is/was your LO a really bad sleeper? support and advise thread!

[kosh]

Hi all, not sure if I belong since my LO is only just shy of 3 weeks old but she only gives me 45 min between burping from one feeding until she's fussy for the next. She is exclusively breastfed, no complications with pregnancy or delivery though she was a tiny bit premature. She'd technically only be 39 weeks gestation as of today; was born at 36+2. The only way I can get a longer break between feedings is if I hold her while sleeping - that gives me about 2.5 hours between. I'm hanging in there for now and hoping this doesn't last too long but since DH doesn't help at all, I can see myself getting really frustrated soon.

she's just very young. I'd say just go with the flow,she'llprob start tospace her feeds soon.

ETA - is your supply ok?

Can someone share the acronyms please? CC? CIO = cry it out? STTN? NCT?

Thanks!

CC = controlled crying
CIO = cry it out
STTN = sleep through the night
NCT = national childbirth trust

Thank you for decoding the acronyms! Definitely nothing wrong with my supply. I'm pumping between feedings to keep my boobs from getting too terribly painful and there's still so much leakage, it's like my boobs are permanent water guns! And my poor LO chokes/gags when it comes out so fast so I've taken to pumping for a couple minutes before, nursing, and then pumping for another 10 min after she's done.

Oh and the first 10 days or so, she gave me 3ish hour long breaks. This 45 min thing is new...!

There is a growth spurt around 3 weeks so you're probably going through that. As Kosh says she's still very young and at 3 weeks she's doubtful to have any kind of real pattern. You'll find she'll probably change again in a week so hang on in there!

that's it - that's the concept i was trying to remember, but my brain is a colander!!!

 

[kosh]

Thank you I guess it might have been just a nap. But we actually fed him at 7 and by the time he was sleeping it was 7:15, so his usual bed time. When he woke up it was 8 and he was awake till 9:30 which is definitely not his bedtime. On the other hand he is always hard to settle and will wake up anything from 20 to 40 mins to every hour before his 11:30 feed. Which btw he did last night too. And then he gave me 2 hours and after that I was awake every hour again reinserting the dummy and rocking him every hour from 4 onwards.
How did your nights go ladies?

oh gosh angel, sorry your night was not good
ours was average - he gave me a couple of 2hr stretches but was also awake from 3-5am!

 

[kosh]

so casey took her LO to NYC and mrshedgehog went camping....am I the only one who could def NOT do these things? I spend most of my days worried if LO will get overtired and grumpy if he doesn't nap. Sometimes I only leave the house in the afternoon, once he had his two naps, so I know we're 'safe'.
I think I DO have a problem...

 

[Claireyb1]

so casey took her LO to NYC and mrshedgehog went camping....am I the only one who could def NOT do these things? I spend most of my days worried if LO will get overtired and grumpy if he doesn't nap. Sometimes I only leave the house in the afternoon, once he had his two naps, so I know we're 'safe'.
I think I DO have a problem...

Don't worry Kosh, you are not alone in feeling that you can't do these things.
I have to fly to Poland next week for my brothers wedding and I'm kind of nervous........I know LO's naps will probably go out of the window and god knows what will happen at night??? not to mention how I will cope on the actual wedding day? (wedding isn't until 4pm) I'm still officially obsessed with her sleep!!!!

 

[kosh]

so casey took her LO to NYC and mrshedgehog went camping....am I the only one who could def NOT do these things? I spend most of my days worried if LO will get overtired and grumpy if he doesn't nap. Sometimes I only leave the house in the afternoon, once he had his two naps, so I know we're 'safe'.
I think I DO have a problem...

Don't worry Kosh, you are not alone in feeling that you can't do these things.
I have to fly to Poland next week for my brothers wedding and I'm kind of nervous........I know LO's naps will probably go out of the window and god knows what will happen at night??? not to mention how I will cope on the actual wedding day? (wedding isn't until 4pm) I'm still officially obsessed with her sleep!!!!

thanks clairey, but you see you're still going, if it was me I think i'd ask them to cancel the wedding
no, seriously, I guess in a situation like that I'd be brave and do it, but otherwise I would not choose to do it, i feel so obsessed/stressed about it!! am I actually making things worse?

 

[MrsHedgehog]

so casey took her LO to NYC and mrshedgehog went camping....am I the only one who could def NOT do these things? I spend most of my days worried if LO will get overtired and grumpy if he doesn't nap. Sometimes I only leave the house in the afternoon, once he had his two naps, so I know we're 'safe'.
I think I DO have a problem...

Does your LO sleep in the car? My LO sleeps really well in the car so I try to time outings so that she'll sleep on the way there or way back. Otherwise she won't nap when we're out and I just have to try and keep her as calm as possible until it's time to go home and she'll fall straight asleep in the car.

 

[Claireyb1]

I think I might have thought differently about the trip if I hadn't booked it so far back.......thinking LO would be in a good routine by 7+ months - ha,ha,ha how wrong was I ?!!!! lol
I also didn't want to miss my brothers big day
I too often wonder if my obsession is making matters worse and if I just went with the flow would things be all that bad???? I personally am not really willing to take the chance,I want to cling on to the bit of routine and structure I have!
we will get there Kosh.......eventually

 

[kosh]

so casey took her LO to NYC and mrshedgehog went camping....am I the only one who could def NOT do these things? I spend most of my days worried if LO will get overtired and grumpy if he doesn't nap. Sometimes I only leave the house in the afternoon, once he had his two naps, so I know we're 'safe'.
I think I DO have a problem...

Does your LO sleep in the car? My LO sleeps really well in the car so I try to time outings so that she'll sleep on the way there or way back. Otherwise she won't nap when we're out and I just have to try and keep her as calm as possible until it's time to go home and she'll fall straight asleep in the car.

yes he does, but I don't drive so that happens only when/if we go out with my DH. he's working 24/7 and mega-stressed so that hardly happens unfortunately I do think this affects the way I feel re. going out do things with LO as I feel is mostly my responsability

 

[Casey3]

You know what? The trip wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be! I was TERRIFIED to go and almost backed out a few times worrying about where he'd sleep, IF he'd sleep, how the heck we'd handle an 8+ hour car ride ... But OH was going for work and I figured we would eventually have to take a family trip and I really needed a vacation so we just went for it!

We left around 10PM, after LOs big bed time feed and kept him up right after while we did last minute packing.. He instantly fell asleep in the car.. He did his usual wakings, the first one was when we stopped for gas about 3hours out and since he was so awake from the bright lights I took him out to stretch and feed him but the next 2 feedings I just boobed him while we drove in the seat and he instantly fell asleep again. We ended up getting a hotel around 530am 2 hrs away from nyc to get some sleep and after a quick breakfast LO fell asleep instantly with us til about 10am. We waited for nap time and headed out to finish the last couple hours.. He was antsy when he woke up and in city traffic took forever but a quick snack took his mind off of the car seat and we made it and he was fine.

During the day he's an okay napper at home, short and sweet is his method of napping! At home I just lie down and BF him to sleep, only about 30 minutes so I would just do the same at the hotel. If we were out during the afternoon nap I would feed him either in a change room or the ergo as there was wayyyy too much to see and he got crazy distracted! and then he'd nap in the stroller while I walked. We kept the bedtime routine the same but it was just later, he'd have a nap around 6 and then stay up til 9/10/11 depending on what we were doing. If me and OH were out walking late he would just fall asleep in the stroller. We had a lovely king bed so I did end up co-sleeping a bit as the air conditioner blew right on us and I think he was cold and woke up a lot, but if he went to bed at 10 he'd sleep in bed with me after OH left (around 7am) til 10 so he still got a full sleep. We did make sure the hotel had a nice crib though so he started out there and then ended up in bed in the early morning.. he still woke very frequently but having the extra space in the nice king bed made co-sleeping less scary lol. He's getting better at home, our second night home was much better than the first so hopefully he's remembering that he is suppose to sleep in cribs lol

Driving home we left at 1PM (I was so scared to drive in the day!) and just stopped every 2-3 hrs so he had most of his awake time out of the car and napped while we drove.. stopped at an outlet mall, for dinner etc. We played while he was awake and we were driving, I gave him things to play with, the odd snack etc. Took 13hrs instead of 8 lol but it went smooth and wasn't even stressful! He was honestly a perfect little traveler and I am SO glad it went well.

Sorry for the novel, but I just wanted to slow that it is possible! Sometimes you just have to risk it and enjoy the change of scenery.. It was really nice to get away from everything and have some fun.

 

[kosh]

I think I might have thought differently about the trip if I hadn't booked it so far back.......thinking LO would be in a good routine by 7+ months - ha,ha,ha how wrong was I ?!!!! lol
I also didn't want to miss my brothers big day
I too often wonder if my obsession is making matters worse and if I just went with the flow would things be all that bad???? I personally am not really willing to take the chance,I want to cling on to the bit of routine and structure I have!
we will get there Kosh.......eventually

^^ I think this is my problem too

 

[kosh]

your travel sounds great casey, and i agree that sometimes you just have to go for it, still, i really doubt we would have managed.

don't know, maybe it's also age related clairey?

 

[IzzyPeanut]

Hi all, do I fit in to this group??

My 8 month old wakes every 45 mins, even when cosleeping!! It been this way for about 4 weeks now but even before then i never got more than two hours out of her - once she did a four hour stint, the joy!! I do PU PD whenshe wakes until she sleeps until I go to bed myself then she goes in with me and even then she still cries and wakes. She is teething but I'm not sure this is why she is waking - I am at the end of my tether. I can't do CC with her as she will just flip herself over and crawl around the cot screaming - when she is in a real bad mood she has cried on me for around 10 mins before goingto sleep but throne have to hold her next to me! I go to bed most nights around 9:30pm because it takes that long to settle her, I may as well because 45 mins later I'll be back up there! She also does a weird thing with her legs - she'll stick them straight up in the air and press them against me as I shush her... Woe betide if I move as she'll scream! I have to wait until her legs relax and fall,then sneak away with a crick in my back, lol!

 

[oox_tasha_xoo]

Hi ladies Well im learning from my mistakes these past 2 nights.Normally when my daughter wakes with a little cry im straight there giving her back her dummy, these past 2 nights i've sat up (to watch her) and just waited, the little crying lasted 20 seconds max and she rolls over and went back to sleep :O i was shocked! So im thinking maybe by me giving her a dummy back its waking her up and making her want to play! And that maybe shes waking up through habit that mummy will settle her.
Fingers crossed she stays with this whole rolling over and going back to sleep!
Hope we all get a good nights sleep tonight x

 

[kosh]

Hi all, do I fit in to this group??

My 8 month old wakes every 45 mins, even when cosleeping!! It been this way for about 4 weeks now but even before then i never got more than two hours out of her - once she did a four hour stint, the joy!! I do PU PD whenshe wakes until she sleeps until I go to bed myself then she goes in with me and even then she still cries and wakes. She is teething but I'm not sure this is why she is waking - I am at the end of my tether. I can't do CC with her as she will just flip herself over and crawl around the cot screaming - when she is in a real bad mood she has cried on me for around 10 mins before goingto sleep but throne have to hold her next to me! I go to bed most nights around 9:30pm because it takes that long to settle her, I may as well because 45 mins later I'll be back up there! She also does a weird thing with her legs - she'll stick them straight up in the air and press them against me as I shush her... Woe betide if I move as she'll scream! I have to wait until her legs relax and fall,then sneak away with a crick in my back, lol!

i think you do belong here!

 

[AngelUK]

IzzyPeanut most definitely what kosh said! You poor thing! How odd babies are eh? The thing with the legs?! Cute no doubt in a way but your poor back lol. Do you get any help from your OH or are you on your own? How do you live, let alone manage to write coherently with so little sleep? Sending tons of

 

[mj2004]

I 'm joining you ladies also! The last couple of weeks my lo's sleep has gone to hell! He used to sleep from 8 pm til 3 or 4 am eat them back to sleep till 6:30 eats again then back to sleep till 8. Now we have nights (like last night) where he is up fussing every hour! I'm at my wits end with him! It doesn't help that he is teething and he got his first cold, so I now have a bad sleeper on my hands!!!
to all of us with bad sleepers!

 

[chocolala]

Our evening is proving interesting. Been trying for the last 2 hours to get lily to sleep, she's fighting it big time. She refused her afternoon nap after me trying to get her to sleep for 90mins.

She's been awake since 2pm!

We were hoping for an early night.

 

[kosh]

Our evening is proving interesting. Been trying for the last 2 hours to get lily to sleep, she's fighting it big time. She refused her afternoon nap after me trying to get her to sleep for 90mins.

She's been awake since 2pm!

We were hoping for an early night.

oh my.
i hope she gives in soon

have you taken her to the osteopath yet?

 

[kosh]

I 'm joining you ladies also! The last couple of weeks my lo's sleep has gone to hell! He used to sleep from 8 pm til 3 or 4 am eat them back to sleep till 6:30 eats again then back to sleep till 8. Now we have nights (like last night) where he is up fussing every hour! I'm at my wits end with him! It doesn't help that he is teething and he got his first cold, so I now have a bad sleeper on my hands!!!
to all of us with bad sleepers!

and welcome!
i guess it's even worse when you had some good sleep before

 

[Gemmamuk]

After 2 better nights Alex has been a nightmare tonight! Really battled sleep. He went off at 6.45.
Woke at 7, and took half hour to settle, then woke at 8 and took 40 mind to settle. That said, he's now been asleep and hour and 40 mins! Yeyyyy!