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It amazes me that something as simple as sleep in a child can be so difficult. All the signs are there, the big yawn, the heavy eye, but still sleep is elusive. My five week old child refuses sleep. He fights it with boxing gloves and karate chops. We sing, rock, play crickets,  cry, and pray to no avail. We read books,  call friends and scour the internet, but find no relief. Is it a phase he will out grow, or are we doomed for years to come? 

After many nights battling the sleep monster starting around 6p and lasting till 10p, we finally asked the Pedi for help. He says, if he starts to get fussy at 6p, put him to bed at 5:30p. That sounds easier said than done. I also starting reading a book "Healthy sleep, Happy baby" suggested by a friend. The book said the same thing, Caleb is overtired at that point at night and to put him to bed earlier. So with gusto I started a new regime the next day.

Day one went so well. The book says watch for those sleep clues and put him to sleep. Don't let him stay awake more than 1-2 hours. All right that sounds easy. I got him to sleep easily during the day, and although it took me 2 hours in the evening to get him to sleep, by 7:30 he was out and I got the shower, cook dinner and eat with my husband. He slept till 9:30p, I changed him, nursed him and put him back to sleep. And so it went the rest of the night. He slept 4 hours after nursing, then 3 hours then 2 hours. This has been his normal cycle.

I had such high hopes for day two. Robert had stayed home from work and I was excited to actually spend some time with my husband. We woke up early about 7:30a, played for about an hour with big smiles from everyone, and then I proceeded as planned to put Caleb back to sleep. The plan quickly went down hill from there. For his first nap I planned on Caleb sleeping in his car seat on the jogger while I ran. This worked, but only for about 30 minutes. When I returned back to the house I tried to get him back to sleep to no avail. I continued this for hours. I sat in our bed next to his bassinet rocking him while playing crickets for whitenoise. This is the routine i have picked to use. He was never really that fussy, although obviously very tired, but he would never sleep for more than 30 minutes or so. Finally after a long day, I gave him a bath and we headed for a long drive to a friends.

He did not immediately fall to sleep in the car, but eventually drifted off and slept about a 90 minutes while we drove. Once we were at the party he stayed awake for probably 3-4 hours before falling into a deep sleep. He slept the whole drive home and all though he woke with his normal feeding schedule, he slept in with us till 10a.

Day three I again start with high hopes. We were up late and slept in late, but I had planned to stick to the only awake 1 hour plan. Caleb was tired. He would yawn and fall asleep on my shoulder, but as soon as I placed him in his bassinet, he would awaken. After two hours I gave up. I was so frustrated. I feed him, passed him to his father and I left the house to head to the grocery store.

Upon my return, Caleb still had not fallen to sleep well. He did for about 5 minutes before the dog woke him up. As Robert put the groceries away I sat down to nurse Caleb. He finally drifted off. For fear of waking him I didn't move for 2 1/2 hours, and so far he has been asleep for 3 hours.

I wonder if I am just rushing him to sleep. Maybe I should just let him fall asleep on me for a MUCH longer period of time before passing him off to his bed? He seems to sleep better with noise in the background as well??