My daughter, who is now 10 months old still is not sleeping through the night or basically at all...she has always cried for hours at night, but ever since she has learned to sit up and stand, she refuses to lay down and tries to fall asleep sitting up. She is successful at times, but her sleep does not last long. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get her to lay down??? She basically just collpases forward and folds herself...is this normal??? Has anyone else had this problem?
I had a lot of responses regarding a possible ear infection and a lot of people recommended seeing a doctor...I have been to the doctor on two separate occasions because I thought she might have an ear infection, but that was not the case. She has a lot of discomfort from teething and that might have been contributing. ANyhow, we are on night 3 where she has been sleeping through the night. She tends to wake up a couple of times but is able to comfort herself back to sleep. I guess she just figured it out. We were really persistent on making sure that we did not give up on putting her in the crib...we had a few set backs and did what we needed to do to keep our sanity, but in the end we kept trying and she finally gave in. She is my third child and I would have thought it would be easier, but that just wasn't the case. I have come to the conclusion that every baby will adjust eventually, some are just more difficult and require more work and patience. I might not want to speak so soon as we have only gone 3 nights with her sleeping all night, but either way we have made progress. Thanks so much for all your help and suggestions...it is nice to know so many people are out there that want to listen and help when you need it!!!
Another vote for Dr. Marc Weissbluth - here is his information:
The Northwestern Children's Practice
680 N. Lake Shore Drive, Suite 123
Chicago, IL 60611
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Call Dr Marc Weissbluth -- he's the best about sleeping and pediatric health issues... ###-###-#### He also has some great books, but seeing him is the BEST! Good luck.
Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth.
It's mandatory for your sanity. I've used it with great success, and plan on reading it again in preparation to sleep train my third. It's not easy to let them cry, but it usually doesn't last more than a day or two, and in the long run, they are much better off, and so are you.
Good luck!
I would go for a consultation with Dr. Weisblut at children's memorial. he is a pediatrician sleep expert/researcher and has pretty much seen it all. He has a book (Healthy Sleep habits, Happy Baby) but in your case I would go for a consultation.
I think she's either in pain from teething or tummy ache or something else more significant is going on. Here's a couple of homeopathic remedies you can try (available at CVS walgreens, usually, if not at health food stores like WHole FOods or Fruitful Yield, even in the natural foods section of Dominicks and Jewel). if they don't work or seem to help, i would seek a professional homeopath's advice (we see dr. polich in naperville www.dupagehomeopathic.com). ours helped my 10 mo old DD to sleep better -- she was up 2-3x/night (not fussing the ways yours is) and is only waking 1x/night now.
hylands calms forte (Read about it here to see if this is what your daughter's symptoms are like:)
http://hylands.com/products/calms4kids.php
If it's gas related, just tummy upset, the colic tablets might work. My DD had gassiness and was helped by this.
http://hylands.com/products/colic.php
if you want to email me offlist, i'd be happy to try to help you find a remedy.
this happened to us when our daughter had an ear infetion we would drive her in the car to sleep thepressure jsut hurt too much. she got ear infections from reflux and the reflux kept her awake sitting up. she aslo was allergic to or intolerant to wheat and gluten. once we got her on prevacid and took wheat away she is sleeping GREAT!
I am pretty sure your little on has reflux. Did you kow how painful it is to sleep lying down with reflux?? Reflux can burn paper imagine when she lays down how much it burns her esophagus. Also the reflux can go all the way up into the ears and that causes ear infecions do to the enzymes in the reflux in the ear canal. (kind of like yeast grows well in dark moist places).
Get her on prevacid and also I would journal about what foods she eats taht makes the night worse. We had to remove milk and dairy and that helped the vomiting instantly. I would highly suggest do not let your dr give you prevacid solutabs I know they are easier but they have lactose in them and with her tummy acid problems I would not ad to it. you can do a suspension prevacid or the capsule and open them up put them in OJ and feed it to ehr with a syringe.
GIve ti two weeks and you will be so happy!
J.
What have you tried? First rule out a physical cause with your doctor for her not sleeping. She's 10 mos and it's better for younger infants, but still might work, try swaddling her. take a big enough blanket, wrap it around from one side and tuck it under, lift up the bottom to her chest, now wrap around the other side very firmly so she cannot move her arms and legs and hold her. You are simulating the security and closeness of the womb. After you've done this a few times for maybe 5 min and she's sort of used to it, do it and lay her down on her back in her crib and stay with her for 5 min,do this till for a couple naps until she's sort of used to it. Next step, leave the room for 5 min. with her still swaddled.How is she at this point, if still crying a lot, go slowly,pick her up, do it again the next nap. if she's adjusting to it still crying but not that hard, look in the room only after 5 min (mostly to reassure yourself that you are a caring mother) then let her cry for 10minutes, repeat the look in, let her cry for 15 min more. then pick her up if she's still crying or if she's winding down, let her go. I think of this as trying to reprogram her brain to make the neural connections to lying still and falling asleep.
I know when my daughter started to walk this became a problem and she would walk all around her crib what seemed to me all night long! The dr said to me that she does not want to sleep since this is a new skill she just learned and is excited to keep using it. Made sense and after about a month she got back on a normal sleep schedule.
We also are back to wrapping her like a burrito when she sleeps... keeps her down until the morning and she spends about 30 minutes trying to squirm out of it! Might give that a try if she will allow it... my daughter will not sleep at all now if she is not wrapped that way... she is 19 months!
Good luck to you and I hope you get some sleep! Blessings!
I guess the answer to your question is do you want your girls to think this is what marriage is? Would you want their spouces to treat them the way you are being treated? I was married for 10 years to a as*!! I have 3 daughters with him, I felt exactly like you do. I wanted them to have a father. I had no skills to support them. Well, to make a long story short, He eventually cheated on me (while I was pregnant with our 3rd) and wanted a divorce. THANK GOD. I might still be with him. It was the best thing that happend to me and my girls. Im not going to lie, it was rough at first. Divorce is not fun for anyone, especially the kids, however, especially if you have girls, he might start the nasty behavior twords them (which is what happend to me.) I am so glad that I did not take him back. Good luck, FYI I am very very happy now, I married a wonderful man 2 1/2 years after my divorce, He LOVES me and my 3 girls and we have a 4th girl! Good Luck!
A.
My daughter was the same eay she did not sleep through the night until she was 3 years old. Her naps is she took one would only be for about 15 minutes. Our pediatrician was not concerned and just told us she was a very curious child and did not want to miss anything. She is now 20 and did wonderful in school. I suggest leaving her alone with some toys in her crib to keep her busy.
My son doesn't have problems sleeping, but he does sleep in that position on occassion. They are so flexible at that age. Does you dtr sleep a lot during the day? If so, she may need to learn the difference between day and night. Make sure everything is dark at night. My ped said not to even use a nightligt.
Hi A.,
If I were you I'd make sure you took her to the pediatrician. It sounds like she could have an ear infection if she's in pain lying down. (The fluid backs up in the ear and causes a lot of pressure) and if not that, something else could be physically wrong. As a retired R.N, I would definately not say it's normal for her not to be able to sleep laying down. Ears are a big culprit in that. I'd rule that out for sure and see what they say. It could also be her tummy that's in pain, and being more curled up or sitting feels better. Is she on formula or are you breast feeding? We had to change our grandaughter's formula to lactose free and she felt much better. Mylicon is great if her tummy feels hard like it's gassy. If it keeps up though, you should take her in. You don't want to miss something serious. When they can't talk yet to help you, you need to rule out anything serious.
Dear A.,
First, I would have her evaluated by her pediatrician to make sure that there is not an underlying reason that causes her to want to be in an upright position. When my daughter was a newborn she would only sleep in her car seat. What we discovered was that she had allergies from her bed sheets and it was difficult for her to breathe when she was lying down.
Sincerely,
H.
My son didn't sleep through the night until 11 months. The cure? Starting him on whole milk early.
I would definately also say check her ears. My son didn't start sleeping through the night until about 11 mo. and it was around the time we had him on a strong antibiotic for ear infection. Sadly, sometimes the ears don't have to be infected for them to hurt. My son has been waking up crying for a week now but puts himself back to sleep. He finished a antibiotic Saturday for his ear infections but when I took him for his follow-up yesterday she said they were still infected. So she put him on a stronger antiobiotic and wouldn't you know....he's sleeping just fine again. Ask you dr. to check her ears that very well may be the problem.
My son is only 4 months old but he is sleeping 12 hours a night and has been for the last month. I saw an advertisement in a parenting magazine for the 3-day sleep solution, and since I am a first time Mom I thought I would see what it is about. So I got it and followed what it said and like I said he is sleeping 12 hours a night. You may want to give it a try...
try babyinabag.com. my 5 month old is now sleeping 12 hours in a row all bundled up. her kicking legs used to wake her up. they have really nice thick cotton bags that are a little more than the cheaper ones i've found but it's worth it. good luck. ;-)
I had a similar problem w/my daughter. But it was cuz she got to comfortable falling asleep in the stroller. It was like that for two weeks and we had to lay in the room with her, but each day that went by it was less and less. She would also collapse and fold and eventually fall asleep. She still does it, but only for like a minute or so and then she'll lay down. I put a radio in their room and I put on 95.5(jazz station) and they love it. Other than that, if you have not had she check out, you may want to. Maybe an ear infection or two. Good luck.
