My dd is a horrible sleeper (of course, why else am I here - lol) For her daytime naps, following Pantley's "do anything and everything to get them to sleep" I can easily spend 1-1.5h rocking and nursing her and sometimes she doesn't go to sleep at all. I also find on the days I essentially spend the entire day trying to get her to sleep I may get 2-3h of naps out of her total but her nighttime sleep is awful. I think she needs more stimulation and the quiet dark room is too "dull" for an entire day so she's more wired at night.

Yesterday I tried giving up after 20 min, getting up and waiting about an hour before trying again ... well she napped 1h once, and 30m once, and slept horribly at night. I am not sure this is the answer either.

Help! I am really getting desperate here, I have an unfortunate tendency to get awful headaches when I am too sleep deprived and they are coming.

Hi!
I hear you about the effects of sleep deprivation! I was very anxious from lack of any sleep cycles for about 7 months, about a year ago... I just read that if someone doesn't get enough sleep their cortisol levels never go down, which is the chemical that controls stress levels... Now it's mellowed because my son wakes up about 3 times a night (better than 8-11) to not having a clue what I was doing before 5 minutes ago... I'm the real-life "Dory"... or however you spell it from Finding Nemo!

I'd need some more information, such as how old is your daughter? When does she get up for the day? When do you try to get her to nap after getting up for the day? Do you have the book "The No Cry Sleep Solution" to help you?

Hope to hear from you soon! I'd love to try to help!

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The No Cry Sleep Solution
Attachment Parenting

hi zennifer,
i think some of this is answered in my other post, so sorry if this is redundant. my daughter will be 7 months this weekend. we get up for the day between 6:30-8am - I refuse to wake her if she is still sleeping because she doesn't get enough as it is. i put her down 1h later and that one usually takes (usually get 1h nap out of her)

the rest of the day is a crapshoot. i have tried watching her for signs of sleepiness, i have tried a schedule of trying to get her down at 1h, 1.5h or 2h after waking (meaning I have tried each at different times).

I do have the Pantley book. in fact one of my big issues with the book is when she talks about not waking them for the day at 7am one day and 9am the next or scheduling lunch at a certain time. since i can't make her sleep the only other thing i can do to enforce a schedule is wake her and i am not going to do that! how did you get around that pickle?