So, my 3 year old, Reagan, was the perfect baby. He was sleeping through the night by 8 weeks and practically jump into the crib at night ready to go to sleep. I swaddled him – tightly – until he was 10 months old and he LOVED it – he would stop crying immediately when I would pull the blanket out and start to wrap him up. He’s always been a great napper and still rarely gives me any fuss about sleeping 2-3 hours every afternoon.
Now I have this amazing little baby girl. Rylee is 13 weeks old and I CAN NOT figure her out! (of course…she’s a girl!) Now, I do have to say that most parents would still think I have a little angel on my hands – she consistently sleeps from 8-4ish every night, gets up to eat and then goes back down for a couple more hours. But lately she’s been going a little nutty on me. I think I’ve created a monster with the swaddling thing. She is much more strong willed and stubborn than Reagan ever was. She’s been getting out of her swaddle a lot and so now I’m trying to put her down for naps and bedtime without it. Yea – we’ll see how that goes.
Hey moms and dads out there – any advice for me? How did you get your babies to sleep through the night consistently?
Abs of Steel 
As some children grow they require less sleep. Count your blessings for the good nights rest and let her stay up a little longer in the am before her first nap……perhaps try a bigger blanket for the swaddle. A little music might help, though i am sure you already do that. Bless you, it will all works out.
Well, Abs our were all different. If Courtney had been first she may have been an only child. Tough to get her to sleep. Kennedy was easy and Caleb was a little crazy but he would eventually go to sleep. One thing we tried was baths right before bed. It seemed to help. But if not there came a time when we had to close the door and let them soothe themselves. Hard at first
Both of mine were and are really great sleepers. They both slept throught the night really early on. Once I knew they were old enough to not have to be fed in the middle of the night, if they did wake up, I’d let them soothe themselves back to sleep. It almost always worked. And then of course if they cried longer than usual, I’d go see if something was wrong.
Maybe mine was a tough love type of approach, but I’d already practically helped raise 5 siblings, so I knew it worked if I’d stick with it.
have you tried velcro? 😉
im with rachel. we did the same with our babies. our pediatrician told us that once they hit 11 lbs they dont need to eat through the night…they have enough to sustain them and crying at this point is more out of habit. that, along with reading “baby wise” was very helpful. its a great book! both the kids were sleeping 12 hours by 3 months. it was amazing. they, we, had to endure a few nights of crying – but they lived.
Hmmm… sleep through the night…. they do that?
Even my 11-year-old still periodically gets me up. But then, he’s always had sleeping problems. I co-slept with mine until they were about two, which is a whole different ball game.
One thing we always do is a before-bed snack. Especially when they’re 5 & under, they don’t always relax enough at meal times to fill their tummies. So we give them some whole wheat toast or something before bed. Not a lot of help with a baby, I know, but she will get bigger…