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

[lisa1980]

Do you know, I am on the whole not superstitious but when it comes to Dom I always think mentioning anything good about his sleeping will jinx things. So I will not say anything but I am touching wood and crossing my fingers for the rest of the night

If I ever had a good night I would never ever tell anyone. I was so convinced it would hint things (never actually made difference!) Even now I don't like to talk about it. You can also guarantee that if myself or OH comments on a long nap he will wake up 30 seconds later. He KNOWS.

This is so true.

When we have good nights (like we've had in the past week or so) I agonise over whether to post about it as I'm convinced it'll come back to bite me on the @rse. I genuinely debate it in my head in the morning

I always DO post about it in the end because I'm a chatterbox and also because i like the fact that i can be completely honest about how it's all going on here, good or bad. It's hard to do that IRL as everyone's sick of hearing about it

 

[AngelUK]

I couldn't keep quiet about it in the morning either! I would be too elated and too full of hope, foolish woman that I am lol.
Anyway I am off to bed! Good luck ladies and see you in the morning xxx

 

[AngelUK]

I did jinx it. Not half an hour after I had hinted that the evening had gone well, Dom woke. He woke again at 12 but I managed to fob him off with his dummy till 1am for his feed. He then woke again at 2 and then at 4. I gave him some Hipp baby tea and that sent him off for another hour. But at 5 he insisted on being fed. Then he couldn't settle and cried every 15 minutes and when he finally settled at 6, Seb woke at 6:15 with a leak. I changed and fed him and went to bed, cuddled up to my OH for a moment, looked at the monitor and Dom was awake. So I got up and changed him as he was wet too. And while I had him on the mat he pood and peed. Nice start to the day, dontcha all think? Now they are gurgling and cooing on the nursery bed while I write this and have my coffee.
Hope you ladies had a better night xxx

 

[Lulu1982]

Backward steps for us it would seem. She went down brilliantly at 7pm and slept well until 11 (when I was still up making lunches and stew!) It took me and hour and a half to settle her so I then went to bed only for Rob's friend (we are letting him stay with us for a couple of weeks) to come home at 3am. Dogs went mental, ava woke up and even after a bottle, didn't go back to sleep until 4.45 and then chose to get up for the day at 6 ... Yawn!!x

 

[chocolala]

Morning.

Lily finally went to sleep at 10pm, so it took about 3 hours to settle her, not good. She woke her usual 50 million times, but no patches of every 10 mins, which I'm very grateful of! She then woke for the day at 7:30.

We're currently getting ready to go see the osteopath, I so hope it works or at least helps, as I really am at the end of my tether at the moment, I got all stressy last night and ended up having a bit of a cry, I just need her to stop fighting sleep.

Anyway, fingers crossed for today!

 

[kosh]

Morning.

Lily finally went to sleep at 10pm, so it took about 3 hours to settle her, not good. She woke her usual 50 million times, but no patches of every 10 mins, which I'm very grateful of! She then woke for the day at 7:30.

We're currently getting ready to go see the osteopath, I so hope it works or at least helps, as I really am at the end of my tether at the moment, I got all stressy last night and ended up having a bit of a cry, I just need her to stop fighting sleep.

Anyway, fingers crossed for today!

good luck for today!
i really hope it works/helps!

 

[firefly15]

Morning.

Lily finally went to sleep at 10pm, so it took about 3 hours to settle her, not good. She woke her usual 50 million times, but no patches of every 10 mins, which I'm very grateful of! She then woke for the day at 7:30.

We're currently getting ready to go see the osteopath, I so hope it works or at least helps, as I really am at the end of my tether at the moment, I got all stressy last night and ended up having a bit of a cry, I just need her to stop fighting sleep.

Anyway, fingers crossed for today!

good luck for today!
i really hope it works/helps!

Ditto this ^^
I'm taking LO on Wednesday, we've been twice before and not sure if the run of good sleep before the cold struck was due to the osteopath or not!

 

[MrsHedgehog]

sorry to change the subjects,but can I ask ladies - when your LOs wake up say every hour, do they moan? whinge? cry? Mine cries and recently he seems to be in pain/discomfort, I'm starting to think there's something wrong with his tummy.

When LO wakes up she starts shuffling around looking for boob. If I don't latch her on sometimes she'll just wriggle a bit and go back to sleep. Mostly though she'll start to wake up more and moan a bit. If I don't latch her on then she'll wake completely and be awake for 90mins. It's a bit of a balancing act between trying to let her to self settle and not allowing her to wake up completely. If she's in her cot and wakes up early from a nap then she cries. If she's had enough sleep then she'll just call out to let me know that she's awake.

exactly the same here!

You could be right about LO being in discomfort though. I tend to think that if LO is waking every hour then there must be a reason for it even if I don't know what it is. I don't think it's habit because it's not every night and she goes through phases of waking hourly and then goes back to sleeping a bit better. That's one of the reasons why I'm reluctant to let her CIO because what if there is a reason for her waking that I just haven't figured out. She's not gaining much weight at the moment so if she wakes hourly all night wanting to feed I let her feed as I don't want to restrict her calorie intake at all. Saying that, maybe if I didn't allow her to eat so much at night she'd eat her solids better during the day.

I agree re. there must be a reason for hourly wakes.
Also re. the frequent feedings at night, I remember you posted a while ago re. possible supply issues and I mentioned that mine seems to be very 'sensitive' to change. Maybe our LOs are actually keeping our supply up?
I talked to my LC the other day and she seemed to think my LO has swapped day and night feeding-wise, and suggested not to stop (or try to!) the night feedings as my supply might go down.
(I think why bird also has an issue with frequent proper feedings at night?)

How well does everyones LOs eat solids? My LO eats very little and I sometimes wonder if it's linked to her poor sleeping at night.

that was my next question too!
we're doing BLW and although he eats quite a bit it's not a huge amount

anyone else doing BLW - do you see undigested food in their nappies?

---ETA
need to go now, I think i still have a few to reply

I'm convinced LO still needs her night feedings and I'm not prepared to risk reducing my supply by refusing feeds. I plan to feed on demand until she is better at eating solids. We are BLW too and we often have bits of undigested food in her nappies especially sweetcorn!!

LO has had more good nights than bad nights in the past week and we've even been managing to get her into bed a bit earlier and up a bit earlier in the mornings. I think the weather has a lot to do with it as it's really cooled down here. We're still co-sleeping and nursing to sleep but with only 3 or 4 wake ups at the most.

We had vaccinations today though so probably that will screw everything up again!

 

[MrsHedgehog]

Morning.

Lily finally went to sleep at 10pm, so it took about 3 hours to settle her, not good. She woke her usual 50 million times, but no patches of every 10 mins, which I'm very grateful of! She then woke for the day at 7:30.

We're currently getting ready to go see the osteopath, I so hope it works or at least helps, as I really am at the end of my tether at the moment, I got all stressy last night and ended up having a bit of a cry, I just need her to stop fighting sleep.

Anyway, fingers crossed for today!

Fingers crossed it works

 

[Lulu1982]

Morning.

Lily finally went to sleep at 10pm, so it took about 3 hours to settle her, not good. She woke her usual 50 million times, but no patches of every 10 mins, which I'm very grateful of! She then woke for the day at 7:30.

We're currently getting ready to go see the osteopath, I so hope it works or at least helps, as I really am at the end of my tether at the moment, I got all stressy last night and ended up having a bit of a cry, I just need her to stop fighting sleep.

Anyway, fingers crossed for today!

Ava has oteo this morning, it's two weeks since her last appointment (we've been going for 3 months) and she always sleeps better after a visit. I hope it's successful for you!x

 

[Gemmamuk]

Hey ladies! Sorry I've been absent for a while, we've been visiting family in Wales.

Unfortunately after the 6 amazing nights at home before we went - it all went to pot
I guess different routine and different bed threw him - but he's also got a cold and a stinker of a cough, so we are now off to the drs at lunch time

He started off last night in his cot but he woke at midnight and was so unhappy I let him come in bed with me and he was just whimpering and just wanted to boobie feed for comfort bless him.

Hopefully drs will sort him out and we can get back on track!

 

[AngelUK]

Hi Gemma how is your LO? Did the dr give him anything useful? Hope he feels better really soon and you get back on track with sleeping xxx

 

[Gemmamuk]

Hi angel!
No not really - about as useful as a chocolate teapot!!

Said its a viral infection due to teething - although I'm not convinced as I've now got a cold too! She said the congestion isn't settling on his chest and doesn't seem infected but was worried that he had diarreah yesterday and told me not to feed him any milk and give him diaralyte.

He hasn't had diarreah today so I'm not really concerned about that - it was his chest and the fact his coughing was keeping him awake and as a result is very lethargic. And all he wants is to breast feed for comfort, but I'm not meant to let him feed

How's things with you angel??

 

[AngelUK]

Poor little boy that sounds all really misreable. Feeling poorly and being denied his source of comfort! it must suck to be a baby sometimes as you wouldn't understand why things are happening to you. Could you perhaps put some vicks on his feet? I heard somewhere that this is ok after 6 months old? Might make breathing easier. Or possibly an air diffuser for the room with some oils that are ok for babies? Sorry I cannot help much. But I feel for you both!
As for me, Meh! Dom is same old same old with sleep but tonight is OH's night lol

 

[Gemmamuk]

Poor little boy that sounds all really misreable. Feeling poorly and being denied his source of comfort! it must suck to be a baby sometimes as you wouldn't understand why things are happening to you. Could you perhaps put some vicks on his feet? I heard somewhere that this is ok after 6 months old? Might make breathing easier. Or possibly an air diffuser for the room with some oils that are ok for babies? Sorry I cannot help much. But I feel for you both!
As for me, Meh! Dom is same old same old with sleep but tonight is OH's night lol

I've got karvol to rub on his chest, olbas oil on his bedding and just bought a karvol plug in but haven't got anywhere to plug it in yet lol

I just talked to OH and agreed I should BF during the night. I was unsure why she was focusing on diarreah - it really wasn't that bad? I'll see how he is in the morning and decide wether to carry on with the diralyte...
He needs some comfort - he was just really inconsolable going to bed!

Ah bless you! I bet you really look forward to your nights off! I know I would if my oh ever decided to get off his computer desk to help! Lol x

 

[kosh]

sorry to hear your Lo is poorly gemma
i think you're right in BF through the night as that will help him fight whetver bug he's got

 

[kosh]

how did it go chocolala?

 

[Gemmamuk]

Cheers kosh! Hard to know what to do for the best half the time, and not helping that I also have a cold and feel rubbish - brain has turned to mush ha ha!!
How's things with you??

 

[chocolala]

It went well, though she said a few things that were a bit grrr, implying that her bad sleep could have be a habit she has formed. We obviously know that simply is not true and everything we do to get her to sleep is because she physically can't do it for her self. but we're also aware of how difficult it is for parents of 'normal' babies to understand what it's actually like to have a baby like this.

Apart from that, she was very nice and very good with Lily. She did her thing on Lily's head, neck and abdomen, lily really did not like having her head and neck touched, she told us this is due to the tension that she's carrying there. Interestingly enough, she had a lot in the back of her neck, which is to do with the vagus nerve, which apparently is to do with the tongue, where is where Charlotte at milk matters says she has a lot of tension.

She warned us that we might not notice any improvement after the first session, which we didn't expect to be honest. Last night I started getting lily ready for bed just after 7pm, she'd been awake since 12pm as she didn't sleep in the car on the way home and we spent the afternoon with mil. She went to sleep really easily, which she has done for the last few nights, but she didn't wake after 45 mins and then refuse to go back to sleep, she just stirred for more boob. That's how it was all night, no fight at all. Now, I don't know if that was to do with the osteo or that she hadn't slept in so long, but having said that the previous day was much the same with being awake since 12 as my parents had visited. She fought sleep that night.

We'll just have to see how it goes, she still woke millions of times, but she didn't fight! We're seeing her next week for more.

And on a very high note, lily took her first unaided steps yesterday!

 

[Gemmamuk]

Yey that's great chocolala!!