[mcnay1]

We have been home with JD (almost 9 months old) for a couple of weeks. He has done pretty well sleeping. He hasnt slept through the night much but it is fairly easy to get him back to sleep (most of the time). He is not a good napper and Im not sure this something new or if has never been a good napper. He will take a 30-40 minute morning nap and and 30-40 minute afternoon nap. He takes bottle before going to sleep each time and is rocked.

The questions -- We have hit a bit of a rough patch in the last couple of days and being a first time mom, Im a bit concerned. Yesterday he didnt take a nap at all. At his morning nap, he was woken up by the phone (my mistake) before I was able to put him in the crib. He wasnt remotely interested in taking an afternoon nap. Then he slept horribly last night. He was up 4 times and the longest was for a couple of hours between 3-5. Today, for his morning nap, every time he would fall asleep, he would wake up wide awake when I tried to take his bottle and put him in the crib. This afternoon he fell asleep in the car so I drove around for an hour so he would get a decent nap.

I can chalk some of this up to the trauma of coming home, the change in time and he being overtired, but should we be doing something differently? should he be taking longer naps during the day? Has anyone encountered problems such as these...or are these not even problems? I could certainly be overreacting...

Thanks for your insight and thoughts...
Katy

[widgit]

lots of hugs! This is hard and stressful on the whole household.

Yep, much of it IS transition. So the good news is, you can expect the sleeping to improve in a couple of weeks and improve more a few weeks after that.

Have you talked with your ped. about diet and sleep patterns? How much my kids eat and when affects how well they sleep. For example, at 9 mo old, our two were on a fair amount of baby food but when we added a bedtime snack of cherrios or gerber puffs, our daughter went from sleeping through the night 60% of the time to 95% of the time. At some point between homecoming and 9 mo she was doing better than 60%, but it gradually fell off. Now, I think she was hungry.

At 9 mo. our kids would take two naps each between 1 and 2 hours, though rarely more than 3 hours total. Sometimes Teresa wakes after 20 or 30 min and I just restart her mobile and put her back down.

Other things to consider:
teething??? Ask your ped. about a Motrin dosage
Allergies or cold??
have you tried white noise?
are you open to a pacifier? (THIS WAS THE TICKET FOR US!)
listen for other noises that may be waking him up such as the sump pump, furnace, or washing machine.

((hugs))

[Amykk]

My son wasn't a good napper when he came home, but he is getting better. I think the key for us was to decide on a schedule and stick to it. I try putting him down for a nap at pretty much the same times every day. I know he sleeps better when he naps - it is really tough when they resist the naps though. I think it's just trial and error as far as finding what works for you. Another thing that started working for me started out of frustration - one day I just needed a shower and put him in his crib so he was somewhere safe even though he was protesting. By the time I got out of my quick shower he was asleep. Now it seems like when he hears the shower he knows it's his nap time (maybe he knows I can't hear him in there).

[jlinberger]

Oh man, do you sound like me a year ago. Our son was 10 months old when we brought him home. Let me say this from 100% experience. Probably most of it is adjustment. In hindsight, our son had a LOT of adjustment needed. His "trauma" was translated out in his sleeping. Stick with your schedule. Routine, routine. Read some sleep books-Farber's was interesting, if nothing more to understand sleep, the patterns you go through, etc. For a LONG time my son was only sleeping 45 minutes for his naps. Everyone has a sleep cycle- a pattern of going through the stages of sleep. I believe my son's is about 45 minutes and if he is going to wake up, he is most susceptible around then. Could be another thing your son is experiencing. He isn't comfortable with his changes yet (and he isn't- you might think he's doing ok, but in three months, think back) and that might be translating out in his sleep patterns- ie. waking up when he cycles. I was VERY VERY VERY frustrated with the sleep issues and it still even makes me tense to this date. It took about 6 months for Antonio to really settle out with his sleeping. He slept horribly at night, too. He would scream and cry for hours during the night- sometimes up to 3 hours not settling down. Oh, I can't even relive it. And to think how impatient I was. We should have put his crib in our room for those first weeks of transition. He wasn't used to sleeping alone, ours was his 4th home in 10 months, and on and on. Live and learn. Just love your son, be as patient as you can be, and just maintain your schedule. He needs the consistency- he will begin to sense the stability. Good luck!

[DesertMom]

Absolutely be consistent. The schedule is all holy in our house. Guapo's sleep patterns have become much more predictable, but every once in a while he will just have a weird day. In the morning he usually sleep from 10-11:45 but today for some reason he only slept for 45 minutes. He hasn't done that in weeks. Any disruption in his environment will throw him off and also he's going through a big spurt in terms of what he can do physically and that seems to have changed things a bit. Is your son starting to crawl a lot or pull up?

Once they get overtired they then have a harder time sleeping. If he doesn't have good naps during the day, then it's harder to put him down at night.

One thing that we started to do that really helped was that we started putting him to bed when he was almost asleep, but not quite. I think he was waking up and freaking out about where he was. If he knows where he's being put in the crib then he doesn't wake up going "how did I get here?"

Finally, Guapo will wake up about 45 minutes into his nap and make noises but I will wait a couple of minutes before going in to see if he will put himself to sleep. Nine times out of ten he's just having a change in his sleep cycle and quiets right down. If you can wait it out for just a few minutes your son might calm himself down and get in another half hour or so. I can now tell the difference between waking up noises and sleep change noises.

Good luck. Sleep stuff is really difficult.

[DPline]

Originally Posted by DesertMom

Once they get overtired they then have a harder time sleeping. If he doesn't have good naps during the day, then it's harder to put him down at night.

This was exacly our problem when Lauren came home - though it took me weeks to figure it out. I kept thinking she wasn't tired and would keep her up later, try to wear her out more, etc. When in fact I needed to be putting her down much sooner for naps and MUCH earlier to bed. Several people here suggested the book Healthy Sleep Happy Child, and it did wonders. (Or at least knocked me upside the head so I realized what was going on.) I started following the schedule they recommeded (basically 9:00 AM morning nap, 1:00 PM afternoon nap, and early to bed - 6:00 PM for quite a while) and she was a whole new child. And heaven help us if we deviated from the schedule! Not saying this is the case with your son, but something to think about.

Good luck!

[csw]

Hi
It took Ana six months of being home to take an afternoon nap more than 5-10 minutes..
I found she would only sleep in the sling or baby back pack during the day..we also co-slept and she was still up 8-12x a night for months and months..

Check out www.sleepfoundation.org

Alot of helpfull info there..

I would try cosleeping, maybe that is what the foster mother did? If you don't want to, can you put a co-sleeper or crib in your room? This is a huge transition for him. Make sure he is not in pain, teething etc..also..

[LadyTink]

Gabriella is a horrible napper. She fights it so hard that it wears you out trying to get her to sleep. Then, she only sleeps for 30 minutes. Her nighttime sleeping is not great either. She fluctuates from sleeping through the night, waking during the night, not wanting to go bed at all, or waking very early. We never know what she's going to do. Luckily, we are on a sleeping through the night trend right now, so I'm praying it continues. Sleep problems are very frustrating and I wish I had some answers for you, but unfortunately, I do not. Hang in there!!