Frustrated. When will it end??

[sevenofnine]

My baby is 17 weeks, 5 days. Lately she had been AWFUL.

1. Sleep is terrible. She whines and cries all night, unless she is held, and I am trying to break the habit but it seems impossible. She's incredibly stubborn. She even gets angry and yells at me if I don't hold her. She is averaging 6 broken hours of sleep a night.

2. I know sleep begets sleep, but what do you do if your baby absolutely fights naps. She will NOT nap unless being held... Hardly even in a swing or anything. Just yells and whines super loud and gets herself upset.

3. She's demanding. She always wants to be up and about and never put down. I'll try to sit on the couch holding her and she gets angry when I sit down. She wants to be walked around constantly. I never get a break.

4. She's even less smiley lately. I don't think she's in pain, or anything like that. She just is always complaining. Probably chronically tired.

We are going to start the process of moving her in her own room this week. I figure I'm up 3-4 times a night the past couple weeks anyway, so might as well. (she's in a bassinet next to our need currently)

Really there is no point to this. I just feel like I'm at the end of my tether. She's clingy and awful, and I'm stressed.

I am hating month 4 so far. I feel like I'm doing something wrong. Where is my happy baby? Well she ever be back?

Thanks for listening

 

[Indi84]

ooh god, i didn't like month four! where did my happy newborn go? however once we broke six months, i got a baby that would nap back, and started sttn. hang on in there, it's so draining!

 

[Button#]

I held my LO for all his naps until he was 7 months old. It's not ideal but it does force you to put your feet up after a bad night.

Because you're right in the middle of an awful time for sleep I would concentrate on survival rather than breaking habits. It is worse trekking in and out of another room at night and I wish I'd waited until my LO was sleeping better before putting him in there. I would just go with what works for now and worry about it later. Their sleep patterns change all the time through each development stage anyway and I found once I stopped stressing about where and how he was going to sleep we were able to relax a bit more and I would sleep better in the gaps.

 

[detterose]

She could be going through a developmental leap. Google the Wonder Weeks. I can't wait for 4 months to be over. I want my smily baby back.

 

[sevenofnine]

It's 7am here and I've gotten 2 broken hours of sleep. She's up every 40 minutes - 1 hour crying and whining, and fishers in between that. She screamed for two hours straight before bed last night.

It got so bad that I thought she was screaming in pain, but she stopped if we stopped trying to put her to bed? She was incredibly tired.

I wonder if she had an ear infection?? This just doesn't seem normal. Even for a sleep regression...

I can't function with this level of sleep. I don't know what to do. I resorted to Co - sleeping last night and she still was up constantly whining and fidgeting.

I can honestly say last night was the worst night since she was born, bar none. Even my husband got extremely stressed, and he's the calm one.

 

[MrsButterfly]

Months 4-6 were so tough for us and I did co-sleep a lot of the time as it was the only way I could get any sleep. I used to have to rock to sleep as well. For us I think it was a combo of teething and wonder weeks.

I cried a lot, despaired and thought I couldn't cope. But it did end, quite suddenly at 7 months.

I'm a do whatever keeps you sane type of mum hence the co-sleeping but some others may have some practical suggestions for you to try.

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

I actually hate 4mths

 

[crissyj]

Hanna was like that when she turned 4 months but she is slowly coming out of it now, much happier and starting to sleep better! I did a lot if holding and co sleeping to get through it. Hanna was also teething and just cut her first two teeth

 

[Peggy O]

L went from SSTN to waking every hour or two at 4 months :/
Only lasted 2 weeks for us, thank god. She is acting pretty normal again now, on the 16th she well be 5 months.

 

[Noelle610]

I hated months 4/5. Vast improvement around 6/7 months. Hang in there, this is the hard part.

 

[detterose]

Really feeling for you. I thought things couldn't get any worse until last night, he decided to prove me wrong. Honestly thought I was on the verge of losing my last bit of sanity. I hate 4 months

 

[Katerpillar]

Oh my days I am absolutely dreading 4 months which is fast approaching!! For the last 2 nights my LO has already woken much more than she normally does. We co-sleep so I generally just feed her back to sleep but even that wasn't working last night...

I obviously have no advice as I'm not there yet...but just wanted to say we're all in this big club together...hang in there xx

 

[joo]

I'm scared, really scared! I never thought I've coped very well up to now & LO has only been waking twice in the night (sometimes once) so sounds like I'm really going to have to brace myself. Hang in there, I hope things get a bit easier for you soon xxx

 

[Janers]

I held my LO for all his naps until he was 7 months old. It's not ideal but it does force you to put your feet up after a bad night.

Because you're right in the middle of an awful time for sleep I would concentrate on survival rather than breaking habits. It is worse trekking in and out of another room at night and I wish I'd waited until my LO was sleeping better before putting him in there. I would just go with what works for now and worry about it later. Their sleep patterns change all the time through each development stage anyway and I found once I stopped stressing about where and how he was going to sleep we were able to relax a bit more and I would sleep better in the gaps.

This is such good advice, I wish someone said this to me. "Concentrate on survival" that is what I'm doing right now as it appears my LO is going through another sleep regression. I have also moved the clock in our room out of view and I refuse to look at the time when she wakes up, it just makes it that much harder.

Good luck, you are doing a great job, and there is light at the end of the tunnel!

 

[sevenofnine]

Really feeling for you. I thought things couldn't get any worse until last night, he decided to prove me wrong. Honestly thought I was on the verge of losing my last bit of sanity. I hate 4 months

I had one good night this week, and it gave me just enough energy to keep going...

(My good night, she was up every 3 hours...)

We will survive! I also hate four months!!!!!

Oh my days I am absolutely dreading 4 months which is fast approaching!! For the last 2 nights my LO has already woken much more than she normally does. We co-sleep so I generally just feed her back to sleep but even that wasn't working last night...

I obviously have no advice as I'm not there yet...but just wanted to say we're all in this big club together...hang in there xx

I'm scared, really scared! I never thought I've coped very well up to now & LO has only been waking twice in the night (sometimes once) so sounds like I'm really going to have to brace myself. Hang in there, I hope things get a bit easier for you soon xxx

Hopefully your LO will skip right over with no problems!

My friends' baby is 3 days older than Annika (Annika is 18 weeks, 3 days) and he doesn't seem to be having any problems!

I held my LO for all his naps until he was 7 months old. It's not ideal but it does force you to put your feet up after a bad night.

Because you're right in the middle of an awful time for sleep I would concentrate on survival rather than breaking habits. It is worse trekking in and out of another room at night and I wish I'd waited until my LO was sleeping better before putting him in there. I would just go with what works for now and worry about it later. Their sleep patterns change all the time through each development stage anyway and I found once I stopped stressing about where and how he was going to sleep we were able to relax a bit more and I would sleep better in the gaps.

This is such good advice, I wish someone said this to me. "Concentrate on survival" that is what I'm doing right now as it appears my LO is going through another sleep regression. I have also moved the clock in our room out of view and I refuse to look at the time when she wakes up, it just makes it that much harder.

Good luck, you are doing a great job, and there is light at the end of the tunnel!

After I read that, things got a little easier. Easier in the sense that I agreed and finally just started trying to survive. I haven't gotten much more sleep, but I'm a lot less frustrated then I imagine I would have been trying to move her into a crib in her own room right now.

Hopefully in a month or two, I can start that process!

Was up every 2 hours on the dot last night. Only way to get her to sleep was to feed her. Growth spurt? I have no idea. Either way, I'm tired.

 

[purplespecs]

I could have written your post word for word! I'm having an awful time with Daniel's sleep and naps at the minute, the only way I can get him to nap at all is to walk round with him in his sling. I've been so down and stressed out about his sleep for the past couple weeks but reading the post about survival has made me feel a little better about it. Roll on the next few months!!

 

[F0xybabe]

The day my LO turned 3 months old she turned into a completely different baby... fighting naps, screaming, irritable, etc. She just turned four months two days ago and there's still no end in sight.

I feel for you. I'm really not sure that I'll be able to make it through. I feel like dying. The only saving grace is that she actually sleeps pretty well after 11pm. The same cannot be said for me, though!

 

[Rickles]

4 month sleep regression lasted 4 weeks in our house. When it ended I had a baby that would nap for 1.5- 2hrs during the day and only woke up once a night. Hang in there... I remember OH and I looking at each other every morning muttering "it's just a phase". Soooo tough but you get a happier baby at the end I promise! x

 

[Rickles]

By that I mean waking up every 2 hours (sometimes hourly)... I feel your pain! xx

 

[sevenofnine]

I could have written your post word for word! I'm having an awful time with Daniel's sleep and naps at the minute, the only way I can get him to nap at all is to walk round with him in his sling. I've been so down and stressed out about his sleep for the past couple weeks but reading the post about survival has made me feel a little better about it. Roll on the next few months!!

I felt the same way. It was kind of an eye opener. I am now just doing everything to make it as easy as possible. I hope to start tackling her nap and bedtime issues when she's over this tough period. No point in frustrating myself when (a little) sleep can be had!!!!

The day my LO turned 3 months old she turned into a completely different baby... fighting naps, screaming, irritable, etc. She just turned four months two days ago and there's still no end in sight.

I feel for you. I'm really not sure that I'll be able to make it through. I feel like dying. The only saving grace is that she actually sleeps pretty well after 11pm. The same cannot be said for me, though!

I feel like that every night, like I can't make it through. Sometimes I get so tired and overwhelmed. It doesn't help AT ALL that I just came down with a cold. Woke up at 3am to her complaining and realized I had a runny nose and sore throat. My husband had it three days ago, so I was expecting it.

Annika has also had a runny nose and low grade fever (99.1F), so I think she has the cold too. I thought it was teething, because her gums are so swollen where her tooth must be coming in. She is gnawing on everything!

WW19 + Sleep Regression + Teething + Cold = One very overwhelmed, tired me.

She is not developmentally behind at all, but I keep feeling like we're just going backwards. It feels like this is all for nothing lately. I feel like I'm at a stand-still. I need some light at the end of the tunnel.