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

[nicb26]

When did you start cc? I decided to start lastnight. It took a lot of check ins and an hour but both girls went to sleep on their own. Tonight it took less than half the time!
Now my problem is having to rush to them in the night in fear that one crying will startle the other awake... so I will probably continue to nurse in the night... I just don't want to do sleep training and screw it up by nursing in the night.
Good luck to you!

I did a bit of it last week but ruined it as I kept giving in. Then we were away for two nights, so she was getting nursed whenever for those nights, and was up every 1.5 hours nursing last night. So this week I'm trying to be strong! She had a feed at 10-45pm, and have decided now not to feed until 5am. With the hope of eventually going to one or no night feeds. Because of all the night feeding she's not been taking her solids and isn't gaining weight properly. So I have been advised to cut night feeds so that she will eat properly in the day.

It must be so hard with twins! Good to hear they settled more quickly tonight for you! I don't know if nursing in the night will screw it up or not. If they aren't waking too much in the night and you don't mind then just continue.

 

[Claireyb1]

How ere all your nights ladies?
Mine was pretty rubbish and I feel knackered! she didn't go down until 8pm(normaly 7pm) due to an unavoidable late nap
she slept until 10pm ish and then seemed to wake every 1hr thereafter
up for the day at 5.45am. on top of this I have to pack for a trip to Poland today and get ready to leave the house for about 6am tomorrow morning.
I'm dreading it all to be honest - taking a flight,strange house and bed to sleep in! I just don't know how she will sleep while we are away and if she doesn't I'm going to be even more tired than I normaly would be at home.Also I'm dreading the "helpful" comments from the other members of family and friends who will be with us. Especialy the "it won't hurt to keep her up a bit later" comment........yeah right, you're not the one who has to get up round the clock with her!
Give me strength,please

 

[Gemmamuk]

Had a really good night thank god - which was especially needed, as I'm driving 150 miles to dads in Wales this afternoon! He went down last night at about 8pm about 3/4 asleep and went straight off without a murmur.
He woke at 3.45 and had a ten min boobie feed and I put him back down awake and he went straight off to sleep.
I was just woken now at 8.45 to the sound of him babbling to himself and playing in his cot!!!

I know a lot are against cc, and I wasn't particularly fond of it. However I was desperate ANC reached the end of my tether after over 7 months of 2-3 hours sleep made up of 15 mins here and there. We've just had the 6th night but had an amazing improvement from night 1. He is barely crying now, and wakes once in 12-13 hours!! Amazing!!

 

[kosh]

How ere all your nights ladies?
Mine was pretty rubbish and I feel knackered! she didn't go down until 8pm(normaly 7pm) due to an unavoidable late nap
she slept until 10pm ish and then seemed to wake every 1hr thereafter
up for the day at 5.45am. on top of this I have to pack for a trip to Poland today and get ready to leave the house for about 6am tomorrow morning.
I'm dreading it all to be honest - taking a flight,strange house and bed to sleep in! I just don't know how she will sleep while we are away and if she doesn't I'm going to be even more tired than I normaly would be at home.Also I'm dreading the "helpful" comments from the other members of family and friends who will be with us. Especialy the "it won't hurt to keep her up a bit later" comment........yeah right, you're not the one who has to get up round the clock with her!
Give me strength,please

oh claire!!
you know how I feel about going on a trip with my LO, so there's not much I can say really. I really really hope it will not be as bad/difficult as you (and me!) expect it! are you going on your own?? how many days are you going for? will be thinking of you!!! be strong

 

[Lulu1982]

A good night here in the scale of things!

Went down easily but it was 6.30... Super early! Up at 12.30pm because she'd done a huge poo ... Lucky me.

Gave her some water, this made her do another poo, shoved her in her cot while I killed an ugly, hairy great sider, she then decided to practice crawling so I straight jacketed her into her sleeping bag and gave her a cuddle while she attempted to,peel the skin off my neck which was nice. Put her back down, she practised her demented baby eagle impression, the. Realised she could see the window if she did a sit up so did that a few times, then she talked to herself for half an hour while I sat upside her room on the landing freezing cold.

Talking escalated into crying at 2am and it then took a further 45 minutes for her to get to sleep while i tried t balance CC with not waking her dad up! Up for the day at 7am.

So there ... Not exactly feeling chipper today! I do get to pick up my engagement ring though!x

 

[firefly15]

Total crap for us last night, with LO waking up every 15 to 20 minutes until 12.30. Aaaaarrrrrgggghhhh. He did then manage to sleep til 4 but then wouldn't settle without being held and rocked so feeling like a zombie today. I really hope he shifts this cold quickly as the poor little man keeps coughing himself awake. He's only managed a 30 min nap this morning so I think the afternoon might be a bit grumpy!

 

[lisa1980]

Rubbish night for us too unfortunately.

Went to sleep at 8.30pm with bottle and no fuss. Woke at 9pm and wanted to play. When it turned out it wasn't time to play he started whinging, then crying as I rocked, held, BF, sang etc etc etc for about an hour until he finally went down.

Then woke at 12, 1.50am, 3.30am (fed) then 4.30am for an hour of chatting/crying and fighting sleep, then up at 7.15am

Plus he's just been woken from his nap after only 20mins by delivery men outside and WON'T go back down despite everything I've tried He's complaining because he's tired though. No logic.

I've got a friend coming for lunch today and I couldn't feel less like it if I tried

I've decided this morning that we're going to try CC at the weekend when OH is around. I don't want to and I hate the idea of it but I'm at the end of my tether with it now and my previous plans obviously haven't worked, and other than just waiting until he learns to sleep himself (which could be a long time away, if ever) I've no ideas left. TBH he's crying for ages anyway with us holding him which sucks. The success that ladies on this thread have had has inspired me to try it - I feel so frustrated by it all that I might actually stick to it out of desperation.

Lulu, Gemma - congrats on better nights. Long may it continue.

Claire - I hope your trip is less stressful than you think and you manage to enjoy it

Nic and Ellebell, good luck with the CC - please update us with how it goes

Chocolala -hope the night panned out better than expected

Kosh and everyone else, hope you had better nights

 

[nicb26]

Well she finally went back down at 4am after an hr and a half of on/off crying. I had decided that I would feed her at 5 if she wanted (as last feed around 11, and I think I can expect her to go 6 hours at 8 months old). Anyways that was her asleep until 7.15, so pretty good she even took more of her morning feed and breakfast than usual yay!

Let's hope we get the same tonight minus the being up for 2 hours in the middle of the night!

Good luck girls hope you all get a good night tonight

 

[chocolala]

Lily kept waking every 20-30 mins until going on 1am, she woke god knows how many times, I've no idea I just rolled over stuck a boob in her mouth and went back to sleep. She started the day at 7am. I'm tired, she's tired, the husband is tired. On the plus side, the dogs bottom held out over night, so we didn't have to get up for her!

These late nights, early mornings and frequent wakings are starting to grate a bit now, I feel rather rough.

Some good news though, the husband has now finished his course work, which has taken up the whole summer, so we're going out to lunch to celebrate

Ooo, another big thing, lily can now do the baby sign for milk, so when ever she flaps her little hand at me I know she wants boob! So sweet.

Hugs to all those that had rough nights hopefully tonight will be better.

 

[firefly15]

Glad to read there were a few good nights last night! to all those with rubbish nights and chocolala, sorry to laugh, but the comment about the dog's bottom made me giggle!! Hopefully that's all sorted out and back to normal as the last thing you need is a poorly dog and a non sleeping LO. Hope the lunch was lovely and also yay for signing for milk - so cute!

Need to have a moment.... LO has napped 30 minutes since 7.30 this morning. I have just given up after over an hour of trying to get him to sleep and insane crying, thrashing and general temper tantrum No idea what to do now, as if he naps this late then he won't go to bed, but don't want him awake for 7 hours between nap and bedtime. FML, just when I thought naps at least were getting a bit better they go back to seriously bad. Throw in a total refusal to eat breakfast, a massive paddy at lunch as all he wanted to eat were organix carrot puff things and I'm about to eat my own head today.

 

[Boo44]

Stupid question but how do you actually do CC? My LO is far too little at the moment but I'm intrigued so that I actually know what CC involves when I read these threads!

Big hugs to all with crappy nights (and day naps!) this parenting lark is soooo not easy x

 

[Gemmamuk]

Stupid question but how do you actually do CC? My LO is far too little at the moment but I'm intrigued so that I actually know what CC involves when I read these threads!

Big hugs to all with crappy nights (and day naps!) this parenting lark is soooo not easy x

Personally I do dinner, bath and bottle or boob. He usually tends to get sleepy while feeding, but not always. I put him in his cot and get him into his fave sleeping position on his side and put his dummy in and his him and say night night love you, and leave the room.
I then go in to him in 5, then 10, then extend to 15 min intervals. When I go in I put him back into sleeping position, put dummy back in and kiss him, but don't speak.

He's only cried 3 times out of the last 3 nights - twice he cried for an hour, once for 25 mins.

If he wakes in the night, I just do the same unless he seems particularly hungry (I try to set myself a 'rule' not to feed him before 5am).

After 6 nights he's now sleeping 8pm-8.30am with one wake up for a feed about 5am. ENORMOUS improvement on waking every 20 mins!! He is also doing much better taking naps and is such a happier baby!!

 

[MrsHedgehog]

So after 3 great nights we had another rubbish one of waking every hour. I need to work out what we do different on the days she sleeps better but I just can't figure it out.

 

[lisa1980]

Mrs Hedgehog - I WISH I could work out what is different on the days LO sleeps better. I've been trying for months to figure it out but I just can't see any pattern at all. I suppose there are just an infinite number of minute variables which you just can't control for.

Oddly, I've totally cracked the daytime. I have worked out how much awake time he needs before each nap to be able to put him down without fuss, and can pretty reliably predict his nap times and length now (which is a huge improvement and a massive bonus). It just all goes to pot as soon as evening comes and I cannot work out why for the life of me

He's definitely an enigma.

 

[AngelUK]

Do you ladies get a lil depressed as evening approaches? It is my night tonight and I am not looking forward to the evening battles of keeping Dom asleep. He still wakes every 20 to 30 minutes from 7:30 till about 10. OH helps of course but knowing that I won't be able to just go to bed at 10 and know how much I can sleep (though usually I do wake with OH for the midnight feed) is getting to me. OH said that both boys slept between feeds last night and that he thinks Dom only woke around 4 (30 minutes early) cause he was wet. Sigh, that is another thing. We use Asda's Little Angel number 4s and they are really good but they do not last 12 hours it seems. I am going to try pampers active fit tonight. Anyone have experience with those for nights? xxx

 

[Jellysecret]

We use Asda's Little Angel number 4s and they are really good but they do not last 12 hours it seems. I am going to try pampers active fit tonight. Anyone have experience with those for nights? xxx

I too use the Asda nappies but have found they just do not last over night. I use the pampers baby dry instead which I have had no problems with.

I also have a rubbish sleeper, there is just no patten to it at all I keep trying to work out what I do differently when we have a good night and just when I think ive worked it out everything changes yet again.

I am lucky in a way that she goes down so easily, by herself and no crying and I get the evening but come 12am she can be awake for hours and is often then awake for the day anywhere between 430-6am

I'm still breastfeeding and the only advice I get is to put her on the bottle like its some miracle cure to her sleeping, I must admit sometimes I am tempted to try but if im honest I dont think she wakes hungry so I dont see how it would help.

Maybe I spoke too soon, she has just woken *sighs*

 

[AngelUK]

I'm still breastfeeding and the only advice I get is to put her on the bottle like its some miracle cure to her sleeping, I must admit sometimes I am tempted to try but if im honest I dont think she wakes hungry so I dont see how it would help.

Unless MAYBE Hungry Baby milk would help I do not see how formula would make a difference to your LO. My boys are FF and Dominic gets Hungry Baby, Sebastian is on the normal First Milk. Dominic by advice of the GP is now getting a solid meal along side his bed time bottle and he still doesn't sleep through. Sebastian would sleep through if I let him. (Last night OH let him sleep after his midnight bottle and Seb only woke at 7:30 and OH thinks that was cause he was wet.) So seriously I doubt that formula feeding will make that miracle difference. But I do know that for some babies Hungry Baby Milk does help. So what I am trying to say is that it seems to me that milk or formula has little to do with it most of the time and it is just a character thing

 

[Boo44]

Stupid question but how do you actually do CC? My LO is far too little at the moment but I'm intrigued so that I actually know what CC involves when I read these threads!

Big hugs to all with crappy nights (and day naps!) this parenting lark is soooo not easy x

Personally I do dinner, bath and bottle or boob. He usually tends to get sleepy while feeding, but not always. I put him in his cot and get him into his fave sleeping position on his side and put his dummy in and his him and say night night love you, and leave the room.
I then go in to him in 5, then 10, then extend to 15 min intervals. When I go in I put him back into sleeping position, put dummy back in and kiss him, but don't speak.

He's only cried 3 times out of the last 3 nights - twice he cried for an hour, once for 25 mins.

If he wakes in the night, I just do the same unless he seems particularly hungry (I try to set myself a 'rule' not to feed him before 5am).

After 6 nights he's now sleeping 8pm-8.30am with one wake up for a feed about 5am. ENORMOUS improvement on waking every 20 mins!! He is also doing much better taking naps and is such a happier baby!!

My SIL did it with her now 2 year old when he was a few months old and it worked like a dream for her too! I'm just worried that if I ever need todo it I won't be able to listen to him crying for 1hr! I'm terrible for cuddling him if he cries lol! X

 

[firefly15]

Do you ladies get a lil depressed as evening approaches? It is my night tonight and I am not looking forward to the evening battles of keeping Dom asleep. He still wakes every 20 to 30 minutes from 7:30 till about 10. OH helps of course but knowing that I won't be able to just go to bed at 10 and know how much I can sleep (though usually I do wake with OH for the midnight feed) is getting to me. OH said that both boys slept between feeds last night and that he thinks Dom only woke around 4 (30 minutes early) cause he was wet. Sigh, that is another thing. We use Asda's Little Angel number 4s and they are really good but they do not last 12 hours it seems. I am going to try pampers active fit tonight. Anyone have experience with those for nights? xxx

We use pampers baby dry for nights and they easily make it 12 hours without changing and we haven't had a leak in longer than I can remember!

Just curious - and sorry if you've said somewhere earlier in the thread, but have you tried putting Sebastian to bed at normal time and keeping Dominic up and giving him a later bedtime? I was talking to one of the mums at my baby sensory class today and she has twins. She said the only way she stayed sane with bedtimes in the end was just to give up putting them both to bed at the same time as one was quite happy with a 7pm bedtime and the other couldn't settle til after 9pm. She said she had no evening at all until they were about 5.5/6ish months but it meant she at least didn't have to deal with constant wake ups from one of them and the other was less disturbed. Just thought it was really interesting to hear from someone who seems to have had a similar experience to you.

ETA - yep, I do get down in the dumps as evening approaches. I think never knowing what you're in for is quite difficult.

 

[havingmyfirst]

Our baby boy doesn't sleep much full stop. Health visitor today told me that he probably wont sleep at all in the day and seems to only need 6-8 hours full stop, which is apparently because I don't need much sleep... that doesn't mean to say I'm not exhausted being a new mummy.

Added to him not wanting/needing sleep he wont lay down flat. He likes his chair/bouncer but when we lay him flat he wakes after 20 mins max. Apparently he has baby reflux.

I just long for a night where my husband and I don't have to take shifts and we can get 4 hours together to sleep in bed.