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'I'm the Shush-Pat Fkg Master'

hehe

Not trying to be deliberately crass but I couldn't resist that pulp fiction adaption!

So, I just wanted to share my experiences of late as regards small improvements in sleeping habits and hopefully they might help for anyone who is having bother, like me.

After reading Baby Whisperer,following EASY for a month and then getting mad and ignoring it all, I have figured out the following:

-When people talk about the 'shush-pat' idea, they say you can do it on stomach or back. I've only JUST figured out that to do it on stomach, you can leave baby in cot/crib and shush pat them while they lay down (Thanks Blondefriend!). For a baby as over-stimulated as my lovely darling Juju, this makes a huge difference to picking her up out of her cot. I thought when I read this concept that it sounded daft - i.e. how can you pat their stomach when you're holding them (DOH!) I think my mind is very limited in comprehension of such ambiguous and ill-defined concepts and it has therefore taken me FOURTEEN AND A HALF BLOODY WEEKS TO FIGURE THIS OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-After many weeks of picking her up and shush patting her BACK with incredibly limited success, this morning the leave in cot - shush-pat on stomach approach has worken TWO ourt of TWO times and she slept from blimin 8am-1030am this morning and has now been down (UPSTAIRS IN CRIB) for thirty minutes in her grobag in the day which is UNHEARD OF.

-Each time she has been wide awake and smily when I lay her in crib and I think yeh right is she ever going to sleep and she proves me wrong within two minutes of shush-patting her. First time tho she howled after 10mins but I went back and shush-patted and she actually went back down for like nearly two hours! So, don't give up before you've started would be my advice, however hopeless it might seem to be to try.

-Try and keep your confidence as long as possible. Once I lose my confidence, I back away from the situation and avoid it but then feel resentful that I don't get any/enough break-time in the day. I have been noticing Juliet is a lot more sleepy and is fighting it a lot less the past week or so and particularly the past 3 days she has slept a lot better (ssshhh...don't mention the baby porridge). I have only just returned to trying to implement daytime naps in crib/cot upstairs after about 3 weeks of having given up so it is worth it to keep persisting once you feel strong/confident/ready to.

-This might just be a good day but I know if I keep at it, eventually one day in the future I will get the naps in the day.......it might not be from now on but at least I feel the buzz that it IS possible and that she is getting there.

Helpful tips: The room is still dark with curtains drawn as I left it this morning after she got up; she is in her baby grobag sleeping bag; I shush-patted gently for a couple of mins then got lighter and lighter in my touch and quieter in my shushing before actually leaving the room; I tried to avoid eye contact when shush-patting and I finally walked out when her eyelids were actually down (they kept opening and shutting, opening and shutting)

I have also purchased a black-out blind for Ju's nursery for the day when she eventually goes in her own room as she wakes with the birds now and we have very dark heavy curtains AND blinds in our room and her nursery is that much lighter, I hope this will make it easier when she makes the move.

Replies

  • I'm so glad it's working for you - long may it last!
  • Yeah - it's so nice to get them to sleep.

    Blackout blinds/curtains are a godsend - I wouldn't be without them.

    Might try the shush-pat again. I often try to use it with C if he starts to grumble once I've put him down (when calm and awake or dozing) and it doesn't have much effect - it tends to aggrivate him more than settle him, but it's worth a go.

    Currently he's still asleep in the car seat having just been shopping. It was bliss to be able to get things away, make and eat some lunch before he wakes up again!

    Long may the sleeping continue to work with Ju!
  • Mmmm, shush patting! I may have to try this as SKye is getting in to a terrible habit of cat-napping. She does half hour naps morning and evening, but is now doing this at lunchtime too, not good! I need her to sleep for at least an hour, I need a rest!! And so does she of course! I am going to try this tomorrow and see what happens...
  • My LO has been sleeping through the night (9.30pm - 06.00am) and has been a really good experience with me breasfeeding her until she was sound asleep and then me placing her into her cot.  At 6 months she started waking at night (after getting her first tooth) and is now in the habbit of needing me to feed her up to two times a night to re-settle her.

    I, after having all this sleep in the past few months, am struggling with the change, so began googling the shush-pat, and today is the first day that I haven't breastfed her to sleep, I gave her a feed, and she was really drowsy, i took her upstairs to her cot and put her on her side and patted her until she fell asleep, while shhh-ing her, she was resentful and cried a lot (so did I secretly) and eventually fell asleep, it has been 30 minutes so far and she is still sleeping.  I don't know if I have done this correctly, but it has worked.. HOORAY, so lets see how the next sleep goes. The learning begins image

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