Rant - Feeling so hopeless about sleep!

[lysh]

Gaiai- Yes, listening to a baby cry hysterically is not easy. My LO had a pissed off cry lol. I would definitely make that clear then to who watches her, it would sometimes be really hard on my DH to figure out what to do with her.

Stephie- teething is so hard!! Poor baby!

Amys- Did they say they tried the method of putting her down? We considered a formal daycare setting for more structure but the nap issue prevents us from doing it right now....at least family will cater to her more.

My LO has been doing pretty good...She slept for an hour in my arms in the morning, then 45 minutes in her crib in the afternoon with another 45 minutes in my arms nursing.

 

[Shadowy Lady]

hi ladies! I still read this thread sometimes and just wanted to say hang in there. Things are still good for us since initial sttn at 6.5 months but I know how hard it is not to sleep and feel for all of you. Just wanted to send you all a big hug.

My LO is at daycare now so her naps are a bit hit and miss. Her top two teeth are also finally coming through which really bothers her. But her night sleep is still pretty good still sttn 12 even 13 hours some nights

 

[AmyS]

Stephie - What a relief that you can finally see those teeth! I keep checking, but nothing!

Lysh - They said they tried, but she would wake up crying anyway. I'm not sure what to do at this point! You're right, family is a much better option if you have them available! I keep telling my mom to quit her job so she can be my full time nanny! Your LO had some good naps! 45 minutes in the crib is awesome!

Shadowy Lady - You can join our "Rotten Daycare Naps Club". Oops, I might be the only member at the moment!
_____________

I had to go in this morning to daycare and give her some Motrin because they thought her teeth were bothering her. It was 10am, and she'd been up for 4 hours!! They hadn't even tried to nap her!! I'm sure she probably didn't even need the Motrin, she was probably just cranky because she was tired. So, again, I reiterated our nap schedule.

Yesterday, she came home for the day with a total of 30 minutes of naps again - one afternoon nap. I am so thankful for the weekend! She can have some normal naps, and be a happy little girl for a change! I will put her down for her naps again this weekend for more practice, and hopefully it will help for next week!

 

[seaweed eater]

Oh Amy, don't worry, totally with you guys in the Rotten Daycare Naps Club. I'm upset at your daycare though. I can understand that it's demanding to have a baby who's resisting naps, but it is their job to deal with it!! That's babies for you! I don't know what the teacher/baby ratio is, but mine is usually 3:1 and they've told me they've tried for nearly 2 hours to put Munchkin down before. They were able to find a teacher to spend that time with him when he was miserable and fighting naps. If your gut feeling yesterday was that they were not listening to you, I'm sure you are right. I'm sorry, I wish there were a better option for you!

Stephie, I'm so sorry you guys had another horrible night I'm relieved to hear you say that you can see changes in his gums though. It shouldn't be long now. I hope the two top ones come in quickly at the same time and you both have a bit of a break afterward! Hang in there, my friend!!

Shadowy :wave: sorry about your nap situation (I hear ya) and the teething, but glad Sofia is still sleeping through. When did she start daycare?

Lysh, that's a great update! 45 minutes in the crib is really good.

Vikki, sorry about the poop! I hope your day got better.

AFU, I've been feeling better since Wednesday night so maybe I'm finally over my illness now? Fingers crossed. Munchkin is doing great, last night was probably the new best night ever. Asleep at 7, awake at 8 but fell asleep after I sat in the room with him, no nursing. Then slept until 5 -- and then very nearly SS but I think DH woke him up! (DH disagrees, of course. ) Nursed then slept until 6:30. It's hard not to think there might be something to this one-nap thing...

 

[AmyS]

SE - Your daycare sounds amazing! They really put a lot of care into helping him nap!

Our ratio is 4:1, but there isn't always that many babies there. I called over my lunch, and she only napped for 20 minutes this morning and is still fussy. I'm not surprised!

 

[kitabird]

I feel for those of you having daycare nap issues. I remember when DS1 was with a childminder he just wouldn't nap at all, there was too much going on and she didn't put the effort in to get him to sleep. The result was an extremely overtired baby who would scream himself to sleep on the walk home and then refuse to go down at bedtime.
Hugs to all the teething babies.
SE - exciting news on the walking. Glad his sleep has been better
Felix slept through last night 7-5 Much better, although he was up for the day then, so I'm still pretty exhausted. He seems to be sticking to the two naps for the most part, a short morning one and about an hour after lunch.

 

[seaweed eater]

Amy, I hope it didn't sound like I was just saying ours is better than yours -- I wanted to validate your feeling that you can expect more from them! I'm sorry the nap trouble has continued. I hope she gets a good second nap if it's not too late where you live!

Kita, STTN 7-5 is fantastic!! I completely understand still being tired from being up early though. Hope you manage to catch a nap today and the good sleep continues! The daytime schedule sounds perfect.

 

[AmyS]

Amy, I hope it didn't sound like I was just saying ours is better than yours -- I wanted to validate your feeling that you can expect more from them! I'm sorry the nap trouble has continued. I hope she gets a good second nap if it's not too late where you live!

Not at all! But I am tempted to move to your location where they might treat my baby like the princess she is!

Hubby thought he'd be off early today, so she will hopefully get a good afternoon nap in.

 

[seaweed eater]

The only problem is that it costs more than college tuition!

 

[AmyS]

The only problem is that it costs more than college tuition!

Yikes!

 

[lysh]

Lysh, it sounds like you did great with your LO at night encouraging to hear that leaving her for up to 10 minutes worked well for you! Out of curiosity, how often does she still nurse (you told Polaris "often")? Mine is a frequent nurser too and I always wonder what the next few months are likely to look at for us, when all the other babies seem to be dropping to 2-3 milk feeds a day...

Sorry, it dawned on me I never answered your question! Typically when I am trying to read/type I have one eye on my wandering girl. Since I do not get much nap time to myself, I basically do everything while entertaining LO!

DD was a colicky newborn and I had low supply/low capacity breast milk. DD nursed every hour for the first 4 months. Afterwards, we would go 1 1/2 to 2 hours, when I was not at work. Honestly, it pretty much stayed that way!!!! Now that I am home for the summer (teacher) she regressed to wanting to 'nurse' every hour. She is not taking a full feeding every single time, she does it to touch base, for comfort, when upset, for a snack.....basically she is obsessed with nursing!!!!! I wanted to wean back daytime feedings and only nurse morning/night, but distracting her does not work. She gets VERY upset and will not give up so I give in. The only time I get 2 hour stretches is when we are out and about. A few times, I even got a 3 hour break!!!

 

[lysh]

So last night DD slept 8-5. She went to be again at 8 so I am sure we will be up at 5. I wish she would sleep later! Sometimes she will go to 6, but not often. For a few days she slept until 6 so I got excited....did not last!!!

So naps were with me today. It is my fault though because I did not try to put her in her crib. She was SO cranky today...I could tell her gums were bothering her. She just needed the sleep, so she took an hour nap in the morning in my arms and then we laid in my bed for her afternoon nap which was an hour and 15 minutes. My focus today was just for her to get some good sleep.

Hope everyone had a good day/night!

***Shadowylady- Glad sleep has much improved for you!

 

[kitabird]

Sigh, a 2 hour long motn party last night. I wonder what tonight will bring!

 

[stephie_corin]

I hope everyone is having a good weekend - I'll catch up properly tomorrow - currently have a very sooky, teething baby.

 

[polaris]

Hi everyone, I've fallen a bit behind again, sorry!

We had a strange day today because Clara refused her 2nd nap, she just didn't seem tired at all. She ended up having a catnap from 4.30 till 5 in the buggy but then she was up until 8.45 p.m. So we will see what tonight brings. The good news is that she properly self-settled again at bedtime so she does seem to be gradually weaning herself off nursing to sleep, which is encouraging. Her tooth is through the gum and she is totally over the viral infection now, so I've got my fingers and toes crossed for some good sleep!

Seaweed - how does Munchkin seem in himself on one nap? If he copes OK with it and doesn't seem tired or erratic, then I think I would be tempted to try the daycare schedule on the days that he's home with you and see how it goes. If it doesn't work, you can always go back to two naps for days that he's at home.

Kitabird - sorry to hear about the MOTN party, they are just the worst.

Lysh - DS was a very early riser so I feel your pain with the 5 a.m. starts. I am really lucky with Clara in that regard, she often sleeps in until after 7! With regard to the frequent nursing, you might find that it eases off naturally over the next couple of months, I think there is often a change at around about 14-15 months. I think you did the right thing holding her to sleep when her teeth are clearly bothering her - not the best time to be changing up her routine.

Amy - I would be so stressed out about the daycare napping situation in your shoes. I'm always impressed with how calmly you deal with things, you address the situation but you don't seem to get stress-y about it, or that's how your posts come across anyway. It's fantastic!

Stephie - hope this is really it this time for those elusive front teeth!

 

[gaiagirl]

Polaris that's great about the movement away from nursing to sleep. I would love that, at least some of the time. We have gotten to the point where F will roll away and settle on his own but he still needs to nurse to calm himself and relax to the point of sleepiness! He seems to have a hard time just transitioning into sleepy time mindset, so I hope over time he learns that! I know when he can understand more words we can try to teach him, but we will see!

Last night was much better, although he still needed me a few times throughout the evening. He will make a few noises and then settle himself without waking often but sometimes it just won't take. Lol. Checked on him around 10pm last night and he must have crawled/rolled out of bed because he was asleep in the middle of the room! Lol. He moves around a LOT lately while trying to get comfy. I'm actually a bit worried he may have to stop bedsharing because he needs more space. We will see, I'm definitely not ready or wanting that yet!

 

[polaris]

Polaris that's great about the movement away from nursing to sleep. I would love that, at least some of the time. We have gotten to the point where F will roll away and settle on his own but he still needs to nurse to calm himself and relax to the point of sleepiness! He seems to have a hard time just transitioning into sleepy time mindset, so I hope over time he learns that! I know when he can understand more words we can try to teach him, but we will see!

Last night was much better, although he still needed me a few times throughout the evening. He will make a few noises and then settle himself without waking often but sometimes it just won't take. Lol. Checked on him around 10pm last night and he must have crawled/rolled out of bed because he was asleep in the middle of the room! Lol. He moves around a LOT lately while trying to get comfy. I'm actually a bit worried he may have to stop bedsharing because he needs more space. We will see, I'm definitely not ready or wanting that yet!

LOL, I think I might have overstated Clara's self-settling ability! She still totally needs to nurse until she's relaxed, but recently there have been a few times that she has still been quite wide awake after finishing nursing and she has rolled over and wiggled around for five minutes or so and managed to settle herself to sleep without nursing again. I am still lying right beside her and she can roll back and nurse more if she wants! But it's still a step in the right direction I think!

Clara also moves around a lot when she's settling herself and also when she's sleeping. I often end up following her round the bed in my sleep, so I will wake up and both of us will be lying the wrong way round in the bed!

 

[detterose]

After 2 weeks in what I think is worse then the 4 month sleep regression I thought I would come over here. We have been stuck in wonder week 26 for 2 weeks. LO can wake anywhere from 4-8 or more times a night. Takes forever to go to sleep and when he wakes he wants to play. He is trying so hard to crawl but I really pray this doesnt last til he is officially crawling. I am a wreck and I work so I feel like a zombie at my job. Someone tell me it gets better?!

 

[gaiagirl]

detterose it gets better!!!! (And then worse and then better again and then worse and then...you get the picture) Honesty 3.5-9 months has been a roller coaster for us. I keep hearing at 11, 12, 16, 18 months its better but I'm just keeping my expectation to 24 months. Haha. But seriously, I think expectation and state of mind play a HUGE roll in being able to deal with sleep issues.

Some people seem to recover much quicker though, don't let my bleak case get ya down

We can try to give real practical advice too if you want!

 

[detterose]

Thats what I keep hearing. That it gets bad then good then bad again. Ahhh not sure how much more I can take at the moment. Especially when everything that normally works isnt anymore! We have resorted to cosleeping but OH is worried LO will get used to it.