Rant - Feeling so hopeless about sleep!

[MiniKiwi]

And now I only have 1.5 hours of potential sleep left as a best case scenario. Bleh.

I hate thinking this way! I always just get up for the day if I have that little time left as I know I won't sleep thinking about it. Hope Elsie gives you a break. I love your new picture, she's such a sweetie

 

[MiniKiwi]

Sorry Mia's been waking up a lot. I totally know what you mean being a zombie in the morning. What I find has helped is when Sofia wakes up at around 7:30 am or so, I just bring her to our bed, feed her there and we take a nap together. Usually I get a solid 2 hour nap then and am energized for the rest of the day even if the night was crappy....

She wakes up for the day around 6am these days. She's seriously such a wild child, SO full on, chatting and constantly busy. There's zero hope of her going back to sleep after that 6am waking haha! I'm so thankful we're not rocking her to sleep any more though, I just have to keep reminding myself of that and that I shouldn't complain about anything she does so long as the no-rocking thing continues

 

[bananaz]

She wakes up for the day around 6am these days. She's seriously such a wild child, SO full on, chatting and constantly busy. There's zero hope of her going back to sleep after that 6am waking haha! I'm so thankful we're not rocking her to sleep any more though, I just have to keep reminding myself of that and that I shouldn't complain about anything she does so long as the no-rocking thing continues

Same with Elsie - once she's up at 6am she's up! I can bring her into bed with me and buy a few minutes of lying-down time while she nurses but after that she's hitting me in the face, crawling over me, screeching, etc.

It's awesome that you don't have to rock anymore. I just finally stopped bouncing her few weeks ago and it's been great, though bending over the crib and patting isn't a lot of fun either.

 

[MiniKiwi]

It's awesome that you don't have to rock anymore. I just finally stopped bouncing her few weeks ago and it's been great, though bending over the crib and patting isn't a lot of fun either.

Ha ha! Hope you can end with the patting soon then. Anything beats rocking imo! My 22lb LO was needing hours of rocking a day and some days I'd just rock and cry with frustration. Now I just lie down with her while she rolls about and yells and half an hour later with some shhhing and cuddling she drops off.. Oh my god, it's BLISS

 

[Aimee1003]

Mini and Bananaz- U think rocking was bad??? Lol.If Coleton won't go to sleep nursing, I have to stand up, hold him in a cradle hold, and jog in place. No joke... I tried every type of rocking. Didn't work. I did run until I was 30 weeks pregnant so I wonder...

 

[bananaz]

Mini and Bananaz- U think rocking was bad??? Lol.If Coleton won't go to sleep nursing, I have to stand up, hold him in a cradle hold, and jog in place. No joke... I tried every type of rocking. Didn't work. I did run until I was 30 weeks pregnant so I wonder...

Haha that's awful! Hmm, maybe I should try to see if going on the elliptical puts Elsie to sleep?

 

[MiniKiwi]

Yeah when I say 'rocking' I mean in a cradle hold and pacing the house pretty quickly, but not running lol! Still a steady pace was the best method. Up to 9 hours a day though is how bad it got..sometimes bed time took 5 hours and then an hour + for her naps I was going out of my mind

 

[Aimee1003]

Yeah when I say 'rocking' I mean in a cradle hold and pacing the house pretty quickly, but not running lol! Still a steady pace was the best method. Up to 9 hours a day though is how bad it got..sometimes bed time took 5 hours and then an hour + for her naps I was going out of my mind

Oh my!!! I would have gone crazy.

 

[libbylou]

Yeah when I say 'rocking' I mean in a cradle hold and pacing the house pretty quickly, but not running lol! Still a steady pace was the best method. Up to 9 hours a day though is how bad it got..sometimes bed time took 5 hours and then an hour + for her naps I was going out of my mind

You brave strong woman! My LO was taking up to 3 hours to rock/nurse to sleep at bedtime (except she mostly screamed while I tried to rock/nurse her) and I ended up sleep training at 6 months because the crying (from both of us) and lack of sleep (for both of us) was killing us!

 

[jessicatunnel]

Eeeeeek, Libby, socitycourty, shadowylady, minikiwi, so sorry you guys didn't get much rest! Big hugs!

 

[MiniKiwi]

You brave strong woman! My LO was taking up to 3 hours to rock/nurse to sleep at bedtime (except she mostly screamed while I tried to rock/nurse her) and I ended up sleep training at 6 months because the crying (from both of us) and lack of sleep (for both of us) was killing us!

Yeah, it would have been SO much harder if LO cried but she mostly was ok, just sprung awake the moment I put her down or woke up 10 minutes later. We got vip treatment and our own room when LO was in hospital because the nurses felt sorry for me walking her back to sleep for 2 hours every time another kid in the room cried and woke her up lol.

I'll admit that I used to judge mums who sleep trained but not anymore after our experience, you just do what you have to to get by. LO's sleep was starting to affect my relationship with her and with my OH and we said when we got back from holiday we'd consider sleep training. Did she hear us? She stopped needing rocking while we were on holiday

 

[lysh]

lol...I had to laugh while reading what some of you ladies go through to get your LOs to sleep. I know during those moments NONE of us is laughing (probably crying inside), but one day when we finally STTN we might look back on these days and giggle a little. The things we go through for our LOs!!!!

I have lucked out the last few nights- Last night, LO woke up once at 11:30 and then again at 4:30- the breathing monitor went off because she rolled off of it. Who knows if she would have slept longer, that thing is freaking loud!!! I nursed her in hopes she would go back to sleep, but it was not happening. Like many of you, my LO likes to wake up early.

 

[lysh]

You brave strong woman! My LO was taking up to 3 hours to rock/nurse to sleep at bedtime (except she mostly screamed while I tried to rock/nurse her) and I ended up sleep training at 6 months because the crying (from both of us) and lack of sleep (for both of us) was killing us!

Yeah, it would have been SO much harder if LO cried but she mostly was ok, just sprung awake the moment I put her down or woke up 10 minutes later. We got vip treatment and our own room when LO was in hospital because the nurses felt sorry for me walking her back to sleep for 2 hours every time another kid in the room cried and woke her up lol.

I'll admit that I used to judge mums who sleep trained but not anymore after our experience, you just do what you have to to get by. LO's sleep was starting to affect my relationship with her and with my OH and we said when we got back from holiday we'd consider sleep training. Did she hear us? She stopped needing rocking while we were on holiday

It is funny you said that, because I never thought I would sleep train either (other than using gentle methods) but every baby/situation is different and when dealing with severe cases where gentle methods DO NOT work (and honestly, even sleep training has not been a magic cure for us, but it helped a lot) we do what we have to do.

 

[lysh]

She wakes up for the day around 6am these days. She's seriously such a wild child, SO full on, chatting and constantly busy. There's zero hope of her going back to sleep after that 6am waking haha! I'm so thankful we're not rocking her to sleep any more though, I just have to keep reminding myself of that and that I shouldn't complain about anything she does so long as the no-rocking thing continues

Same with Elsie - once she's up at 6am she's up! I can bring her into bed with me and buy a few minutes of lying-down time while she nurses but after that she's hitting me in the face, crawling over me, screeching, etc.

It's awesome that you don't have to rock anymore. I just finally stopped bouncing her few weeks ago and it's been great, though bending over the crib and patting isn't a lot of fun either.

I go through the same thing....when LO wakes up at 4:30-5, I bring her into bed HOPING she will magically go back to sleep! lol Does not happen- I get a few minutes while nursing and then she starts kicking, playing, cooing etc.! Then DH gets annoyed because at this point none of us are sleeping!

 

[MiniKiwi]

Yeah and it's very easy to judge/say you wouldn't do something when you haven't been in that situation. I so didn't want to do it but something had to change and thankfully for me, it happened by itself

 

[libbylou]

You brave strong woman! My LO was taking up to 3 hours to rock/nurse to sleep at bedtime (except she mostly screamed while I tried to rock/nurse her) and I ended up sleep training at 6 months because the crying (from both of us) and lack of sleep (for both of us) was killing us!

Yeah, it would have been SO much harder if LO cried but she mostly was ok, just sprung awake the moment I put her down or woke up 10 minutes later. We got vip treatment and our own room when LO was in hospital because the nurses felt sorry for me walking her back to sleep for 2 hours every time another kid in the room cried and woke her up lol.

I'll admit that I used to judge mums who sleep trained but not anymore after our experience, you just do what you have to to get by. LO's sleep was starting to affect my relationship with her and with my OH and we said when we got back from holiday we'd consider sleep training. Did she hear us? She stopped needing rocking while we were on holiday

I probably wouldn't have sleep trained if she didn't scream the whole time! I seriously didn't want to, but we were both exhausted and it was seriously affecting me, DH and LO with the crying and lack of sleep. I too have learned not to judge
Sleep training was obviously not a magic cure for us, but it did greatly improve her napping and now she knows how to put herself to sleep so bedtimes aren't a tearful fight and she sleeps longer than 45 mins at a time

 

[bananaz]

I probably wouldn't have sleep trained if she didn't scream the whole time!

Yes, exactly! Bedtime and naptime have never been peaceful experiences no matter what method was used. I've only done a little bit of sleep training but overall there's been a lot less crying since she learned that she can go to sleep on her own.

In other news, I think I may have accidentally put LO to bed for the night at 4:30pm. Not good

 

[jessicatunnel]

I probably wouldn't have sleep trained if she didn't scream the whole time!

Yes, exactly! Bedtime and naptime have never been peaceful experiences no matter what method was used. I've only done a little bit of sleep training but overall there's been a lot less crying since she learned that she can go to sleep on her own.

In other news, I think I may have accidentally put LO to bed for the night at 4:30pm. Not good

I've done this a few times! Sometimes her naps get so messed up that she needs that last "nap" but then she ends up staying asleep and not waking up... Luckily, the few times I've done it she still slept until 7/8am. (Obviously with night wake-ups then)

 

[libbylou]

I'm lucky with the late naps...I've had LO fall asleep for a nap as late as 4:45-5pm and sleep as late as 5:45pm and still be ready for bed at 7:30-8pm!

 

[bananaz]

Yeah her sleep was all screwy today. Her earlier naps were only a half hour long which is why I had to put her down for a third one. Normally 4:30 would be a safe bet but I guess not today! I wouldn't mind that she stayed down for the night except that she wasn't in her pajamas, hadn't had her reflux meds, was wearing the wrong diaper, etc. Oh well.