Rant - Feeling so hopeless about sleep!

[Twister]

Thanks Noelle! Some days I don't manage to get dinner prepped in timeand she ends up skipping it like tonight. Her second nap was only 30 mins and she was sooooo ready for bed by the time dinner was in the oven so I just put her to bed I figured its ok at this early stage of weaning where she's not eating to satisfy hunger and whilst she's still getting used to her new nap routine.

Era: she's just woken up an hour after being put to 'bed' and whereas usually she'd just feed and go back to sleep she's flat out refusing this time and is doing that thing she was doing a week or so ago where she'd just scream as soon as I attempted to get her to sleep in her cot. Not sure if its teething as her cheeks look a bit red but she also seems ready to play too. Maybe I should have made her stay up longer after all.

 

[Noelle610]

MrsBeano, I think that's a good idea. They're trying transition Charlotte to 1 nap at daycare and they'll offer her a 30 minute nap at 9am and then she'll nap around 12:30pm/1pm usually for 2 hours. Seems to work well.

 

[mrsbeano]

Thanks Noelle! Some days I don't manage to get dinner prepped in timeand she ends up skipping it like tonight. Her second nap was only 30 mins and she was sooooo ready for bed by the time dinner was in the oven so I just put her to bed I figured its ok at this early stage of weaning where she's not eating to satisfy hunger and whilst she's still getting used to her new nap routine.

Era: she's just woken up an hour after being put to 'bed' and whereas usually she'd just feed and go back to sleep she's flat out refusing this time and is doing that thing she was doing a week or so ago where she'd just scream as soon as I attempted to get her to sleep in her cot. Not sure if its teething as her cheeks look a bit red but she also seems ready to play too. Maybe I should have made her stay up longer after all.

We get this sometimes. Give her 5 minutes and listen to her. If she's like my LO, she might scream for 2 minutes, chat for 2 and then go back to sleep when she remembers she's tired. Worth a go.

 

[Boo44]

Ok girls - when do babies tend to transition to one nap?

We are back to one issue - early morning wakings. I know 6.30 may not sound early to many, but it is early for Jack, he has recently been sleeping past half 7! My ideal for him is 7am ...

He wakes happy and chatting and singing out. I have tried leaving him and he remains happy playing with his dummies in his cot for up to an hour!!

His first nap is around 10. He usually has an hour but will sleep much longer if I let him. I always will wake him after 90 mins as it just seems too long to me!

He then has another nap around 2.30pm or 3. This is a funny one. Again I always wake him and never let him go for more than an hour. I like him to be up by 4pm latest

Bed is 7.30. He's usually absolutely fine and not too tired at bed time.

I get that I need to probably keep him awake longer in the morning an then hopefully he'll have a good sleep for longer (ie without me waking him!) and then will last for bed time... Thing is he's always very ready for his nap by 10.30am latest as he's awake early! So that's a bit early for a one nap day...?

Any thoughts much appreciated

You could try only offering a cat nap of 15 minutes in the morning and then a long lunchtime nap. I believe that the one who can't be named suggests 15 minutes at 9am and then sleeping from 12-2 and in bed at 7-7. A mum friend follows this religiously and it works for her LO who is the same age as Quinn (well 2 days older).

I can't imagine Quinn coping on that amount of sleep! He does 3 hrs awake, 90 mins sleep in the morning and afternoon.

I've so got a bit lost on this thread haha. I don't recognise everyone anymore... that's what happens when you're back at work I suppose!

Thanks for suggestion! Hmm Jack has a max of 2.5 hours day sleep. Often less! Maybe I'm not giving him enough?!

 

[Boo44]

Twister, I think in your shoes I'd continue feeding on demand. You could re-evaluate when she's 9 months or so and has more solids. They're purely supplementary at this time.

Boo, sorry I missed your post! How is his sleep at night otherwise? I'm always hesitant to recommend one nap before a year, but of course there are babies that transition early and do really well with it.

Ahh ok maybe I'm rushing things then All I wondered if his early wakings were due to being undertired that's all..

He sleeps 7.30-6.30 or 7am. Recently he's done a lot of nights where he stirs around 6 and sleeps until 7.30! But we seem to be back to waking fully around 6.30. Tbh he sleeps really well *touch wood* and self settles and causes us no bother. But I'm always wondering about his day sleep affecting his night sleep! I do like a good obsess....haha!!

We're off on holiday on sat for a week. It's only an hour time difference so that won't matter. But I'm hoping it doesn't royally mess up everything we've worked for!

 

[Twister]

I've decided to leave her upstairs for a bit, she seems happy and isn't making much noise, if any. The only problem is she's placed on her back (tummy sleeper) as she just ends up rolling over onto her back when she's awake so I figured there wasn't much point putting her on her tummy. She also has a dummy and has a tendency to spit it out a lot until she goes to sleep. We'll see if she settles but I doubt it.

I think part of it is how light the evenings are now. Especially as the sun sets at the back of the house and that's where her room is. Unfortunately we don't have the spare money for black out blinds right now though.

 

[Noelle610]

Twister, that could be any number of things from being overtired to separation anxiety. I agree with the advice to give her five and if not soothe back to sleep.

 

[Noelle610]

Boo, it sounds like he's doing beautifully! Unfortunately (for us) most babies' natural biological wake-up time is between 6am and 7am. 11 hours of overnight sleep is also normal/very good, so he's right on target.

I have a lot of traveling to do in June and I'm terrified for sleep too!

 

[Boo44]

Twister - try hanging up dark coloured towels at the window! We have cream blackout blinds in Jack's room (I thought they were prettier lol) and they don't do the job well. I wondered if that's why he was waking early so I hung towels over the blind and it did work! Just a thought..

 

[Boo44]

Boo, it sounds like he's doing beautifully! Unfortunately (for us) most babies' natural biological wake-up time is between 6am and 7am. 11 hours of overnight sleep is also normal/very good, so he's right on target.

I have a lot of traveling to do in June and I'm terrified for sleep too!

Thanks I do realise people will read my posts and think 'ffs woman what are you moaning about!' But I do realise he's a fab sleeper now. And I am countin my lucky stars!! I just love this thread and the ladies on it so I read every day lol

 

[Noelle610]

Boo, it sounds like he's doing beautifully! Unfortunately (for us) most babies' natural biological wake-up time is between 6am and 7am. 11 hours of overnight sleep is also normal/very good, so he's right on target.

I have a lot of traveling to do in June and I'm terrified for sleep too!

Thanks I do realise people will read my posts and think 'ffs woman what are you moaning about!' But I do realise he's a fab sleeper now. And I am countin my lucky stars!! I just love this thread and the ladies on it so I read every day lol

Haha I know what you mean! Sometimes I get fussed about Charlotte waking at like 5:45am or one night waking and I'm like... HOLD ON! Do you remember how bad it used to be?

 

[Twister]

Thanks I will try the towel thing, I'll get some cheap ones from Asda next time I go.

She didn't settle and started getting increasingly worked up so after 5 mins or so i went back in and I'm nursing her again now. I hope all this feeding means she will go longer once she does drop off

 

[seaweed eater]

How was the rest of the night, Twister?

We're having a setback here. Second night in a row with lots of crying. And I put him down late to begin with because DH let him take a late third nap today, so his last WT was only an hour and a half. He seemed exhausted when I put him down but woke up very upset 10 minutes later. I think he needs a much earlier bedtime for at least a few days, and I'm also questioning myself again on whether he's really ready for two naps. Was he fighting naps before because he was just overtired or unable to fall asleep? The past few days he's been getting tired long before every nap. I don't know, I know I wasn't expecting him to want two naps at this age so it was his behavior that made me think he wanted to transition, but at the same time it's been over a month now and I'm still waiting for those consistently longer naps.

 

[bananaz]

How was the rest of the night, Twister?

We're having a setback here. Second night in a row with lots of crying. And I put him down late to begin with because DH let him take a late third nap today, so his last WT was only an hour and a half. He seemed exhausted when I put him down but woke up very upset 10 minutes later. I think he needs a much earlier bedtime for at least a few days, and I'm also questioning myself again on whether he's really ready for two naps. Was he fighting naps before because he was just overtired or unable to fall asleep? The past few days he's been getting tired long before every nap. I don't know, I know I wasn't expecting him to want two naps at this age so it was his behavior that made me think he wanted to transition, but at the same time it's been over a month now and I'm still waiting for those consistently longer naps.

Most babies are ready to move toward 2 naps at that age, but that doesn't mean it's always an easy process. The earlier bedtime sounds like a good idea.

Looking over my sleep logs, my LO started dropping down to 2 naps at 6.5 months but her nap lengths were super variable and she frequently had a third ~20 minute catnap in the late afternoon. A month later, that catnap had pretty much disappeared but she still had some days with 30-45 minute naps. By 8/9 months most of her naps were at least an hour long and they were starting to happen at more consistent times.

So yeah... it's a long process and it's not fun but once you get to the other side life gets much better! Aaaand then they decide to drop to one nap and it starts all over again

 

[seaweed eater]

Thanks Bananaz is it normal for them to keep having 2 short naps for months then? I just thought the evidence that it was working would be if he started napping for longer after, say, a couple weeks of stretching out his wake times...I think 70-80% of his naps are still 40 mins or less. Is a couple weeks unreasonably short to expect things to start working themselves out? Maybe I should try it for another week. Trying the sleep training probably did disrupt things quite a bit...

 

[Twister]

She's been up every 2 hours tonight. I am exhausted. It's 5am and I think in going to have a job settling her again.

 

[stephie_corin]

Wow we had the worst night in a long time last night. He would only sleep in my arms in the rocker and was awake every 15-20 minutes. I actually got no sleep last night except for an hour between 5-6 when DH took over. We are going to try two naps today and I will deal with his feeding issues later!

How was everyone's night?

 

[stephie_corin]

She's been up every 2 hours tonight. I am exhausted. It's 5am and I think in going to have a job settling her again.

That sux, sorry hon!!!

 

[Twister]

Seriously why won't she stay asleep I've nursed her 3 times till she's asleep, sat with her in my arms for 15 minutes the last time just to make sure, then as I was putting her in her cot she spat her dummy on the floor and all hell broke loose. I hate when she does this. So frustrating.

 

[bananaz]

Thanks Bananaz is it normal for them to keep having 2 short naps for months then? I just thought the evidence that it was working would be if he started napping for longer after, say, a couple weeks of stretching out his wake times...I think 70-80% of his naps are still 40 mins or less. Is a couple weeks unreasonably short to expect things to start working themselves out? Maybe I should try it for another week. Trying the sleep training probably did disrupt things quite a bit...

I don't know if my LO is any measure of "normal" but most of her naps were in the 30-40 minute range until around 7 months, and even after then she still had random short nap days.

What does his schedule look like right now? Maybe you could give him a third catnap if he has a really long awake stretch before bed?