Rant - Feeling so hopeless about sleep!

[mrssunshine78]

Our lo probably isn't as bad as some babies, but I'm exhausted, last night she woke at 3 and cried pretty much until 4, we put her in our bed and she slept til 530, the night before she slept through until 5, night before it was 430. I'm so tired, I have zero energy. Last week she seemed to be doing slightly better I was feeding her when she woke at 4 or 5 and she was going back off until 630ish.

Anyway I guess it's nice to know we're not alone, just wondering how you guys cope??

 

[Noelle610]

Our lo probably isn't as bad as some babies, but I'm exhausted, last night she woke at 3 and cried pretty much until 4, we put her in our bed and she slept til 530, the night before she slept through until 5, night before it was 430. I'm so tired, I have zero energy. Last week she seemed to be doing slightly better I was feeding her when she woke at 4 or 5 and she was going back off until 630ish.

Anyway I guess it's nice to know we're not alone, just wondering how you guys cope??

What time does she go to bed hun? That early morning restlessness is often a sigh of overtired.

For coping: Sleep when she does (if she goes to bed at 7pm, you're in bed by 7:05pm!), get moderate exercise (walking/yoga are great), drink lots of water, take a vitamin and protein rich foods.

 

[stephie_corin]

I second everything Noelle says, plus try and limit processed foods. I eat heaps of fresh fruit and vegetables and its the only way I've been able to survive three months of hellish sleep!

Noelle, I didn't know that about early morning wakings, interesting!

 

[stephie_corin]

Jords is back to sleeping like crap was nice while the few days lasted i guess..

I no we prob need to do the CIO solution with her because she was doing so good on her new bed time and etc now it's all sorta back fired so now i have no idea what i'm doing she's doing super well with 2 naps a day.. although they have been pretty short again could be developmental or something..

last night she had so many bubba's she peed through her over night diaper it was the only way i got any sleep she never even went through 3oz in the night for a long while maybe she was hungry i dont no she had like 20 oz last night from 8-6 :S thats crazy.

pass few nights though i cant get myself back to sleep i had PND when she was first born i'm confident its not back i'm just having sleeping issues and its making me feel crappy during the day and down i might go back see my dr...

Wow that is a lot of milk overnight, do you think she is growth spurting? Sorry you had such bad sleep. Definitely speak to someone if you are feeling down. (((Hugs)))

 

[stephie_corin]

She's still waking around 5:00-5:15am unfortunately, even after going to sleep an hour late last night! She doesn't actually cry so I've just been letting her yell until 6 the past couple mornings. Maybe one of these days she'll actually go back to sleep

Pushing her awake time longer sounds like a good idea but I just don't think she's ready to be up for that long yet in the morning If she were waking up at 6 it might be a different story though.

Congrats on a good night and on not feeding to sleep!! Sounds like you guys are doing great

Thanks I'm hoping for another good night but naps were rubbish today.

Do you ever help her to sleep? Or would that contradict some of your other sleep strategies? If you were open to it, I wonder if you could rock her back to sleep - even for a week - and it might help change her natural wakeup. Again, I am probably the least experienced on this thread but I think instinctively that so much of sleep is routine and if you helped her immediately back to sleep she may eventually start sleeping through without your help? Who knows though!

 

[bananaz]

Thanks I'm hoping for another good night but naps were rubbish today.

Do you ever help her to sleep? Or would that contradict some of your other sleep strategies? If you were open to it, I wonder if you could rock her back to sleep - even for a week - and it might help change her natural wakeup. Again, I am probably the least experienced on this thread but I think instinctively that so much of sleep is routine and if you helped her immediately back to sleep she may eventually start sleeping through without your help? Who knows though!

I think you're spot-on, and actually that's what the expert advice I've read suggests too, but unfortunately I just haven't been able to get her to go back to sleep no matter what I try. It's like her brain is stuck in "on" mode the moment her eyes open!

I do wonder if I should keep trying with that since at least I could keep her in a calm "restful" state between 5 and 6am so maybe that would be a step in the right direction, but honestly an hour is a really long time to stand there patting her not knowing if it's even helping. I guess I'm just lazy

 

[Boo44]

I'm fairly sure Jack could cope with me pushing his nap to nearer lunch time quite quickly. I just don't like going against professional advice if I'm doing it a bit early, so I'm holding off. Today has been a bit messed up, he slept 10.30-11 (woke as we were out) and then had a car cat nap at 1.30-2. I was in the car again at 4pm and thought he might nap as he's only had 50 mins all day. But he didn't and he's now playing happily. Wonder what on earth will happen tonight...!

Thanks Polaris for the advice - an early cat nap is a good way to do it as well, I'll remember that one!

Bananaz, I never ever can decide what to do with Jack when he wakes early (ie most days..!) I try and listen to his babbling to see if he has a dummy in (omg parenting makes you crazy!) and if he sounds like he's talking through his dummy then I don't go in. Because the only thing I can offer at this point is finding a dummy for him and leaving. I've no idea if I'm doing it right, and I can't explain why he may occasionally go back to sleep, but most times he won't. All my mummy friends IRL are also going through early wakings right now. It does help to know it seems to be almost universal!

Mellyboo - big hugs I hope you feel better soon x

 

[mrssunshine78]

Our lo probably isn't as bad as some babies, but I'm exhausted, last night she woke at 3 and cried pretty much until 4, we put her in our bed and she slept til 530, the night before she slept through until 5, night before it was 430. I'm so tired, I have zero energy. Last week she seemed to be doing slightly better I was feeding her when she woke at 4 or 5 and she was going back off until 630ish.

Anyway I guess it's nice to know we're not alone, just wondering how you guys cope??

What time does she go to bed hun? That early morning restlessness is often a sigh of overtired.

For coping: Sleep when she does (if she goes to bed at 7pm, you're in bed by 7:05pm!), get moderate exercise (walking/yoga are great), drink lots of water, take a vitamin and protein rich foods.

Thanks, she goes to bed between 7-730. I do go to bed early usually around 830, I definitely need to drink more water and eat better

 

[Noelle610]

Our lo probably isn't as bad as some babies, but I'm exhausted, last night she woke at 3 and cried pretty much until 4, we put her in our bed and she slept til 530, the night before she slept through until 5, night before it was 430. I'm so tired, I have zero energy. Last week she seemed to be doing slightly better I was feeding her when she woke at 4 or 5 and she was going back off until 630ish.

Anyway I guess it's nice to know we're not alone, just wondering how you guys cope??

What time does she go to bed hun? That early morning restlessness is often a sigh of overtired.

For coping: Sleep when she does (if she goes to bed at 7pm, you're in bed by 7:05pm!), get moderate exercise (walking/yoga are great), drink lots of water, take a vitamin and protein rich foods.

Thanks, she goes to bed between 7-730. I do go to bed early usually around 830, I definitely need to drink more water and eat better

What time does she wake from her last nap? I try not to exceed 4 hours between that time and bedtime.

 

[mrssunshine78]

She usually wakes anytime between 315-4, so she's usually in bed less than 4 hours after last nap. She woke at 315 today and we've put her to bed at 7, hope every night that she'll sleep until 6

 

[Radkat]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/...cyas/mobilebasic?authkey=CPXE1bsO&pli=1&hl=en

Here is the link to the waketime chart. From what I understand, waketimes should increase as the day goes on but Noelle probably knows more about this! X

I love, love, love this chart! I know it makes some people anxious, but it's been the key to sleep magic for me.

The first wake time is usually the shortest. The middle one(s) can be stretched a bit - kids are least sensitive to that one. The time between last nap and bedtime is important. If it's too long, it can cause overtired.

I have a questions about this nap plan... My LO takes some really short naps. On a good day, she'll have 30 minute naps. So if she gets up at 6:30, first nap at 8:30, up by 9. Second nap at 11:15, up by 11:45. Third nap at 2:15, up at 2:45. So she should be in bed by 5:30? What if they are even shorter? Today has been an awful day for naps. 10-20 minutes. So should I really put her to bed at 5pm? I'm not even home from work yet. It's hard to know what I need to stick to and what can be a bit flexible. Her wakeups have been getting earlier. This morning she was pretty much up at 5am. I tried to settle her, but no dice. Even bringing her into bed didn't really help much. She was sort of calm from 5:45-6:15. I gave up at 6:30.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[easyrhumba]

Okay I think I have officially made a sleep monster.

I have pretty much always given in to him co sleeping with me half of the night because I work full time and I just dont have it in me to fight with him all night and then wake up at 5:30 to get ready for work. So I start him out in his crib and then when he wakes up I bring him to bed with me and he would sleep really well. He would wake up here and there but it was very easy to help him get back to sleep.
Now my sweet little boy is not so little anymore and wakes up spins, rolls and kicks me all night long. I try and put him in his crib and he just cries and cries and cries. I used to swaddle him and he is just too strong now. He breaks free everytime and the last time I swaddled him he broke free and was all tied up in the blanket so Im not going to risk it again. He used to go down at 7:30 but he started waking up for the day at 4 every morning so I pushed it back to 8:30 which worked at first but now Im lucky if I can get him down before 10. He wakes up about an hour after he falls asleep and then again at 12:30, 2:30, 4:30 and needs to be out of bed by 6 or there is a mega melt down.

Everyone I know has said by 6 months things get better with sleep, but Its just getting worse. I wish I would have never co slept with him! U+I have tried to let him cry but he just gets more and more angry. Im not sure what to do!

 

[Boo44]

By the way noelle what is WPB?!

 

[seaweed eater]

Hi Easy, welcome a lot of us will testify to the fact that 6 months can actually be a really tough time for sleep! I'm sorry you are struggling. How is his sleep during the day? It sounds like he may be overtired. Even 8:30-6 is on the low end of sleep for that age, and 10-6 is almost certainly too little. I think one suggestion you are going to get here is to try a much earlier bedtime. (The 4 AM waking almost certainly wasn't caused by a too early bedtime.) But I would like to hear more about your daily routine, too.

Radkat, we are in a similar position where the chart wouldn't give us enough total WT to make it through the day. Stretching the WTs slightly works for us, but I know it can be a disaster for some babies. I would try to put in a late catnap, but make sure it's 30 min or shorter (probably shorter if your LO usually naps for only 10-20!) and don't compress the last WT too much either, so don't let it go much later than 4, say, for a 7 PM bedtime.

Hope to catch up on everyone else soon. Wishing you all regular days and restful nights

 

[Noelle610]

You guys don't even need me anymore! I agree with seaweed on pretty much everything.

 

[seaweed eater]

Lol Noelle, who's the one whose LO slept 14 hours the other night?

We are having a situation over here. Munchkin is taking forever to settle because he instantly rolls onto his belly and then gets stuck and mad, and then we have to soothe him all over again. I don't know why this is making him so mad right now all of a sudden when he's been sleeping on his belly for a few weeks. But it's rough. Like every single time we put him down it takes over an hour, because he falls asleep, rolls, screams, x4-5.

He's also been acting very undertired at bedtime for the past three nights. He's napping in the car for five minutes around 5:25-5:30 but there's nothing I can do about that. I'm thinking we need a much, much longer wind down. We'll see. He's nowhere near crawling but he's kind of acting like a baby who's learning to crawl, the same kind of hyperactive energy. Maybe it's the wonder week -- that's supposed to happen this week, right?

 

[stephie_corin]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/...cyas/mobilebasic?authkey=CPXE1bsO&pli=1&hl=en

Here is the link to the waketime chart. From what I understand, waketimes should increase as the day goes on but Noelle probably knows more about this! X

I love, love, love this chart! I know it makes some people anxious, but it's been the key to sleep magic for me.

The first wake time is usually the shortest. The middle one(s) can be stretched a bit - kids are least sensitive to that one. The time between last nap and bedtime is important. If it's too long, it can cause overtired.

I have a questions about this nap plan... My LO takes some really short naps. On a good day, she'll have 30 minute naps. So if she gets up at 6:30, first nap at 8:30, up by 9. Second nap at 11:15, up by 11:45. Third nap at 2:15, up at 2:45. So she should be in bed by 5:30? What if they are even shorter? Today has been an awful day for naps. 10-20 minutes. So should I really put her to bed at 5pm? I'm not even home from work yet. It's hard to know what I need to stick to and what can be a bit flexible. Her wakeups have been getting earlier. This morning she was pretty much up at 5am. I tried to settle her, but no dice. Even bringing her into bed didn't really help much. She was sort of calm from 5:45-6:15. I gave up at 6:30.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I agree with SE. We tend to push out the waketimes a bit. For example, C was up at 515 am and now at 730 am is just going down for his first cat nap. I tend to aim for a 6pm bedtime even if the last nap finished at 230. I always try a small catnap in the afternoon but he never takes it.

 

[bananaz]

Lol Noelle, who's the one whose LO slept 14 hours the other night?

We are having a situation over here. Munchkin is taking forever to settle because he instantly rolls onto his belly and then gets stuck and mad, and then we have to soothe him all over again. I don't know why this is making him so mad right now all of a sudden when he's been sleeping on his belly for a few weeks. But it's rough. Like every single time we put him down it takes over an hour, because he falls asleep, rolls, screams, x4-5.

He's also been acting very undertired at bedtime for the past three nights. He's napping in the car for five minutes around 5:25-5:30 but there's nothing I can do about that. I'm thinking we need a much, much longer wind down. We'll see. He's nowhere near crawling but he's kind of acting like a baby who's learning to crawl, the same kind of hyperactive energy. Maybe it's the wonder week -- that's supposed to happen this week, right?

Sorry if you mentioned this already but have you tried putting him down on his belly to begin with? That way he wouldn't be startled when he wakes up that way.

A longer wind-down definitely sounds like a good idea, I know it can really help my LO when she's overstimulated and/or slightly undertired.

 

[seaweed eater]

Oh, I hadn't even thought of putting him down on his belly. Maybe I will try that. He HATES being on his belly but happens to sleep well that way. I think he'd have to be very sleepy in order to tolerate it at all. I'll try it sometime tonight if all seems to be well.

 

[stephie_corin]

Argh. As predicted - bad naps yesterday (one was only ten minutes!!) meant really bad sleep last night. He also woke at 930pm and his nappy had leaked so there he was, wide awake and kicking his chubby little legs on my bed having a grand old time while I stripped him out of his sleeping bag and sleep suit. I think this wake up might have affected things too.

I have a question about bed time routines. Ours is very simple. We do bath time, baby massage, pjs, book, nurse then bed. It takes about half an hour and bath time can be very splashy. Should I lengthen our bedtime routine and not do bath so close to bed? It's hard as he is in bed so early, I feel like any routine that requires us to be home even earlier will be quite tough. As it stands, I have to feed him and put him down for his cat naps in the house so we are very limited in our times for outings.