Rant - Feeling so hopeless about sleep!

[Twister]

Despite crappy naps and staying up later than usual, tonight she cried for less than 10minutes before falling asleep, here's for a good night. Thanks for the support everyone

 

[polaris]

Yay Twister, that is brilliant. Hope you have a good night tonight too.

Well Clara has finally gone to sleep at 9.50 p.m. - started trying to put her down at 7. What an awful evening. God love her, she kept almost falling asleep and then twitching and jerking and rolling round and pulling at her hair and waking herself up and crying. I'm sure it is the spots starting to itch now, she has loads on her scalp. I ended up getting her up for a bit because she was just getting so distressed, I smothered her in calomine and let her play with my mobile phone which never fails to cheer her up. However then she got quite sick all over herself which I'm sure was because she had been comfort nursing so much. Got her changed and ended up rocking her to sleep which is not something she has ever needed and is actually very tiring with a baby of this age! Fingers crossed she sleeps more than 45 minutes!!

 

[Twister]

Polaris. I hope Clara is feeling better soon.

 

[diggory77]

Ahh I've been watching this thread for a while. Can anyone help?

my little girl co slept until she was nine weeks, one night I put her in her cot, swaddled and played a light show and gave her a dummy and she self soothed. This went on until two weeks ago. She'd always have one feed at 5am but would sleep 7pm-10.30am without fail before this. Sometimes even until midday! Id never slept so well! It would take around 10 minutes for her to fall asleep with her routine of bath, pyjamas, swaddle, bed.

She now wakes at around 6am-7am, then her daytime naps are not too bad right now, around 30 mins-1 hour in length and roughly around 8am, midday and 4/5ish pm. sometimes she'll fight them but she tend to fall asleep in my arms. But on a night its awful now, she's obviously tired so we moved her bedtime from 7.30 to 6.30. Sometimes she'll fight sleep but most often she'll calmly lie in my arms looking around. Sometimes I lightly hold my hand over her eyes to limit stimulation but it doesn't work as often as it use to. It's like she's trying to get to sleep but she just can't drop off?! Then she gets upset and frustrated. I don't know what else to do. Sometimes its taking me an hour and a half until she finally drops off. If I put her in her cot sleepy but awake she wakes right up and screams her head off.

She's possibly going through the sleep regression now, I'm just dreading putting her down at bedtime. She's waking several times throughout the night for feeds/comfort and is extremely clingy just with me.

Any advice?
Xx

 

[seaweed eater]

Aww Polaris, I'm so sorry. That feeling when the baby still isn't asleep hours after you started trying to put them down is just horrible. I hope she sleeps well tonight and that things are less itchy soon.

Thanks for the advice about car naps. It's so funny, when he was younger he used to be able to go down for bed just fine maybe half an hour after a proper nap, if his last nap ended up too late. Now five-minute car naps are messing us up! We're usually in the car at 5:05 and it takes about 20 minutes to get home at that time. There's not much I can do from the front seat to keep him awake. Music makes him fall asleep faster, so I usually play radio news, which irritates him. When he was younger talking to him would never work but maybe now that he's older he'll be more responsive to it. I'll try.

Anyway, I'll also try the jumper and going outdoors with him in the evening. And dance parties in our apartment! He did go down much better on Thursday night after spending most of his last WT at a very stimulating restaurant with my friends. Maybe I'll see if they want to do more of that. He's not crawling yet so I can't use that to tire him out.

Twister, so glad to hear things are going so well hope she sleeps well for you tonight!

Aimee, I just knew Josalyn would adapt well! I'm so happy to hear it.

Angelwings, whenever we've tried slanting LO's mattress very much when he's had a cold, he has woken up from rolling down. Would you consider trying a swing or a bouncy chair until your LO can lie relatively flat? I know that moving from those back to the crib is a whole other thing, but it would be a way of at least getting sleep for now. I hope the reflux is better soon, I think you're at about the age where it starts to get better for some babies

Stephie, TWO teeth! Congrats!! I hope Culver's sleep improves now that they're out. Munchkin has still clearly been suffering with his, but only one is out so far so I'm sure the other one is at the most painful stage. Well done C for getting it over with in one shot!

Sunnie, good luck with your TTC specialist, I hope you get some answers

Diggory, sorry you are struggling how long is she usually awake between naps during the day? If she's sleeping only 30-60 minutes then her WT must be around 3-4 hours to get the schedule that you described. That is very long for a baby her age. I wonder if she is getting overtired by bedtime and that's why you are having trouble. Have you ever tried putting her down for naps sooner, like 1.5 hours after she woke up? What happens if you try that?

 

[seaweed eater]

Quickest settle ever tonight. 10 mins of nursing and right to sleep. I don't know whether it has to do with the 2 good naps, no late car nap, trip outside in the evening followed by reading lots of stories, but it's very tempting to think it does. Makes me hopeful that we can improve things further just by tweaking the routine, without crying

 

[Aimee4311]

Diggory- I've got no advice for you because I'm a newbie with working on this sleep stuff, but good luck!

Seaweed- I'm glad Munchkin settled so quickly! Hopefully the routine tweaking works!

Tonight was the third night of not nursing to sleep. She resisted more tonight than last night, but it was still only about 10 minutes. As I was typing this though, she woke up- about 50 minutes after going down. 3 days of a 2 hour stretch was too much to hope for so soon I guess!

But she's asleep again now, so we'll see!

 

[stephie_corin]

Wow teething is so tough! I'm exhausted. Despite 2 x doses of paracetamol he was awake all night. I haven't been giving him a full dose but the night before last a half dose seemed to work. I slept less than an hour last night. There must be some biological change that happens when you have a child that let's you go on without any sleep. His teething has coincided with DH being really busy at work and travelling this week. I allowed myself a few minutes to cry into my pillow this morning before pulling myself together.

I think I'll try a stronger dose tonight, or ibuprofen. Culver obviously thinks its all a big joke though. In the middle of the night after walking with him and rocking him I felt him start to shake in my arms. I panicked thinking he was having some kind of fit only to see him laughing in his sleep!

Polaris, sorry you had such a bad night. I know the feeling of rocking a heavy baby to sleep. One bonus is a nice arm and shoulder workout!

Twister, amazing progress again. Congrats!

SE, I'm glad munchkin went down ok for you. Do you give him toys in the car? I give Cully Lamaze toys whichx you can clip to the car seat strap and I've tied a little mirror against the back seat so he can see himself. It keeps him amused when we are in the car.

Diggory I agree with SE, I think the awake times are much too long. Try putting your LO down earlier.

 

[stephie_corin]

Aimee we cross posted. Well done on not nursing to sleep! Ill keep my fingers crossed for you that she sleeps well xxx

 

[seaweed eater]

Aimee, I'm glad things are still going well. I really think this will pay off for you.

Wow, Stephie, less than an hour?! No wonder you cried for a few minutes this morning. Poor you, hon! I would definitely try ibuprofen tonight. Acetaminophen/paracetemol has worked well for my LO for colds but ibuprofen was much better for teething.

He does have some toys attached to his carseat. It's very hard to keep him awake if it's near naptime. I literally have to be in the backseat tickling him -- it's like trying to keep a newborn awake to finish nursing. He just has a very strong association with sleeping in the car at the moment. Probably in part because he used to SCREAM in the car so we always used to try to take him at naptime so that he would be asleep and not miserable. Worked well for short, 5x-a-day naps, but not so much now.

 

[Aimee4311]

Stephie that does sound SO tough! You're one strong mamma!

 

[angelwings7]

Polaris: I might try him on his tummy at an angle and see how he goes just because he still seems to vomit up his milk a bit. Thanks will let you know how I go.

 

[stephie_corin]

Thanks guys, I do hold him and lie with my eyes closed so I'm getting some rest even if its not sleep. And we did have a good night the night before which is why I'm not a heaving mess!

SE, Cully hated the car too! But we went the opposite route and only ever took him in the car when he was well fed and rested and had one parent in the back seat to entertain him. Ha! And to think we used to travel and be adventurous. Now an exciting trip is a car ride to the grocery store with daddy in the back seat making animal noises.

 

[stephie_corin]

Deleted - long rambley post about naps! X

 

[Noelle610]

Ahh I've been watching this thread for a while. Can anyone help?

my little girl co slept until she was nine weeks, one night I put her in her cot, swaddled and played a light show and gave her a dummy and she self soothed. This went on until two weeks ago. She'd always have one feed at 5am but would sleep 7pm-10.30am without fail before this. Sometimes even until midday! Id never slept so well! It would take around 10 minutes for her to fall asleep with her routine of bath, pyjamas, swaddle, bed.

She now wakes at around 6am-7am, then her daytime naps are not too bad right now, around 30 mins-1 hour in length and roughly around 8am, midday and 4/5ish pm. sometimes she'll fight them but she tend to fall asleep in my arms. But on a night its awful now, she's obviously tired so we moved her bedtime from 7.30 to 6.30. Sometimes she'll fight sleep but most often she'll calmly lie in my arms looking around. Sometimes I lightly hold my hand over her eyes to limit stimulation but it doesn't work as often as it use to. It's like she's trying to get to sleep but she just can't drop off?! Then she gets upset and frustrated. I don't know what else to do. Sometimes its taking me an hour and a half until she finally drops off. If I put her in her cot sleepy but awake she wakes right up and screams her head off.

She's possibly going through the sleep regression now, I'm just dreading putting her down at bedtime. She's waking several times throughout the night for feeds/comfort and is extremely clingy just with me.

Any advice?
Xx

Definitely sleep regression. It does pass. A few things that might help... The 6/7am wake-up is normal, so I'd get her up at that time. Sleeping 7pm-10am he was basically sleep the night and then into her first nap. You don't want to let her do this, though it's pleasant! It will mess with her natural rhythms. I'd work on naps and not letting her get overtired so that you can minimize the night wakings and fighting sleep. How long is she awake before you put her down? The three naps you're doing are perfect and the cat naps unfortunately are somewhat normal at this age.

 

[diggory77]

Thanks guys, so lovely I've got some support!

Noelle, thank you! I read that at this age her naps should be around 9am/12 /3pm. Her naps arent rigid times and i normally wait for her to tell me ehen shes ready by rubbing her eyes. Is that right or wrong? Some ladies suggest that's too long for her to be awake? Sometimes she has extra naps if we've been really busy. For her naps I guess she's awake between 2&3 hours before I pick her up, cuddle her and pop her dummy in. It takes her about ten mins to fall asleep, longer if she's overtired. I'm thinking that maybe her last nap is especially too late as this is the one she struggles to get off to sleep with the most. She nearly always wakes up grumpy and tired aswell.
I think what makes things even worse is that if I try to catch her day naps early or put her to bed earlier, I end up spending that long trying to get her to sleep!


In the night she's awake a maximum of 30 minutes before sleeping again, normally it's a case of breastfeeding her or just giving her a cuddle and she goes back to sleep.

 

[stephie_corin]

Hi Diggory, I think you should probably try 9, 12 and 3 (which is a better time than 4/5) but aim for a 1.5-2 hour maximum waketime. If she catnaps you might want to try 4 naps. My son was taking 4 naps at that age but he only slept max 45 mins but if you are getting hour long naps you might be able to get by on 3 - I'd go off her. You might need to give her a short cat nap in the late afternoon if the last nap is short and she hasn't been awake enough during the day - by this I mean you should keep a rough count of her total wake time during the day and it should be around 9 hours.

Noelle will know better than me though

 

[stephie_corin]

I think our teething dramas are over, at least until the next ones! I bought iboprufen today but we didn't end up needing to use it. He fell asleep quite well but it took me a long time to get him down.

I wrote a long post today about nap transitions but deleted it as I wanted to see how the rest of the day went. I'm going to see how tomorrow goes before I post about it as I think teething had an impact today.

P.s I'm so sad my baby has teeth! He's not meant to grow up

 

[Noelle610]

Hi Diggory, I think you should probably try 9, 12 and 3 (which is a better time than 4/5) but aim for a 1.5-2 hour maximum waketime. If she catnaps you might want to try 4 naps. My son was taking 4 naps at that age but he only slept max 45 mins but if you are getting hour long naps you might be able to get by on 3 - I'd go off her. You might need to give her a short cat nap in the late afternoon if the last nap is short and she hasn't been awake enough during the day - by this I mean you should keep a rough count of her total wake time during the day and it should be around 9 hours.

Noelle will know better than me though

I think this is spot on! Like I said, you girls don't even need me any more

 

[seaweed eater]

Diggory, I think Stephie gave you great advice. My LO was usually taking five half-hour naps at that age once I got his routine straightened out. Sometimes four, but never fewer than that.

I'm glad things are better, Stephie. I hope the naps improve.

We had a so-so night. It's ok, LO was clearly uncomfortable and it wasn't nearly as bad as last Monday night. I was half expecting to see the second tooth this morning but obviously that would have been too much to ask.