Rant - Feeling so hopeless about sleep!

[stephie_corin]

I'd be happy to rock him or do whatever else needed to be done to help him sleep, I just think when he was younger his sleep and feed patterns were more malleable and I could have rocked him only instead of rocking, feeding, bouncing on my exercise ball ten times, feeding again malarkey we do to try and get a nap

I'm under a lot of pressure from my DH to 'fix' Cully's sleep. He wants me to try formula but I've worked so hard at breastfeeding and I think formula fed babies can have the same sleep problems. He thinks a top up of formula at night will help him sleep through. I'm not convinced as my supply is great.

 

[stephie_corin]

Polaris that's a great approach with the lovey! I am going to start today.

Glad you and twister had good nights xxx

 

[polaris]

I'd be happy to rock him or do whatever else needed to be done to help him sleep, I just think when he was younger his sleep and feed patterns were more malleable and I could have rocked him only instead of rocking, feeding, bouncing on my exercise ball ten times, feeding again malarkey we do to try and get a nap

I'm under a lot of pressure from my DH to 'fix' Cully's sleep. He wants me to try formula but I've worked so hard at breastfeeding and I think formula fed babies can have the same sleep problems. He thinks a top up of formula at night will help him sleep through. I'm not convinced as my supply is great.

So far as I know there is no real evidence that switching to formula will "fix" a baby's sleep. I think formula fed babies do tend to sleep better though on average but I wonder if it's because parents are forced into alternative methods of soothing rather than just feeding to sleep which is the easy fall back if you are breastfeeding. I wouldn't bother trying formula if you think you will regret it if it doesn't work. How is it going to help if you have a good supply? More likely to just upset his tummy and cause him to wake up more often if you ask me.

 

[Noelle610]

Hey girls. to those who had bad nights!

Polaris, yay! That sounds heavenly. I totally agree with you about formula fed babies tending to be better sleepers because parents have to rely on alternative soothing methods. That makes so much sense.

Twister, please, please don't be so hard on yourself. You're not a bad mom, you're a normal mom! We all have those moments. Exhaustion really tries your patience as well. If you do decide to go the CC route, just have an open mind. A lot of moms I've talked to in the process of this sleeping coaching certification feel as you do - it won't work and their child will just cry forever. That rarely happens and they're often surprised!

 

[Twister]

Thank you.

I'm going to give her more time I think first before trying cc. Maybe a month or two, once we've both gotten through this nap transition and she's used to the new routine. Got to give her a fair chance, right? Maybe by then I'll feel more ready too iykwim.

She had a good nap this morning, slept for almost 1.5 hours had a little cry for 5 seconds after 40 minutes, but when I went up she was fast asleep.

 

[mrsbeano]

Oh seriously this is getting ridiculous.

She's been up over an hour now. I fed her, she fell asleep, I put her down. Two minutes later she woke. Since then all hell has broken loose, oh attempted to get her to sleep but instead gave up, laid her on her back and put a light show on for her which did absolutely eff all. I've tried nursing, cuddling, stroking, shhhing, leaving her to cry, teething gel just in case she's in pain. Nothing works. I completely lost it and screamed the house down, I can't do it. I'm so done with this crap. She's snuggled up in my arms now. I feel awful for losing it like that but she wouldn't stop screaming. I'm such a crap mum. LO deserves better.

We have all been there and it is just awful. I was once reduced to tears in boots by my screaming 6 month old. He cried so much one day, he lost his voice. It turned out he was teething but I was just a state by the time that the damn tooth popped through.

I now just tell myself its a phase. So at the moment we are in a good phase but when the next one hits I don't get so depressed by the bad phase.

When I was posting on this thread a lot there were quite a few babies who were a month older than mine so at about 7-7.5 months there was a general improvement in the sleep and I was pretty jealous! But, lo and behold Quinn also improved but the depths of crap sleep that were around at 6 months.

Do work on the feed to sleep association and for what its worth, when I stopped offering milk at night, he did stop waking for it but it was quite scary to stop feeding at night. I think sometimes you feel better if you feel as though you're trying to do something about it rather than just riding it out.

Hope you get a night off soon so you can try and catch up x

 

[stephie_corin]

I think C has been reading this thread.. Today he has had two naps, despite my best efforts to get him down. 2 naps of 30 minutes each! Tonight will either be the best or worst sleep of his life. On a positive note, he fed twice at times other than nap times. It's the first time in months I've got him to feed when he hasn't been half asleep! Yay! Sending everyone lots of good luck for tonight xxx

 

[Noelle610]

Good plan Twister. If she's in a good routine and well rested it will be easier anyway. It's extremely difficult to sleep train an overtired baby.

And totally agree with MrsBeano! Lots of improvment around 7 months.

 

[gaiagirl]

Good plan Twister. If she's in a good routine and well rested it will be easier anyway. It's extremely difficult to sleep train an overtired baby.

And totally agree with MrsBeano! Lots of improvment around 7 months.

I can ONLY hope! With my luck my kid will be the one exception haha.

 

[aliss]

Yup another one here to say that sleep at 6 months is complete crap. Don't worry, just keep on trucking and 7 months will be better.

 

[mellyboo]

She's 7 months tomorrow but born a couple weeks early, hoping it gets better .. Last night was bad bad bad .. Up 8 times might be developmental though for her .... Hoping!

 

[Noelle610]

melly!

 

[Twister]

Hope tonight is better for you mellyboo.

Jessica's been great for her naps today. Her morning one was 90 minutes and her afternoon one lasted 1hour 45 minutes! Its meant i've been able to have some proper "me" time as well (sacked the housework for today) so im feeling much better about the challenges I may have to face tonight now. I've just put her to bed (its 7:15pm) and she went down with minimal fuss. Made a point of being extra vigilant of the time today to try and prevent her from getting overtired. I think at the moment her awake times usually last between 2.5-3 hours otherwise she gets overtired. So far, so good. Don't want to speak too soon though!

 

[Boo44]

Twister that sounds amazing! Well done Jessica Fingers crossed tonight is good x

Well, Mr Jack has finally started crawling yesterday! And tomorrow we go abroad on holiday If ever there was a recipe for a sleep regression this is it! Lol (I don't care we'll just have to deal when we get home!)

 

[polaris]

Mellyboo, so sorry you had such an awful night.

Boo - LOL at the recipe for sleep regression - at least you are getting both out of the way at once though - hope you have a lovely holiday - are you going anywhere nice?

Twister - that sounds like a great day of napping, fingers crossed for a good night tonight. I remember when Clara started napping well, it was just such a relief! Although I have never been able to understand how she can sleep really well for naps and then just wake up constantly all night. There was a stage where I was putting her down every night thinking "tonight she'll sleep well, everything's gone perfect today, she's not overtired, she had the right amount of naps, there's no reason for her to wake up a million times tonight". But it was always just wishful thinking apparently! I think you are right to hold off on CC until she is better rested, I think part of the reason it was such a nightmare with Clara was because she was chronically overtired. And hopefully you won't end up needing to use it at all.

Stephie - ugh, I really hate those 30 minute naps. Hope he sleeps well tonight to compensate.

Seaweed - hope bedtime is going well this evening.

Aliss - sorry to see that Philippe isn't sleeping well at the moment but you are right it is just a dreadful age for sleep.

We have had a great day, two 2 hour naps (I had to wake her up from both of them) and bed at 7.30 with only about a minute of fussing. Keeping everything crossed for another good night tonight!

 

[Twister]

She just woke after less than an hour but she seems genuinely hungry. Tried to feed her before bed but she didn't seem overly interested and because I'm feeding her downstairs where there's noise there are distractions and she kept pulling off. I knew she wasn't hungry because when she's genuinely hungry there's no stopping her and no amount of noise or action distracts her! She's having a good old feed now though.

Hope everyone has a good night tonight!

 

[mellyboo]

I'm hoping too! We have a babysitter that she doesn't no ( my moms friend) we have a wedding to tonight I'm hoping she does okay it's a 30 min drive .. So if she freaks it will be a little while till I can get home ... Little nervous I'm making her come over before bedtime so she can get comfortable with her first .. Jordyns a pretty social baby I'm sure she will be fine ..lucky for me oh got up with her last night but I woke up everytime .. His mood has been grouchy today ... Lmao. Can't blame him tho it's hard getting up that many times tonight we will take turns lol

 

[Boo44]

Thanks Polaris! We're going to Majorca so no major time zone difference and hopefully lots of sunshine

Funny how times change that I would consider the time difference before the weather!

 

[Noelle610]

Have fun Boo! And yay for crawling!

 

[seaweed eater]

all around to the mamas of 6 month olds. That does seem to be the time a lot of us join this thread

Melly, I really hope tonight is better!

Twister, YAY for amazing naps! I hope tonight is going well so far after the second feed.

Have fun on vacation, Boo! I was just wondering how you and Jack and all his teeth were doing. Hope you have a wonderful and restful time!

Noelle, I didn't know you were doing a sleep coaching certification great fit for you, obviously!

Polaris, I'm so glad to hear about the good night!!! I really hope it turns out not to be a fluke. It's your turn for some good sleep.

Munchkin does have separation anxiety during the day. He gets upset when I leave the room, or when I'm in the room but not holding him. Just this week he has started crying when I say goodbye at daycare, so I think it's still on the increase and maybe could have just started affecting his sleep.