Sam's sleeping....

From a post on 9/29/05:

I was convinced that once we got Sam's food all figured out, that she would magically start sleeping better at night. Well, I was wrong. And I am at my wits end and sick of having crappy sleep for weeks on end. Or is it months? I can't remember.

This is going to be long so please bear with me!

So, here is our day routine and a big part of why I'm *soooo* frustrated at night:

• Wake whenever (8-9am, generally)
• Play in exersaucer, on floor - very independent (1.5-2 hours)
• Rock and feed her, wake her slightly, put her down in the swing in her bedroom to nap.
• Music going (sometimes sounds), fan going slightly, swaddled (so she doesn't scratch) and she goes RIGHT to sleep (1.5-2.5 hours)
• Wake & play some independently, some with me watching Ellie, a major variety at this time (1-1.5 hours)
• Same routine to go to sleep - (sleeps for 1.5-2 hours)
• Wake and play, mostly with me - more needy, but not bad. May play for 2 hours and then need another nap
• Same routine for sleeping - sleeps only 20 minutes.
• Dinner time for the family.....

And that's when things get bad. I then will try the SAME routine that works like magic all day long and it will take me 3 hours on most nights to get her down! She will NOT play by herself for more than 5 minutes and she's showing all signs of being tired. I'll rock her, put her down, she'll sleep for 5-20 minutes and wake back up. Still VERY tired.

I've tried:

• Not letting her sleep as much during the day - no change
• Feeding her rice cereal at night - no change, but when she had too much, we had a VERY scary incident so won't be doing more cereal 'til she's 6.5+ months
• Turning on a soft light (since that's the ONLY change from day to night in her room) - she's more awake!
• Different music - no change
• no music - wakes immediately
• I stay in there forever - she wakes 5 minutes after I leave
  Put her in her crib - no go
• Chris putting her down - she cries and won't go down
• Trying to get her to sleep MORE during the day - no change
• Fussing it out - *I won't let her cry it out*, but if she's just fussing, I've let her go. It generally turns into all out crying after about 10 minutes.

I think my frustration lies in the fact that I'm doing everything the same and I don't understand why she won't go down at night, but she does during the day! And generally at night, she'll wake several times until about 2am even if I DO get her down and it's only from 2-7 that she actually sleeps with only waking once or twice. And I consider that a GOOD night. (She almost never sleeps longer than 3 hours and never longer than 3.5)

I'm going out today and I'm going to buy the Fisher Price aquarium for her bed and try that. I just don't have any clue what to do next! All I really want is for her to have a routine at night. I don't care if it's me nursing her to sleep or whatever... I just need her to sleep!

Any suggestions are MORE than welcomed! TIA!

Sleepless in Colorado. *yawn*

PS On a side note, she's the happiest baby ever now! It's hard to get mad at such a smiley, happy baby. Maybe she's just making up for lost time?!?! GRRRRR.