Sleep and Bad Temper Baby Problems

First of all she is not too young to discipline. Discipline begins as soon as your child is doing something they shouldn't be. You use a deep stern voice and say, "NO!" and redirect their hands or whatever it is that they're doing that they shouldn't be. Or if you are comfortable you can flick their fingers, not too hard, but enough to startle them to associate that little bit of pain with the bad behavior. In the same way you can teach a child not to bite you while nursing. When my son first started biting, even before he had teeth I would flick his cheek and tell him no, and he doesn't do it any more and has several teeth (10 months). It also sounds to me like she's not getting enough sleep during the day. Those behaviors sound like a baby who is overtired. She is pretty young to only be sleeping two hours during the day. "Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child" is a pretty good resource for a book on children's sleep. Things that the author recommends are earlier bedtime (6-8 pm) and naps after the child has been awake for 2 hours. So she might just need a third nap during the day. Sometimes when my son wakes up early and his nap schedule gets moved up, he needs just one more short nap later in the afternoon to help him make it till bedtime. But no matter how late I try to keep him up in attempt to get him to sleep later in the morning, he wakes up like clockwork between 7-7:30 am. SO it's more beneficial to get him to sleep by 7 in the evening so he'll get more sleep. Email me if you have other questions. I by no means have the market cornered on baby sleep...but I have found a few things that work for my son. But be firm on the behavior and what you expect of her. Even if you don't use physical discipline, you can use your voice and your actions to teach her what is appropriate. Good luck!

Also, if you are comfortable nursing on demand, continue to do that. Even though they don't need nutrients, nursing is such a comfort when they're teething...but not in the night. Decide when you're going to go in, for instance once in the middle of the night and then not until morning (that's what I do) and if she cries before that time, don't go in, and if she cries after that time but before morning, don't go in. She will learn to comfort herself. I've just started putting several pacifiers in my son's crib so he always has one close. She is old enough to learn to get back to sleep. UNLESS you're comfortable having her in bed with you. That way she can nurse throughout the night and be comforted and you can both get some sleep. This worked with my son, but only until he was about 5-6 months old (which was sad we wanted him to stay in bed much longer) then we had to move him out of our bed and start sleep training, so the concept was new to me.

Missy

I do not know how to get her back on a better schedule.

My 12yr old sone and 15 yr old daughter will crawl into bed often expessially when dad is at driil for the military

i know you are sleep deprived it happens to all new parents but these children are our future they will be in a position to be taking care of us when we get old and possibly need assistance with every day living

to help my daughter we also tried a bottle of water this is great for 2 reasons 1. baby ban soothe their self 2. when they are older they like water over sodas more of the time than not

my 12 yr old son is also still wakes several times a night usually he is hungry and gets an apple eats it and goes back to his room and watches tv with a sleep timer on it for 30 minutes and then it shuts off he is usually back to bed, other times he just walks into my room and wispers mom wanted to make sure you were okay and safe i kiss him and hug him and then he heads back to bed we have yet for him to go to bed and sleep through the night

and yes even at 12 he still naps even though if we keep him up all day he still wakes but he is old enough he makes to make a bowl of cereal and then a blissful slumber

i know its hard but will get through it and before you know it she will be back on schedule

hang in there it will get better

remember take care of you first so you can take care of other family members

pwrsonal message me if you want just someone to vent to or just ask questions

S.

Well, I know it might not be what you want to do, but my advice would be to let her cry, and do not show her that it gets to you, and DO NOT GIVE IN... If you teach her that all she has to do is act up to get what she wants, then she will do it every time. If she starts getting violent at this age, put her in her crib, or play pen and just let her howl. If you need to step outside or in another room for a moment to get away that's fine as long as she is safe. At seven months, there really isn't much disciplinary actions I would reccomend besides letting her tire herself out by not responding to her actions. As for the sleeping through the night, if she's teething you could get her a teething ring that you keep in the freezer and when she starts to cry instead of feeding her or holding her give her the ring and let her chew on that. I hope that helps some.

~ T.

Aww, poor Mama! I'm sorry your tiny love is acting more like a tiny temper! It sounds like she may need to sleep a little bit more. She's still very young, and needs lots of sleep. My girl is only 4 months old, but I think babies still need to nap every 2 - 3 hours.

Also, you might take a look at your enviornment when she starts getting violent. Is your tv on? Is there music playing? Try making it quiet, or put some soothing music on. But personally, I would not use physical discipline, regardless of age or situation. As this will just teach your child that you too choose violence as a means to settle a problem, instead of other methods. A mother's tone of voice can be a very powerful tool.

If she bites while breastfeeding, just take your breast out of her mouth and tell her, "No" gently, but firmly. I'm not sure if you know about Hyland's Teething Tablets, but I hear they work great for soothing teething babies. http://www.hylands.com/products/teething.php
I think you can get them at any drugstore, or Target, Wal-Mart, etc.

Good luck and keep us posted!