The Northcutt Family blog

This is a crazy, beautiful life we lead. "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" -John 10:10




Monday, December 17, 2007

Help!!!!

What do I do?? This is what I find now when I go into Reid's room...





...or he's in his bed just sitting there. (Also, he's not always smiling, especially if I've let him cry a little...) I've removed the front bumper and so he's not standing as much anymore, but he'll just sit there, and I don't think he knows how to go back to a sleeping position. So, the problem is that if he wakes up early morning, he doesn't put himself back to sleep, and if I go up to his room and lay him down, he starts crying and he will cry as long as I let him until I nurse him. My question is this, what do I do??? Will he figure out how to lay back down and I should just let him cry? Also, lately he's been waking up at 4 am to nurse, and then he goes back to sleep and sleeps until 7:30 or 8 (he goes to bed around 7). He used to wake up around 5:30 or 6 to nurse and then go back to sleep. What's your opinion - should I just let him cry if he wakes up before 7 am? Or is this just a common phase and I should continue to nurse him if he wakes up early early?



Another issue is that he has stopped wanting to take naps. Now, I let him cry and for the past 2 days he has cried during his ENTIRE nap time (2 hours or more). I'll go up, get him calm, lay him down and then he'd start crying again. This is a more pressing issue than the night because I know he's tired during the day (and you know how important those nap breaks are to us moms)! Just look at this picture taken at the end of a nap-less day...so tired!



Before I had a child, I thought I'd only have a few months of waking up in the middle of the night and at the crack of dawn, and that my child would be on a 2 nap a day schedule that he followed religiously...how little I knew...

Thanks blogger friends for your advice.

4 comments:

Leslie said...

I am in the horrible habit of driving around for most of the afternoon b/c the boys refuse to nap but desperately need it. I have no clue what to do? I think at this age they start testing us. My little lamb Luke is starting to develop quite a temper!! Grrrr!
The boys are up for the morning at 6:30 but I put them back to bed (separate rooms) until 7:30 or 8:00 pretty much no matter what. Just trust your instinct on what to do I guess. Or call your pedi maybe??

Natalie said...

I wish I could give you some advice! Addie never was a great sleeper and she woke up in the night pretty consistently until I weaned her around 13 months. I know she didn't nutritionally NEED to nurse in the middle of the night but it became a habit and it was so much easier to nurse her back to sleep than to find another solution! Maybe you could send Matt in if Reid wakes up early and let him try to put him back to sleep.

Meredith said...

I'm so glad to hear that I'm not the only one with sleep issues!! I can't imagine going through this with 2 babies!!! I agree Natalie -it is so much easier to just go in and nurse him, and I figure when he's weaned we can cross that "waking up and wanting to nurse" bridge. :)

Jazen said...

Call me if you want to chat. It seems too much to type. I created sleepers out of both of my boys. Clayton is almost 5 and still naps 3 out of 7 days. Cooper is 16 months and takes 2-2 hour naps.