Rant - Feeling so hopeless about sleep!

[bananaz]

Noelle - I'm so sorry you had such a bad night! That kind of sleep deprivation would make anyone ready to snap so don't beat yourself up about it. And given how out of character this was for Charlotte, I would really guess that it was just an off night and things will be back on track again today

MrsPear - Sorry you had a difficult night as well Does she already have teeth? Having to deal with teething so early is totally not fair!

Jessica - Yikes, making those middle-of-the-night decisions is hard enough without having someone else around second-guessing you! I guess that's one of the perks of being a single parent, haha. I don't know what I would do if someone woke Elsie up in the middle of the night after she'd settled herself, but it wouldn't be pretty! It sounds like Lilly did have a pretty good night though, even if you didn't, so hopefully that will continue.

Shadowy Lady - Wow, what a great night! It does sound like your DH should take over the night shift, haha.


Last night was really good for us. Elsie settled herself to sleep again at 7pm despite my trying to nurse her down and then didn't wake until 2am! I waited a few minutes to see if she would go back to sleep on her own but she didn't so I nursed her for 5 minutes and when I put her back down she was wide awake. She ended up taking another 20 minutes of intermittent fussing to go back to sleep. Then she woke up at 5:35 and I again waited to see if she would settle, but that was a mistake because it allowed her to wake all the way up and of course she decided she was up for the day

I usually don't go to bed until 9 so I would love to push that first waking to 3 or 4, but I'm probably getting ahead of myself here. I guess for now I should just hope that those 10pm-12am wakings are done with.

 

[mrsbeano]

Goodness me ladies!! Whats going on with these kiddies?! A bit of consistency please - consistently good would be nice

Jessica, I can't tell you how much me and my DH have the same arguments re giving them an opportunity to settle themselves. He wants there to be as little noise as possible but doesn't understand its for the greater good. He does get to wear earplugs to bed but chooses not to. His own fault I say.

Mrs Pear & Noelle, not so great nights for you - booooo. A lovely Mum at a baby group once told me to always forget the previous nights activities, whether they've been good or bad because most babies aren't the same every night. Just look at every night seperately and deal with it as and when. A super healthy attitude but not one I'm able to adopt unfortunately.

Shadowy - woohoo to a good night. Your DH sounds awesome being so helpful at night.

I dream fed Quinn last night because he had been waking up before midnight for a feed again recently and I always feel groggy when I get woken up so soon after I go to sleep. He then woke up at 1.30 and I'm not too sure why. It seemed like he was crying in his sleep or something. I just gave him a cuddle and then put him back down. He fussed for a couple of minutes and then went to sleep until I woke him up at... 8.30am!!! So feeling well rested today although I have no idea why he woke up at 1.30? Think I will dream feed again tonight and see how that goes.

 

[Noelle610]

Great night Shadowy Lady! Your DH sounds lovely.

Jessica, sounds like Lilly did fantastically. So sorry about your argument with your DH. My husband and I typically have a GREAT relationship, so our argument was unusual too. I totally get where you are coming from not wanting all of those people over. It's hard, because you want to support your spouse and give them some freedom, but at the same time your baby's needs have to come first. Hope you guys have a better day today.

 

[Noelle610]

Bananaz and MrsBeano, congrats on great nights ladies!

 

[MrsPear]

Mrsbeano and Bananananaz congrats on your good nights- you both deserve them!

Jessica I'm sorry you still didn't get a good night even though Lilly did. If it's not one thing it's another isn't it. I don't think you overreacted- things just seem more dramatic at night and you feel calmer in the day.

Shadowy Lady, that was good of your DH, I hope you got a good sleep. He sounds like a great partner to have

I just went to baby weigh clinic and Joni is still gaining very slowly...she said, "perhaps you can feed her more often at night..." eeerrrrrrrrrm...

eta- Bamanaz she has had 2 teeth for about a week or two now x

 

[bananaz]

So I decided to go look at old sleep data just to see if the change really has been as dramatic as I thought it was and um, wow, yes it has been! The chart on the left is from when she was 4 months old and the chart on the right is the last 30 days (blue = asleep, yellow = awake).

Why does everyone make it seem like infant sleep is this linear thing that just gets better and better until they start STTN? What a load of BS!

 

[Noelle610]

I just went to baby weigh clinic and Joni is still gaining very slowly...she said, "perhaps you can feed her more often at night..." eeerrrrrrrrrm...

 

[bananaz]

I just went to baby weigh clinic and Joni is still gaining very slowly...she said, "perhaps you can feed her more often at night..." eeerrrrrrrrrm...

eta- Bamanaz she has had 2 teeth for about a week or two now x

Yeah, maybe you should start waking her to eat! Clearly 4 times a night isn't enough

Wow, two teeth at 5 months, poor thing! I hope you both get a break for a while. Even if the next pair is a bit early I don't think they should show up until at least 7 months? But who knows...

 

[Noelle610]

So I decided to go look at old sleep data just to see if the change really has been as dramatic as I thought it was and um, wow, yes it has been! The chart on the left is from when she was 4 months old and the chart on the right is the last 30 days (blue = asleep, yellow = awake).

Why does everyone make it seem like infant sleep is this linear thing that just gets better and better until they start STTN? What a load of BS!

What is it with us and these unpredictable kids?

 

[Noelle610]

Last night was better, but not great. Charlotte only took two 30 minute naps yesterday and was super overtired. DH put her to bed at 6pm, before I got home. She didn't wake, but kept crying out between sleep cycles because of exhaustion, I think. She woke at 3am, so nice long stretch, but was up for an hour getting up on all fours, yelling "ba ba ba ba" and sometimes crying. Pretty sure she and Elsie are trading notes on how to best frustrate your mom when learning something new.

I went to bed super early - 8pm - but didn't fall aslep until 10pm. I awoke at 12:58am (I remember!) and was pretty much awake the rest of the morning. It SUCKED. I'm so so tired and I have tons of appointments today at work. I need to get this insomnia under control. Just one more week until I see my midwife about it. Blah. Can you die of sleep deprivation? Alliss, you're still alive so I'm hopeful you can't

 

[MrsPear]

I shouldn't laugh but it does make me smile that our babies do the cutest things at the most inappropriate times. I had to smile at Elsie standing up in the cot, and now at Charlotte yelling ba ba ba ba ba on all fours. I do still feel sorry for you both though.

Sorry you didn't get any sleep Noelle, that really sucks. I am job hunting at the moment and I am not sure how I will cope! I think you do very well working and looking after Charlotte every night.

I can't even remember how Joni slept. She was up at 11:51 I know that because I hate it when she doesn't make it to midnight! After that I think she did 3 hours which is not too bad, and then up more after that so that's pretty standard really. OH is off today so it makes it a lot better (although he's in a really bad mood and I'm just not feeling sympathetic so I did slam the door on him earlier but unfortunately I don't think he noticed!).

I did a really awful thing yesterday and was getting stuff to change her nappy and Joni rolled off the sofa. It was so awful. I don't feel like I can complain about her any more when I did that. The poor girl.

xx

 

[Noelle610]

MrsPear, you can and should laugh! It's the only thing that keeps me going

You will be fine when you go back to work. In some ways it's less exhausting than caring for a baby and it's nice to have adult time. I just don't want to talk to anyone today, so that's why I am complaining!

If I told you how many times Charlotte had fallen off the couch, bed, whatever, you would call social services on me. I think it's a right of passage for a new mom!

 

[mrsbeano]

MrsPear, you can and should laugh! It's the only thing that keeps me going

You will be fine when you go back to work. In some ways it's less exhausting than caring for a baby and it's nice to have adult time. I just don't want to talk to anyone today, so that's why I am complaining!

If I told you how many times Charlotte had fallen off the couch, bed, whatever, you would call social services on me. I think it's a right of passage for a new mom!

Insomnia is not good. The only thing I've found to help me is to get up and do some kind of job to completely stop me thinking about his sleep so I may be cleaning the kitchen floor at 3am but by the time I'm done I'm knackered and go back to sleep. It just clears my head x

 

[jessicatunnel]

Last night was HORRIBLE.
DH was sick last week and stayed away from me and Lilly as much as possible but I still managed to catch it and now I've passed it on to my poor baby.
She went to bed at 6:30 last night and woke up about 5 times between 630 and 9pm. At 9pm she would NOT go back down, she refused so much! And she wouldn't take a bottle because she couldn't breathe out of her poor little stuffy nose. At 930 we ended up taking her to bed with us. She fell asleep almost instantly and slept for a good 30 minutes. Then DH sneezed and she woke up screaming. I got her to sleep again, and DH either kept moving, talking in his sleep, or the dog kept scratching and his collar rattled. So Lilly kept waking up and at 1130pm I ended up taking her into her room and set her in her crib. She moved around a little, rolled to her side, pulled her blanket on her face and went to sleep. I thought, "Well that was easy!" And she slept from 1130 to 430 so that was a nice long stretch. She woke up at 430 and it took me an hour to get her to go back to sleep. She was still having trouble breathing out of her nose. She woke about four or five times between 530 and 730. She was up for the day at 730. She's sitting next to me playing and if you could just hear her breathing it would break your heart. She sounds awful and I feel so sorry for her!

Is there anything I can do to help unclog her nose and get her breathing better? I tried the suction bulb thing but it just keeps getting stuffy again. :/

I'm so so tired this morning. This is going to be a LONG day.

 

[Noelle610]

Jessica, so sorry! That sounds like such an awful night, similar to our recent experience with Charlotte and the epic double ear infection.

Our pediatrician told us not to use the nasal aspirator, suprisingly. He recommended saline solution (you can get it for babies at the drug store). He sais a nasal aspirator will dry them out and can cause damage if used too frequently. I would also prop up the head of Lilly's crib. I placed a thick beach towel underneith. That way her sinuses can drain a little bit. Baby Vick's on the chest and feet works well. If you have a humidifier, crank it up on high and put it in her room. Before bed, I would bath Charlotte in her baby bath in our bathroom with the shower turned on super hot (away from her) so that the room go super steamy. This will really clear her out and help her take a good feed before bed.

Hope that helps - good luck! Hope the whole family feels better. Both DH and I are sick at the moment too, unfortunately.

 

[jessicatunnel]

Jessica, so sorry! That sounds like such an awful night, similar to our recent experience with Charlotte and the epic double ear infection.

Our pediatrician told us not to use the nasal aspirator, suprisingly. He recommended saline solution (you can get it for babies at the drug store). He sais a nasal aspirator will dry them out and can cause damage if used too frequently. I would also prop up the head of Lilly's crib. I placed a thick beach towel underneith. That way her sinuses can drain a little bit. Baby Vick's on the chest and feet works well. If you have a humidifier, crank it up on high and put it in her room. Before bed, I would bath Charlotte in her baby bath in our bathroom with the shower turned on super hot (away from her) so that the room go super steamy. This will really clear her out and help her take a good feed before bed.

Hope that helps - good luck! Hope the whole family feels better. Both DH and I are sick at the moment too, unfortunately.

Thanks so much for that! I just sat with her in the bathroom with the shower running and it cleared up her nose a lot. She ate properly and I put her in her boppy for her nap so that she's elevated. I feel so sorry for her. I hate seeing my baby sick.

 

[Noelle610]

I know, it's the worst! Glad the steamy bathroom helped

 

[bananaz]

Noelle - Hahah, oh god, I'm sorry! Thankfully babbling seems to be the one milestone that hasn't affected Elsie's sleep, but with the getting on all fours thing it sounds like Charlotte's getting ready to crawl? Oy. Lots of luck to you, I hope she works through things quickly!

MrsPear - Like Noelle said, I think falling off of stuff is really a baby rite of passage. Try not to beat yourself up about it (easier said than done, I know)

Jessica - I'm so sorry you and Lilly are sick and had such a difficult night I agree with Noelle about the saline solution and the humidifier. I've also found that using saline with the Nosefrida is a lot more effective than using a bulb aspirator, plus it just goes at the entrance to the nostril so you're not shoving anything up into their nose.


After the rough time everyone else had, I'm almost embarrassed to admit that last night was amazing for us. I put Elsie down awake at 6:40 and she sat and played with her frogs for a bit before finally falling asleep at 7pm. Then she slept until 4am! I fed her and put her back down but she was wide awake and didn't fall back asleep until 4:45. She slept another 2 hours and was up for the day at 6:45.

I'm very skeptical about this becoming an actual pattern, however, because I think she's going through some kind of crazy growth spurt. She's been unbelievably fussy and difficult the past couple of days and has been eating nonstop. I guess we'll see if the good sleep continues once she gets back to normal (which will be soon I hope, I don't know how much more of the yelling and grumpiness I can take)

 

[Noelle610]

Go Elsie! Your victory gives us hope Bananaz!

 

[Shadowy Lady]

Noelle - I'm sorry about the terrible night. I can so relate to insomnia...it's really painful to go through and I cannot imagine how u do it AND work too...

Mrs Pear - don't worry hun I hear everyone's baby will fall off the couch/sofa at some point. I nearly dropped Sofia today but caught her last minute. My cousin's 13 year old rolled off the changing table when she was 6 months old and knocked off the two teeth she did have. Trust me she's ok and does not remember the incident.

Jessica - I'm so sorry Lilly got a cold sweetie it happened to us a few weeks ago and it was awful sleepwise. I did find giving her a steam bath before bed and clearing her nose plus having the humidifier on in her room did help. Maybe try these tonight? I also gave Sofia a dose of baby tylenol before bed when she was sick too...

oh and I typed all this before seeing Noelle recommending the same, hahaha

Bananaz - that's amazing hun! Enjoy your rest and hope the new trends sticks. You totally deserve the rest

Last night was ok for us. The good news is that the modified Ferber is working great for us. Now I'm able to feed Sofia, put her down drowsy and she sleeps with no fuss in 5-10 mins. She did that last night too and slept at 8:30pm. She woke up for her feed at 3 am but I woke up at 12 randomly and didn't go back to sleep till she woke up....arghhhhhhhhh!!! After her 3 am feed, she slept again till 6:30 am, had another feed and then up at 9 am for the day.

Why on Earth do I wake up when she's sleeping???? I'm so tired today and I have a Zoomba class in like 30 mins :/