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BABY SLEEP webchat PART 2 - Mon 14 Feb, 12-1pm

Babyexpert is pleased to welcome back Pampers Village sleep expert, Wendy Dean, for the 2nd part of our baby sleep webchat.



Wendy is retuning to our message boards on Monday 14 February, from 12-1pm to find out if her sleep advice has helped, if you need further support or to answer any other questions on any baby sleep issues you might have.



Don't worry if you can't make chat on the day, leave your question below now and Wendy will endeavor to answer as many questions on the day as possible.



Click the link to find out more: http://www.babyexpert.com/Baby_Sleep_Webchat_
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Replies

  • Welcome to our second webchat with Pampers Village Sleep Expert Wendy Dean. Whether you are informing Wendy of your progress or have a new question post it below.



    thanks
  • hi, i have a 9week old dd, and while i know not to expect too much from one so young, i'm certain she's not sleeping enough, even my hv is stumped!...for almost 2weeks now she's almost absolutely refused to sleep in the day, for example, last night she had a breastfeed at 9pm, for 45mins, at 10.30 5oz of expressed bm, then another bf at11.30, she then slept from midnight until 3.45 when she had another feed, then she woke again at 6 and again at 7.30...since then she's had several feeds and fell asleep at 11am for 15minutes, then woke grumpy, so fed again, then slept for 5 minutes, she's just han another feed and is wide awke (and now just brought that up, so she's not hungry)...we do plenty of playing with her etc, but she's not sleeping for more than 15minutes max! last week there were a couple of days where she wnet 12hours sleeping no more than 2minutes then awake for an hour...i'm finding it a real struggle as i have 23month old too. thanks in advance ....also, she does ahve a dummy, which doesn't seem to be helping anymore, and she won't even sleep for more than that on us anymore either, so i'm completely stuck. x
  • Hello everyone, my name is Wendy Dean, Sleep Expert on the Pampers Village Parenting Panel and I am looking forward to answering your questions this lunch time.
  • Thank you for your question about your 11 week old daughter benjysmum. It can be very difficult to settle a small baby into her own bed, particularly if she has got rather used to sleeping somewhere else. Why not go and take a look at the Pampers Village website www.pampers.co.uk/goldensleep where I have worked with Pampers to devise a Soothology routine especially designed for your age of baby. With a lot of patience of perseverance it should be possible to help her settle into her own bed although it might be hard work and could take a little time. Keep trying and you will get there.



    Wendy
  • I have a 16 month old, she has never been a great sleeper and I'm not a fan of controlled crying. We still get her off to sleep with a bottle and then rock her and lay her down. Do you have any other suggestions as to how we may be able to get her to sleep herself rather than controlled crying?
  • Hi again. I'm the lady with the 11-month-old early riser. We ditched the dummy and it worked really well for the first few days [he wasn't remotely bothered about it, I wish we'd ditched it months ago!] He was waking at 5, having a chat to himself before going off to sleep again until 6.30!



    BUT he's started waking early again the last couple of mornings, we had a 4.30am on Sunday! He doesn't cry, he's just up and awake. His routine's been a bit disrupted over the weekend, could it just be that?



    Thanks

    Lisa
  • oh also wanted to ask, my son who is 23monyths still has a dummy for bedtime/naps, any tips on how to remove this? i don't thik he'd quite grasp the concept of dummy fairy etc yet, but ideally would like to ahave it rid of soon after his second birthday...had planned to d o it sooner but we moved house in november hten his sister arrived in december so figured it would be a bad time. thanks again x
  • Hello WoWbabies, thank you for your question regarding your little 9 week old daughter. On the face of it, she may be using the breast as a source of comfort rather than as a way of filling up her tummy. When she is at the breast, is she taking strong sucks and clearly swallowing or is she having a little suckle every now and again, stopping but remaining at the breast? If the answer is the latter, then introducing a daytime feeding routine could be the answer. There are some helpful resources on the www.pampers.co.uk/goldensleep website which will help you plan one - the sleep diary would be particularly helpful to you I think. If she is falling asleep at the breast and just won't settle in her basket then start the Soothology routine (at the same web address) that is suitable for a 9 week ole baby. It may take a while to start with, but she should start to settle herself off to sleep without needing a feed. I hope that helps.







    Wendy
  • thanks for ur rpely, she is actually feeding for the most part of most feeds, also she settles well in her basket at night, but in the day she won't settle anywhere, not on us, not in the basket etc, she just doesn't seem to wnat to sleep, but i know that surely she needs to...it's even a struggle to get her to sleep outside in the pram.....edited to add, she's currently laughing and cooing in her basket, which is fine, but she's only had a total of 20minutes sleep in the last 5hours...
  • Hi Pootle26UK, thank you for your question about how to settle your 16 month old. The key to helping her get a good nights sleep is to support her while she learns how to self-settle i.e. so that she doesn't need to be rocked and fed off to sleep. Change the bedtime routine so that this no longer happens - the www.pampers.co.uk/goldensleep website has plenty of ideas for bedtime stories and fun lullaby's. Once she is relaxed and ready to fall asleep, put her in her cot. You can then continue to read or sing to her whilst you encourage her to lie down. Once she is happy to do this, sit quietly beside her and constantly reassure her that you are still there. Eventually she will fall asleep. You need to do the same thing for several weeks, but gradually start to edge out of the room. The Soothology Routine for a 16 month old baby on the Pampers website will give you some more information. the key to success will be patience and perseverance.



    Wendy
  • Hi Lisa, thanks for updating your progress on the dummy dictching on this thread image . It could be a change of routine that has affected his sleep. It may be worth plotting what is happening on the sleep diary to be found at www.pampers.co.uk/goldensleep for a few days to see if any pattern emerges. Can I ask what is currently happening when he wakes early? What time did he wake this morning? What did you do? What did he do?



    Wendy
  • Hello Wendy



    My son is 19 weeks old and has never been one of these babies that sleeps through the night!!



    However, he used to just wake up once a night to be fed and would be back asleep in 20 minutes. Over the last few weeks though he has started waking every hour or so and sometimes will then be awake for a good hour and a half!! He will fall asleep the minute I pick him up but scream when I put him down - this happens no matter where I put him to sleep.

    Have tried teething gel, calpol, checking if it is wind, checked if he was too hot/cold and we just can't figure out why he is waking up.



    We started weaning after this started hapening too but it hasn't made a difference.



  • Hi Again WoWbabies. If you really think that your little man won't understand sending the dummy to a dummy fairy, then make it a bit simpler - offer him a bribe to hand it over image I'm sure he will swap it for a very interesting new toy. The key though is to make sure that he knows its gone at that point - it needs to go in the kitchen bin and then into the big bin about 10 minutes before the bin men arrive. From then on, you will need to keep telling him that the bin men have it everytime he asks for it. He will forget very quickly if you keep distracting him and re-enforcing the message. There is a bit more info on dummy ditching on the frequently asked questions sections of www.papmpers.co.uk/goldensleep.



    With regard to your your little girl, is she cranky and tired all day or does she seem to be fine on the odd cat nap grabbed here and there?





    Wendy
  • thanks very much, i deifnately think a new toy for in his cot might eb a good bribe, thanks...



    erm re my daughter, she's currently happily cooing away in her cot, which is all well and god, but yet she' sonly had a total 20minutes sleep in the last 5hours...although she is starting to get cranky now, but she's been quite happy for the last 10minutes or so.
  • Hello Snugglenush, can I ask how your little boy falls asleep at the beginning of the night? It could be that he is using some sort of prop - feeding, rocking, dummy (see the www.pampers.co.uk/golden sleep frequently asked questions fact sheet). If so, then the key is to put him down awake at the beginning of the night using a Soothology Routine designed for his age group. Come back to me and i will see if I can pinpoint the problem.





    Wendy
  • THanks

    He goes to sleep no problem - pretty set routine he has his bottle at about 6.30 and then falls asleep straight away after - sometimes he will be dosey when I put him in the cot other times he has already fallen asleep before I have had chance to put him in the cot - he will then sleep quite happily until about 1am and that is when it all starts.

  • Hi WoWbabies, leave her in her cot for a bit longer and see if she settles herself off. Try not to dash in too quickly if she starts whinging because this could be a precursor to her settling. If she "ups" the volume, pick her up and pat her back until she is quiet and then put her back down again. Try this for 30 minutes - picking her and patting when she cries and then putting her down when she is soothed (I know this is very difficult when you have a toddler as well). If she doesn't nod off on the mattress after 30 minutes of trying and its practical, take her out in the pram or rock her off in the house and try again for 1 nap the next day. See the www.pampers.co.uk/goldensleep for more information about the Soothology Routines and naptime settling.









    Wendy
  • Hi Snugglenush, what happens at 1am? What does he do? What do you do? Do you feed him and put him back down? Does he wake again and how often?



    Wendy
  • I wait until he is crying - then pick him up and he instantly calms so I put him back down and he cries - this tends to continue for on average 20 - 30 minutes. He will then wake at about 2am and do the same.

    Last night he the lassdted til 4am at which point I fed him and went down until 5.30.



    The night before he woke up at 3am though and didn't go back to sleep until 4.30.
  • Hi Snugglenush, I would try 2 things:



    1. Make sure that he goes down awake at bedtime every night. If he is either asleep or very drowsy then he maybe struggling to fall asleep when he wakes as part of his natural sleep cycle.



    2. When he wakes in the night, try not to pick him up, but reassure him in the cot. Stay next to him, but keep interaction to a minimum - if he does need that pick up in order to get back to sleep, this should help him learn that he actually doesn't.



    Good luck with it - what is suggested above is no instant solution, but if you persevere it should work. Remember, the www.pamper.co.uk/goldensleep is packed with information to help you.





    Wendy
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