Ok...so I'm trying to get Pup to fall asleep on his own- in his own crib. He's screaming. Now, if this were AJ I wouldn't be so worried, but Pup "cognitively" is not there yet. Do I let him cry it out? Any advice out there, moms????
Also....I'm back to work now, but I will try to keep up the blogging. My goal is once a week.
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And what happened? Did he get to sleep?
Holly is still sleeping with us. Couldn;t you put him to bed in your bed, lay down with him and then once he is asleep transfer him to the crib? Both of you getting rest right now I think is more important then him being in his own bed and falling asleep on his own. Holly doesn;t have the ability to wind herself down, I have to help her with rubbing her back and face and legs which also provide sensory input while she slows down and eventually falls asleep, self regulation I think its called. Also, when she cries like that, I have also read this is with any kids, if its more then like 7 minutes, they aren;t going to stop. Holly has about 3 minutes before she is vomiting on herself from the frenzy, why put them through that... Just my two cents.
Well, letting them cried worked for the first three. They were all great sleepers! I think partly it was do to the fact that from about 2 weeks on, I put them to bed WHILE THEY WERE AWAKE whenever possible. That way, they got used to the idea of falling asleep on their own. Yes, there were the occasional back rubs, rocking them in my arms to sooth them, but not to put them to sleep. At some point (I don't remember the ages now...6 months, maybe...maybe later?), I did the routine of checking on them when they started crying--giving them a hug (or maybe I was still nursing them?) and telling them goodnight, then doing the intervals, stretching them out. I know some people are totally against it, but after just a couple of nights, they would sleep through the night. A few months later, they might try it again, so we would go through the procedure again. It worked quite well.
NOW, WITH EVAN, it doesn't seem to work so nicely.
Reasons? I think partly it's because I've been a "working mom" with him, so I tend to feel guilty and give in easier---a lot easier. I hate the fact that I'll be leaving him the next morning. BUT, there is also a difference in him----although he's not doing it as much now, for they longest time, he would jump before going to sleep, sometimes for 45 minutes. And sometimes when he wakes up, he's not crying...he's laughing (although this hasn't been the case recently).
Each situation is different....we don't bring the kids to bed with us, and they also don't puke from crying, and they eventually would fall asleep---I think an hour was the max....maybe a little more (that was with me going in at intervals).
Evan is 3, and nighttime is still an issue sometimes, and I think it's partly because I didn't "go through the steps" with him like I did the others.
Pup is probably too young for drugs, but that's what we resorted to. we used to have to bounce Quinn on a yoga ball for TWO HOURS to get him to sleep when we first put him down, and again after every wakeup. We stopped doing that around 8 months old when he was just too heavy to bounce for that long anymore without risk of being dropped. Then we tried crying it out. We read every book on the subject and continued to struggle. When he could pull up to stand at about 15 months old, he started to use the railing of the crib to bounce himself to sleep for two hours every night. Finally around 24 months old, we started melatonin and recently switched to clonidine. We still have sleep difficulties, but it's much improved. I'm telling you all this not to terrify you, but to let you know that all the expert advice may not work, and it isn't because you're not doing it "right". I was really worried I was somehow messing up because all the advice that works for many (but certainly not all) typically developing kids wasn't working for us. But sleep problems are really, really common in FXS, and sometimes medication is the only option that allows everyone to get their rest.
I was curious how he gets to sleep for naps... I have the same issues at naptime that I do for bedtime, and wondered if you found something that works for you during the day that you can try at night.
The other comment I want to make, which i am sure people will think I am crazy, I simply don;t put Holly to bed until I know she is really tired, as I can;t stand the whole 2 hour wind down sleep thing.
So her regular bedtime is at 10:00 but some nights she is so bouncing off the walls at that time its not till 11:00 when she gets to bed and then it might still take her an hour, but she still wakes up typically at 8:30 whether she fell asleep at 9:30 or 1:00 (AM) I have read a lot about FSX kids needing much less sleep or at least sleeping less then NT kids, and with Holly it is true, many of her peers are sleeping 12 hours at night and 2 hour naps. She does take a 2-3 hour nap many days, but she typically only sleeps 9 hours at night. Other days her nap is 30 minutes.
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