I have this little 9 month old who doesn't really like to nap. So she is constantly cranky and tired.
I blame the teeth. And the mobility and alertness.
But I am still trying to get her to nap regularly.
She used to nurse down, but now she doesn't fall asleep while nursing. She comes off, then POPS up her head. She just wants to go, go, go.
The room is as dark as possible, it's quiet in the house, there's sleepy lullabies playing, and I am snuggled up with her. She can sometimes fall asleep with patting, or stroking her head. But usually she is not interested in laying down, even though she is yawning and her head is dropping down ever 20 seconds! (She lays it down for a sec to rest, then POPs it up again) It's cute if it weren't so frustrating!
I usually end up having to hold her, with more pressure than I'd really like to, just to keep her from crawling and rolling around. Then she fusses a bit, but then she can sleep. This is the same way she usually falls asleep in the car, fussing a bit before she can fall asleep. So I am torn as to whether I am making her cry unnecessarily or if she needs to vent some steam to relax.
When my sis was here last week, I told her that I guess that I need to wind Bea down more before trying to go to sleep. And she is like "Wind her down from what, your house is so quiet and you guys play quietly." Which I kind of agree with, it's not like there's two noisy kids here playing together. But I am turning on a quiet 20 min CD before I expect her to be tired and trying to keep it even more mellow (the last two days).
Any mama advice out there????
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5 comments:
9 months is that age where they start to realize the world is out there and they stop sleeping as nicely as they used to. Try to create some kind of routine (trust me I know how hard that is). You could try something like bath, nursing, snuggle & the same bedtime story each night and then put her to bed with the music playing.
The key is consistency. She'll begin to recognize the sequence as what happens before bed. For some babies this works wonders. But I don't guarantee it works for everyone. Worth a shot though. For a book, pick something not too long, with a nice cadence that you can read each night in a soothing voice.
I used to read Skyler a book called Snuggle Up Sleepy Ones. It's about all the animals going to bed. It's pretty cute. I hope something helps cause I know how tough it can be when you don't get enough sleep! Good luck Mama.
I was in the same boat, and it lasted til 11 months (when he crawled). He got much better at naps once he really, really started crawling, then a bit better again once he started walking at 12 months. But now he's winding back again, as I guess he's growing up and needing less sleep. All I know is with these babies, as soon as you go and get used to something, it changes on you!
and ps, I've never let Angus cry it out. I just can't do it.
Dark and quiet is good. I have had similar bouts with Thomas Harry. But maybe it is too quiet, have you considered a noise machine? Or a CD of water sounds? I do that for Beatrice because when she would get distracted and interested when she would hear us talking in the other room, thinking she was missing all the fun. We bought a noise machine for babies at one of those big baby stores.
All I can say is that she will probably get over the newness of mobility and interest in everything. But one thing that immediately pops into my mind is switching the idea of two naps to one nap. Usually that doesn't happen until after 12 months, but she might just be ready to combine those two naps. Go later on the morning nap, but not as late as afternoon nap. Stop playing a half an hour before hand and just read stories. I used to read fairy tales or folktales to Bea, because they were a little less interesting to her. Read: BORING. I also read the first Harry Potter book when she was little, also Wind in the Willows and Alice in Wonderland. It was interesting to me, but she was bored and would fall asleep. Hope that helps. Good luck. Exhausted, cranky baby is frustrating.
We have the same problem with Matchi - and he's almost 5yo! A routine helps, but what really makes him sleep is to be held down. We tried the "crying it out" when he was little, but it was too stressful for us - he only wound himself up!
When he was ~2mo he discovered a leg jerking trick that would keep him awake. he would jerk his legs in the stroller, bed, car seat... just to remain awake. What worked most of the time the Baby Bjorn bouncy seat, that rocked him when he moved his legs - he would hold still to prevent the rocking and that would put him to sleep.
I also noticed that he needed to know that we were still around, too much quiet scared him. Noises he recognized (like unloading the dishwasher or folding laundry) helped him know we were around.
Things to try... Good luck!
It's just hard. Dot no longer reliably nurses down, either, and our nighttime routine has become longer than I think I can sustain indefinitely. I'm hoping this is teething and ear infection aftermath & will pass.
One thought - if your house is usually quiet, you might try introducing some more noise and light during the awake times to see if a clearer distinction between play- and nap-time will help.
Good luck!
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