Wednesday, June 16, 2010

A Small Update

Petunia is crawling. Forwards.

Last night, I got my computer out to do some quick online banking while Petunia played on the floor. The pretty shiny computer was too much of a temptation for her, and she finally managed to get forward motion. She's crawling without the computer as a lure now, and even though she is not yet speedy, she has already shown us that we need to improve our baby-proofing.

She is also driving me crazy. My sweet little baby who used to nurse, burp, and then go down with her eyes open and fall asleep has turned into a sweet little baby who cries, pushes away from me, and scolds me until I take her out of her darkened room or put her down and let her play. We've tried reading stories after nursing instead of before, moving bedtime later, moving bedtime earlier, letting her fuss a bit in her crib... nothing seems to work. Bedtime has turned into a major production. Tomorrow night, we're going to try talking a family walk after dinner- Pumpkin used to like that. And then Friday, we'll try letting her stay up and play until she shows signs of being tired.

Anyone have any other ideas?

10 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:32 PM

    No great suggestions, I am afraid, but I wanted to send some sympathy.

    She is very cute. I hope she lets you get some more sleep soon.

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  2. paola1:35 AM

    I guess it's due to the 9 month developmental spurt/everything regression. I've got nothing except to wait it thru. That's the only thing that has every worked for Zoe. Good luck, anywya.

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  3. Oh nine months was just awful. I want to say it's when I found Ask Moxie because Tate's sleep had gotten worse and at the time I didn't even think it was possible. If it's cognitive development, not much you can do - but you have the bed timing book, right? Maybe there is a suggestion or two in there. Very big congratulations on the crawling success! So much fun once they start moving.

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  4. Anonymous6:31 AM

    Congrats to Petunia on becoming mobile!

    BTW, my captcha was "icancra" - even Blogger is excited for Petunia. :)

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  5. Yeah for crawling!

    And girl? If I had a good suggestion for bedtimes, my blog would have a totally different vibe to it. Heh.

    9 months is a rough time for sleep. I believe we went back to rocking the baby to sleep at that time, and are only now going back to putting him down awake and letting him fuss (scream!) for the less than 10 minutes he needs to release his tension.

    Good luck getting through this! Hope you find something that works!

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  6. 8/9 months was when I introduced a lovey to DS (which was a t-shirt that smelled like me). That solved that regression for us. I think it was related to seperation anxiety.

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  7. Yeah, if we in the blogging world knew how to fix baby sleep problems, what the heck would we write about???

    I got nothin'. Except maybe the exhaustion route. I know the mantra is that "sleep begets sleep" but honestly, I find that the longer Annie naps, the harder it is to get her down at night and the worse she sleeps. So I've dropped her down from three naps to two and although she's pretty much a bear for the hour before bedtime, at least she goes down nicely.

    Know what's really annoying? About 3 weeks ago she slept through the night 4 times in one week. This was right at 4 months old - so I'm all "sleep regression reschmession!". Yeah well its all gone to crap again, waking up at all hours of the night and fussy from about 4:00 a.m. onward. Cutting down from 3 naps to 2 has helped with the nightwakings before 4:00 a.m., so at least I'm getting 5 hours straight now, but I can't seem to get her to sleep well from 4:00 a.m. onward.

    Sorry for the digression. And I hope bedtimes get better. I remember with Rosie going back to rocking to sleep about that age too. For like an hour.

    Its just a phase, it won't last forever. Sick of hearing that yet?

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  8. Thanks for the support, everyone.

    You are right, of course- it is definitely developmental. I don't think it is separation anxiety (yet), because she is actually fine for awhile with me putting her down and walking away, as long as I put her down sitting up so that she can play. My best guess is that she's going through some sort of developmental leap and insisting on the stimulation she needs to do that.

    I'd be OK with rocking her to sleep- but she won't let us. She cries, screams actually, and pushes away from me if I try to rock her to sleep before she's ready.

    So maybe the exhaustion route is the only one we can take....

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  9. Congrats on the crawling or should I say happy babyproofing!

    DD isn't sleeping either. It must be a supergenius baby thing. ;)

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  10. late comment (as I wade thru all the blogs I've missed)

    My experience with my son was that once he discovered he had the new-found power of mobility he was HOOKED. It was impossible to make him think sleep or naps or being still was a good idea. He could suddenly move and now he wanted to 24/7.

    The only thing that worked was letting him work off all that energy. So I let him bounce, stand, stretch, plop, crawl, roll, everything he wanted to do in the bed while I feigned sleep and made sure he didn't catapault off the sideguards.

    By not being an audience he was just doing it for himself and to feel the thrill of being in a soft place to practice. (Maybe I should have had him on the bed more often during the day, too?)

    Another method was I moved him to a crib when he could stand. The crib had wheels and so while I pretended to sleep he could prance around and I would rock him back and forth VIGOROUSLY when it became apparent he was getting exhausted. The hard rocking would get him off his feet and yet made him feel he was moving.

    He needed a lot of motion to help him work off the energy he built up by not having the full capabilities of being able to run and move. I think kids this age are more highstrung because they want and need to move and can't quite yet and can't fully work off their energy, so you help them by doing lots of baby wearing, crawling, swimming, massage, and rocking, which doesn't involve you touching them because that seems like restraint.

    Now at 5 1/2 he collapses in 2 minutes every night. I consider it my reward for putting up with the one hour plus ordeals to get him down for his first 2 1/2 years!

    Good luck!!!

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