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Bedtime Nightmare.... any ideas....?!
Hello,
I really need some help..!! Harry is 7months old and has got himself into a real pickle with his bedtime....
Here is a quick outline..
The day goes well... he naps well and is a very very happy little boy.
We start bedtime routine at 5pm with his supper (he is fully weaned)
Then we have some playtime together, then upstairs to start nappy off time, bath then bottle and bed.
Then it goes to pot....! He has his bottle and then screams the house down when we put him into his cot., so we end up rocking him to sleep.... now it has moved onto another stage.... He will fall asleep whilst having his bottle and will now wake up after 40mins and scream and if we don't get to him within a few mins, he is sick and we are talking huge sick. He then is in such a state we have to bring him downstairs and wait until he is sleepy again before giving him another bottle and then he will finally fall asleep.... its a nightmare....
Can anyone shed any light on what we can do to help him get out of this cycle... as it breaks my heart to see him so upset and then being so sick.
Any help would be so hugely appreciated.
A xx
also posted in Born in Jan 2010
I really need some help..!! Harry is 7months old and has got himself into a real pickle with his bedtime....
Here is a quick outline..
The day goes well... he naps well and is a very very happy little boy.
We start bedtime routine at 5pm with his supper (he is fully weaned)
Then we have some playtime together, then upstairs to start nappy off time, bath then bottle and bed.
Then it goes to pot....! He has his bottle and then screams the house down when we put him into his cot., so we end up rocking him to sleep.... now it has moved onto another stage.... He will fall asleep whilst having his bottle and will now wake up after 40mins and scream and if we don't get to him within a few mins, he is sick and we are talking huge sick. He then is in such a state we have to bring him downstairs and wait until he is sleepy again before giving him another bottle and then he will finally fall asleep.... its a nightmare....
Can anyone shed any light on what we can do to help him get out of this cycle... as it breaks my heart to see him so upset and then being so sick.
Any help would be so hugely appreciated.
A xx
also posted in Born in Jan 2010
0
Replies
Sorry am, not being much help, my LO played up with bedtime for a while but controlled crying finally sorted it out but seeing as your LO is being sick then thats probably not the best idea!
Hope you get to the bottom of it soon.
xx
Does he have a dummy? The boys have a dummy to go to sleep then spit it out. We have also recently given them muslins as they really like wrapping themselves up (I know, weird children! lol)
Sorry ive been absolutely no help, but the boys are now 9.5 months and I havent bought him down for ages, except when he has been poorly. He just seemed to grow out of it, as I never did CC or anything??
xx
I'm so pleased to hear he grew out of it...but sorry that he went through it too if that makes sense..!
He has never used a dummy, I sometimes wish he had...! But he does have his Bunny in his cot with him and he chews his ears..!! Its just so upsetting to see him so distressed after being sick.... and I have to admit the mess is getting worse..! We have to change him, change us and scrub the carpet....!
I will try waking him up before I put him in his cot..... he still seems to scream the house down.... perhaps I just need to sit with him and sit it out... if that makes sense...
Oh dear...! wish I could wave a magic wand..!
xx
I would suggest no playtime. It's still stimulation and could be exciting him and he needs to wind down - that's why I give him toys in his bath now as it kills two birds but the hot water still has the drowsy effect. I told my MIL about my routine when she was looking after him one night and she didn't bother listening and brought him down to play after his bath and he screamed and screamed later when he was tired just like your lo does. I also find if I rock lo to sleep when he's not tired and he dozes off, when he comes round for the lull he screams and screams so maybe he's not actually tired when you're trying to put him to bed?
When is his afternoon nap? How long is it for? Is he teething? Does he have reflux maybe? Has he learned a new skill? - my lo has learned how to crawl and he did wake himself up occaisionally and had erretic sleep whilst his brain dealt with learning the new skill.
I hope you find an answer soon! X
xx
Thank you for answering, your routine does sound similar but maybe I have to be a bit more tough..!
I got a bit confused with one thing you said... His changer and bottle are made up and put up the stairs slightly hotter than he eats it at and he goes into his bath with toys-that's where he has his playtime
what is a changer... and do you mean you make his bottle up a bit hotter than usual... sorry for being thick..!
Also what time do you actually give him his bottle ? and then turn the light out ..?
Sorry for all the questions but I think I need to be a bit more like you..!
Thank you
A xx
I do ...
Supper 5pm (how much do you give...?)
5.30pm upstairs, nappy off and lying on mat until I have run bath cleaned up etc...
6pm sometime closer to 6.30pm Bath
6.30 -7pm pj's on and bottle...
in theory this is how it should work... most nights it does... then it goes t**'s up..!
I draw the curtains before he goes into the ro so it's quite dim but light enough to look at pictures of a book...I'm lucky that I have a window that allows light into the room if I leave the door open..so when he goes into his cot and I shut the door the place is nice and dark.
I give him his bottle, brush his teeth and cuddle him untill he starts slow blinking which usually takes no more than 5mins after his bottle lol. Tonight he was sleeping for 7pm x
I think that maybe the time between dinner and bath is a bit long...maybe put him in his bath earlier with toys and he can have playtime in it instead? X
thank you so much for all your help... I will try and change things a bit more...
Can I ask one more question... how much sleep does Grant get during the day...?
A xx
We give the boys dinner at 4pm, bath, books, bottle, bed asleep by 6/6.15pm, so 2 hours from dinner starting to bed asleep. Maybe by sleeptime he has become overtired?? Alfie is an awful overtired baby, and always has been. (Can you tell I have one 'easy' twin and one more difficult one! lol)
He gets up at 7..goes down at 9.30..gets up at 11..goes down at 2.30 and gets up at 3 or 3.30 so around 3hrs.
Guidlines on BE said there should be 3hrs of naps and 11hrs of sleep on average for a 6month old but they're all different I suppose! He's also dropping his 10am bottle and only has 3 7oz - one at 7am, 3.30 and 6.45 x
I think I just have to take control of the situtation...!! and work our way through it by changing bits and pieces...
thank you all so much for all of your help... its all really interesting and I hope he works through this phase soon..!
A xxxx
last night he did his normal waking after 40mins, but then we sort of took control... after hearing from you lot on here and then speaking to a good friend who has 3 children... I realised that I was being wrapped around his baby finger..!! so we did his routine earlier, left a longer gap between supper and milk/bed - didn't stop the 40 min waking but when he did wake, we didn't lift him.... we did a bit of controlled crying, mixed with soothing and for 2 and a half hours we worked through it.... but the end result was he wasn't sick and he didn't leave his cot, and he calmed right down, so he ended up playing in his cot with bunny which is fine with me, and the self settled with me sitting in the corner where he couldn't see me... or just outside the door....
we are going to do the same tonight and just work through it... we feel like we have taken control which really was what was needed...he had his morning nap and now his lunch time nap in his beddie which makes me very very happy...!
Thank you so so much for all of your help... and I hope you have a lovely family Sunday.
A xxx