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

[Gemmamuk]

Hey ladies!
Sorry I haven't had chance to read all the comments over the last few days - been manic!
I did quickly see firefly and Lisa's reply's. Firefly - I always have a spare vest & sleepsuit or some sort of spare outfit but that morning as I'd got the bag ready I realised a bottle of water had spilt on them, so I put them in the wash and forgot to get more clothes they'd been in there weeks and not been used and the day they get taken out I need them - sods law!!!!

Lisa, I haven't yet although last night I was shattered (hungover lol) and fell asleep in ten mins so hoping I can get into a better routine. I suspect that if I left my iPhone downstairs I'd get to sleep quicker
But I'm always making lists in my head and use it to 'weite' things down to get them off my mind, so it helps in that aspect...


Mixed bag to report sleep wise. He's sleeping better at night but fight him naps (although saying that he's just reached out for a cuddle and crashed out on me ).

Tuesday night he spent the day with his dad while i cleaned the house, he then slept 8-2, 3-6, 7-9 - so pretty well. Although 2 periods of playing in his cot for an hour.
Wednesday He spent the day with his dad again while I spent the day in London to go to the script concert (amaaaaazing - and we met Danny O'Donoghue as we were leaving the pub after ).
We got home at 1, OH had put Alex down to sleep in his cot, and my friend was staying over (she'd come to stay from Wales), so we carried him into our bed. He woke....got very excited, and played, poked us and pulled our hair until 5.30am
OH turned his back and put earplugs in and went to sleep at 2 and left me to deal with him
He then woke at 7.30 after only 2 hours sleep, at which point I made OH. Take him downstairs so I grabbed another 2 hours.

Last night he slept 7-2.30, 3.30-6.30, 7-8.30, so he finally seems to be getting the hang of it although I need to try and iron out the final bits like the waking twice to play for an hour

Hope you all have had a good few days and lots of sleep! I'll try and go back and read all the comments I've missed over the last few days

 

[Lulu1982]

Flippity, firefly. Sorry you had disturbed nights but glad the LOs are picking up a little bit.

Ava is the same with her naps, sometimes she goes down for 90 minutes and others will be up after 20 minutes!

2 good nights led to a pretty bad one for us last night. She went to bed brilliantly but was l at 9,10,12,2, 2.30 and 5 then u at 7 for the day. She I wasnt up with her I was up with our big dog who has a problem wit his back leg and is on tramadol as he was crying all night at being separated from the other two. At 4.30 he seemed like he trapped a nerve and all hell broke loose. As soon as I'd settled him and given him a rub and a hot water bottle Ava woke up!!

Someone please tell me the early pregnancy tiredness will sod off soon!! I can't remember how long it lasts!x

 

[Claireyb1]

Think I'm going to scream LO has just woken from her 2nd nap of............20mins! I can't see her sleeping anymore than another 30mins later on so this will make for one tired baby later!!! God knows what that will mean for tonights sleep

 

[chocolala]

Another rubbish night here. She went to sleep without a fight and I went to bed at 8, but didn't get much sleep until 12:30 as she kept wanting to suck every 20 - 30 mins. But from 12:30 she slept for 4 hour stretch, which was brilliant! From 4:30 til about 6:30 she was on and off sucking again, she then slept til 8, at which point I demanded a lay in!

I think she's got another tooth coming through, hence all the comfort sucking. But I just can't get to sleep when she's on and off like that.

I'm grateful for the 4 hour stretch though.

 

[firefly15]

Think I'm going to scream LO has just woken from her 2nd nap of............20mins! I can't see her sleeping anymore than another 30mins later on so this will make for one tired baby later!!! God knows what that will mean for tonights sleep

I think we're in for more of the same today too, have just conceded defeat with nap 2 and let him have some more playtime as he wasn't even vaguely going to sleep. He's been awake over 3 hours now though so I can't work out why all of a sudden he's fighting his naps again?! Will attempt it again in half an hour but

 

[Claireyb1]

Oh yes, and in addition to the rubbish naps she has barely eaten any solids and is properly kicking off in her highchair!? what's that all about?? does teething make them go off their food? she hasn't exactly had much milk either for that matter
Not the best day

 

[firefly15]

Oh yes, and in addition to the rubbish naps she has barely eaten any solids and is properly kicking off in her highchair!? what's that all about?? does teething make them go off their food? she hasn't exactly had much milk either for that matter
Not the best day

My LO is awful about taking solids when teething or poorly - totally normal I think although very frustrating! If it makes you feel any better LO has just had about 10 small spoonfuls of apple puree...the first food since Saturday A big eater he is not.

 

[MrsHedgehog]

Another rubbish night here. She went to sleep without a fight and I went to bed at 8, but didn't get much sleep until 12:30 as she kept wanting to suck every 20 - 30 mins. But from 12:30 she slept for 4 hour stretch, which was brilliant! From 4:30 til about 6:30 she was on and off sucking again, she then slept til 8, at which point I demanded a lay in!

I think she's got another tooth coming through, hence all the comfort sucking. But I just can't get to sleep when she's on and off like that.

I'm grateful for the 4 hour stretch though.

Our LOs seem to be on the same sleeping schedule! This is exactly like our typical night, sucking regularly in the first part of the night, a longer stretch followed by more regular nursings in the early morning then another longish stretch before getting up for the day. We do have some variations to this but what you described is our most common pattern. It makes no sense. However, the fact that your LO does the exact same makes me think there must be some reason for it. We just have to figure out what it is!

 

[AngelUK]

Things are still going quite well for us, considering. Dominic still wakes 3 or 4 times between his 7pm bed time bottle and ca 11pm and of coruse still wakes at 4 and then at 6. But not so much in between which is great.
We now have the wedges for the twins' beds and the boys seem to be ok with them. But of course, if in some corner of my mind I had hoped that this would result in STTN then I was disappointed lol. No, I didn't really expect it, truly. Only had a vague hope, just like I do every time I buy a ticket for the Euromillions
Tonight we thought we would try to put the boys to sleep in their sleeping bags as opposed to their woombies. But they couldn't settle at all, not even Sebastian who seemed to not know what to do in his cot lol. Usually he turns his little face into the pillow and off he goes. Tonight he was playing with his dummy and looking wide eyed into the camera of the monitor, which has never ceases to fascinate him. Very cute But anyway, we then decided to try to unbutton the arm things of the woombies so that they could have one arm out. This so far works for Sebastian who went to sleep as soon as his woombied body touched the mattress. Dom however tossed and turned and ripped out his dummy and threw it across the cot. He didn't cry and obviously was trying to settle but he somehow couldn't. So I buttoned in his arm again and off he went. What on earth am I going to do when these woombies become too small for them? I really dread the night when I have to put them in sleeping bags.

Hope you all have a good night tonight xx

 

[Gemmamuk]

Where do they nap angel? Could you try getting them to nap in sleeping bags to break them
In gently?

 

[firefly15]

Where do they nap angel? Could you try getting them to nap in sleeping bags to break them
In gently?

This is what we should have done to get LO used to not being swaddled. Next time (if there is a next time!) I will definitely be doing it

 

[kosh]

Things are still going quite well for us, considering. Dominic still wakes 3 or 4 times between his 7pm bed time bottle and ca 11pm and of coruse still wakes at 4 and then at 6. But not so much in between which is great.
We now have the wedges for the twins' beds and the boys seem to be ok with them. But of course, if in some corner of my mind I had hoped that this would result in STTN then I was disappointed lol. No, I didn't really expect it, truly. Only had a vague hope, just like I do every time I buy a ticket for the Euromillions

Hope you all have a good night tonight xx

 

[kosh]

Another rubbish night here. She went to sleep without a fight and I went to bed at 8, but didn't get much sleep until 12:30 as she kept wanting to suck every 20 - 30 mins. But from 12:30 she slept for 4 hour stretch, which was brilliant! From 4:30 til about 6:30 she was on and off sucking again, she then slept til 8, at which point I demanded a lay in!

I think she's got another tooth coming through, hence all the comfort sucking. But I just can't get to sleep when she's on and off like that.

I'm grateful for the 4 hour stretch though.

Our LOs seem to be on the same sleeping schedule! This is exactly like our typical night, sucking regularly in the first part of the night, a longer stretch followed by more regular nursings in the early morning then another longish stretch before getting up for the day. We do have some variations to this but what you described is our most common pattern. It makes no sense. However, the fact that your LO does the exact same makes me think there must be some reason for it. We just have to figure out what it is!

I am sure there must be a reason. my LO used to wake up loads at the beginning and at the end of the night (ie morning) too. Since we're doing the elimination diet he's soooo much better. he still wakes up (and feeds) 3-4 times during the night, but the unexplained 1000s wake ups have stopped.
there must be a reason for yours too.

 

[AngelUK]

Where do they nap angel? Could you try getting them to nap in sleeping bags to break them
In gently?

Mostly they nap as they are in their bouncies but if they are very tired and cranky (that is Dominic again cause Sebastian doesn't get cranky though he does cry on rare occasions when he is overtired) then we put them in their woombies and put them in their cots. Usually we don't even have to rock Dominic for a nap cause as soon as he is in his woombie he is off.

This is what we should have done to get LO used to not being swaddled. Next time (if there is a next time!) I will definitely be doing it

What did you do instead and how did it work out for you?

I am off to bed. It is my night tonight and I am hoping for a stretch of 1 hour and a half before the 00:30 feed. Night night ladies xxx

 

[the why bird]

Hi Ladies, not been on for a bit.

We've had mixed success with sleeping. She no longer has a bottle after the dreamfeed at 11, so that's good. For a while things were going well and she was doing longer stretches. One glorious night she slept until 5.30!

That was about 5 days ago and every night since then has got gradually worse
Now she's only waking twice a night, but is up for an hour at a time. So between staying up late to do the dreamfeed and being up at 6.30 to pump before work, I'm still lucky to get four hours by the time I can nod back off.

I don't get it! We were doing so well!

It's quarter to four now, have been up with her since 2.30. I just don't know how much longer I can cope.

 

[Gemmamuk]

Hi Ladies, not been on for a bit.

We've had mixed success with sleeping. She no longer has a bottle after the dreamfeed at 11, so that's good. For a while things were going well and she was doing longer stretches. One glorious night she slept until 5.30!

That was about 5 days ago and every night since then has got gradually worse
Now she's only waking twice a night, but is up for an hour at a time. So between staying up late to do the dreamfeed and being up at 6.30 to pump before work, I'm still lucky to get four hours by the time I can nod back off.

I don't get it! We were doing so well!

It's quarter to four now, have been up with her since 2.30. I just don't know how much longer I can cope.

My LO is the same - he wakes up at 3 and wants to play for an hour or hour and a half, then again about 6.
Tonight however he woke up later at 4.30 and he's still going now 40 mins although I can hear him getting quieter so don't think it'll be long before he's back asleep. Hoping to skip/delay the usual 6-7 waking as this one was late though.

I try and just leave him in his cot to get on with it in the hope that if he has no stimulation he will get fed up and stop waking twice for an hour a time but it hasn't happened.
That said he doesn't cry or want feeing or cuddles, he just wants to play and chat lol

 

[AngelUK]

The Why bird, I am so sorry it is getting worse again. I wish someone could tell all of us why this is happening and how we could help our LOs.

I knew I shouldn't have posted that things were going better for us. Last night was back to hourly wakings, on average. The longest stretch I got was from 1:25 to 3. The shortest was 25 mins from 00:35 to 1:00 and then to 1:25. And of course we had another nappy leak at 5am. If only I could find a nappy that would work all night!
I am exhausted, especially as the night before my OH kept waking me accidentally when leaving the room by thumping my foot when he passed by the foot of the bed. He then also woke me at 7:45 cause Seb was up and Dom wasn't and he didn't know what to do with himself and Seb Anyway, I really thought we had turned a corner. Sigh.

Gemma do you just leave him in his cot then or do you go and try to resettle him? I suppose the fact that he isn't crying is a bonus? Does he actually resettle himself? That would be my dream! (apart from STTN of course ) I mean Dom usually wakes only half way and really wants to go back to sleep so he cries and then goes into a fit if one of us doesn't come to help him and I am always worried he will wake Sebastian. And vice versa (though Seb doesn't scream, he just whimpers a bit and it usually means nappy leak)

Edit: Gemma I took your advice and settled the boys in their cots for their after their 7am bottle and they are wearing their sleeping bags. They have both dropped off!
I am a silly doting mum but my heart just melted cause they look soooo cute! Dom has his arms outflung either side and Seb is turned to his side with his little chubby arm under his jaw! Wish I could take a pic but it is too dark in there.

 

[firefly15]

Where do they nap angel? Could you try getting them to nap in sleeping bags to break them
In gently?

Mostly they nap as they are in their bouncies but if they are very tired and cranky (that is Dominic again cause Sebastian doesn't get cranky though he does cry on rare occasions when he is overtired) then we put them in their woombies and put them in their cots. Usually we don't even have to rock Dominic for a nap cause as soon as he is in his woombie he is off.

This is what we should have done to get LO used to not being swaddled. Next time (if there is a next time!) I will definitely be doing it

What did you do instead and how did it work out for you?

I am off to bed. It is my night tonight and I am hoping for a stretch of 1 hour and a half before the 00:30 feed. Night night ladies xxx

We ended up going cold turkey as we woke up one morning to discover that he had rolled himself face down in his swaddle I nearly had a heart attack at that point, as did DH, as LO was happily asleep on his front but with both arms still in the swaddle. We tried a cople more nights with it but he kept rolling over as soon as he went to sleep, so it had to be a sleeping bag.

I will just say that cold turkey was hard work for about a week while he got used to the freedom! It didn't help that freeing the boy also coincided with his new atrocious sleep pattern so I spent many nights lamenting how wonderful the swaddle was and how much I missed it!!

 

[AngelUK]

firefly I am scared of the rolling too which is why I am using this belly wrap to keep him in place. And now with the reflux wedges they both need it as they ended up in the bottom of the bed off the wedges at first. Dom doesn't like it much as he cannot lie on his side just as he wants but until he knows how to roll back on to his back really well I will not let him sleep without it.
And what you say about lamenting the loss of swaddle is exactly what I fear too about transitioning them to the sleeping bags I mean I cherish the little sleep I get and wouldn't want to lose that too!

 

[MrsHedgehog]

Aaagh, LO is refusing to nap in her cot! She has always been a good napper which makes the terrible night sleep bearable. I can't cope if she won't sleep at night or during the day! I'm wondering if it's because I left her with MIL the other day while she was asleep. When she woke up I wasn't there and she hasn't slept in her cot since. I didn't think she would remember but maybe she does. I'm going back to work on Tuesday and LO will be with MIL. I' was going to be putting her down for a nap just before leaving for work in the afternoon otherwise she'll not sleep the whole time I'm gone but maybe it's not the right thing to do. What do you think?