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Background: I have a 10-month-old son, Khan. I work from home so am with him all day, husband works on average 13 hours a day, 7 days a week; family all lives hours away, so I rarely get a break from childcare.
Khan is a sweet, happy, great kid. He's an active, healthy baby, which means he's a miniature natural disaster, but that's to be expected. He eats well and is friendly and cheerful. The only problem we have is sleep.
Khan HATES to sleep. He didn't sleep through the night until 4 months, when we started supplementing his breast milk with formula (he's a big kid), and he still wakes up on average once a night because he loses his pacifier and can't find it again in the dark (we put extra pacis in for him to find, but sometimes he just can't do it).
He falls asleep well enough at night; we have a strict routine and Husband puts him to bed (he was falling asleep in his crib until about 6 months when Husband suddenly decided he needed to rock Khan to sleep every night; I think it's guilt at being away so much. I don't like it but I can tolerate it since bedtime is his responsibility).
It's naptime that is the Hell on Earth. Some kids don't need daytime naps. Khan is not one of those kids. If he doesn't sleep at least 2 hours during the day, he will be fussy and whiny and clingy. I try to make him sleep in the morning, about 3 hours after he gets up at 6, and then in the afternoon around 2 pm (he goes to bed between 7 and 8).
Khan will be utterly exhausted and still fight it; he crawls around, then his head suddenly falls to the floor, he jerks it up, crawls a few more steps, head falls to the floor, repeat. Usually I will lie down on the bed with him, holding him tight; he will scream and flail for a good 15 minutes before he has to give in and sleep. Sometimes I can't even get him to sleep. The same in the afternoon. I have bruises all over my arms from this kid thrashing around, screaming, trying to keep himself awake.
I've tried to let him cry it out, but after a solid 90 minutes (on multiple occasions) I couldn't take it anymore; also we live in an apartment and it's not fair to our neighbors. I've told his doctor the last three visits; he just laughs and says, "Some kids just don't like to sleep." I try to keep a naptime routine but it's always the same with the screaming and flailing. It's not that he's sick or teething; this has been going on for months. The thing is, I need him to nap- since I work from home I need some time to do that and can't do it if I'm following him around all day (no room for a playpen and he'd just scream anyway; he hates being confined, and he gets out of every improvised barrier we've tried).
I am finally asking for help because this morning I am seriously about to lose me mind. He woke at 6; at 9 I got him to sleep. He woke up 10 minutes later. At 10 I tried again; he woke up 10 minutes later and has been whining and fussing since then (he has a clean diaper, has been fed, has some Orajel on his gums, so it has to be because he's tired).
Any ideas? Has anyone else ever dealt with this? I don't think it can possibly be normal. I'm starting to wonder if Freddy Krueger is chasing him through his dreams.
Khan is a sweet, happy, great kid. He's an active, healthy baby, which means he's a miniature natural disaster, but that's to be expected. He eats well and is friendly and cheerful. The only problem we have is sleep.
Khan HATES to sleep. He didn't sleep through the night until 4 months, when we started supplementing his breast milk with formula (he's a big kid), and he still wakes up on average once a night because he loses his pacifier and can't find it again in the dark (we put extra pacis in for him to find, but sometimes he just can't do it).
He falls asleep well enough at night; we have a strict routine and Husband puts him to bed (he was falling asleep in his crib until about 6 months when Husband suddenly decided he needed to rock Khan to sleep every night; I think it's guilt at being away so much. I don't like it but I can tolerate it since bedtime is his responsibility).
It's naptime that is the Hell on Earth. Some kids don't need daytime naps. Khan is not one of those kids. If he doesn't sleep at least 2 hours during the day, he will be fussy and whiny and clingy. I try to make him sleep in the morning, about 3 hours after he gets up at 6, and then in the afternoon around 2 pm (he goes to bed between 7 and 8).
Khan will be utterly exhausted and still fight it; he crawls around, then his head suddenly falls to the floor, he jerks it up, crawls a few more steps, head falls to the floor, repeat. Usually I will lie down on the bed with him, holding him tight; he will scream and flail for a good 15 minutes before he has to give in and sleep. Sometimes I can't even get him to sleep. The same in the afternoon. I have bruises all over my arms from this kid thrashing around, screaming, trying to keep himself awake.
I've tried to let him cry it out, but after a solid 90 minutes (on multiple occasions) I couldn't take it anymore; also we live in an apartment and it's not fair to our neighbors. I've told his doctor the last three visits; he just laughs and says, "Some kids just don't like to sleep." I try to keep a naptime routine but it's always the same with the screaming and flailing. It's not that he's sick or teething; this has been going on for months. The thing is, I need him to nap- since I work from home I need some time to do that and can't do it if I'm following him around all day (no room for a playpen and he'd just scream anyway; he hates being confined, and he gets out of every improvised barrier we've tried).
I am finally asking for help because this morning I am seriously about to lose me mind. He woke at 6; at 9 I got him to sleep. He woke up 10 minutes later. At 10 I tried again; he woke up 10 minutes later and has been whining and fussing since then (he has a clean diaper, has been fed, has some Orajel on his gums, so it has to be because he's tired).
Any ideas? Has anyone else ever dealt with this? I don't think it can possibly be normal. I'm starting to wonder if Freddy Krueger is chasing him through his dreams.
Better get out my Johnny Cash CDs.
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