HELP- A kid that doesn't sleep

[Janie]

Will come back, my first is a bit of a non-sleeper as well, still is at 3

[MummaSue]

Aww, Kate you poor thing.

I have to say, my little one could go for hours without a sleep and I work hard to get her down. Some days I spend longer getting her to sleep than she actually spends asleep but I don't mind. She has around 3-4 40 minute naps a day and is much happier for them. I'm not saying that you're not trying to get her to sleep and I totally know what you mean about not fighting with her to go to sleep - if missy seems wide awake, I sometimes give it half an hour and try her again.

Do you wrap her? I have to swaddle missy tight - she might grizzle for a bit but we lie down and feed until she is asleep.

Hugs
Sue xxx

[HotI]

I think i might have jinxed myself, just had the 3rd rough night in a row. She sleeps in our room, and sometimes in our bed but i don't sleep as well (neither does she) cos if i move she wakes up again but every time we tried to put her back to bed she cracked it- and we were probably too tired to persist- and i don't want her going to sleep all worked up.

The only thing that helped me was finding ways to cope better, rather than trying to change him. We coslept a lot. We used the HAB (sooo hard wen you have stay upright and moving - DS was the same). I walked him to sleep. I timed outings for sleepy times.

This is what i have been doing, but i hoped she would start to find it easier to sleep. I find it easier when i don't have to stress about other people or making appointments- or trying to make sure she is in a happy mood for visitors or appointments. We also have a reno going on which is probably not helping either of us to be calm and content.

And being prepared to sleep with him - even if that meant lying down during the day with him. Power naps were the big problem. If he caught just a tiny cat-nap instead of a sleep, then it seemed to recharge the batteries for another 3 hours or so.

ETA - and Enya on repeat on a little cd player in his room.

Powernaps definitely an issue here. Although sometimes i would be happy with just a little powernap. She sleeps in our room, and i don't know if i could cope with Enya on repeat! I used to lay down in the arvo so that she would sleep, maybe i need to start them again. She had a sleep yesterday arvo on my lap and was happier for it.

I'm not saying that you're not trying to get her to sleep and I totally know what you mean about not fighting with her to go to sleep - if missy seems wide awake, I sometimes give it half an hour and try her again.

I'm not sure anymore which way to go. She will be tired and ready for a sleep, but i can rock her for an hour or so in the pram and look in and she will just giggle at me.

It is good to know that i'm not the only one with a non-sleeper. Good to remember when i am slowly losing my mind.

[onthefly]

Personally, if it takes longer to get them to sleep than they actually sleep, then I'd stop trying. I remember spending hours getting DS to sleep for 20 minutes. It actually was a lot better when I eased off - we were both more relaxed. He didn't sleep any longer, but I stressed about it less.

[MummaSue]

I hope that you can find something that works Kate. Sometimes even a power nap from them can recharge your own batteries. I know I get exhausted if she doesn't nap in the day! And it does happen for us too, especially because she has reflux and lying down is an issue for her sometimes when her heartburn is particularly bad.

I don't get stressed about her naps any more (I used to.... man, I used to!) and just go with the flow. If it takes 10 minutes to get her over then great, if it takes 30 then that is fine too. We usually just lie and "chat" or I read her a quiet story. Missy gets really really cranky if she hasn't had nap and even 15 minutes can see her happy again!!

Hugs
Sue xxx

[KTS]

oh you poor thing, it can be very hard without getting some sort of break during the day. I have a shocking sleeper (who is now almost 2) and it can be hard hard work.

My boy is actually much better during the day than at night but there was a period (I think around 7 months so older than your bub) when he was terrible during the days too. The thing that seemed to work a bit was for one of us to go to bed with him for his day sleeps - we tried to do them at around the same time every day without being too uptight about it, and then just stayed in bed and patted him, breast fed him etc if it seemed like he would wake (I used to try to get him past 45mins I think). I can't remember how long we did this but it would have been at least a few weeks. Eventually he just settled into day sleeping and would regularly do somewhere between 45-75 mins on his own. It was kind of annoying because it meant that we couldn't do anything while he was sleeping but it is also good because it is some enforced rest. And now he is a good day sleeper who normally has at least two hours in the middle of the day (yay!)

But I do agree that sometimes kids are just not good sleepers and there isn't that much you can do. It can help to remind yourself of this when you start thinking that the sleep problems are your own fault or that there is a magic remedy (well that is what I tell myself when my child wakes for the 100th time overnight!). good luck.

[Arcadia]

Day sleeps were touch and go with us until about 6 months, and then DD settled into a good 2 hour morning sleep and an hour (or so) two more times before bed at 7. She used to be impossible to get to sleep some days at around 4 months, and like others have said, the less I fought it, the better we all felt.

Gee its tiring though, and walking around with a big bubba in a sling is also tiring. At one stage I was going for 5 walks a day just for her to have 5 x 30 min cat naps!

Will she feed to sleep? DD has always been a booby monster and even now will fall asleep anywhere if there's a boob in her mouth!