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

[kosh]

cr@p night for us
woke up million times AND stayed awake from 1-2am
offered BF every time he woke as i could not cope otherwise, boobs were red raw this morning
i blame the imminent crawling

hope your nights were better!


question for those with LOs similar age to mine (8 1/2) -what's their awake time now? used to be 3 hr for us, but i think it's changing?

 

[Claireyb1]

Well, our night would have been pretty good had it not been for the fact that I was woken up at 2am ish and then again at 3am ish, not because Lucy was awake but because the idiots that live in the flat upsatirs had an almighty row which was going on and on,so much so that DF called the police in the end utter idiots!!!!!
Thankfully it didn't wake Lucy, just me and DF!
So we had a couple of wakings from 8.30-2am (I think) and then she slept from then until she got up for the day at 6.45am....so for her it was good
I doubt it will be the same tonight? and we are supposed to have friends coming over she will probably show me up and make me look like a crap mother

Kosh, seeing as out LO's are almost the same age I think I can comment for you.
We kind of go on a 3hr awake time at the mo,sometimes it's less and she also stay awake for a lot longer. The problem for us is the length of naps are never quite long enough so we have to squeeze in 3 or 4 short naps,which can be quite tricky working on a 3hr gap I wonder if she will ever lengthen the 2nd nap so we only need 2 naps????

 

[kosh]

thanks claire
so, are you still (?) on 3 naps a day? how long are they? we are on 2 naps a day but if we go out, it's only one unless he's extremely tired

how is your mum?

 

[flippityflop]

Our awake times vary so much. Generally 2 hrs from first wake up to first nap, then 3 hrs and then (in an ideal world) 4 hrs. So our day should go:

Wake at 7
Nap at 9
Wake at 10
Nap at 1
Wake at 3
Bed at 7

Does it happen? Never! Generally he doesn't sleep for 2 hrs at lunch so can be up for 5 hrs between lynch and bed and there isn't time for a nap that wouldnt affect his bedtime!

 

[kosh]

question for those of you with dogs - does the dog wake up your LO and/or interfere with their sleeping?

I never had a dog in my life, I'm a cat person, but DH really wants a dog (long story) and I keep putting it off as I don't know how I'll cope and how much will affect LO's sleep.

could you please help? am i being unreasonable?

---
sorry flipitty for bringing this up

 

[lisa1980]

Right ladies, new plan (plan # 3 million and one ).

I'm capping naps. Gasp.

I know the old 'sleep begets sleep' rubbish but it's NEVER been true for my LO. Believe me, I really tried to follow it. I made myself crazy trying to get him to nap in the belief it would help, and since he dropped to two naps at 7 months ish he has napped well...at least 3 hrs a day which has been fabulous for having a bit of time to myself and getting to drink a hot beverage whilst it's still hot, but is totally not worth being up all night for if that's what it's doing.

After a series of horrendous nights where he wanted to play for 3 hrs in the motn, yesterday i accidentally capped his morning nap to 45 mins (I dropped a power drill on my foot and swore loudly several times outside his nursery which woke him up). He slept for an hour in the afternoon before I woke him to stop it encroaching on bedtime, so MUCH less sleep overall than normal.

Anyway, last night was AMAZING. He slept until 4am (4AM!!) when he woke for a sip of water and cuddle before going back down in his cot (IN HIS COT!!) until 7.15am. Gobsmacked doesn't even cover it.

I've no idea whether it was the lack of day sleep or just a random event (probably random let's face it) but it's enough to make me try at least. Maybe he just doesn't need that much sleep??

Please please please let this work.

Kosh - at 8.5 months he could go for approx 2.5-3hrs in the am then 3 hrs then 4hrs before bed. I've now no idea whether this is actually too much and he'd have been better with more awake time.

Sleepy dust everyone. xx

ETA - no dogs sorry. I love them but i can only just about cope with catering to the every whim of one small creature atm

 

[Claireyb1]

thanks claire
so, are you still (?) on 3 naps a day? how long are they? we are on 2 naps a day but if we go out, it's only one unless he's extremely tired

how is your mum?

Hi Kosh, yes we are pretty much on 3 naps still, but things are all over the place at the moment with my mum being ill etc.
Her naps are generally anywhere from 30 - 40/45 mins long. occasionally we get nearly an hour and sometimes only 20 mins
Who knew sleep would be a subject for so much discussion?? I've never talk/obsessed about it sooooo much in my life!!

 

[kosh]

lisa - I'll be really interested to know the results of your plan 3 million and one!
how are you going to cap them?

 

[Claireyb1]

Wow Lisa, that sounds great! let's hope its the start of something. I just don't know with naps anymore?

Kosh - we don't have dogs at home but my Mum has 2 and I spend a lot of time there. I would say that when/if they bark it can wake LO up,but it depends when it is etc. and also where LO is in relation to the dogs ie. in the next room or upstairs (closer the bark the more likely she will wake) Not sure what it would be like on a daily basis etc so I think you would need to ask someone who does live with a dog/s

 

[lisa1980]

lisa - I'll be really interested to know the results of your plan 3 million and one!
how are you going to cap them?[/QUOTE]

I'm planning on crashing around outside the nursery so he wakes up a bit rather than just going straight in and waking him...that's a bit too mean, even if it gets me a night's sleep

Usually he's pretty sensitive to noise (hence a fan on AND white noise in his room) so hopefully that should do it.

It's a tricky plan really as I risk making no difference (or making it worse...can't even contemplate that) AND forfeiting my relaxing time in the day, but I think it's worth a shot and I need to stick to it for at least a week really to see if it helps. I've tried practically everything else. I would totally just do the CC again, but because he's been poorly I'm scared to. Plus when he wakes he's not really crying much, just shouting and crashing about like a loon in his cot which i can't sleep through anyway

Claire - I hope your mum is doing well and things are a bit more settled for you now

Kosh - I hope tonight is a vast improvement on last night

 

[flippityflop]

Kosh, its very rare that the dogs wake LO. We have 2 and Lucy (the rescue we can no longer keep) is much noisier - she barks at helicopters which we seem to get a lot of! (Probably all police helicopters after local crims). She barks at everything so would be the culprit. However, we had them before LO was born so he came into the house with that noise, so it wasn't something he had to get used to, it was just his environment.

It will totally depend on the dog, some just don't bark very much (like our other one).

 

[chistiana]

Lisa-yaaayy for such a good night! I really hope your plan works. For my son it s the other way round...if he doesnt nap during the day he get way tooo excited and cant sleep at night. But i think it s up to the child and it sound the plan agrees with your bub!

Kosh- we ve had our dog before i had my first so i think they re both kind of used to his barking...if they re asleep in the living room and he goes on a barking fit they both wake/woke up, if they re in their room they re not bothered at all. So it really depends...where does your lo nap?

 

[chocolala]

Kosh - our dog on the whole doesn't wake lily that often, she's used to the noise as poppy - the dog - has always been around.

Lily loves having her doggy friend, though poppy doesn't really enjoy the occasional bashing in the head with wooden drum sticks good job she's a softy

 

[kosh]

thanks all for your replies!
I can imagine that they may not wake up if the barking and/or dog noises (?) has always been there, but what do you think it might happen if a dog arrives now?

 

[lisa1980]

Right, so, to update on my new plan...

Sat night was a disaster with LO up every hour minimum and OH and I arguing over who was the most tired (I know, I know, you'd have thought we'd have stopped that AGES ago ).

I'm putting this down to teeth (as usual) plus the fact that we were out visiting relatives all day and he didn't have any real afternoon nap and got ridiculously overtired and overstimulated. I do want to cap his naps, but not THAT much.

So yesterday I made sure he had an hour in the morning and then an hour in the afternoon (so 2hrs rather than 3 overall. I'm going to cut it a bit more if it helps but I'm going slowly just in case). He went to sleep without fuss at 8.15pm and then didn't wake until 12.45am for some water and a cuddle, then back in his cot until he woke at 6.45am!!!!!

ONE WAKE UP!!!!

I'm aiming for the same naps today to see if it continues. I'm too scared to go to his baby groups cos I don't want him to sleep in the car or miss a nap and mess it up, so it looks like we're going to be hermits for a little while until I can assess it properly.

I hope everyone's nights were good

 

[Storm1jet2]

Hey Kosh - My dog does wake L, but that is my fault cause I let her nap in the pram and the dog always barks if anyone walks or drives past the house. I have to say though that L loves the dog - she is at the patting the dog on the back stage.

I'm not so sure I would get a dog at this stage though, a dogs a big commitment in itself - what kind of dog are you thinking of and what age?

Its a really blurry photo but this is usually what happens, L crawls all over the dog and the dog pretends its not happening!

https://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k614/storm1jet2/cara2.jpg

 

[Claireyb1]

Our night was okish and I think I managed a few blocks of 3 hours (not sure?)
I just feel sooo run down.
Sadly my Mum was taken back into hospital on Sat night with a very high temperature. It turns out she has a chest infection and an infection at the site of the operation she is very poorly and may need another op to drain the infection. I just feel so sick with worry and feel I am being pulled in 2 with looking after Lucy and looking after my Mum.
I hope Lucy behaves tonight and gives me some sleep as I just can't function like this anymore.

Lisa, your night sounded amazing!!! hope it lasts for you.

 

[Storm1jet2]

Our night was okish and I think I managed a few blocks of 3 hours (not sure?)
I just feel sooo run down.
Sadly my Mum was taken back into hospital on Sat night with a very high temperature. It turns out she has a chest infection and an infection at the site of the operation she is very poorly and may need another op to drain the infection. I just feel so sick with worry and feel I am being pulled in 2 with looking after Lucy and looking after my Mum.
I hope Lucy behaves tonight and gives me some sleep as I just can't function like this anymore.

Lisa, your night sounded amazing!!! hope it lasts for you.

Aww no - that's not nice - hopefully they can get the infections sorted quickly and your mum will be back to normal - poor you

 

[Claireyb1]

I love the picture Storm!! my Lucy is also going through that stage with my mums dogs,she squeals with delight when she sees them and I joke that we should saddle them up for her to ride on! lol (they are greyhounds)

 

[lisa1980]

Oh Claire, I'm so sorry about your mum!

Hopefully they can get on top of it quickly and she'll be home again soon