Fighting Sleep

[RayneStorm]

My son seems to fight sleep and I'm not sure what I can do about it. Does anyone have any suggestions? You can tell he's tired but he fights it, he'll close his eyes and then he'll kick his legs or shoot out his arms and open his eyes... What can I do to help him relax and sleep other than hold and rock him? This applies to naps but more so for night time. It's harder now to get him to sleep than it was before. Does anyone else have this prblm?

Rayne

[Seren_]

I think it's a stage most babies go through. As they get older and become more alert and aware of what's going on (and what they can do), I think it gets harder for them to process everything that's been happening in order to settle down for sleep.

You can help by making sure they have a good bed or naptime routine that helps to ease them into the transition from being awake to asleep - you probably already have a routine but now it might help to draw it out a little. When my son started resisting sleep, I started introducing the idea of nap or bedtime about half an hour before putting him down. Every now and then I'd suggest it was naptime soon, increasing my reminders as it got closer to the time he needed to go down. Even though he was too young to understand the words it became a part of our routine and so became a cue for him to get ready for bed.

I also tried making sure that he had a calm setting in that half an hour or so before bed to help him relax and wind down, but I soon found that he responds better to one last burst of energy before bed and that helps him release any tension, I guess. In either case, drawing out the bedtime routine, or introducing reminders if it's already fairly long, and keeping it consistent (even down to the words you use to remind him it's nearly bedtime) might help him ease into it. Most babies don't like change, so the key is to keep the routine as set as you can. You don't have to bath him every night or anything, though that might help him relax and sleep better.

Also, is it possible that he's outgrowing one of his naps, or adjusting their timing? Assuming he's still on two naps a day (or more), you could try keeping him up a little longer before putting him down for his first nap of the day. My daughter's just a little bit older than your son and recently she's adjusted her nap schedule, so now she tends to have just a short nap in the morning and then a longer one in the afternoon to get her through to bedtime. Her morning nap has moved a little, about an hour later. Even though she still seems tired from when she used to nap, she'll fight it if I put her down to early. Instead we just have some quiet time and cuddles, and she responds well to that.

An alternative is to try controlled crying - letting him cry and fuss and checking in on him at gradually increasing periods of time to calm him down (say, five, ten then every fifteen minutes until he goes to sleep. Then the next night you do ten, fifteen and then every twenty minutes between checking). It's not recommended for babies under six months, and not everyone agrees with the method, but it can be effective. If you're not sure about it, I wouldn't recommend it because it can be tough even if you only have to do it for a few days, and once you start it you need to stick to it.

Whatever you do you'll find something that works eventually. Like most things it often takes trial and error, but I'm sure you'll get some good ideas here :)