A new kind of sleep hell

[jessmke]

This is just a rant because I know there is nothing I can do but wait out this new hell I have found myself in.

My baby is a sadist. It is the only explanation for this torture she is putting me through. She has never been a great sleeper, she is usually up every 3 hrs at night, but goes on spurts where she is up every 1-2 hrs, but also has spurts of sleeping 4 hrs at a time. For almost the entire last week she will sleep from 7-10 pm, then be up every 30-45 min for the remainder of the night. Webster's needs to come up with a new word to describe the level of exhaustion I am feeling. We are currently on vacation in Hawaii, and she was her normal sleep self for the first 3 days and then it was like a switch flipped and she suddenly stopped sleeping at night and taking super short naps during the day. Luckily my OH is around and has been mostly looking after her during the day as I am feeling crappy as a result of the other little sadist growing in my belly. At night my OH has tried to calm her but she gets absolutely hysterical at the sight of him in the night. She is also wanting to nurse constantly day and night and my nipple is so sore from where it rubs against her one tooth when she is lazy nursing or comfort nursing. She has also started biting me in her sleep. Only my right boob produces milk so I can't even switch sides to give my right nipple a break. I think this sleep disturbance and clinginess is just a bought of separation anxiety, so we will just wait it out, but man this baby is seriously ruining my vacation!

 

[OilyMamma]

Sorry to hear. My son was a non sleeper for 15 months (we got 24hrs of sleep per WEEK in this time). I had to hire a sleep consultant to help me break him of his crutches (nursing, cuddling etc)
So that he would sleep. He was almost 2 when we started this and was sleeping full nights within a week. He now sleeps 10- 12 hours at night at the age of 4.
Dont be afraid to get help. It was a life saver for me.
Give that sore nipple a break. Its likely that she is comfort nursing anyways...no milk is required for that.
The freak outs are just the childs way of telling you she wants you. She will only continue as long as you keep giving in to her.
I feel your pain and wish you the best of luck!

 

[jessmke]

I return to work when we get home from vacation so we might get some help then, although according to the 'sleep experts' we have done everything right, she goes down in her crib awake and settles herself to sleep for naps and at bedtime, has had a good bedtime routine since she was 7 weeks old, no cuddling/rocking etc to get to sleep, no pacifier, I nurse her at least 30 min before putting her down for naps/bedtime. And she still wakes frequently at night. At home she will allow my OH to settle her back to sleep after a night waking, she just won't do it here because we are in a studio style hotel room and she knows I'm in the room so she just wants me. And we don't want to let her cry too much or she will wake the people in the rooms next to us. I tried letting her comfort nurse on my left side even though there was no milk, but it has been so long since I nursed her on that side that my nipple had lost all it's toughness and it was really uncomfortable!

 

[OilyMamma]

Awe. Well hopefully all goes back to normal at home. Good luck.

 

[jessmke]

I cannot believe the change since we've been home! Last night was our third night back and my DD went to bed at 7 pm and didn't wake for milk until 4am!!! Thats 9 hrs!!! Before last night the longest she has ever gone without waking is 4 1/2 hrs. Then she went back to sleep until almost 10am!! What?!?!?! She slept for nearly 15 hrs with just one small feed, and to be honest I think she would have resettled herself without a feed at 4 am but my boobs felt like they were going to explode so I ran in as soon as I heard her whimpering so she could relieve the pressure for me. I don't know what has changed but I hope things stay this way!