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

[AngelUK]

Oh Claire I am so sorry she is again poorly! But hopefully this thing is not so serious and she can come home again soon! Crossing my fingers for your sleep and sending

lisa that sounds blissful! Hope it will continue like that from now on! You must feel so refreshed, or did you not get any sleep worrying? I do that

Storm how utterly cute that pic is ! She is a sweetie! And the dog is cute too! Makes me miss having pets :/

Last night was OH's night and it went well he said. We fed the boys at 11.30 and Dom only woke again at 4am. OH actually woke at 3:30 cause subconsciously he was getting worried at getting that much sleep in a stretch lol. He fed both boys at 4 and though Dom then slept till 7:15, Seb woke several times after 4. I told him he shouldn't have woken him at 4 to feed him if he didn't want any, especially as that usually means that he wil refuse his breakfast bottle at 7:30. But I know from experience that Seb often wakes after 4 no matter if he was fed or not. So yeah, it is not up to us lol I am willing to put up with that as long as I get a goodish stretch before 4 I guess. So yes things are getting better.

 

[firefly15]

Oh Claire, so sorry to hear your mum is poorly again hopefully she'll get over it fairly quickly and can come home properly.

Lisa, yay for better nights! One wake up is AMAZING

We're having shite, shite nights here. LO has ANOTHER cold...his nose started getting stuffy yesterday and he started coughing and today he is just streaming constantly. Aaaarrrggghhhh. Last night he was up constantly until around 5am and then thankfully settled and slept til 8.15 so at least we managed some sleep in the end. No idea what the cause of the previous crappy nights was, as usual I can't work it out at all. Could be naps, could be food, could be gas, teeth, learning new things. Who knows

The good news is that we took him for his heart scan today and everything is fine he has a tiny hole that hasn't closed yet but it's less than 1/2mm so nothing at all to worry about. I am so relieved to have that out the way and not need to worry any more. They gave us another appointment in a years time just to double check everything and then hopefully that will be it.

We also officially have a walker! He started taking a few steps a couple of weeks ago but he has now really go the hang of it and is toddling around all over the place

 

[Claireyb1]

Firefly,sorry that your lo is poorly and you're having crap nights. it really does suck this lack of sleep thing!!
Great news about the heart scan though, you must be sooo relieved!!

I hope we all have half decent nights. I really feel knackered tonight,not sure why? (appart from the nightly wakings etc lol) I think it's stress
fingers crossed I get some sleep.
sleepy dust to all us poor mummys.

 

[kosh]

claire - so sorry your mum is poorly again!

firefly - great news re. LO's heart! and yay for a walker!

lisa - one wake up?? it seems your capping nights is working!

angel -glad things are getting better

chocolala- are you ok?

we had 2x 4hr stretches yesterday but today he woke up 3 times in 4hr. wtf??

eta ---
storm -love the picture!
tbh, it's my DH who wants the dog...it's a long story. but i am not convinced really.

 

[AngelUK]

Tired and up already. Ok night from Dominic, not so good from Sebastian. Put them to bed at 7:30 ish and Dom slept till 11:15 with needing replugging only in the earlier part of that. Fed him and Seb and went back to bed. I needed the loo at 2:30 dang it! Dom needed feeding again at 3:30. At 4 Seb started crying softly so I went in and gave him his dummy but thought maybe I better feed him too as he missed his bedtime bottle due to being too tired. After that he wouldn't settle till 5:30 cause he was trying to scratch his ears cause of the eczema poor little boy so I put cream behind his ears and listened on the monitor till he fell asleep again. And now Dom decided to start the day at 6:40 and I know there is no way to get him back to sleep when he is laughing and chatting to himself in his bed in the morning. Am drinking my coffee while waiting for his bottle to warm. Mummy is so tired!
Hope your nights went better. xxx

 

[lisa1980]

Angel - for the bad night. I HATE having to pee in the night now as it eats into precious sleeping time. I seriously get the rage about it

Firefly - for the heart scan. Boo for the bad nights. What is up with the germs atm?! It seems all of our LOs are having one thing after another.

Kosh - yay for the 4hr stretches. Who knows why it's so random? Re the dog - i LOVE dogs and badgered OH for ages to get one before we had LO. Now that LO is here though...I'm not so sure. I still love dogs and want one eventually but I'm not sure I can take any more responsibility (or clean up any more poo) atm. I feel tired just thinking about it

Storm - LOVE that photo. Too cute

Claire - how is your mum?

Chocolala and Mrs Hedgehog - hope all is well.

The new, sparkly, shiny plan is going SO well so far. I hate to type this as we all know that it's going to go t!ts up now, but last night he went down at 7.30pm woke twice at 8.30 and 10pm due to teeth (I gave him calpol at 10pm as he was trying to gnaw his own hand off), but then slept from 10.15pm to 5.40am!!! What is that about?! Unfortunately I was woken up by the twins next door crying at 3am but at least this time it wasn't MY baby doing the waking .

He then went back to sleep after a bit of water and a cuddle until 7.30am. I can't believe it. I am praying that it's not just random and that he really was having too much day sleep for his needs. If that's the case then I'm going to kick myself for continuing to secretly believe the 'sleep begets sleep' thing and persisting with trying to get him to nap for as long as possible even though it clearly wasn't helping. I know it does work for some, but I should have realised that my LO seems to do the opposite of what the books say

You can bet your life that tonight he'll wake hourly because I've had the audacity to hope he's getting better I should know BETTER!!

 

[Noelle610]

I'm not sure where exactly to post this, but think you ladies will sympathize. I think my LO was literally up all night yesterday evening. I have no idea why, she was just thrashing about even when she wasn't fussing. I probably got 2 hours of broken sleep and now I'm at work doing a 10 hour day.

If I see one more post in Baby Club with complaints about a baby waking once or sleeping through the night and waking early, I may shoot myself. UGH!!!!! Thanks for letting me vent. I'd kill for one of those "bad nights" right about now...

 

[firefly15]

I'm not sure where exactly to post this, but think you ladies will sympathize. I think my LO was literally up all night yesterday evening. I have no idea why, she was just thrashing about even when she wasn't fussing. I probably got 2 hours of broken sleep and now I'm at work doing a 10 hour day.

If I see one more post in Baby Club with complaints about a baby waking once or sleeping through the night and waking early, I may shoot myself. UGH!!!!! Thanks for letting me vent. I'd kill for one of those "bad nights" right about now...

Yep, we will all agree with this!! Sorry you had such a bad night, I can't imagine how hard work is after that. Is that sort of night happening more frequently for you recently?

 

[Noelle610]

I'm not sure where exactly to post this, but think you ladies will sympathize. I think my LO was literally up all night yesterday evening. I have no idea why, she was just thrashing about even when she wasn't fussing. I probably got 2 hours of broken sleep and now I'm at work doing a 10 hour day.

If I see one more post in Baby Club with complaints about a baby waking once or sleeping through the night and waking early, I may shoot myself. UGH!!!!! Thanks for letting me vent. I'd kill for one of those "bad nights" right about now...

Yep, we will all agree with this!! Sorry you had such a bad night, I can't imagine how hard work is after that. Is that sort of night happening more frequently for you recently?

Glad to hear I'm not alone!

I though things were improving... we'd be going through the 4 month sleep regression for the past 6 weeks, but the past few days have been awful. It's just so frustrating when you can't figure out what you're doing "wrong". She naps fine and self-settles at bedtime, but still wakes often!

 

[AngelUK]

Noelle she is adorable! Love your avvie
And you are so not alone! Dominic is only now coming out of the 4 month sleep regression and is giving us 3 to 4 hour stretches at night. He started round 3 month and a half like yours but this doesn't mean your LO will be as bad as my Dom. Hope it is getting better soon!

 

[Noelle610]

Noelle she is adorable! Love your avvie
And you are so not alone! Dominic is only now coming out of the 4 month sleep regression and is giving us 3 to 4 hour stretches at night. He started round 3 month and a half like yours but this doesn't mean your LO will be as bad as my Dom. Hope it is getting better soon!

Thank you, Angel! Here's hoping we see improvement soon... I'm just trying to survive being tired right now, one day at a time!

 

[chistiana]

Hi ladies..wow this thread moves fast!!i guess it s the sleepless nights!!

Claire-sorry to hear about your mum, how is she doing today?

Lisa-wooowwww i am so utterly gealous of your night...i just want one of those now, even just the one!

Storm-gorgeous pic!

Kosh-i am a huge dog lover but i wouldnt get a new dog at the moment if something happened to my bruno god forbit. It s a huge responsibility. On the other hand i do want my kids to grow up with dogs, it teaches them a sense of responsibility and a love for animals!

Our nights are rubbish at the moment...last night she went down at 9 up at 1 then again at 3 and stayed up grunting and winpering all night after that.she was so tired this morning she slept from 12-3.30...never EVER done that before...i m dreading this night...she s been down half an hour now and i have a bad feeling. Sleepy dust to everyone

 

[MrsHedgehog]

Three nights in a row of LO waking every half an hour or more and I'm destroyed. Today it took me half an hour to get her to go down for a nap and she slept for 5 minutes. She's teething which probably explains it although she never seems bothered by her teeth in the day, just at night.

Claire - sorry your mum is poorly again, I hope she's better soon.

Everyone else - sorry I'm too tired to properly read everyones posts, will hopefully catch up once I get caught up on some sleep.

 

[lisa1980]

Three nights in a row of LO waking every half an hour or more and I'm destroyed. Today it took me half an hour to get her to go down for a nap and she slept for 5 minutes. She's teething which probably explains it although she never seems bothered by her teeth in the day, just at night.

Claire - sorry your mum is poorly again, I hope she's better soon.

Everyone else - sorry I'm too tired to properly read everyones posts, will hopefully catch up once I get caught up on some sleep.

 

[Claireyb1]

Mrs Hedgehog -

My Mum is still in hospital fighting this infection and they aren't happy with the progress so far so they have switched drugs to see if that will help. She is not too bad in herself but would rather be at home!!

I'm not sure what my night is going to be like as I have no idea exactly how much sleep Lucy had today? She only had a 20 min nap at home and the rest of the time she was out in the car with me (not in the car all the time I might add) I had DF car today as he took mine to get a new tyre put on. In my car I have a mirror so I can see if LO is asleep or not, hence why I don't know how much sleep she has had? sometimes she is quiet and still in her seat but wide awake......so we shall see.

I managed to visit my friend today who has a 6 week old baby and we were doing the usual baby talk. She had her LO asleep in her pram in the garden (not sure why she was in the garden?) she said she will probably sleep for about 3 hours!!!!!! 3 hours?! I would be happy with that at night!!!! but she also said that if she cries at nap time she just leaves her to it for 20 mins I said what happens after the 20 mins? and she said "nothing, she knackers herself out and goes to sleep"
how can she do that?
Am I missing something? clearly my motherly instincts to go to my baby when she cries are all wrong?

How many of you ladies question the way you have gone about things when it comes to sleep?

Hope your nights are going ok!

 

[lisa1980]

Claire - I hope your mum responds well to the new drug and gets home soon.

I question everything when it comes to LO's sleep. I know that it's probably just his personality, but I wonder whether my responses to him have in some way hindered his progress. I don't think he would ever have been a great sleeper....that's just not the way he is, but i do wonder if I've made things worse somewhere along the line

I definitely ran into him as soon as he made ANY noise when he was smaller. I thought I was doing the right thing but now I'm not so sure as he never got a chance to learn to self-soothe. I also BF him as soon as he stirred for a long time, which probably didn't help things but was the easiest thing to do in the motn. I'm sure these things didn't cause his bad sleep, but they may not have helped int he long run.

Ah well. You live and learn.

 

[Claireyb1]

Claire - I hope your mum responds well to the new drug and gets home soon.

I question everything when it comes to LO's sleep. I know that it's probably just his personality, but I wonder whether my responses to him have in some way hindered his progress. I don't think he would ever have been a great sleeper....that's just not the way he is, but i do wonder if I've made things worse somewhere along the line

I definitely ran into him as soon as he made ANY noise when he was smaller. I thought I was doing the right thing but now I'm not so sure as he never got a chance to learn to self-soothe. I also BF him as soon as he stirred for a long time, which probably didn't help things but was the easiest thing to do in the motn. I'm sure these things didn't cause his bad sleep, but they may not have helped int he long run.

Ah well. You live and learn.

^^^^ this is/was very much us Lisa!

my LO was not a good sleeper from day dot,so I too do not think I have "made" her a bad sleeper,but as you say perhaps it hasn't helped?
I have done and still do most of the things which help LO to sleep that maybe I shouldn't (like feed to sleep etc). The only other alternative I could see would have been to leave her to cry and I just didn't want to do that. Every fibre in my body screamed no to crying.....how could I go against what my body was telling me?
On the one hand I feel happy that my baby has never been left to cry, but then again I would love more sleep.
I wonder what having a 2nd child would be like?

 

[kosh]

mrs hedgehog - sorry for the bad nights

claire - hope your mum starts to get better with the new drug

i tend to question everything re.LO's sleep,of course
and i agree that maybe, as lisa says some of the things I did didn't help I do not think that they caused his bad sleep

question - my LO goes to sleep ok at bedtime (ocassionally on the boob, but most of the times he now self settles with me next to him) but recently after 20-30min he wakes up screaming. he doesn't want to feed, he wants a cuddle and then goes back to sleep, but he seems very distressed.
anyone else's does this?what is it?

also, DH tried to settle him and needless to say,did not manage. LO was sobbing and sobbing until I got him. it really makes me feel I cannot leave him at all
I have tickets to a gig next week and I really do not want to go



----
eta
I do think that DH's not being able to settle LO is his/our fault

 

[kosh]

claire - i feel the same as you. and i am too happy that i followed what i think/feel is right for us.

for the first time i found a GP today that said 'all babies are different' and 'if YOU are ok doing what you are doing, then that's fine'. she said she BFed hers until 14months and they didn't STTN until they were 2yo.
i mentioned the advise the HV gave me ('give him water and he'll forget to wake up') and she really laughed.

 

[Gemmamuk]

Hey ladies! Thought I'd pop back in to say hi. Just quickly read though the posts but my mind is a big of a jumble at the mo so to everyone still having bad nights and yey for the good nights!!

Alex is generally doing a lot better than before. He's going to bed at 7. He was having boob/bottle then dummy and a cuddle. Now he often just wants a cuddle for 5 on the bed before I put him in the cot. He's stirring a few times for his dummy but generally settles himself. He's been waking 2-3 every night just wanting cuddles. Then he wakes around 5, 7 and 9!
Miles better than the 20 wake ups a night.

Although we have had a few of those recently as he cut his first 2 teeth 2 weeks ago and is cutting another at the mo bless him!

I've just come back from 4 nights in Wales, and he was an angel the one night my dad looked after him (until I got home at 1 and my dad woke him checking on him before making a swift exit ). But he was a monkey the other three nights but I think it's because he hates the travel cot

He's also been doing his shuffle crawl so we've cleared out the living room and baby proofed a bit to give him room to tire himself out lol

However his naps are now AWFUL and he fights them to the bitter end! He woke at 9.15, and I tried getting him to nap from when he rubbed his eyes at 11.30. It took me 2 hours together him to sleep from 1.30-2!
He then was rubbing his eyes from 3.30 but would not go back to sleep at all - so he had a total of 30 mins today and was hard to settle at bedtime as he was overtired

Still HUGE improvement on even 2 months ago.

Hope you all have great nights ladies!!