Rant - Feeling so hopeless about sleep!

[Shadowy Lady]

i have a question for you guys. Those of you who suffer from insomnia and cannot sleep even when LO sleeps, what do you do about it? Last night Sofia slept from 8 pm to 12, then again till 2:30 and then till 4:30. So she woke up more but I also could not sleep when she was sleeping. i ended up only snoozing for 30 mins all together....this is a common problem for me and it's starting to make me depressed

 

[Noelle610]

i have a question for you guys. Those of you who suffer from insomnia and cannot sleep even when LO sleeps, what do you do about it? Last night Sofia slept from 8 pm to 12, then again till 2:30 and then till 4:30. So she woke up more but I also could not sleep when she was sleeping. i ended up only snoozing for 30 mins all together....this is a common problem for me and it's starting to make me depressed

I struggle with this. My doctor suggested "Simply Sleep", which is essentially Tylenol PM without the Tylenol. A half dose works well for me. It's safe for breasfeeding as well. It typically does make me a little groggy for night wakings, but it doesn't keep me from rousing. Melatonin, a natural suppliment, is great too.

If you don't want to take medication, I've found a glass of milk before bed can actually work to relax me! Also, not watching TV or being on my phone right before bed helps too. The light from the screen makes it hard for your brain to wind down.

Finally, per your recommendation! I've found that exercise during the day helps. I walked 2 miles with LO and the pup yesterday and slept really well.

 

[MrsPear]

Great night last night! Charlotte wouldn't take her 3rd nap, so we put her down at 6pm. She did two 5 hour stretches... Woke at 11pm and 4am, then up at 6:15 for the day. I feel soooo good.

She only took 2 ounces at 11pm, so maybe I will try not feeding her at that time to gently encourage her to sleep through the earlier wakings. She didn't seem starving at 4am either, which makes me really think once a night is plenty for her.

We are going to Texas for Thanksgiving, Tuesday through Saturday, to see DH's family. I'm really concerned about it messing with naps and sleep. Regardless, guess we can't stay home until she's 3! So here's hoping its not too bad.

Hooray for 2 five hour stretches, that's great! Now to see if she can keep it up, hope so. Then hopefully you will be able to relax better at night to get better quality sleep yourself.

As for going to see family- we went to my mum's at the weekend which was the first time we have used the travel cot. I was really worried and then she kept waking up every time I lowered her in because it is a lot lower than I'm used to..i was having a minor breakdown...buuut, once asleep she did a five hour stretch both nights! Won't do a long stretch in the cot she sleeps in every night, but comfy as anything on the thin travel cot mattress...so don't despair just yet! The most stressful part was the 'advice' from family about naps and cio and so on! X

 

[Noelle610]

Great night last night! Charlotte wouldn't take her 3rd nap, so we put her down at 6pm. She did two 5 hour stretches... Woke at 11pm and 4am, then up at 6:15 for the day. I feel soooo good.

She only took 2 ounces at 11pm, so maybe I will try not feeding her at that time to gently encourage her to sleep through the earlier wakings. She didn't seem starving at 4am either, which makes me really think once a night is plenty for her.

We are going to Texas for Thanksgiving, Tuesday through Saturday, to see DH's family. I'm really concerned about it messing with naps and sleep. Regardless, guess we can't stay home until she's 3! So here's hoping its not too bad.

Hooray for 2 five hour stretches, that's great! Now to see if she can keep it up, hope so. Then hopefully you will be able to relax better at night to get better quality sleep yourself.

As for going to see family- we went to my mum's at the weekend which was the first time we have used the travel cot. I was really worried and then she kept waking up every time I lowered her in because it is a lot lower than I'm used to..i was having a minor breakdown...buuut, once asleep she did a five hour stretch both nights! Won't do a long stretch in the cot she sleeps in every night, but comfy as anything on the thin travel cot mattress...so don't despair just yet! The most stressful part was the 'advice' from family about naps and cio and so on! X

That's sweet! Here's hoping my LO will follow that lead and do the same. Makes me feel a lot better.

I'm not so worried about family, but I do worry about "advice" from DH's best friend. She's sweet and all, but her two kids STTN from 6 weeks old and I'm convinced she thinks I'm doing something wrong. Although to be honest I could just be paranoid!

 

[katrinalorien]

Hah women and their "advice". One of my friends who is pregnant on FB asked me for advice on sleep and I almost laughed. I told her to check back in with me IF their baby had problems.

We went to a thanksgiving thing with my grandparents this weekend and one old lady asked me if my baby was a "good baby". I replied that she was a "fantastic baby" but not a good sleeper. What does being a good baby even mean? I mean what qualifies as a good baby? Really? How can a baby be a "bad" baby?

 

[Shadowy Lady]

Katrina - lol I know what you mean! I actually have ppl asking me "is Sofia good? Does she sleep through?" It only makes me feel worse that she went from sleeping to not :/

And speaking of which, she's teething so for the last two nights she wakes up 6+ a night and only once did she feed. The rest of the times she's fussy and wants her soother....

I feel like a zombie today

 

[Noelle610]

Oh honey, 6 times is a lot! I feel for you. Naps and coffee. This too shall pass.

Katrina I hate that "good baby" thing. When people ask me if Charlotte is a good baby, I want to respond with "No, she's a real asshole!". Sheesh.

Another great night for us. Slept 6pm to 1am and then up for the day at 6am. We are now in San Antonio for Thanksgiving and naps are all messed up... Charlotte is really routined, so I'm sure the good sleep is totally out the window now.

 

[jessicatunnel]

We're from Brownwood. It's central Texas, I miss it so much.
But my Aunt lives in San Antonio and I love it too! Especially the River Walk.

Lilly only woke up three times last night!! I can't even believe it, it's so much better than the usual 6/7 times. And she only had one bottle.

 

[Boo44]

We're from Brownwood. It's central Texas, I miss it so much.
But my Aunt lives in San Antonio and I love it too! Especially the River Walk.

Lilly only woke up three times last night!! I can't even believe it, it's so much better than the usual 6/7 times. And she only had one bottle.

Yay Lilly!!! That's such good progress

Your new avatar pic is adoooooorable!!!

 

[Noelle610]

Go Lilly!! Bet this is the start of a pattern for you.

 

[FirstatForty]

I hear you. We're struggling too, but with slightly different details. Regardless, no one has given me a quick fix, and I can't give you one either, but I just want to say you are not alone...and THANK YOU for showing me that I am not alone either.

My beautiful son is 5.5 months old as well. Maybe we can do 'one day at a time' together until it truly does what people say it will......'pass'....

Hugs to you.

 

[bananaz]

Another great night for us. Slept 6pm to 1am and then up for the day at 6am. We are now in San Antonio for Thanksgiving and naps are all messed up... Charlotte is really routined, so I'm sure the good sleep is totally out the window now.

Holy cow, that's amazing! I hope she's able to rebound from the disruption quickly, or better yet I hope that there's no disruption at all (I know, that may be asking too much)

Lilly only woke up three times last night!! I can't even believe it, it's so much better than the usual 6/7 times. And she only had one bottle.

YAY!! Do you think it's just from shifting her eating schedule to the daytime? In Ferber's book he said a lot of people are able to resolve all of their babies' sleep issues just through the gradual nighttime weaning method, I hope that's the case for you!


Elsie's sleep continues to be really unpredictable. Last night she had a lovely 5 hour stretch but then woke every 1-2 hours until 6:15am. The night before she had her 10:40pm waking yet again, only that time she decided she was STARVING and after 30 minutes of bouncing and patting and singing I finally gave in and nursed her. Thankfully she then skipped her normal 1am waking and slept until 4am instead.

I guess I'll just be glad that her sleep isn't consistently horrible any more, and hope that things level out a bit soon...

 

[katrinalorien]

Yesterday ended up being really strange, and today was strange too. She had one mega nap in the middle of the day today, and one mega nap in the midmorning-afternoon yesterday. Last night she slept from 9:00 pm - 1:00 am. I wanted to put her in bed more quickly, but she had rolled and DH wanted to see the "trick". She never rolled for him still! Hah. She hasn't rolled again today, but did take a 2 1/2 hour nap this after noon. Actually I kinda woke her (kinda because what I really did was respond REALLY quickly to a wake up that could have easily turned into just a small arousal.)

I don't know, this is so strange. I'm pretty sure its because last night she ended up doing 9-1, then waking frequently till 6:30, definitely not enough sleep. So she's making up for it during the day! Gotta correct this!! I will have to wake her tomorrow.

 

[katrinalorien]

Good luck to everyone over the holidays, hope the travel doesn't interfere too much!

 

[lysh]

Bananaz- I find I do not have the will power to not nurse to try to stretch out feedings....either I have to listen to LO cry, or I have to rock/bounce etc. which just irritates LO more because she wants to nurse. :/

Good news is that I can typically put LO in the crib without her screaming. Bad news, is that now I have to get out of bed and spend 20-30 minutes nursing her every 2 hours! We occasionally get a 3 hour stretch these days, but not often enough!

Noelle- That is great you had two good nights! I hope it sticks for you!!!

***I was getting my hair done today and found out the lady next to me has a 4 month old. We got into the topic of sleep and she started going on how grateful she is that her son started sleeping through the night before she started work- he was 12 weeks. lol Then my hairdresser mentions that her LO started STTN at 2 months. I am sitting there like....yeah- if I get a 3 hour stretch I am thrilled!

 

[polaris]

Well I had been thinking about weaning Clara off the swaddle as she was starting to break out of it. However I tried a double swaddle last night when she woke at 10.30 (as recommended on another thread) and she slept from 10.30 to 4.30 and then until 8.30!!

 

[MrsPear]

Bananaz- I find I do not have the will power to not nurse to try to stretch out feedings....either I have to listen to LO cry, or I have to rock/bounce etc. which just irritates LO more because she wants to nurse. :/

Good news is that I can typically put LO in the crib without her screaming. Bad news, is that now I have to get out of bed and spend 20-30 minutes nursing her every 2 hours! We occasionally get a 3 hour stretch these days, but not often enough!

Noelle- That is great you had two good nights! I hope it sticks for you!!!

***I was getting my hair done today and found out the lady next to me has a 4 month old. We got into the topic of sleep and she started going on how grateful she is that her son started sleeping through the night before she started work- he was 12 weeks. lol Then my hairdresser mentions that her LO started STTN at 2 months. I am sitting there like....yeah- if I get a 3 hour stretch I am thrilled!

I find the same about feedings,it's the only 'weapon' I have in the night so I just feed feed feed! Sometimes I think I should spread them out but I'm so tired I just want the easy solution.

Joni was probably up 50percent of the night but my oh is off today, so he helped out. It's so much better when he can help. She slept fro 5.00 to 7.45 then oh took her downstairs till 10.00 so I got a few blissful hours. Then he brought me a coffee and now he's washing up I don't know how joni does it, she only had 15 minutes nap after 3pm, she wasn't in bed properly until 9pm and she was crying by 10... Yet she's having a great time batting toys in her bumbo now...maybe I need some breastmilk too, would I be as energised then?!

 

[Noelle610]

Lysh, I feel for you... There's a mom of a newborn on my block who has an 8 week old and he is already STTN. I feel like these moms think surely I'm doing something wrong!

Charlotte refused to nap almost all day yesterday, but she actually didn't do too bad last night! Asleep at 6pm and woke at 8pm. That made me think it was going to be a tough night... But she then slept until 2am! She tried to get up around 4:30 because the time difference confused her, but I managed to get her down until 6am. I call that success!

 

[stephj25]

I'm back!! the STTN only lasted for 2 days. I have no idea what is going on anymore!

Olivia goes to bed at 7:30, wakes at 10:30 then every 2 hours after that. Also, she's barely napping in the day now. I thought that it was supposed to get better after 6 months?

I think Olivia is trying to crawl, every time she wakes in the night, she is always on her tummy trying to move around, but gets frustrated because she can't. I'm exhausted!! plus, I'm a bit poorly today so Olivia is probably going to get that too!

It's a bit rubbish that we are all going through this but at least we can talk to each other about it

 

[polaris]

I'm back!! the STTN only lasted for 2 days. I have no idea what is going on anymore!

Olivia goes to bed at 7:30, wakes at 10:30 then every 2 hours after that. Also, she's barely napping in the day now. I thought that it was supposed to get better after 6 months?

I think Olivia is trying to crawl, every time she wakes in the night, she is always on her tummy trying to move around, but gets frustrated because she can't. I'm exhausted!! plus, I'm a bit poorly today so Olivia is probably going to get that too!

It's a bit rubbish that we are all going through this but at least we can talk to each other about it

I think a lot of babies actually have very disturbed sleep around about the six month mark, I think it is developmental. Thomas definitely had a sleep regression at that age, going back to very frequent wakings after having had about a month of sleeping well.