Crawling around the cot?

[Ezz]

You may remember my previous attempts to teach DS to sleep without a wrap. The threads are here and here. Well, here I am again!

DS has started commando crawling & we are now having huge trouble getting him to sleep at night. I still wrap him, but he rolls over, gets his arms out & starts crawling around the cot. If I am standing out of sight, he cries while he crawls around. If I walk over to his cot, he laughs & keeps crawling. But, he won't go to sleep . It's doing my head in!

The last 2 nights, DH has put his hand on DS's chest & patted him with the other hand (so he can't roll over)& he has gone to sleep in 10 mins or so. But I don't want to keep doing this - I want him to learn how to sleep by himself - and to be able to roll over in his sleep.

I know in the previous thread people said that it took their babies a few days to adjust to no wrap etc. But DS just seems to cry - he won't go to sleep when unwrapped - particularly if he's crawling around. Help!!

[Liz]

All I can say is same here! LOL. So - I continue to wrap.

With DS he was feeding to sleep, so he'd just get put down asleep and sleep unwrapped.. so it's completely different this time around. She also plays with her dummy too much if unwrapped and plays the drop the dummy out the cot game.

Will be interested in the responses you get here

[Doing my best]

Hi Girls,

Big hugs, but it did settle down here after a few days, maybe a week.. They are going through a phase where they are just needing to try their new skills, no matter the time of day or night..

I just went with it. My DD normally feeds to sleep at night, but if at times, she wake while going from the lounge room to bed, I would just stay with her (and stop her moving and patting as like Ezz's DH), and she would drift off...

It should only be a passing phase....

[Liz]

Hows it going Ezz? Our latest problem is that she gets out of her wrap and stands up and stays there til she's all upset. I've tried staying with her, and helping her lie down, but she thinks its a game. She's used to putting herself to sleep, so me being there as well as being unwrapped means it's playtime! hehe.

I have, the last few nights, been putting her in bed with us after feeding and leaving her arms out and she's slept quite well. So I'm just going to go with this for now to at least help her sleep unwrapped.. still gotta work on falling asleep unwrapped tho, coz through the night she's very sleepy through her feeds anyway so really I'm putting her down almost asleep.

Have you had any luck yet?

[Liz]

My update (c'mon Ezz - don't let me take over this thread! LOL).

Last night I took the plunge and put her in a sleeping bag and put her in the cot. I put her on her tummy, this way she doesn't seem to be at such a loss for what to do with her arms. It's constant head up and trying to sit, and me saying 'lie down' and helping her back down and replacing the dummy. This went for quite a while, and as she got more and more tired, she was starting to lose it. So I got her out and lay down with her on our bed. She got sooooo close to being asleep, but fought it, and finally cracked it, so I fed her and put her in her cot to try again. I stroked her arms & face for a little while and she finally went off to sleep. Two hours it took all up. She still woke frequently for her feeds through the night, but went back to sleep easily unwrapped all night.

Through the day today I wrapped her because I just couldn't do this at every sleep hehe. If I wait til she's really tired, she doesn't fight her way out of the wrap, so I can still wrap her if need be.

Anyway, tonight.. again in sleeping bag. I don't really know how long it took, going back and going back and going back to lie her back down, but I was pretty impressed with myself at how calm and patient I was! LOL. I just figured I'd be consistent.. she wasn't getting that upset, I think her cries were more that she didn't really know what she was doing iykwim, it's like she's sitting up involuntarily and she doesn't really want to be sitting up!.. coz as soon as I came in and helped her lie down on her tummy again, she'd settle straight away. And as soon as the dummy went in, her eyes would roll, and I was just saying "you're soooo close, darling.. just go to sleep" . Anyway, she went to sleep And it certainly was far from 2 hours worth of effort.. so hopefully it will keep getting shorter and shorter!

[Ezz]

Hey Liz - sorry I've been slow to respond.

It sounds like we trying similar things I can't believe you stuck at it for 2 hours - well done!!! - you have waaaaaaaaaaaaaay more stamina than me. I would have given up and wrapped him (I've got a max of 30-40 mins).

My update:

I called Karitane & they suggested that I needed to lose the wrap. To do this, they said I should just keep tucking him in, walking out of the room, going back & tucking him in. (so that he knows he needs to lie down to sleep). They also suggested giving him a soft toy to hold (which I have done) & getting rid of the dummy (which I have not done).

So, we have had 2 nights now without a wrap & he has gone to sleep ok. The first night I had to pat him to sleep & it took about 30 mins. Last night it only took about 5 - and not much effort from me (but I think that's because he had cracked it earlier in the night & wore himself out!).

Today he put himself to sleep for his 1:30 sleep - just lay on his side playing with his dummy & fell asleep. He put himself to sleep for the 4:30 sleep too - but I had to calm him down a bit (he got cranky because he lost teh dummy - I think it fell out the side of the cot).

Anyway, he is still waking up very frequently (every hour or 2 overnight, and every 40 mins during the day) - but I'm hoping that will improve as he gets used to not being wrapped.

[Liz]

Yeah, it was 2hrs of going in and out.. and included me dozing off a bit with her on the bed LOL.

I caved today and wrapped. Last night she woke soooooo frequently that both of us were exhausted. So at 4am I wrapped her and she slept until 8am. I did put her down unwrapped after lunch, not sure how long it took, but I'm doing what you were told to do too, except for the dummy hehe.. just going back and lying her down. But once she's super tired and ready to go off, she gets really restless, and I need to then sit next to the cot and hold/stroke her hand and she goes off. Tonight, I've wrapped her again, but my plan is to leave her unwrapped throughout the night after she wakes for a feed, so we'll see how we go.

But it sounds like you're doing really well!! I'm assuming we'll get there one day, so I'm trying not to stress, and I will just keep trying it now & then, but I'm still happy to wrap if we're all too exhausted hehe.

I think the weather isn't helping either.. by 4am it was getting cool so she probably felt nice & snug once I wrapped her. It's hard with kids when the night starts out warm, but is cold by morning.

[Ezz]

I caved today and wrapped. Last night she woke soooooo frequently that both of us were exhausted. So at 4am I wrapped her and she slept until 8am.

Does she sleep unwrapped if she's in bed with you?

Does she always wake for a feed? or just for a pat?

But once she's super tired and ready to go off, she gets really restless, and I need to then sit next to the cot and hold/stroke her hand and she goes off.

That's what we were doing for the first couple of days. He seems to be getting the hang of just cuddling teddy & going to sleep now (with a few grizzles). Tonight I only had to go back in once to lie him down & then he settled himself off to sleep - whole thing took less than 10 mins. I'm just that means that he will sleep better tonight.

But it sounds like you're doing really well!!

He is definitely getting better at putting himself to sleep - just need him to start resettling himself. (we've had a week and a half of getting up every hour or two overnight )

I'm assuming we'll get there one day, so I'm trying not to stress, and I will just keep trying it now & then, but I'm still happy to wrap if we're all too exhausted hehe.

It's always the back-up option isn't it? I know a friend of a friend who is still wrapping her 2 y.o. - so I had been preparing myself that Calvin may be like that too

I think the weather isn't helping either.. by 4am it was getting cool so she probably felt nice & snug once I wrapped her. It's hard with kids when the night starts out warm, but is cold by morning.

It's hard, isn't it? I start Calvin in a grobag (0.5 TOG) with a sheet over him. When I go to bed, I add 2 blankets over the top. He seems to be warm enough with that. But it's often hard to know how cold the night will get - the weather is so unpredictable at the moment.

[Liz]

Does she sleep unwrapped if she's in bed with you?

Does she always wake for a feed? or just for a pat?

I didn't actually put her in our bed last night, coz I can't decide if it really works hehe. Sometimes I've had her wrapped and in our bed, she's up near the bedhead between our pillows, so not really under any blankets, so I've just left her wrapped. But the last few nights if she comes in, she's not wrapped.

Normally, yes she wakes for a feed, coz normally its after a few hours. But when she's waking every 1/2 hr or so I don't always feed her, but I do find feeding is the quickest way to get her back off to sleep. I usually do try sticking the dummy back in first (her cot is right next to me), but it rarely works hehe.

[Ezz]

How's it going now Liz?

We've been wrapless for a couple of weeks now. He's still waking up every couple of hours overnight & he has developed this annoyng "awake" time which lasts for about an hour (usually 3am - 4am ish). He's getting much better at putting himself to sleep unwrapped (today I found him sleeping on his tummy - face down!) - but still finds it hard to self-settle into another sleep cycle when he wakes up.

[Liz]

Mine's a kind of half hearted effort I'm afraid LOL. unless she's really tired and I know she'll go off ok unwrapped, I wrap her during the day, just so I can put her down and get on with other things. Only occasionally she fights it and gets out. At night she won't have a bar of the wrap tho, so she's in a sleeping bag. Sometimes I can get her off to sleep in her cot, but lately she's been such a night owl, and she just comes to bed with me and sleeps with us. Sometimes in the morning I can transfer her to her cot when I get up, other times I wrap her and put her in her cot. I guess we'll get there one day heh.