The Ultimate in Bedtime Manipulation
We have a real problem with getting Sabrina to sleep at night lately. She has been staying up later and later regardless of the loss of a nap or anything. She will sit with us for hours and not want to go to sleep. We tried a couple of weeks ago to put her down awake and let her cry it out. She cried for about 15 minutes and then Hunter came out and told us that she had thrown up! We thought, “she’s sick, that’s the problem.” But then a few days later we tried again, and same thing. I have tried skipping food at dinner and just having formula, maybe her tummy was too full. Nope. I tried only giving her bland foods all day long, maybe she has a food allergy. Nope. We tried turning the lights off, maybe she’s over stimulated. Nope. She has done it at least half a dozen times now. When she does it we have no choice but to clean her and her sheets up and hold her until she will sleep again.
Last night we put her down after she had fallen asleep in Rob’s arms. She slept fine for about half an hour and then we heard her cry. We waited to see if she would go back to sleep on her own, and after only a minute, I heard that dreaded gagging sound. She did it again! The weirdest thing about it is that it never happens during the day for naps, only at night. Any ideas or experience with this issue? I’d love to hear any theories.
Leo did this for about 2 weeks (last year) at bed time because he also didn’t want to go to bed. (Also wasn’t a problem at nap time.) As we would take him into his room, he would start dry heaving before we even got to the crib! Since barfing was his ticket out of bed time, I washed every single crib sheet, pajama, blanket that we had, and when he did it I’d go in with a warm washcloth, wipe down his hair (ewww) change everything and put him right back in. I wouldn’t even turn the light on, just used the light from hall shining through the open door. Good news is that he stopped doing it when it stopped working, bad news is that it lasted for about…2 weeks. He hasn’t done it since though. I saved the real clean-up bath for the next morning. Good Luck… no fun at all!
Thanks! That’s a good idea. We’ll give it a try.
That would make me sad. Whenever Wells is crying really hard and starts to choke and gag, I pick him up. I give up early and just hold him. His doctor said to let him cry for 5 minutes at night, but I dont make that, because I’m so tired and I just want him to go back to sleep.
Actually Mel, they are too little to “spoil” at this age, so you aren’t doing anything wrong. This is the time that they build their trust with you, so you are doing the right thing in picking him up. It’s when they are 6 months or closer to a year that you can change things up a bit, so you’re doing fine. I promise you are not “ruining” him. And Amy, we had the exact same problem, and Banna hit the nail on the head. We had to do the same thing, and it’s reaaly the only thing that works. So yeah, sadly you do have to tough out some barfy smelling nights, but it really does work. Two of my kids did this, and it was never pleasant. For some unknown reason Gracen has been our easiest baby, and bedtime and naps are the easiest of any child I have ever had. But I’m not spolied, I had so many difficult ones, I am appreciating her every second, believe me! Good luck with cutie Sabrina. She’s too smart, and I’m not surprised!
Oh, that little Sabrina is smart, isn’t she!!!! How awful that she makes herself throw up! Making babies sleep is not exactly our strong suit. I like Banna’s ideas…good luck!