Bedtime Battles

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Bedtime Battles
12
Wed, 01-12-2005 - 2:18pm

Ok, so i'm new here and don't know if this is the type of question people ask here. i am the stay at home mom of a 13-month old little girl. she is so much fun during the day, but at bed time she screams, kicks and cries to the point of vomitting when put in her crib. she has been sleeping in her crib throughout the night for awhile now and don't know where this is coming from. during the day she will nap in her crib but at night it is a whole other ball game.

can she be afraid of the dark? is she having nightmares? is the cry it out method gonna work, because all it's been doing is making a mess. she has thrown up 2 nights in a row now. i took her to the doctor yesterday just in case it was an ear infection or something else. nothing. just a baby that won't sleep until she exhausted from crying, throwing up, and then a second bath for the night. please help me, any advice would be so greatly appreciated. if you have any tips or products that you know of that can make her room a more appealing place to be. anything. thanks for listening to me rant. i needed that.

Andrea
momma to Havyn Noelle
wife to Noel

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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-06-2004
Wed, 01-12-2005 - 2:27pm
Hi there
How long does she cry for? And also how often do you go into her room during the crying and when you do go in do you pick her up?
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Wed, 01-12-2005 - 2:32pm
here's the thing. my dh doesn't like the cry it out method, so i go in every 3-5 minutes. sometimes i go in about evey 10. we let her cry no more that 25-30 minutes. she will fall asleep in our arms as soon as we pick her up and then the minute she hears the crip rail go down she clings on for dear life. i even tried putting her down without lowering the rail but sure enough the minute her head hits the pillow she's screaming once again. what am i doing wrong?
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-13-2003
Wed, 01-12-2005 - 2:55pm
My dd did this all of a sudden a few months ago, she was a little older than yours, but I just stopped using her crib. I made a bed on the floor, surrounded by big pillows off the guest bed, and I would lie her down (with a nightlight on) and I would lie on the floor beside her nest for a minute or 2, and she would fall asleep. She just hated her crib all of a sudden. I didn't want to buy a bed for her yet (well, we can't afford it at the moment) but I was also worried about her falling off, so the floor has worked great for us. Try it one night, maybe it's just the crib.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Wed, 01-12-2005 - 3:05pm
did she wake up and walk to your bed? i just don't want her playing her room in the
middle of the night. it sounds like a good idea. i might try that tonight. thanks for your help.
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-13-2003
Wed, 01-12-2005 - 3:12pm

I leave her door open a crack, and my door open a crack in case she does get up. So far she hasn't woken up at night, and sleeps right through. In the morning, she lets herself out and comes to see me. I also close all other doors upstairs so she can't get into anything, and I have a latched baby gate at the top of the stairs that is mounted to the wall.

So far so good! But make sure all other doors are closed like laundry room, bathrooms etc. There are too many things they can get into.

Let me know if this works for you!

Lesley

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Wed, 01-12-2005 - 3:59pm

thanks i will, do you think an air mattress is too soft. my dd sleeps like a princess on top of two pillows. i know it's not that safe, but she won't sleep without the extra fluff. i was even thinking of sleeping on the floor in her room while she is in the crib. but i will try your recommendation tonight. thanks again.

andrea

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-13-2003
Wed, 01-12-2005 - 4:14pm
I folded up a sleeping bag, and put her blankets on top. I don't know about an airmattress, it might be too soft. I actually just bought one of foam mats, the one where one side looks like an egg carton, and then I put her blankets on it, she loves it. The other thing about the air mats, is that you tend to get sweaty because they don't breath very well.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Wed, 01-12-2005 - 4:46pm

ok, thanks again. i will keep you posted.

andrea

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-18-2003
Thu, 01-13-2005 - 12:54am

I'm going through all these messages...I'm new here, but might have a few thoughts

I have a dd who is 2.5. At 1 year, we did the cyo - for us, it was easy, cause she only cried for about 30 seconds.

I found that a few things have helped.
(I do think that an air mattress is to squishy - it looses air over time).

I use a white noise machine from brookstone (I love this thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) I have it set to white noise, and it just drowns out all the house noises.

I also have a cd I made for her from one of her toys - I recorded it onto the computer (rockabyebaby) and made a cd of it - got two good takes, and copied that 30 times onto a cd for 30 minutes of nice go to bed music.

I also put one of those cushiony bed pads under her crib sheet (the kind you can get at bru).

I used to rock my dd to sleep, but realized that she would need to go to sleep on her own, or with a sitter, or a relative, and it was time for her to learn that I couldn't always be there for her.

She used to use a binky and blankie, too - I bought about 30 binkys and put them in her crib, so she wouldn't have to search for them.

Hugs, I remember that stage. My dd is still in a crib - she seems to like the 'secured' space.

Carri

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Thu, 01-13-2005 - 2:11pm

well i tried making a cozy bed on the floor for my dd last night and she slept like a baby. (I suppose that's what a baby's should sleep like she has never been a good sleeper) The only thing i worry about is that if it was too hard for her. i layed down with her for a few minutes to make sure she was alright and i was so uncomfortable.

my dh and i were talking about getting her a toddler bed if this works but i'm wondering if it is too small because she sleeps sideways, and i worry that she might fall off. who knows, i'm just happy she slept last night. thank you so much for recommending this to me.

andrea

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