Comments on: Sandmandinista.

By: zarqa

zarqa — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 18:03:56 +0000

Better than _Healthy Sleep Habits_ is _No-cry sleep solution_. It is somewhat less dense (has more pictures!) and, therefore, more amenable to sleep-deprived flipping through. To summarize its talking points:
-introduce a binky
-introduce a lovey (hold it between you two when you feed so there is that olfactory and tactile connection between it and you)
-get nightly bathtime, reading, singing, rocking, feeding (in whichever order works!) down to a set routine.
There is the big cry-it-out debate. I wavered (agonized really) over the two sides of that debate. 15 months into it, I can only say this: listen to the quality of cry. Pretty soon you’ll be able to tell if it’s a “man, this sucks, I’m sleepy but I can’t sleep! ok, let me cry a little and keep trying, okay here it comes…sleeeep” cry versus a “Come over here NOW, you have to help me sleep NOW, I’m not going to stop crying until you DOOO!!” cry. The two cries are just qualitatively different. For the first cry, I practice “cry it out”, like for a minute average. For the second cry, I go right in. Usually a rocking or a diaper change or letting her run around a bit or another book will do the trick.
You’re doing great! It will get better!

By: Maria

Maria — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 03:03:35 +0000

My fourth baby spent time in the NICU right after she was born. She cried and I was not able to hold her and comfort her. Ouch. I made a silent promise that if she got better, I would always comfort her when she needed it.

So, when she cries, I go to her. Always. It feels right and it is what she needs. I have done this with all my children and had always sort of wondered if it was the right thing to do. This time around, I have no doubts. You will never regret responding to your crying baby and the sleep will get better… I promise.

You are doing a beautiful job.

By: another julie

another julie — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 04:13:52 +0000

That book is TERRIBLY writen — even no-sleep deprived it is convoluted and poorly laid out and in desperate need of a blue pencil.

All you need to know right now is the 2-hour rule. Put Simone down every 2 hours — from the last time she was put down. Get into a rhythm. Weissbluth would say she is over tired. Just read that stuff if you have time.

And that said, no matter what Weissbluth says about moving sleep, the swing its not the devil. At a certain age they want to move more and graduate.

Also, I see you have a lovely boucy chari — but does it VIBRATE? My twins vibrated though many a nap at this age…

By: Aimee

Aimee — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:52:37 +0000

Oh, haven’t we all been there- and it is no fun. I’m to lazy to read everyone else’s posts, but has anyone suggested a sleep routine yet? It worked wonders with my 10 month old when she was about 3 months. Starting an hour before bed, we turned down the lights and tried to keep things quiet. Then we went to her room and this was our routine: Ellie got a massage and pjs put on, we read a book, snuggled in the rocking chair, sang a lullaby, nursed and then to bed with a fan on for white noise. We kept the exact same routine until it seemed like it was working (can’t remember how long). I don’t think the routine matters so much as the consistency of it, but the idea being they associate certain things with wind down time and sleep. It worked for us. Hang in there!

By: Krista

Krista — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 21:12:23 +0000

The swing was the only thing that put me to sleep too when I was a little baby. Good news- I’ve never knocked off a liquor store! :)

By: angela michelle

angela michelle — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 04:37:05 +0000

Brilliant. I love the part about Black Ops transfers. If I could have video footage of the years I’ve spent crawling out of baby’s room, below the crib’s line of sight, or ever so carefully shifting my weight so baby won’t notice…

By: t.cup

t.cup — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 21:16:20 +0000

i don’t usually comment on anyones blog, BUT.

i have a four month old who never slept until a couple of weeks ago. nights, he did, for starters, but at 11 weeks he started waking like, 5 times a night, which i know is NORMAL, but at the same time rolled in with the NOT SLEEPING ALL DAY thing, was doing my head in. and i would SAy to people ‘oh he does not take naps’ and they would be all ‘oh you mean he will only nap for twenty minutes or something?’ and i would be all NO, I MEAN HE DOES NOT CLOSE HIS EYES ALL DAY. and then he would be this horrible screaming mess by 4pm.

i used to feed him to sleep – he wouldn’t do the pacifier thing and wouldn’t be rocked – so i would swaddle and feed him and it got to the point where i would need almost complete darkness and total silence (and i have five year old too, complete silence is just something that doesn’t exist here) and even then he would only go to sleep half the time. and half those times as soon as i moved or put him down he would wake up again. did i mention it was DOING MY HEAD IN?!

anyway someone gave me a book a couple of weeks ago that was pretty much like what amanda (up there) said, a 90 minute routine – now he gets up and i feed him and we hang out and then about an hour to an hour and a half later he gets whingy and i feed him ten more minutes and – sometimes he will drop off then, but if not, he gets re-swaddled and put back in bed. awake. and seriously, if you had told me three weeks ago that i would have a child that i could put in bed AWAKE and it would GO TO SLEEP, i would have laughed until i threw up. but DAMNED IF IT DOESN’T WORK.

not that it was easy, the first few days it took him an hour and a half (with us going in every few minutes) to scream at the top of his lungs until passing out. and occasionally he still does that if he’s overtired.. but most times, its not a drama any more. and he will sleep for an hour to ninety minutes at a time. and i swear to god, it still trips me out EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

i think a big thing with us tho was a routine; with my first kid i just sort of winged it and he was cool with that but this one really likes to know what’s happening.. so we do the same things before bed every time, and he goes down at the same-ish time every day, and all that. and it totally weirds me out that he went from being this kid that was unhappy – but fairly bright and alert all day – to being a kid where you can totally TELL after an hour that he’s had enough and he wants more sleep.

nights are still horrific though, don’t even talk to me about nights. i am giving it til 6 months and then i am investing in some heavy duty earplugs and slooooowly knocking back the comfort feeds.

By: Mel

Mel — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 04:44:53 +0000

you are absolutley hilarious thks for the laugh

sorry can’t help with sleeping… i sit here typing this one handed as my 7 week 2008 model sleeps in my arms, the only place he finds worthy of sleeping, either that or he finds me incredibly boring:)

By: Silver

Silver — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 04:24:59 +0000

Hope the sleeping has improved.

I remember a conversation with my hubby, bring home a bassinet with vibrate or don’t come home! LOL!

Good luck

By: Anna

Anna — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 16:20:52 +0000

Thank god for you! My 3-month-old is on a sleep strike and you gave me my first laugh in a week where all I can seem to do is cry from exhaustion.