Please help!! My baby is 15 weeks old and used to sleep well at night but never well in the day (couldn't do more than nap 15mins to 45mins). I realised he was addicted to the boobie and read the "No cry sleep solution" and tried the Pantley's Gentle Removal Technique. He now is HEAPS WORSE. I used to be able to just put him down awake but he would wake up after a short time and I couldn't settle him without the breast. Now I can't even put him down at all!!! He simply won't have it, breast or NO SLEEP!! Now he is starting to wake every 2 hours at night as well. I was doing exactly what it says in the book. Working only on his naps as his nights were fine. Now there is no napping, an exhausted baby and I am totally frustrated. I do not believe in control crying (sleep school tried it and it was awful and I failed!!). Where do I go from here? We have been doing this technique for weeks and it has just got worse and worse.

Any ideas would be really appreciated. I am now considering taking him off the breast all together but don't really want to do that.

P.S. he used to be swaddled, now he doesn't want that either.

Sharon
Brisbane, Australia

I'm just lurking - could it be teething? Sometimes, the only comfort a hurting babe has is the breast.

hello craftylam.
firstly, big hugs to you!
i can really empathise with you.
my ds is now 7months, but at at 15weeks he too slept well at night and wouldn't nap during the day. or at least i thought 3 x 45min was not napping, NOW i know what NOT NAPPING is all about; 3 x 5-20min.
he too would not be wrapped, but at that stage he was not falling asleep on the breast (that came later), so our stories differ slightly there, but i still thought i would write to lend you my support.
my belief is that it would be sad for both of you if this was the reason you gave up breast feeding, so i truly hope you find a solution really quickly.

-could it be colic/ tummy issues?
-reflux/ silent reflux?
-overstimulation? have you tried blacking out the light in the room?
you said you've followed the book instructions, but do you have a really good, calming pre-bed routine? maybe it needs to be longer/ calmer?
-was there ever a time when you followed the feed, play, sleep pattern that some suggest? things got much better for us when we did this (but he wasn't already hooked on the boob, so it's easy for me to say).
-can someone else practise calming him at least part of the way?
we're working on my husband calming him. he has gotten him to sleep twice lately (ds has woken up the minute his bum hit the bed, but... baby steps).

i may have something to offer on the subject of wrapping the un-wrappable. my ds, would struggle and scream if restricted in any way, but i found a wrap that would allow him plenty of hand/ arm movement and fist sucking potential and it changed our lives for a good period of time- in australia it's called the 'angel' wrap, have you heard of it? i won't go into the whole explanation incase you do, but if you haven't, please respond & i'll explain in detail, because honestly it was miraculous at the time. i don't know how much had to do with 'signalling' sleep or feeling secure or what, but we would see tired signs, walk around with him & slowly recline him in our arms (he would struggle for a while, then give in), as soon as he looked 'droopy' we'd wrap him, hold him and sing a little song then put him in the cot and he would generally look around for a minute and start to protest, then give in and go to sleep. putting him down went from an hour+ ordeal, to a ten/ fifteen minute joy. sometimes he would cry a little bit when wrapped, so we would let him suck a little finger or dummy and again, he would eventually give in. this was a child who screamed for the first three months of his life and WOULD NOT BE PUT DOWN at all!

the other thing i thought of offering are brauer 'calm' drops.
they worked absolute wonders for us for a time aswell. they're homeopathic drops, taste nice and can be bought in chemists.

well, please write back, i'm eager to know how you go.
hope this helps... but if all else fails - you are not alone and this will eventually pass!!!

love&light

oh, ps,
have a look at the technique i discovered because i was having a terrible time with the removal technique too. the post is titled 'progress with gentle removal' (front page).
xxx

Hi Love&Light
Thank yo for your response. I have read all your posts and have really learned a lot, thank you.
My little one has got reflux but it is under control (reluctantly with medication). We are avid users of homeopathics but couldn't knock it on the head and it got really bad so the dr we went. It has improved greatly. We will go back to homeopathics once it settles a bit more. I also know all about brauer, we used them a lot with my daughter who was worse 6 years ago. We've been using them with Thomas as well lately.

This past weekend we've slowly got him off the breast to go to sleep but now he wants to be rocked (from one crutch to another) and my legs are killing me. Oh well, at least the boobs feel good and he isn't snacking all the time now.

We got onto a better routine and we're working on it slowly. Also, introduced solids believe it or not and he is a bit more satisfied I think. He is 16 weeks this week and buggered if I'm waiting till 6 mths. I fed my daughter solids at 4 mths. I'll be sensible though and no additives etc. I only ever gave my daughter home cooked food.

I'd love to hear about your angel wrap as our "miracle wrap" has been outgrown. Thomas is quite long (about 64cm). I read about this in one of your other posts and then googled it but couldn't find anything so please let me know.

Thanks so much for your support.

Sharon

Hi,

could be. His fist has been jammed in his mouth for a month or so but can't see anything as yet. We give him chamomillia which is a really good homeopathic for teething so that should help if that's what it is. Might go and get the Brauer teething relief as well as it's brilliant.

Thanks heaps

Sharon

hi sharon,
you're most welcome.
now i'm the one who needs advice.
so, how did you get him off the breast?
i'm still really struggling with this.

now, the wrap...
you'll need a decent size, rectangular wrap (we used muslin).
lay wrap down horizontally on the bed and fold a top flap down (of about 20cm).
lay baby on wrap (slightly left or right of centre) with top edge at neck/shoulder height (shirt coller height).
extend one of your ds arms out and place hand/ forearm under the flap.
keep one hand on his arm (just so he doesn't move it around too much)
and with the other, fold the corner (at his hand) in and down, so that the top edge now runs straight down, parallel to his body.
god, i hope this is making sense to you.
...then, take the outside corner (of same side), wrap it around his body & tuck in firmly under his bottom. you should have half an angel.
repeat on the other side.
if the baby is little enough or the wrap big enough, you can fold up the bottom and place corners around their body like any tight wrap.
it takes a little practice and it can all look a bit flappy when you first do it, but the idea is that the whole thing looks like an angel when you're done. their arms will have full range of movement out to the side, into their mouth and even above their head (if he sleeps like this, it's possible he could end up with some fabric partially across his face, so just be aware. my ds always sleeps this way & only had this happen a hand full of times, but he would end up sucking on it & could breathe fine through the muslin. you could make things a bit tighter to avoid such a wide range of movement [this will make sense when you do it]). the torso section should be firm around his body and the top, as i said can be quite flappy. it takes practice to make sure their hands don't come out, but i got it down to a fine art in a few weeks.
did you get all that?
remember the angel image and you'll get there.
if you have trouble immediately though, just write back and i'll see if i can fingure out what's going on.

good luck.

love&light

hi again,
i just thought i should clarify some things about the angel wrap.
firstly, put the baby left or right of centre and work with the shorter side first, leaving the longer side for wrapping around and tucking in under body.
second, folding the corners down.
so, place the babie's hand/ forearm under the flap and fold what used to be the outer egde down & in, ending with the edge running about an inch or so parallel from babie's body. (if you have fabric with a border around the edges, it's the single piece of fabric with the border, as opposed to the doubled over part of the fabric).

i hope that doesn't confuse the issue and as i said, once you start to fiddle with it, it will make more sense.

don't hesitate to ask me for more clarification.

love&light