Please Help Before I Completely Lose My Sanity!!

[marniewon]

It seems like the child also doesn't know how to soothe themselves to sleep, which is a shame.

You hit it right on the head!!! Up until he was 5 months old he was swaddled with one of those swaddlers. That was the ONLY way he could sleep, and if mom forgot it then he wouldn't sleep at all. Then we had to wean him from it and that was hell. I bought a "lovey" to keep here and always give it to him only at naptime. He was sleeping a lot better, and then a few months ago he started fighting it again. Nothing has changed on my end, but I am not sure he does know how to soothe himself to sleep. No idea how to get him to. And he does cio....as long as I know there is nothing wrong with him, he can cio. It's 4pm now and he's up....never stopped screaming, never went to sleep. It's like this every afternoon. He's cranky, but what else can I do?

[marniewon]

I would continue to shorten the morning and nap, and if you have everyone nap in the same area, why don't you try putting him there as well. Give him a nap mat like the other kids and lay with him and rub his back and see if he will fall asleep. I have had kids at 1 out of the PNP, it all depends on the kid I guess. Maybe if he is doing the same thing as everyone else, he may go to nap. It is a bit more time consuming, but if he falls asleep it would be totally worth it. I have a guy who is 3, but mentally at about 1 and 1/2 and his first few days nap time was a constant fight, he was talking, rolling around the floor, up and down, till I started laying down by him and rubbing his back. Out like a light in 5 minutes flat.

Everyone else is in a pnp too. He's in the same room as the rest of them. He sees them all lay down and go to sleep. No way would I trust him on a nap mat. He wouldn't stay put. And as for rubbing his back - I've tried that too, but he won't lay down long enough to let me do that for him to go to sleep. The only way that would happen is if I restrained him so he didn't get back up. He doesn't like being restrained......

All great ideas - keep them coming - I know I'll find something (or things) that will help!

[tenderhearts]

I do the fan on high as well, it's worse I think if you try staying in the room, I've had a couple kids who will stand up immediately upon laying them down and I could just stand there and keep laying them down for the entire nap but if I left after a little bit of crying they'd fall back down and go to sleep. Hopefully he adjusts, I dread all these changes with the 2 infants I have.

[Francine]

Any way that he can have a room to himself? At least that way you can let him cry and he won't wake the others. I have two that will sit or stand the minute I put them down, me standing in the room with them would in no way help matters at all.

[countrymom]

what do the parents do on the weekend with him when its nap time, i'm wondering if they are doing something and not telling you. I have a tv in my rooms and I turn that on or even a ceiling fan. Oh how about giving him the bottle to hold in bed when he sleeps, I have kids who need their bottles to lay down with, give him half a bottle at lunch and then the other half at bedtime.

[marniewon]

what do the parents do on the weekend with him when its nap time, i'm wondering if they are doing something and not telling you. I have a tv in my rooms and I turn that on or even a ceiling fan. Oh how about giving him the bottle to hold in bed when he sleeps, I have kids who need their bottles to lay down with, give him half a bottle at lunch and then the other half at bedtime.

From what mom tells me, if he doesn't nap, she gets him up. She says they use music (which I do also).

He has never gone to bed with a bottle, either here or at home, so I'm not sure I would want to start that particular habit. Besides, I'd have to look, but I'm pretty sure it's against licensing regulations.

My thought today was to keep him up for am nap (the thought being that I could put up with crankiness in the morning if I knew I could look forward to a good nap in the pm) but he made it 5 minutes after arriving before he started crying/screaming. He's still up, but cranky. I can't imagine I'm going to be able to make it until 1pm listening to the whining/screaming.

[SimpleMom]

Not sure if you're up to this one, but have your tried to lay him on a mat in the room with you after helping him fall asleep? This worked for one of my kiddos--wish I would've known that a year earlier..

[marniewon]

Not sure if you're up to this one, but have your tried to lay him on a mat in the room with you after helping him fall asleep? This worked for one of my kiddos--wish I would've known that a year earlier..

It might just be all the ringing in my ears from this kid SCREAMING, but I'm not sure exactly what you are suggesting. Like, rock him to sleep and then lay him on a mat after he falls asleep? Or am I completely clueless to what you're saying? (That's been known to happen! LOL).

[QualiTcare]

i had a one year old (12-13 months) who i put on a mat at first, but he'd always roll around like crazy while he screamed his head off - so i started putting him in a pnp. i set it up in the living room (where i was) and he would still scream when i put him in there....drove me nuts...but i just TOTALLY ignored him. i let him be there where he could see me, but i didn't look at him - NOTHING. after a few minutes he realized it was doing no good and he would lie down. but if i walked out of the room....up he went and the crying would start. after a week or two he started lying down immediately when i put him in there and wouldn't cry. he was comforted just being able to see me i guess...and once it became a routine he was secure with, he started falling asleep quickly. i just stopped leaving the room until he fell asleep which only took a few minutes after 1-2 weeks and then i could go about my business.