Sleeping Behavior Question on My 4.5 Month Old

He is still young, so don't sress over it too much! I found two books very helpful-"The No Cry Sleep Solution" and "Sleeping Through the Night." Feel good about the fact that he sleeps well at night-THAT'S A BIG DEAL!!! Does he sleep at daycare? I would find out what his sleep routine is there, if any, and work around that. I would write about other tips, but the books cover them all! You won't need to rock him forever. Again, don't stress over that. He will change so fast and will one day not want to be rocked-so enjoy it now!

I also have a almost 5 month old on top of three other children:) My baby was having the same problem and still sometimes does. Please don't think this is crazieness because it works!!! Because my baby wants to see everything, he will fight to stay awake and watch everything as long as possible, so when he is uncontrollably tierd I place a light fluffy blanket over his eyes (WITHOUT LEAVING HIS SIDE!!), he falls asleep quickly! I can then possition the blanket to his cheeck. I DO NOT place the blanket over him without being right there!!! It will catch the baby off guard for a few seconds and this is because it makes thier eyes go out of focus, which is what relaxes them and in minutes if that he is snoozing!

Hi J.,
I'm actually having a lot of the same issues with my 4-month old son. I'm at a loss of finding a way for him to self-soothe himself & fall sleep on his own (currently, he almost always falls asleep when my husband or I are holding him). Do you mind sharing the responses that you receive with me?
Thanks,
R.

I highly recommend reading, "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child". Author fairly presents all positions on cry it out vs. comforting, etc - my friend has 5 month old twins that were sleeping through the night in a week with this book! =)

Hi J.,

I started reading your question and thought to myself this is exactly what I'm going through! I have a 4 1/2 month old daughter who does EXACTLY what you described. I tried to let her cry it out a couple of days but probably no longer than 5 minutes at first and then we took a break from that. Believe it or not, last Friday I finally put her down because she wouldn't stop crying no matter what I did and she just went right to sleep! She was sick over the weekend and into Monday so I didn't want to let her cry. Last night I put her down and she cried for about 10 minutes. My fiance went in and took her out just to calm her down. He rearranged her position in the crib, put her down, put her mobile on and she went to sleep without fussing. I guess it's a work in progress but I don't want to stop what we are doing. She was doing really well with rocking at night but just this past weekend she didn't want anything to do with it which is the reason I decided to let her cry for a little bit in her crib. Once I get the nighttime mastered as best as I can I think she may just be accustomed to falling asleep on her own and won't give me or the babysitter problems during the day. Right now she doesn't like taking naps and fights it so much that it isn't even worth trying unless we go for a car ride or a walk. I have read a lot on this topic and it takes at least a good week before they cry less and less. I guess it just depends on the baby. I know her whining from pain cries so I just tend to go with that. If she is fed, changed and burped then she should be good to go and I'll let her cry for 10 minutes before going in.
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that there is someone out there going through the exact same thing! Hopefully you will find what works for you!

As stated by the person who wrote in before me, I COMPLETELY recommend "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child". I followed every word of it, and went from a little boy who would not nap almost from birth to a beautiful sleeper. He's 2 now, I discovered the book at 1 month, and by 7 weeks, our problems were virtually gone. I have to sometimes go back to the book when a new sleeping pattern emerges, or there's a problem, and it always helps. There is a small degree of crying it out allowed at your child's age but there are other great suggestions. Consistency is the key, though, so your day care provider will have to be onboard with the approaches too.

my daughter who is now 9 years old was just like this as well. Have you tried a baby swing that reclines a bit or even a hammock? I believe they do make small child hammocks. Let me know.

You need to check out the book The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems (sleeping, feeding, and behavior-beyond the basics from infancy through toddlerhood) by Tracy Hogg. It makes a lot of sense and she doesn't believe in the cry it out method. I've used her methods for my son almost immediately and now he takes great naps! Good Luck!

Play with him to exhaust him and give him a good last feeding before he falls sleep at night. If you breast feed him, pump the milk out to make sure he has enough. You may add some baby cereal with the milk to make sure he is full. Even though you have to wake up for feeding, put him right back to sleep after he is fed and don't play with him. In the daytime, do play with him after each feeding. Then he can distinguish day and night time feeding in a while. Also be patient because a lot of time it doesn't work right away. Good luck!

I loved "The baby whisperer solves all your problems" It was helpful to me, because it helped me to ask the right questions, as to why my baby was crying. The book helped me "tune in" to my baby instead of just go by what the clock said it was time to do. I did however weed through some of her ideas. But all in all it was a great book.

A.

I hope that it gets better for you! Have you tried a soothing sound machine, or music at night, or during naptime?

I have a 4 month old little girl who has very active hands - always putting them to her face and mouth. So getting her to sleep can be difficult because she is constantly waking herself up. We have found that a swaddle works best at night. She sleeps about 10 hours at night and when she does wake is able to fall back to sleep. During the day we also use the Fisher Price papasan swing. She usually needs to nap after about 2 hours of awake time. I put her in the swing and once she falls asleep I will put her in her crib. If that does not work and she starts crying uncontrollably I will try giving her a pacifier or walk her around the house and turn on the bathroom fan or oven fan to help calm her. I have a sling but she usually cries when I put her in it. I keep trying and am hoping one day she will take to it. If you have a sling I would definitely give that a try.

I can't let my little one cry it out either - and I am fine with that. We had great success with a Fisher Price Cradle swing - the papasan type swing. I know some books say not to get them used to swinging to sleep, but we used it just for those naps she was so reluctant to take - never for her nighttime sleep and it worked wonders. We called it the miracle swing.Who cares for him during the day? Perhaps they can help get him on more of a routine - i think it's difficult to ask them to be on a schedule so young. But to have regular intervals - like naps after he's been up for 1.5-2 hrs - is reasonable and if you are able to work with your daycare provider to establish better nap patterns. I wish you the best of luck. AT least you are getting him to sleep at night....

My second child goes down by himself for the evening, but my daughter wouldn't and I couldn't bring myself to do the Ferber method either. I or my husband used to rock her to sleep, we had great luck with a sling too. I really like the ergo baby carrier, and if that's out of budget I think the Moby wrap is great too, just more trouble to put on. It's a lot of bother getting them to sleep but he'll grow out of the cuddle stage and then you'll wish you could still rock him to sleep like that - he obviously knows how to soothe himself if he puts himself back to sleep at night... For napping, it sounds like you might need to talk to your childcare provider about creating a consistent nap schedule for him. Do you know how they get him to nap in daycare?

I used a sling and it worked great. Yes, I would lug them around with me while I worked! Have you tried putting him down at an earlier time, so that he doesn't get that "over" tired feeling when they get fussy? We bought a hammock for my grand daughter and she likes that and she feels "held".
Google: baby hammocks