We have some sleeping issues in our house the last few months. Jonah for the longest time wasn't going to sleep at night. Now we've got that fairly under control.
He was also getting up early in the AM. He's started to sleep in somewhat, going from 5:30 to 6:30, sometimes we even get 7. The hardest part for us to get under control is nap time.
Naps were two times a day, morning around 9 and afternoon around 1/1:30. At daycare he gets rocked to sleep after a bottle, at home with dad he gets rocked to sleep and either held or laid on the floor. I was doing this too until recently. We weren't able to lay him down anymore. Not good for either one of us. He doesn't get any deep sleep and I get nothing accomplished around the house.
We've gone to the cry it out method in his crib for the last week now. Night time as I mentioned above has gone much smoother, in combination with an earlier bedtime. He only cries for max of 15 minutes, last night it was less than 5.
Today I've tried just going with 1 nap. He was super sleepy all morning, fussy, clinging to me, rubbing his eyes and I tried to rock him at 3 different times at 9:10, 9:45, and 10:00 but he would always push away. So we went outside and he played while I did some gardening.
We came in for lunch at 11:15, I made him one of his fav meals and he was rubbing his eyes so much and fussing that we just put the meal in the fridge, made a bottle, and sat down to drink it. He was practically falling asleep while drinking the bottle. He was almost asleep when I laid him down in his crib at 11:30. 1:00 I go in to calm him down because he's been screaming the whole time. Somewhere around 12:30 he started to quiet down, but it was useless, you could tell by listening at his door he was still standing and crying.
I went in and rocked him for 20 min, as soon as I started to move my arms or attempt to stand he was up and crying again afraid that I was going to put him in his bed. I sat back down, attempted to rock again and he was pushing away and whimpering. After about 5 min of fighting with him to hold him and rock I gave him a hug and a kiss, put him in his bed, and walked out. Cried a few tears and am now writing this.
My husband isn't a fan or supporter of this method. My facebook friends and family are the only ones who have told me to keep it up, it's getting harder and harder everyday to keep going. I feel like a horrible mom as I write this and my child is screaming in the other room.
I don't know what to do anymore. He won't rock and he won't sleep.
He is petrified of his bedroom and even more of his crib. Even walking into the room with him at any point in the day and he starts to fuss, whine, and crawl over your shoulder. I hate that he feels that way. It should be a calming and safe place.
I just don't know what to do anymore.
Helpless
to eating our first birthday cake....
