End of my rope

[judecorp]

I don't know what to do.

Punk has never been a good sleeper but she has always gone down fairly easily with the occasional exception. Yes, she will wake up a number of times through the night but she could always be counted on to go to bed at bedtime and stay asleep for a while so things like dinner and chores could happen.

Not so anymore. Now she is absolutely refusing to go to sleep. If I do any of the usual things I would do to parent her to sleep (swaddle, rock, cuddle), she freaks out and squirms and yells and cries and only wants to do one thing: stand on my lap on the rocking chair so that she can try to grab things or look at things. If I put her down on the floor, she howls. If I put her in the crib and say night-night, she howls. If I walk out of the room, she will howl for as long as two hours.

The last couple of days, the only thing that will get her calm enough to sleep is if I give her milk in a bottle. We have not done milk in a bottle at bedtime for quite a while now and I /really/ don't want to backtrack, but the last couple of days I have not had an option. I work 9.5-10 hour days and I don't have the stamina to listen to hours of crying and I also do not want to be a jungle gym for hours for an exhausted baby who does not want to go to sleep.

I am so frustrated and spent. I really feel like whenever I think it can't get any worse, it does. Also, I feel like a major failure as a mama. I am just at the end of my rope.

Comments

[sassywoman.livejournal.com]

Just to throw something out there ... could it be that maybe she's overtired when you put her down and maybe she needs to go in the crib let's say 20-30 minutes sooner? We put Emma to bed every night at 7 pretty religiously and she will talk and play in there for up to an hour some nights before falling asleep. She has a few little stuffed animals and she just babbles/talks to them. It's kind of her way of winding down. Maybe you could try a few little stuffed animals or a favorite blanket to see if the crib might be a bit more inviting?

I know you are against CIO and I read where you said it's not working with Gus but if you read Dr. Ferber's book (and really it is not the anti-christ that people may have you thinking it is) he explains how consistency is the key with CIO and that it may take a long time the first few nights - even up to two hours - but from many people I know who did CIO the first few nights were the hardest and then all of the sudden the times just decrease and then they are putting themselves to sleep. Babies really need to "learn" how to self soothe and get adjusted on their own to be able to fall asleep and stay asleep (or get themselves back to sleep) according to Ferber. He really is quite an intelligent man who has some very smart things to say about infant/toddler sleep patterns IMO.

Just wanted you to know I'm thinking about you and I don't care if you never open the book honestly but I think it might help if you are at the end of your rope. *hugs*