April 20. Putting her in her crib drowsy but awake was sometimes associated with naps and sometimes no naps and crying for an hour. My hope was that with more net night sleep, she would become less sleep deprived and more able to self-soothe for naps. Because there was no clear trend towards improvement, I suggested that you try to get more day sleep by using the swing in a dark quiet room. You suggested more consistent nursing for soothing before naps and I agree with you. My hope was that the old familiar rocking motion of the swing and consistent nursing before naps would increase her frequency and duration of naps. I thought that our next step might be to turn off the swing after she had fallen asleep for the nap and subsequently try again to nap her in her crib. Do you feel all right with this plan?

I was confident that this would eventually work because she has long night sleep and has been able sometimes to nap in the crib when put her down drowsy but awake. The idea of going back to the swing was to allow her to get more sleep and give you a break from the crying during the nap attempts even though the swing soothing is somewhat contrary to the notion of self-soothing. I view the swing as a minimal aid to help her fall asleep and stay asleep. In contrast, when you pick her up to do soothing or stay with her doing “ssh” sounds, I think that she is much more likely to fight sleep for the pleasure of your company. That’s why I wrote, “I strongly suggest that you do not pick her up to do soothing. Leave her for an hour in the moving swing, even if she is crying. If you pick her up and give her more complex social soothing she will learn to cry for your social comfort.”

Socially reinforcing her ability to fight sleep will guarantee failure in our attempt to help her learn self-soothing to sleep. Naps in the crib did not work well and if you continue to hover or pick her up from the swing, naps in the swing will eventually not work well either. In my frustration and sleep-deprived state, I think I just got confused.

April 22. Mom: I think the earlier bedtime has had a positive impact on her. I think the earlier bedtime has helped her because it helped transitioned her down to 2 naps. I think (and hope) we are now on a path to healthy sleep schedule. Before we started the earlier bedtime, she would go to sleep around 7 and sleep until 5-6, getting about 10-10 1/2 hrs of sleep. Now she goes to bed at 5:30 and sleeps until 5-530, getting about 11-12 hrs of sleep. Dad: I believe the 1730 sleep schedule is a huge success. Besides she is sleeping through the night, it gives my wife some time to herself which I think is important.

April 25. Mom: She has been doing better falling asleep in her swing. We have consistently been putting her in drowsy, but awake, and the time she cries until she falls asleep has gotten progressively less. However, we have not been consistent with turning off the swing after 25 minutes. I wanted to try working on one thing at a time and focus on her falling asleep in the swing first. With the swing on, she has taken several morning naps that last between 1 hr and 1 1/2 hrs. Her afternoon naps are usually less, usually 45 mins- 1 hr. I know leaving the swing on goes against your suggestions.

I put the bunny in her crib a few weeks ago hoping that eventually it would become comforting to her. She’s barely noticed it until now. She’s just starting to grab it and we’re hoping it becomes a comfort object that will be with her for naps, bedtime, and trips for consistency. And all of a sudden she has begun to crawl!

Inconsistent versus Consistent

1. Inconsistent week-end nap schedule.

2. Inconsistent nursing before naps.

3. Inconsistent leaving her alone in the swing and turning it on again to extend naps.

4. Inconsistent turning off the swing after 25 minutes to promote self-soothing or motionless sleep.

5. Inconsistent super early bedtime.

6. Consistent putting her down to nap and at night drowsy but awake.

Marc