Why wont he sleeeeeepppp?????

[onthefly]

My DD is the same. Nothing seems to work.
DS was the same. He would sleep longer in the hug-a-bub when he was little, then nothing worked.
So I just gave up and I'm pretty much ready to give up with DD too now. Unlike DS who really didn't want to sleep, she does and is so grizzly and grumpy most of the day. But just can't sleep longer than 40 minutes tops (20-30 is pretty normal too).
Honestly sometimes I think you just have to wrk around it. You can't spend all day trying to get one child to sleep, you know?

[Ginger]

how about popping him in the car and going for a little drive? we are on a bumpy dirt road and it used to work wonders for getting ds2 to sleep

[trishalishous]

I always find that wearing DD, with my b00b in her mouth, means shell wake and resettle with a few sucks.
We also make sure its noisy all the time, then a loud crash/bang doesnt bother her as much.

[meow]

Honestly sometimes I think you just have to wrk around it. You can't spend all day trying to get one child to sleep, you know?

I agree. I wonder sometimes though if I've let him stay awake too long and that's why he's hard to put down. So then I think I should try and put him down at the first sign of tired to catch him and make for easier sleep time. I dunno. After tears and up & down all afternoon I gave up and he spent about 4.5hours awake (after only having a 20min nap) and finally passed out for about 2 hours once his big brother was in bed. Come to think of it, he sleeps well (ish) in the dark, so maybe I should add block out curtains for the day?

I know the theory of making noise so they are not disturbed but it seriously hasn't worked with either of my boys. This one loves any excuse not to sleep and if he hears his brother- bingo!

[meow]

Thanks again for the ideas everyone. I'm sinking a bit at the moment so it really helps to have some ideas. I pondered them some more last night...

Honestly sometimes I think you just have to wrk around it. You can't spend all day trying to get one child to sleep, you know?

I'm still trying to work out what you mean by this... basically ignore the fact that he's tired and just make him stay up to avoid having to put him back to bed again? I tried that this morning. We all played together and I kept him up for 3 hours till it couldn't be ignored anymore. I settled him in the ergo rather than taking him to the bedroom to go to sleep, which also helped me spend more time with my older son. Took him heaps longer to go to sleep though of course.

how about popping him in the car and going for a little drive? we are on a bumpy dirt road and it used to work wonders for getting ds2 to sleep

Car rides are good. My older son loves them and the little one will go to sleep but once he's asleep I still can't play with my older son because we're stuck in the car.

I always find that wearing DD, with my b00b in her mouth, means shell wake and resettle with a few sucks.
We also make sure its noisy all the time, then a loud crash/bang doesnt bother her as much.

I've been so jealous all night thinking of this, you're very lucky to be able to keep your daughter settled like this If only my son would snooze in the sling and wake up for little feeds. I think I'd freeze having my top open though and it would kill my back- he'd have to be around my waist to keep BFing in the sling

[onthefly]

Meow, I mean you try for a bit, but not forever. If he's still awake after 15-20 minutes, just get him up again, do something else, then try again a bit later. Or if there's something that 'works' at all, just do that (ergo?). I still haven't found the 'thing' that really works with DD so I'm a bit stuck there. I'm trying stuffed toys at the moment - do you think she might start sensing my desperation?
Yeah, try block out curtains. Try anything (within reason)!

[Arcadia]

Urgh! It sounds all very familiar!!! I found it would get worse when dd was dropping one of her sleeps and consolidating them into fewer but for longer. I remember carrying dd all day most days with no difference. She would have 5-7 short catnaps and be super clingy and tired. For us 6 months was better, and she was having 3 clear naps, one of them for 2 hours.

Teaching self settling did help for us...but it's a mission and not necessarily pleasant, and i still have doubts about it tbh

[DANNIIM]

DH ended up foiling DS2's bedroom window and i think that helped him. It was always a huge shock with DS2 i went from having DS1 who was a baby that slept all night from a few months as well as having two x two hours sleeps during the day i now know he was the dream baby sleeper but DS2 certainly showed me what babies are like when they don't sleep.

[meow]

I should be an old pro. My older son was a shocking sleeper too But I didn't have anything else to worry about so I just went with it. I taught him to self settle at 9 months and it took heaps of work with up & down in the cot to try and avoid crying. I was trying the same technique but I don't think this baby is ready at 5 months.

I get what you mean Mad... with this guy though he would go down in 15mins but then wake up 15mins later. Keeping him up longer and using the ergo to settle to sleep (then moving to the cot) helped as I didn't feel chained to the bedroom. Had a better day thankfully