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

[Claireyb1]

We had an amazing night last night. We had a 6 hour stretch then a 3 hour stretch then another 2.5 hours. Boy did I need that sleep. I'm full of the cold and had a week of no sleep. I totally zonked out when putting LO to bed and that was us for 6 hours. Neither of us even moved an inch we were so soundly asleep. <haven't slept like that since before she was born.

WOW!!!! Jealous or what!

 

[lisa1980]

Mrs H that's amazing! You must feel so much better. Why do you think it happened? Random or did you do something differently?

Firefly - hopefully having your OH settle LO for a few nights will help to at least reduce the night feeds even if it doesn't eliminate them entirely. I completely understand the feeling of being so tired that you'll do anything just to get them back to sleep asap. I only started trying to change it when BF didn't work at getting him to settle anymore, so it wasn't actually getting me any more sleep anyway at that point.

I never tried it but a friend tried to lengthen the time between feeds by settling any other way except feeding...the rule was that her LO had to go to sleep, even if only for 10mins, before getting another feed so that he learnt that he could get back to sleep without boob. Apparently it was exhausting for a few nights but it worked quite well in that she got him down to one big night feed rather than a small one every 3hours. Suppose it can't hurt to try right?

Claire - I've found that a short am nap (no more than 45mins) then a longer pm nap (around 1.5 hours) seems to help him sleep better at night (so far...!) I think he had been having too much day sleep for his needs (usually 3+hrs) so I've been capping the napping He went to bed at 8.30am last night, woke at 12am for a sip of water, then came into our bed at 6.20am and slept until 7.45 I'm so desperate for this to be the key to his sleep that i'm sticking to it rigidly (to the amusement of my OH). We'll see...

Let us know how your mum is doing.

Kosh - hope you're ok

 

[Claireyb1]

Mrs H that's amazing! You must feel so much better. Why do you think it happened? Random or did you do something differently?

Firefly - hopefully having your OH settle LO for a few nights will help to at least reduce the night feeds even if it doesn't eliminate them entirely. I completely understand the feeling of being so tired that you'll do anything just to get them back to sleep asap. I only started trying to change it when BF didn't work at getting him to settle anymore, so it wasn't actually getting me any more sleep anyway at that point.

I never tried it but a friend tried to lengthen the time between feeds by settling any other way except feeding...the rule was that her LO had to go to sleep, even if only for 10mins, before getting another feed so that he learnt that he could get back to sleep without boob. Apparently it was exhausting for a few nights but it worked quite well in that she got him down to one big night feed rather than a small one every 3hours. Suppose it can't hurt to try right?

Claire - I've found that a short am nap (no more than 45mins) then a longer pm nap (around 1.5 hours) seems to help him sleep better at night (so far...!) I think he had been having too much day sleep for his needs (usually 3+hrs) so I've been capping the napping He went to bed at 8.30am last night, woke at 12am for a sip of water, then came into our bed at 6.20am and slept until 7.45 I'm so desperate for this to be the key to his sleep that i'm sticking to it rigidly (to the amusement of my OH). We'll see...

Let us know how your mum is doing.

Kosh - hope you're ok

Well, I thought the naps from yesterday were going to do something.....sadly they did, but not in the way I wanted she went down nice and easy at 7pm (not normaly the problem though) woke at 9pm and then 9.30pm and then quite a few times in the night I knew it would happen as OH had to be out early this morning so couldn't take her for a any length of time and LO was awake at 6.30am. So feel pretty tired. Sad really after a weekend of catching up on my sleep I feel back to square one!! typical!
The thought of having a 2nd child is getting less and less appealing and my clock is ticking if I we do plan to I never thought it would be THIS hard!

 

[lisa1980]

Claire -

It sucks. It's been so much harder than I ever imagined it would be. I really think that if his sleep had been better (not perfect, but just better) I would have enjoyed his first year so much more. He's such an amazing child in every other way - I resent that the sleep deprivation has made it hard to see the wood for the trees sometimes. I always wanted loads of kids but now that the reality has set in I'm down to wanting two. You never know...maybe the next baby will sttn from 2 weeks like all those on baby club seem to!

 

[firefly15]

We had the most appalling night last night LO was asleep at 6pm as he was overtired and hysterical due to terrible naps. He slept til 8.45 and then was up until 11pm, woke again at 1.30 and then that was it for the rest of the night. He slept 20 mins at one point but other than nodding off briefly on my shoulder a couple of times he just would not go to sleep. I, as usual, am in bits and struggling to cope today.

 

[Claireyb1]

We had the most appalling night last night LO was asleep at 6pm as he was overtired and hysterical due to terrible naps. He slept til 8.45 and then was up until 11pm, woke again at 1.30 and then that was it for the rest of the night. He slept 20 mins at one point but other than nodding off briefly on my shoulder a couple of times he just would not go to sleep. I, as usual, am in bits and struggling to cope today.

Oh Firefly, that sounds totally horrid - you poor thing
I hope he sleeps well for you tonight.

 

[Claireyb1]

Claire -

It sucks. It's been so much harder than I ever imagined it would be. I really think that if his sleep had been better (not perfect, but just better) I would have enjoyed his first year so much more. He's such an amazing child in every other way - I resent that the sleep deprivation has made it hard to see the wood for the trees sometimes. I always wanted loads of kids but now that the reality has set in I'm down to wanting two. You never know...maybe the next baby will sttn from 2 weeks like all those on baby club seem to!

I totally agree Lisa about finding it hard to enjoy LO with the sleep issues.
I laughed when I read your comment on a 2nd child sttn like the ones on baby club - very funny!! I can dream.

 

[Gemmamuk]

Hey ladies!
To my massive shock, Alex slept through on Saturday night 7pm-7am, had a bottle then slept 8-9.30!!!
Unfortunately...I didn't! I was so worried about him being full of a cold, that I kept checking on him, and am full of a cold myself so couldn't sleep! Sod's law!

Last night was a disaster. He went off ok-ish at 7pm but with 20 mins of grizzling. Then woke at 10 going nuts. I gave him a bottle which he managed to pour what seemed like the whole of, over his bedding. Due to an explosion the night before his other set of bedding was still wet, so he ended up in the spare bed with me and just wouldn't settle for most of the night. Longest he slept in one go was 30 mins. He was whimpering and just wanted to cuddle into me.
Today he's been out with my sister in law as he seemed so bright and chirpy, despite not sleeping. Me on the other hand, I've felt like death warned up, hence why SIL took him so I could sleep.

I'd just dropped off to sleep after an hour of trying only to be woken by a baby crying. I went running into him room - he wasn't there - and I realized its next doors baby crying!
It took me another hour to drop off before I heard drilling and hammering on my bedroom wall - yep - my other neighbours. I have up at that point and had a bath

Now.....he's finally quiet after well over 2 hours screaming. He just wouldn't settle in his cot and drenched the bedding in tears and snot
Think it's a mix, he's got a stinking cold (we all do, so none of us sleeping well and waking each other up).
He cut a tooth sat/sun and another is poking through, plus as a result of the cold and teething he's got nappy rash so bad it's bleeding
I've given him paracetamol and ibuprofen which I think is kicking in now thank god. Don't know if its worth a trip to drs tomorrow to see if I can get something for him? It's worse as he's not sleeping well cos he's poorly so he's overtired?

I'm currently snuggled in the spare bed with him and think this is us for the night as I'm too scared to try and move him to the cot

 

[MrsHedgehog]

Sounds awful Gemmma! Poor LO and poor you. Hope he's better soon and you can get some sleep

 

[Claireyb1]

Well,good news ladies my Mum is home and hopefully this time it's for good!
Her 2 dogs were sooo pleased to see her it nearly made me cry they hadn't seen her for nearly a month and I think they thought she had left them
Our naps/sleep on the other hand is still all over the place and I'm not really getting enough sleep. It's so hard to keep everyone happy atm. I need/want to look after my Mum, but LO makes its so hard as she also needs me and I can't just put her down for any length of time,she wants constant interaction otherwise she is off climbing and crawling where she shouldn't!!!
I guess it will get better once my Mum can do more for herself and doesn't need me so much
Counting the days until the weekend so I can catch up on the sleep again!!!

How is everyone else?

 

[kosh]

that's great news claire!!! you must be so relieved!!

LO is still ill. in fact we called emergency last night as he could not breath and was screaming! as it happens he was all smiley when the paramedics arrived!

sleep has gone seriously bad and i'm getting really stressed about going back to work. but tbh the lack of sleep is nothing compared to the feeling of having to leave him all day
can't stop crying about it

 

[Gemmamuk]

Oh that's great news Claire! So pleased for you! Hope LO let's you get some rest now!

Alex has had a tough few nights but last night was slightly better although he's been quite grizzly as his 4th tooth is starting to poke through and yesterday he learnt how to pull himself up on furniture etc and is moving round at lightening pace!! He's still on the sas crawl instead of the traditional crawl, but after watching today, I'm sure he's gonna walk first??

He cried for all for 30 seconds in his cot before zonking out lol! He's hoping for a good night

Wishing you all Sleepy dust ladies!

 

[Gemmamuk]

Oh kosh I hope your lil man is feeling better today
Xx

 

[Claireyb1]

that's great news claire!!! you must be so relieved!!

LO is still ill. in fact we called emergency last night as he could not breath and was screaming! as it happens he was all smiley when the paramedics arrived!

sleep has gone seriously bad and i'm getting really stressed about going back to work. but tbh the lack of sleep is nothing compared to the feeling of having to leave him all day
can't stop crying about it

Oh Kosh, you poor thing. I hope LO is feeling better and you are too. I know how frightening it is when they are like that
I don't know what I can say about the going back to work thing? I know nothing I say would make you feel much better about it,but I send you loads of hugs

 

[Claireyb1]

Oh that's great news Claire! So pleased for you! Hope LO let's you get some rest now!

Alex has had a tough few nights but last night was slightly better although he's been quite grizzly as his 4th tooth is starting to poke through and yesterday he learnt how to pull himself up on furniture etc and is moving round at lightening pace!! He's still on the sas crawl instead of the traditional crawl, but after watching today, I'm sure he's gonna walk first??

He cried for all for 30 seconds in his cot before zonking out lol! He's hoping for a good night

^^^^ ha,ha,ha if only!
I feel like I have had the busiest day ever today - running around after/for my mum,running around after Lucy,running around after my mum's dogs and I think I came somewhere bottom of the list to worry about
When will it end?!!

I wonder when all our LO's will walk?

 

[lolalei3]

I don't belong in this thread as my LO can sleep up to 7hrs at night at only 9wks old so I count myself VERY lucky!! I have been reading this thread and just want to say I admire you ladies I really do, what you are all going through and managing not to ship them off to grandmas! As I know that's what I would try so hard not to do! Hehe! I take my hat off to you all!

 

[ellebelle]

Still been following but not posting as much as things have been better for us (twins only waking once or twice a night mainly!!)

But just came to moan about how HARD it is when LOs are SICK and you are also sick.... and all you need is rest to get better and no one is getting any at alllllllll

 

[kosh]

quick post

all our progress of the last month or so has vanished as, since having a nasty cold, LO is waking up hourly and needs to sleep in my arms from 3-4am

hope you're all doing better than us

 

[ellebelle]

quick post

all our progress of the last month or so has vanished as, since having a nasty cold, LO is waking up hourly and needs to sleep in my arms from 3-4am

hope you're all doing better than us

Oh kosh, haha we're in the same boat. Mine are now spending the night in bed with me, alternating all through the night, and it's hard because I often fail at putting the sleeping one back in their crib as the other twin wakes, then I have two inconsolable screamers (which is why I did much hard work trying to eliminate that even though I do love sleeping beside them) and it's been making for some hard nights.
Hope things get better when their colds are gone!

 

[kosh]

quick post

all our progress of the last month or so has vanished as, since having a nasty cold, LO is waking up hourly and needs to sleep in my arms from 3-4am

hope you're all doing better than us

Oh kosh, haha we're in the same boat. Mine are now spending the night in bed with me, alternating all through the night, and it's hard because I often fail at putting the sleeping one back in their crib as the other twin wakes, then I have two inconsolable screamers (which is why I did much hard work trying to eliminate that even though I do love sleeping beside them) and it's been making for some hard nights.
Hope things get better when their colds are gone!

oh ellebelle I really do not know how you cope with two!!