Sucking hands while falling asleep

Hi All,

I have just joined the club and I find it really helpful and interesting.
I have babygirl Diana, she is 6 and a half month old (will turn 7 on 17th of October)
My huge concern is her sleeping. We had the sleeping issue since she was born.
She was very colicy baby and we had to settle her everytime after feeding (she was totally breastfed baby). When she was 4 1/2 - 5 months old we started to implement control comforting method (we've been at CNY and it was advised by nurse). It took us 3 weeks to settle her down and the method to work. Finally we did it, but then we had another problem - her first tooth... She was crying all day, waiking up every hour during the night. I had to carry her whole day.
Now she refuses to fall asleep by herself and cries all the time i put her into cot. I don't know what to do. I started to implement the comfort cry method - but I dont know whether it will help. because now she is acting differently - she is crying whe i put her into cot, then she just starts to play and never falls asleep, nomatter how long she is there sad(
I'm very tired as I didn't have proper sleep and time for myself since she was born.
PLEASE help!!!!!!
I don't have any relatives here to help me and my husband works all day. and yes, she still can't sleep though the night - wake up 3-4 times a night since she was born.
for CNY or Torrens House - it takes ages to get there - we were on the waiting list for CNY nurse for 1 and a half month!!!!! and now we are on the waiting list for the day care. I can't wait so long!!
Another issue is that nurse advised us to wrap her tightly when implementing the feed/play/sleep method. but now she is getting older and stronger and unwrapp herself all the time and cant fall asleep because of that. I tried to put her into sleeping bab, but she sucks her fingers, getting all wet and not sleeping.
so my questions are:
how to resettle her again to fall asleep without her being wrapped?
what to do to prevent her suck her fingers when she is in the cot ready to sleep? (she refuses dummy)
how to make her sleep through the night?
Thanks in advance,
Shakhlo (Diana's Mum)

Hey Shakhlo - boy, have you come to the right place for support. I tell you, I had basically no one when I had DD. Now, I have a small handful of special friends I talk to every day (met through this site) - and a large group of mummies who give lots of great advice in these threads. Don't be scared to post any-thing, any-time - you will at least get one person who will be able to help you (at most - dozens !!!).

I will have a crack at your questions to start things rolling on your thread. Soon enough, you will get a few different responses and ideas.

1. How to resettle without being wrapped.

For me - it was persistance. Unwrapping was really hard, but seems to be quite a necessary thing for their physical development, as well as safety. I did the gradual unwrap to ease DD into it (one arm out for a few nights, then two arms out etc). I also went cold turkey on the dummy when we unwrapped so we had about 2-3 fairly wrestless nights, lots of cuddles and extra feeds - till she adjusted.

2. Preventing sucking of fingers.

DD wasn't/isn't a finger sucker, but did have a dummy from 2-6 months. I can't seem to find anything wrong with bubs sucking their fingers, until they get their second set of teeth (if still sucking fingers them). A lot of mums say its a good thing as they can self sooth, however, are you finding it is doing more damage than good? Have you tried a comforter like a blankie/teddie thingy?

3. Sleeping through the night.

That is the million dollar question - lol. My DD didn't sleep through the night till 10 months, yup, I'm one of the worst case scenarios I think - lol. I was breast feeding every 3-4 hours so as you can imgaine, was a walking zombie. For me at 10 months, I cracked it - couldn't cope any-more. We tried all the usual tricks (music, night light, rocking, comforters, dummy, solids etc) - nothing seemed to make a difference. In the end I went for 3 nights of control crying and DD has slept through since. Tell a lie, she had one horrible night after her 1 year immunisation. Control crying is not for every-one it was a last resort for me.

I just don't know how you cope, with an older child as well. You must be exhausted, poor bugga. I am sure you will get some more support soon. Take care.

I know how you feel. DD1 was an atrotious sleeper. Ill give your qus a shot:

how to resettle her again to fall asleep without her being wrapped? I used a sleeping bag. If sucking fingers is a concern have you tried putting it on with her arms inside not through the arm holes? This is how I weened DD1 off wrapping.


what to do to prevent her suck her fingers when she is in the cot ready to sleep? (she refuses dummy)
Is this a problem. It could be used as a comfort thing or is she teething?

how to make her sleep through the night?
Im afraid nothing can do this. Babies decide when on their own an nobody can change that imo. I can top the previous poster, DD1 didnt sleep through till 20 mths!!! DD2 is shaping up to be much much better.

ave you read the "no cry sleep solution" by Elizabeth Pantly? it has some good tips about getting babies to sleep without all this controlled crying stress.

Hi Shakhlo
You poor thing. Hang in there. All will work out fine.
With the wrapping, I think you will have to start leaving an arm out and gradually not wrapping her up at all. I found this worked well with my DD. She was out of her wrap in a couple of days and I now place her in a sleeping bag and she loves it.
With finger sucking, there is nothing wrong with this. My daughter sucks her fingers until she falls asleep and then when she is asleep she takes them out. Is a comfort thing thats all.
With sleeping through the night, are you feeding her everytime she is waking up? If so how much milk is she taking? If not alot, do not feed her everytime she wakes up. I know this is hard but try to ignore her for a little while and see if she resettles herself to sleep. If not, you may have to do a little control crying. I know this is not for everybody. If you are strong, maybe give it a try. If your baby is drinking a lot of milk, may be she is not eating enough food and is hungry during the night.
i gave control cryiing a try when my DD was 8 weeks old and after a week she was fine. I know its hard but it pays off at the end of the day.
I was told to put my DD on a routine of feed/play/sleep and this worked for me and she started sleeping through the night from about 8 to 10 weeks of age and has been good ever since.
Good luck and be patient as all babies are different.