Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Frustration!!

Ok, I'm having a serious dilemma and I need some advice from anyone who is willing to share. Ever since we moved to NY Rachael's schedule is WAY off. Off as in she'll go to sleep at like 10, but treat it like a nap and wake up an hour later ready to play. (This is the current situation, hence me blogging at 1 a.m. The babe is sucking on her feet fighting the sleep.) In the morning she'll wake up at 9:30 or 10 (not to mention the two or three times within that) and go to sleep two hours later. Then another nap at like 5, then a "nap" at 10. HELP!! Ideally I would love for her to go to bed at 9, sleep for at least a few hours straight, and then take a morning nap and an afternoon nap, and then bed again at 9. Why isn't this possible? I just need a shift back of about 4 hours. IS THIS POSSIBLE?? I don't believe so, but if you have any tidbit of advice, I would LOVE it please! Either comment, or if it is too much advice for just a comment (which would be fantastic!), e-mail me at erin_russell86@yahoo.com. I'm going to attempt this again. Wish me luck!!

Here is a list of things I'm attempting all at once, which is probably part of the problem:
1. A scheduled sleep pattern
2. To get her to stop nursing/rocking to sleep
3. To get her to comfort herself back to sleep (not a real winner tonight!)
4. To get her attached to her stuffed mouse's presence instead of mine
5. To not rip my hair out

2 comments:

Stefani said...

Awww, I hate when babies do this. Afton was like this AT ALL TIMES! Took me hours to get her to sleep and then she would sleep for like 20 min. The sleep deprivation is killer (for mom and baby). I don't know if this will work, but maybe you could try keeping her up (skipping a nap) and then see if she'll sleep longer later. And remember, she is still adjusting too. It takes a while when there's a change. Babies are just like us. Good luck, and remember it will get better.

Megan said...

I was thinking the same thing Erin. My sister had this problem at one point. So that she'll sleep longer and go to bed earlier, keep her awake during those afternoon naps when she wants to go to sleep. Whatever it takes. She'll get really grumpy but she'll crash when you put her down. If she wakes up after a short time when you put her to bed, let her cry herself back to sleep (or at least cry for say 15-30 minutes). Then wake her up in the morning when you would like her to get up. Don't let her sleep later than that. Then repeat. It might take a few days cuz this was a big time change but keep working at it.
(Oh, and maybe hold off on cutting off nursing until you get her back on a good schedule. That might be a little much all at once.)