

[sammie]

Also, I don't eat dairy as it is so haven't had to deal with possible related issues.

[richaroodo]

Jun 7, 2016 12:11:44 GMT -5 renbee said:

For those of you that swaddle- do you swaddle for naps during the day too? I can't really get DS to take long naps but I'm thinking I might need to swaddle him. I'm just concerned because the instructions with the swaddle said not to swaddle for more than 10 hours a day.

I don't unless he is refusing to nap and obviously needs one. Without being swaddled during the day he naps for about an hour at a time until he wakes himself up.

[sammie]

Jun 7, 2016 12:11:44 GMT -5 renbee said:

For those of you that swaddle- do you swaddle for naps during the day too? I can't really get DS to take long naps but I'm thinking I might need to swaddle him. I'm just concerned because the instructions with the swaddle said not to swaddle for more than 10 hours a day.

I swaddle when I think a long nap is coming and put him down in the RNP. There's usually one a day in late afternoon. I don't swaddle when I let him nap on me. On any given day it wouldn't be 10 hours, though.

[jags8]

Swaddle arms in (double swaddle- receiving blanket around his torso to tuck his arms down, then the Aden & Anais muslin wrap swaddled in the normal arms-in fashion).

4 oz bottle of my breastmilk immediately before bedtime (basically just making sure he has a full belly)

White noise machine

[numbersgirl08]

I keep wake times to a max of 1 hr 15 min. Then I put her down for both bedtime and all naps with loud white noise and swaddled in her crib (unless we are out and about, when she will nap being worn or in her car seat). I do a receiving blanket to tuck her arms down and then a swaddle me or a woombie on top. When going down for naps and bed I will let her fuss a little bit before immediately comforting. I realized when I rocked her to sleep that she fusses even when I'm there bouncing and rocking right before she dozes off - she just needs to get a little of her fussies out. If it goes beyond just a few minutes I'll go comfort and rock or whatever I need to do to help her sleep. Middle of the night wake ups are in mostly dark and I keep things as quiet and calm and quick as possible.

Bedtimes are hit or miss. They've been getting better but she struggles with falling asleep at bedtime. She typically goes to bed around 8, wakes up move around 3, and then is up for the day around 8. That's not always what happens though - last night she woke up at 1 and 5:30 and then was up for the day at 9.

[creepyeyeball]

This doesn't exactly help the baby sleep, but it helps me feel rested - don't look at the clock at all through the night. I don't even have one in the room (DH and I sleep in separate rooms and he wakes me in the morning).

There are nights where I'll wake to the baby fussing and I'll think that he must have slept for a while because I feel like I've been asleep a while, but then I get out my phone and realize it's only been a little over an hour. I instantly feel frustrated and more tired. If I don't look, I am blissfully unaware and just go by how I feel. For some reason, I feel more rested on the nights I never look.

[renbee]

Jun 10, 2016 11:22:03 GMT -5 creepyeyeball said:

This doesn't exactly help the baby sleep, but it helps me feel rested - don't look at the clock at all through the night. I don't even have one in the room (DH and I sleep in separate rooms and he wakes me in the morning).

There are nights where I'll wake to the baby fussing and I'll think that he must have slept for a while because I feel like I've been asleep a while, but then I get out my phone and realize it's only been a little over an hour. I instantly feel frustrated and more tired. If I don't look, I am blissfully unaware and just go by how I feel. For some reason, I feel more rested on the nights I never look.

This is a great idea, but I am way too type A to follow through on it! Plus I don't know what I would do MOTN without my phone!

[None]

Jun 10, 2016 11:22:03 GMT -5 creepyeyeball said:

This doesn't exactly help the baby sleep, but it helps me feel rested - don't look at the clock at all through the night. I don't even have one in the room (DH and I sleep in separate rooms and he wakes me in the morning).

There are nights where I'll wake to the baby fussing and I'll think that he must have slept for a while because I feel like I've been asleep a while, but then I get out my phone and realize it's only been a little over an hour. I instantly feel frustrated and more tired. If I don't look, I am blissfully unaware and just go by how I feel. For some reason, I feel more rested on the nights I never look.

I've started doing this. He sleeps in his room for the first stretch and the next we do side lying in bed. During that time I never look. I keep phone face down. 

[creepyeyeball]

Jun 10, 2016 11:38:53 GMT -5 None said:

Jun 10, 2016 11:22:03 GMT -5 creepyeyeball said:

This doesn't exactly help the baby sleep, but it helps me feel rested - don't look at the clock at all through the night. I don't even have one in the room (DH and I sleep in separate rooms and he wakes me in the morning).

There are nights where I'll wake to the baby fussing and I'll think that he must have slept for a while because I feel like I've been asleep a while, but then I get out my phone and realize it's only been a little over an hour. I instantly feel frustrated and more tired. If I don't look, I am blissfully unaware and just go by how I feel. For some reason, I feel more rested on the nights I never look.

I've started doing this. He sleeps in his room for the first stretch and the next we do side lying in bed. During that time I never look. I keep phone face down. 

This is exactly what I do. First stretch in his crib, rest of the night with me. As long as I get a little sleep by myself, I feel ok in the morning. I don't sleep very deeply with him in bed with me.

[jags8]

Jun 10, 2016 11:33:17 GMT -5 renbee said:

Jun 10, 2016 11:22:03 GMT -5 creepyeyeball said:

This doesn't exactly help the baby sleep, but it helps me feel rested - don't look at the clock at all through the night. I don't even have one in the room (DH and I sleep in separate rooms and he wakes me in the morning).

There are nights where I'll wake to the baby fussing and I'll think that he must have slept for a while because I feel like I've been asleep a while, but then I get out my phone and realize it's only been a little over an hour. I instantly feel frustrated and more tired. If I don't look, I am blissfully unaware and just go by how I feel. For some reason, I feel more rested on the nights I never look.

This is a great idea, but I am way too type A to follow through on it! Plus I don't know what I would do MOTN without my phone!

Same! Plus I track his nursing on an app on my phone

[jags8]

Jun 10, 2016 11:15:10 GMT -5 moleymole said:

This sounds weird and is only a theory currently, but keeping her feet warm. She napped longer if she's in slippers or still in a footed sleeper, etc.

It's funny you mention that. My co-worker was just telling me that when she had a previous job she would get home at midnight. She discovered that if she put her feet on a hot pack in bed, she would fall asleep very quickly.

[renbee]

Bumping this to ask: what time is everyone putting LO down for the night at the stage? Do you also go to bed or stay up? I'm especially wondering since l am going back to work next week and have been thinking more about routine.

[jags8]

Jul 6, 2016 19:03:08 GMT -5 renbee said:

Bumping this to ask: what time is everyone putting LO down for the night at the stage? Do you also go to bed or stay up? I'm especially wondering since l am going back to work next week and have been thinking more about routine.

I try to have DS in bed at 8:00. I don't stress of its after 8:00 though. He is still in my room, so I just lay down in my bed after I put him down. I usually putz on my phone for half an hour and then close my eyes.

[richaroodo]

R goes down between 8 and 830. I normally stay up for a while but I have gone to sleep with him too. Really it depends on how the night before and the day went.

[mrsk23]

The goal is to have DD to sleep between 7-8. This is a pretty natural time for her. Although she does ok if we are out and about and she goes down later. She's about 50/50 sleeping till 5:30-6 and waking 1:30-2ish, there doesn't seem to be a pattern here. Then she'll get up and eat, be up for an hour or so and then go back down for her long nap of the day, 2-3 hours. The rest of the day is sporadic nap wise but she'll usually take a couple 30 mins-1 hour naps at some point.

[minae01]

A goes to bed around 8:30-9:00pm based on when she eats last. After she eats, I change diaper, put on pjs, swaddle, pop her paci in and then rock her to sleep. She will usually sleep until about 7am unless she wakes up around 4-5am to eat, then she'll go back down until about 9am.

ETA: After all kids are in bed, I watch a little tv, pump, and get ready for bed. I'm usually in bed by 10:30-11pm.

[scotty138]

Both boys go down around 7:30. M is outgrowing his bassinet and now I'm not sure what to do. He wakes up twice a night and is up at 5am every day. The plan was to put him in with H to share a room but I don't want to climb stairs 3x every night and risk waking the toddler. I'm thinking about putting the crib in our room but I'm not sure DH would like that as a long term solution. The other option is to put the crib and rocker in the office next to our room.

[jags8]

buttercup that's where we are at too. He woke my at 5:00 this morning with his kicking, and he wasn't even awake! Just need to get blackout curtains for his nursery.

scotty138 personally, the office idea sounds like the best solution to me.

[jags8]

Jul 7, 2016 9:35:28 GMT -5 abbeyd said:

jags8 you might not need blackout curtains. Every baby is different but we never used them. I rarely even closed the blinds or regular curtains. So glad I did because we moved my daughter to the other room when baby was born and that room has one of those half moon windows that are impossible to cover. She's not bothered by it at all.

Well in any case I need some kind of curtain, as the nursery faces the west. I just think it's better for his circadian rhythm.

[Deleted]

LO goes to bed between 530-6 pm so we can eat dinner with our older daughter. She takes a paci and swaddle for bed but she goes down pretty easy. She is up for the day around 7 usually, sometimes earlier though if big sister wakes her up.

I try to put her back to bed without the paci/ arms unswaddled in the MOTN though because I want her to get used to sleeping without either. That is hit or miss, but usually if it doesn't work I can quickly swaddle her again and she'll go to sleep.

[craftcrazymama]

Trying to start on a more sensible bed time for LO tonight. We normally just wait till he's tired close to around 10pm to put him to bed but he's actually been naturally having a longer sleep around 5.30pm-6pm and then because we let him sleep on us he then wakes around 9.30-10pm and doesn't want to go back to sleep. So when he got tired tonight I decided to go with it and feed him and put him to bed (asleep by 6.30pm). This could back fire on me big time but I'm excited about starting to get him into bed earlier and starting to get a bit more of a normal 'routine'.

[craftcrazymama]

Well that was a fail. He's back up : /

[sammie]

I am trying to get our little guy to sleep earlier - from around 830 to 7 ish. Last night went well. Although I hold him the last hour or so in bed with me, he sleep until 730 with a few wake ups.

I am reading Dr. Weissbluth's book on sleep and trying to follow his recommendations.

[sammie]

adelbert, if you've done this, do you find putting down drowsy but awake works eventually?

[sammie]

adelbert that's really helpful, thanks! I just got the swaddle up 50/50. I might try the Merlin if this doesn't work, but it's just so flipping hot here right now. I'm all over watching wake time, too.