STM+? Sleep advice

[peanutbuttersugar]

*Possibly controversial topic:

Any STM's (or more) out there want to share their experiences on sleep for newborn/infant? Specifically, naps.

DS sleeps amazing at night, but naps are pretty rough. If I get him down every couple of hours like I'm "supposed to," he only naps in the PNP for 50 minutes before waking up screaming. On rare occasion, he'll nap for 1.5-2 hours. I'm not into the idea of "if you keep him awake longer, he'll be more tired and sleep better." I think more along the lines of "sleep begets sleep." Just my opinion though, and I'm open to other thoughts.

Also... Swaddling. What did you use? How long did you use it for? How did you transition away from it?

And that brings me to... Sleep training. Did you do it? What method? What age? How did it go (for BOTH of you)?

[babyzebra]

Well I definitely think sleep begets sleep and keeping him awake longer probably won't get you much more than a fussy baby.

My kid has always been a great night time sleeper and a crappy napper. We used white noise and swaddled in a Halo swaddle sack until he rolled back to belly. Even with routines and doing everything "right" he never took a nap in anything but his swing or bouncer until he was 6 months old.

I know some people who had success with sleep training after 6 months. It's not something I personally did since he's always slept great at night and I didn't feel right about doing it for naps when he just doesn't seem to need them as much as other babies.

ETA: We transitioned from the swaddle cold turkey because he learned to roll out of nowhere. It was rough for a couple nights, but then he actually started sleeping better. Oh and DS has never napped for 2 hours in his 11 month life (if that makes you feel any better...)

[mrsk91011]

Two words: Sleep Sheep

Best investment ever. Its a white noise machine in a stuffed sheep.
We used swaddled sacks mostly, because we could also use them to keep DD's arms in check during diaper changes.

To be honest, we had very few sleep problems with DD. We had her in a bassinet in our room for three months and then in her own room from there on out. She is so used to sleeping in a quiet room that that is now the only way she will sleep now (except in the car)

[Deleted]

DD slept on me for most naps until she was 4 months old (oh the joys of only having on child Im sure that will be different for LO2) My thinking was sleep begets sleep and getting her to sleep (any way I could) during the day was more important than having her in the crib. I would attempt once or twice to get a crib nap in but let her get a good nap on me. For sleep in general, it was pretty bad. until about 11 months she was waking up MOTN every couple hours to nurse she would start in her crib and first wakeup after we went to bed she would come into bed and nurse/bed share the rest of the night. Once she started having sleepovers at 11 months and i stopped nursing she started sleeping through the night without much sleep training.
We did do some minor sleep training at around 6 months to stop the association of rocking & crying.
I hope things get smoother for you before October.

[peanutbuttersugar]

alicia0818 DS has reflux issues as well, so we keep him upright for 20-30 min after feeding (so he always falls asleep on us, or in our arms at least). He sleeps in a PNP in our room for now, and one end has a book under each leg to elevate his head.

[peanutbuttersugar]

@tmg14 Our routine is play, eat, sleep because he always falls asleep after eating, and with his reflux issues, playing after eating has terrible, messy repercussions. He doesn't have a problem falling asleep most of the time; it's the staying asleep part And, actually we do use white noise. We used to use the sleep sheep (but the bunny version), but we later ended up getting the Dohmie. Plus, we have a tower floor fan that's always on in our room too. I was wondering if it had something do with the sleep cycle since it's always nearly exactly 50 minutes into it! I really don't want to sleep train if I don't have to. He sleeps so great at night. I'm just worried he's relying on us to get him to sleep since we feed and rock him simultaneously, and that's when he falls asleep.

[peanutbuttersugar]

babyzebra It's reassuring to know mine isn't the only great nighttime sleeper and crappy napper! We tried using the Aiden & Anais blankets the first couple weeks, but it turns out our child is actually a ninja. I used to think the swaddles with Velcro were for lazy people Nope. They're for baby ninjas. We used a SwaddlePod until he outgrew it, and then switched to the SwaddleMe's. Can you believe he still gets his arms out sometimes?! I've read you should stop swaddling when they start rolling over and/or breaking free. We're trying leaving one, or both, arms out and just swaddling his torso and legs. He actually does pretty good with it at night, but I think it's made the naps even worse.

And yes, that makes me feel much better! Thanks

[peanutbuttersugar]

greenhairedgnome I've really loved the SwaddleMe's, but he's getting so big! I haven't tried a Miracle Blanket though. Thanks!

[peanutbuttersugar]

mrsk91011

We've got the sleep bunny! And then we got a Dohmie because I wanted something louder and that would stay on unless we wanted to turn it off.

[peanutbuttersugar]

@jennatles thanks! Yep, I'm concerned with having 2 babies to get down for naps. I feel like life is going to resemble a constant assembly line.

[peanutbuttersugar]

I really appreciate everyone's two cents. If nothing else, I know my baby's not crazy! It's reassuring to know all of you have been through it and survived!