Rant - Feeling so hopeless about sleep!

[gaiagirl]

Thanks...another 4 weeks!? Arg!

Any thoughts on bedtime? I always read he should be in bed by 8 at the latest, so that's why I tried cutting the last nap and doing early bed but it really didnt help. And turned evenings into something unpleasant...

But a late bedtime?! Is it detrimental?!

 

[aliss]

Where are you putting baby to "bed" (ie. last nap/bedtime)? I know you are bedsharing. Is it your bed (the night bed) or somewhere else?

We bedshare too (although he's just moved to an attachment crib 2 days ago) and I've always put him to bed in our bed once he got too old to be disturbed (about 8 weeks). Yes yes... I know it's nono

 

[Shadowy Lady]

Attempting to catch up here:

Noelle - C will be fine! Enjoy your romantic night away with the hubs

Socity - hugs to you hunnie...did you get her checked at the paediatrician?

Aliss - self settling is a great milestone. Hope 4 month sleep regression passes quick for you guys.

Minikiwi - that's awesome! Noelle does have the best advice...glad to hear Mia didn't have a MOTN and you and hubs are well rested.

Gaiagirl - 4 months sleep regression blows! But it may not last as long it really depends on baby/luck. It lasted just about a week for us (the worst of it which was 4x wakeup). We didn't bedshare though and we actually had her asleep by 7 pm. She was already way too tired by then. Now at 6 months she's asleep by 6:30-6:45 pm

Sofia woke up earlier from her second nap so she's been sleeping since 6:15 pm and on her tummy. I find that she naps better on her tummy but sleeps better on her back at night so I'm panicking a bit. Of course I'm not gonna go turn her back just hoping it will be a good night. I have months of sleepless-ness to catch up on :/

 

[aliss]

Yep my guy is in bed by 6:30-7 latest! Both of them! And I'll enforce that unitl they are 18 years old! And if they don't like it at 18, they can sleep at a friend's house, but get the hell out by 7!

 

[gaiagirl]

Lol. Id love an earlier bedtime eventually but it wasn't helping so I think I'll try and move it up slowly with the goal being 7:30 by 6 months...

Right now I'm so tired by 9 that I'm just going to bed with him. But before I was putting him in his crib (he naps in there and does great) until we went to bed then transferring to our cosleeper or just in bed. If I want to stay up, like maybe this weekend, I'll probably put him in his crib around 8:30...but I find he wakes after one sleep cycle in the crib and doesn't if we are in bed together.

 

[socitycourty]

called the nurse and she said she didn't really think it was viral, there was no diarrhea and really just the 2x of vomiting...said she thought it was the milk. also her second poo today was green with white chunks in it, I googled around and some people said that the milk doesn't digest well with some kids and they will have these problems.
she has been fine for the most of the day, she's taking formula and water and took some solids.

i'm hoping tonight is a lot better than last night and hoping i don't catch a bug now if it was really a bug!

 

[anti]

We been having a few rough nights and some early wakings so routine is all out the window... Just gonna ride through this and hope it sorts itself out soon.

 

[Noelle610]

Lots to catch up on!

Gaia, UGH 4 months! I'm sorry! I think it's a matter of waiting it out on this one. If you want her to go to bed earlier, I would try waking LO at 6am or 7am and shifting her entire schedule.

Anti, sorry to hear about your recent rough nights. I'm right there with you.

Socity, I used to have that phobia too! It seems to have subsided with my anti-depressents actually, but I understand. Hope your LO feels better and that you both get some rest soon.

Stardust, I hate to see you here. You gave me such great advice when Charlotte was a newborn with bad reflux. It sounds to me like perhaps your little guy is falling asleep on his bottle? I might move it to the beginning of the bedtime routine and put him down awake to avoid that feed to sleep association. In terms of cosleeping, I think you have to do it full time or not at all or it can be confusing to baby. I'd work on putting down awake and seeing if that helps and then focusing on the rest of the night. I really hope this gets better for you.

Last night was really good for us at the beginning of the night! Charlotte took great naps and went down fast at 7pm. She didn't wake until 4am, which was lovely, but she puked at some point in the night and I had to change her and her sheets and soothe her back to sleep at that time. I get up around 5:30am for work, so I've been up since 4am. A little tired today.

 

[bananaz]

called the nurse and she said she didn't really think it was viral, there was no diarrhea and really just the 2x of vomiting...said she thought it was the milk. also her second poo today was green with white chunks in it, I googled around and some people said that the milk doesn't digest well with some kids and they will have these problems.
she has been fine for the most of the day, she's taking formula and water and took some solids.

i'm hoping tonight is a lot better than last night and hoping i don't catch a bug now if it was really a bug!

Hope she feels better and it's not contagious!

 

[bananaz]

I haven't had a chance to read through and catch up yet but I just have to vent - I am so freaking sick of trying to get this child to take naps! I know she can self-settle because she's done it at bedtime for months and she's gone through two phases where she would do it for naps as well, so why does she act like she's in agony the moment I put her in her crib?? She's had separation anxiety since she was 4 months old so it's not like that's a new thing for her either.

I wouldn't mind it as much if it were just a matter of patting her to sleep for a few minutes but lately I've had to stand there for 40 minutes with my hand on her back repeatedly pushing her back down because every time I think she's asleep she immediately sits up wide awake and starts crying! My parents think I'm crazy trying to nurse or pat an almost-10-month-old to sleep and I'm starting to agree. I think I'm going to need to do CC soon, I am going out of my mind

 

[AngelUK]

bananaz
I am too much of a coward to even try putting our boys in their cots for their naps. They nap in their baby björn bouncies and I guess that is why they only nap for 30 mins unless I take them out in the pram, which I had been doing every day in the last 2 weeks (but the weather turned awful again so missed out today). But even then not always longer than 30 to 40 mins either. But since they do now on the whole sttn I guess the nap thing in our case is not tied in with their night night sleep.

 

[gaiagirl]

Bananaz I haven't been there yet (please please I hope my LO gets it soon) but my friends first wouldn't self settle until 10 months, even with CIO. So I don't know, maybe she is close?! But maybe not...they are such little mysteries!

 

[Noelle610]

Bananaz that is so frustrating! We have our nap moments here too. I was trying to put Charlotte down on Sunday morning and she was really fighting it. I remember thinking to myself, "I'm so glad I don't have to do this every day!" since her daycare usually handles naps during the week. I give you credit.

When do you put her down? Maybe she's ready for a by the clock schedule? That way, her body would know it was naptime just as it knows it's bedtime when she goes to sleep.

 

[bananaz]

Thanks ladies. I've been trying to wait it out and gently encourage her to self-soothe but it doesn't feel like she's made any real progress. Things will improve for a few weeks and then we have a big backslide for months. It's so frustrating!

I am still going by awake times/sleepy cues at the moment, but now that you mention it maybe I should give a by-the-clock schedule another try since her morning wake-up time has finally become more consistent (though I probably just jinxed that, lol).

 

[Noelle610]

Thanks ladies. I've been trying to wait it out and gently encourage her to self-soothe but it doesn't feel like she's made any real progress. Things will improve for a few weeks and then we have a big backslide for months. It's so frustrating!

I am still going by awake times/sleepy cues at the moment, but now that you mention it maybe I should give a by-the-clock schedule another try since her morning wake-up time has finally become more consistent (though I probably just jinxed that, lol).

Yeah, I use wake times too when I'm at home and am getting a lot of nap refusals lately. My daycare does by the clock naps and they do vary slightly from day to day, but apparently she goes down super easily there and the naps tend to be longer (1.5-2 hours). I think I'm going to try a similar schedule at home and see if we get farther. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[Shadowy Lady]

Bananaz - *hugs* I agree maybe a clock by clock schedule may work better. One of my friends is doing that with her 10 months old and she says she's having better luck now.

We had a good night. She was asleep by 6:15 (her naps were short yesterday) and she woke up at 5:30 am fussing only coz she had pooped. I changed her and put her back down and she proceeded to sleep until 8 am So she didn't even do the shuffle around 2 am. I also managed to sleep from 9:30 pm to 5:30 am and then took a nap after I changed her too....

I feel like a new woman these days. I've amped up my exercise routine too (which was already quite heavy). Trying not to think of the fact that we may soon be hit with 8 months sleep regression :/

 

[bananaz]

Bananaz - *hugs* I agree maybe a clock by clock schedule may work better. One of my friends is doing that with her 10 months old and she says she's having better luck now.

We had a good night. She was asleep by 6:15 (her naps were short yesterday) and she woke up at 5:30 am fussing only coz she had pooped. I changed her and put her back down and she proceeded to sleep until 8 am So she didn't even do the shuffle around 2 am. I also managed to sleep from 9:30 pm to 5:30 am and then took a nap after I changed her too....

I feel like a new woman these days. I've amped up my exercise routine too (which was already quite heavy). Trying not to think of the fact that we may soon be hit with 8 months sleep regression :/

Wow, 6:15pm-8am with only one waking after 11 hours?! That's amazing! Go Sofia! And I really need to start exercising again. Le sigh.

 

[libbylou]

I haven't been around in a while ladies, too much going on with life!
Sorry to see some of you are still having issues, but happy to see that some of your are seeing better sleep!

Anyway...quick update on us
The zoloft has been a huge game changer for me. I am happier, less anxious and sleeping better.
Ever has also turned a corner with her temperment and has become significantly less fussy and much happier in the last month or so, it seems to more mobile she gets, the happier she is.
Sleep was going really great...she was regularly taking 2 naps (hour long each) a day, going to sleep at 7:30-8pm, waking once or twice at night and then sleeping until 7-8am.
And then she got a tummy bug She ended up having diarrhea for 2 weeks and at one point it was so bad she was pooping every 1-2 hours...all night long She had awful cramps too so she would wake up and cry and squirm and roll around until she pooped and then of course I'd have to change her (and usually her sleeper because she kept exploding) and then try to convince her to go back to sleep after totally disrupting her when I changed her. She also started waking at 5:30-6am because she was so uncomfortable which sucked when we'd both been awake for most of the night.
She's been diarrhea free for 3 days, but we're trying to recover her sleep...she's been waking every 2-3 hours and its driving me nuts!

 

[Noelle610]

Libby yay! I really thought the medication would help you. It was life-changing for me and I was so resistant to it.

I'm sorry to hear sleep is a bit iffy for you again. Just be really consistent in the way you respond to the night wakings. She'll start sleeping again soon!

 

[Boo44]

Well we're having hit-and-miss times at the moment, it's just wake-up times so that I am grateful for as I do know it could be much worse. Yesterday we had a 6.50 then he was quiet as a mouse (pooping I think!!) until 7.20. Then this morning we had another 6am which just kills me. He woke up and started pooping again. I really think there's something wrong with this boy's poop habits haha!

I took him to see health visitor to get weighed and he's now 22lb which means he's leapfrogged the 91st centile. She has advised me to stop his afternoon bottle now and replace it with a snack and water as its the milk that packs on the weight. So that will be him down to only 2 bottles, morning and evening. My baby is growing up! I'm hoping that a) it doesn't affect his sleep!!!!!! and b) maybe his crazy pooping habits will chill out without so much milk.... We can but hope!

Maybe he'll get less chubby when he's mobile.... Which is another thing, I am getting so sad that he's not crawling or really rolling, or basically doing anything I knooooow he will and he's got plenty of time, but he just seems crazy immobile to me. It's worrying. And the worst of it is that his little friends are so much happier now they crawl and can get around. Whereas my once happy little boy is currently so whingey all the time as I think he's frustrated......

Sorry for the self indulgent post!!!

Shadowy - way to go!!
Noelle - I've often wondered how day care get all the babies to nap at the same time?!?! Seems suspicious to me lol!
Bananaz - yes I think CC may work wonders for you and Elsie. I think 10 months is quite a big baby to have to rock and sshh although I know that might not be a popular comment!! (Eek). Anyway I hope that whatever happens something works out for her naps soon xx
Libby - fantastic that you're sleeping better! And hang in there, once they can sleep I think it's just a matter of waiting after an illness until they just start doing it again