Cure of a French baby

[TorsMamma]

Hello,

We have started the cure, today is the 4th day, and I really have a million questions about it, in spite of having read the book so many times...

The nights are going good so far, but the days are much more complicated to handle, especially the naps.
Our shedule is the following (our daughter is 7 months almost 8 so we counted 12 hours 35) :

Night 20:00 to 8:00

Eat 8:00 (only breastfeeding)
Sleep 10:00 to 10:45
Eat 11:15
Sleep 13:00 to 14:30
Eat 14:45
Sleep 17:00 to 17:20
Eat 18:15
Bathing, breasfeeding and laugh 19:00 to 20:00
Night 20:00

I have been doing the nights and my husband is handling the days.

The first nap in the morning is very not successful, for the last 3 days we have been unable to calm her down so that she sleeps, and she hasn't slept at all, also she kept crying almost all the time, even though it's kind of on and off... but she is upset. Same for the mid-day nap, she cried almost most of the time yesterday... Actually yesterday she hasn't slept at all during the day and was crying all the time during her nap times.
It is her morning nap as I'm writing and she 's been crying for 40 minutes (my husband went back in to buff her 5 minutes ago, she has never cried like this since the beginning of the cure). What shall we do?
Now we have to take her from her bed but she is really crying hard.

So shall we go back in the room to fan her (today my husband went back once yesterday but it was not better)? keep on with the jingle (but doesn't work either)? As she has not stopped crying, we have to take her from her bed when she is crying (at the end of the nap time), even though we try to wait until she is quiet, and I know we are not supposed to do this... so what shall we do?
We had the same problem when she wakes up a bit too early from naps or nights, we couldn't make her go back to sleep and had to take her from her bed when she was really not happy.

What mistakes are we doing? We are really trying hard and want to do the cure. I must admit it's hard to hear her cry for 45 minutes, even more 1h30...

A few more questions :
- if my husband put her to bed, does HE have to say the jingle and manage until the end, or I can also?
- we do elimination communication and it was working great. Now we put her diapers to sleep, and it turns out she poops every night, which she never did before, and sometimes also during the naps : do you have an idea why? Would it be stress? Do you think it will go back to normal?

Do you think our schedule is fine, or maybe we should adjust it?

Many thanks for your help.

Anne

[Itika]

Thank you TorsMamma for posting this for me

And thank you for sharing your experiences with me, I look forward to hearing from you all!

Anne

[Itika]

Hello,

Me again for an update.

Yesterday she slept 25 minutes in the middle of her mid-day nap and cried before and after, and she hasn't slept on her last nap.
Last night she fell asleep after 25 minutes and she managed all night by herself, crying a tiny bit on some occasion, and she woke up at 7:45.
This morning was truly horrible, she cried the whole time really really hard, no matter how many joyful or comforting or go to sleep now jingles I said or sang. I went in to fan her after 15 minutes but she wouldn't really calm down. And I went back in after 40 minutes and buffed because I wanted to calm her down before taking her from bed. But she was hysterical the whole time.

We tried pitch dark room, we tried the household noises, the music, the jingles... Now it's getting really hard for me to let her cry like this, I'm scared to cause her too much stress and therefore damages

What worries me most is that she was a very happy playful baby, always laughing, and now it's just impossible to make her laugh, no matter how hard try before the naps, it's just the opposite she starts crying... And also starts crying as soon as we go into the room.
And she wants to be in my arms most of the time.
And she would fall asleep when I breastfeed her after the naps, I have to stop feeding her to keep her awake.
She doesn't eat more than before, and she doesn't look better despite sleeping good at night - quite the opposite :/

I am aware that it takes time but it's rally too hard to hear her cry for such long times...

Please I need some help and assurance that we are on the right path...

Thanks

[mamaA]

Hi!

Your still doing the cure? 5 days? patience

Personally I think you would do better with two naps, you usually change from 3 to 2 at 8-9 months. Then you push the remaining naps by about 30-60 minutes forward. I think that will suit her better and give her a chance to get tired enough to sleep better.

Food: How about a second breakfast about an hour after breastfeeding? Yoghurt/porridge/ sandwich in small pieces. That way you can push the lunch forward about an hour so it comes closer to sleep, you sleep better with a full stomach. Perhaps adjust the snack a bit forward to.

It´s important to remember not to only focus on the sleep. What do you do in the day? She can be with you in a chair when you are cooking, Press the button on the washer, pull out the laundry of the machine etc and don´t forget to go outside a lot. Feel the grass, explore! A lot of time on the stomach to train her movement(bellying forward or crawling), exercise makes you tired .

Kram

[Itika]

Hi Kram,

Thank you so much for your reply
Of course we are still doing the cure! It's hard but it's worth it!

So ok for 2 naps, actually I was thinking yesterday that it'd be better to make her sleep 2 hours at mid-day and skip the last one.
Thanks for your advice on the food, I'll try this.
So my schedule would be as following :
Night 20:00 to 8:00
Breastfeeding 8:00
Breakfast 9:00
Sleep 10:00 to 10:45 (or 10:00 to 10:20???) it's 14h20 or 14h45, what's best?
Lunch 12:00
Sleep 13:00 to 15:00
Eat 15:15
Eat 18:15
Bathing, breastfeeding and laughing 19:00 to 20:00
Night 20:00

Do you think it's ok like that? Can I start it from today or should I wait? Today is the 6th day.

As for the days, yes we do lots of things, including going out. And she is not on her belly anymore but standing all the time and starting to walk along furniture, I guess it is exercise also
Thanks again for your help!
Anne

[Itika]

Sorry I couldn't reply before, it wouldn't work :/

[TorsMamma]

You need to stop using the kind of smileys you are used to on the phone and social media. They don't work here. Please use the once supplied within the forum program.

[mamaA]

Hi!

45 min nap - definitely! Usually you don´t change anything until after a week, but your almost there so yes change now .

Kram

[TorsMamma]

Just a quick add, I would push the long nap forward 30-60 min and keep it 1,5 hours.

[Itika]

Thanks for your advices!!!

We thought everything over again with my husband according to your feedback and changed as following:

Night 20:00 to 7:30
Nursing 7:30
Breakfast 8:30
Nursing 9:45
Nap 10:00 to 11:30
Lunch 12:30
Nursing 14:15
Nap 14:30 to 16:00
Nursing 16:30
Diner 18:15
Bath, nursing, laughing 19:15 to 20:00
Bed 20:00

As you see we split the meals between baby food and breastfeeding because it felt right like this, and also to feed her before the naps. Do you think it's ok?
U
Yesterday she slept only at mid-day, after 30 minutes of crying. Not at all in the morning, crying the whole time
Last night she fell asleep in 5 minutes, which was a huge victory!!! When I went in after 10 minutes I found out she was with her thumb
And she slept until 7:45 this morning, another huge victory!!!

But this morning was hard again, she slept only 20 minutes after crying for an half hour, and crying after... And now she was sleeping after crying for half hour also and woke up after 20 minutes. And crying.

I hope it's gonna get better.
Thanks again for your help!
Anne

[mamaA]

Hi!
How is it going with the cure? The new schedule is not really what we recommended , the last nap is very late, but is it working for you? An alternative is to put the second nap a little earlier, say an hour(13.30) and start the night at 19.30 instead.

Kram

[Itika]

Hi Kram!
It's working really good actually! We are so happy and grateful
We are now on holidays and I was very worried about changing environment that soon in the process but so far it's been really great!
Thanks again for your help and support, I was really lost...
Anne