Rant - Feeling so hopeless about sleep!

[Noelle610]

Sunnie, those MOTN parties are killer! I do think they're mostly developmental and pass quickly.

Shadowy Lady, I am so pleased to hear that things are looking up for you

Charlotte is really ill with the tummy flu at the moment. Projectile vomit everywhere. Reminds me of her newborn days, good times! She refused to nap more than 20 minutes at a time yesterday when DH was with her at home and that's unusual for her. She would fall asleep in is arms and he would try to put her down, she would wake up. She loves to be held when she's sick. Our night wasn't terrible though. I put her down early, at 6pm, and she woke at 10pm to puke and then cuddle. She then slept until 5am, so a nice long stretch for both of us, when she woke up for a cuddle. Then up for the day at 6:30am. She fell asleep in my arms at 8am and is sleeping in her crib now, so who knows what the day will bring. I'm just gonna let her sleep wherever, whenever.

 

[libbylou]

Will try to play catch up later...been MIA lately. LO is getting really grabby with the computer so I can't really use it when she's awake and my meds are making me so tired that I end up in bed early every night

Sleep has been so-so
Naps are going pretty well...she's generally doing two one hour naps a day
Night is not so great...she tends to have a 4-6 hour stretch at the beginning of the night and then after that she might decide to have a MOTN party or she just wakes constantly, like every hour or two. She doesn't always need me, she will often resettle after a few mins of crying...but she cries just enough to wake me up constantly

On the bright side, LO's personality has been absolutely sunny the past week. She's generally a high needs fusspot, but she's been pretty happy all week and while she's still having meltdowns, they are understandable meltdowns and aren't happening constantly.

 

[socitycourty]

glad you're doing ok!

 

[Noelle610]

Libby, glad you are okay as well

Sounds like a nice stretch at the beginning of the night.... Hopefully the rest of the evening will catch up soon! I find those wakings when they resettle themselves to be hard, too, because they do really wake you and you're just "waiting". So glad to hear your LO has been sunny! Isn't that just the best? Certainly makes the sleepless nights a tad easier.

 

[Sunnie1984]

Mrspear - Joni is just such a cutie!

And yes, BBQ in a flat! Idiots! Apparently a spark blew off the balcony and set fire to someone's garden furniture on the balcony below

So no real risk to us, but a pain in the backside anyway! It was about a month's worth of daily workout, my calves are still in agony!

Shadowy Lady - I hope our MOTN parties pass soon, although we didn't have one last night which is a plus! Glad you got some girlie time and that sleeping still seems to be consistent for Sofia.

Noelle - So sorry that Charlotte is ill, poor little thing! Although she's sleeping so well considering she's so sick. I hope it passes quickly for you both.

Libbylou - Glad naps are going well, hopefully it'll translate into good sleeps too. Good on her for the resettling though, even though it keeps you awake.

I love sunny periods, it just makes the bad sleeping a little easier to bear.


We did great last night. I put a bowl of eucalyptus oil in Seren's room to help her sleep. She woke up at 10:30pm looking for her dummy (DH put her to bed with it in which never works!). So I had to sit with her with the dummy in until she settled, then took it off her and she found her thumb instead, and back into bed.

Then she STTN until 6:30am then napped again until 7am.

She seems to only be able to do 1.5 hours before her morning nap at the moment. I'm hoping that will move out again once she's caught up on some sleep. Although with WW26 around the corner I doubt it!

x

 

[Boo44]

Hi all, Jack has developed a dry cough the past few days which seems to be waking him at 6.20 on the dot and he'll then cough the whole time! As soon as he's up it goes Does anyone have any tips for helping this cough? I've raised the head of his bed slightly.

Sunnie would eucalyptus oil in a bowl help do you think?

He's also taken to having a dirty nappy at this point as well the past 2 mornings Just feel like there's always something...

 

[AngelUK]

Boo you didn't ask me but I think a humidifier with some ethereal oils could well help the cough. As for waking at 6:20, is it possible that he hears the alarm of a neighbour at the time? And when did he usually wake? My boys usually have a dirty nappy when waking but I gather that them having a poo several times a day isn't the norm so I cannot really advise you there. xx

 

[Boo44]

Thanks angel! Noelle mentioned a humidifier before, do you know where I can get one in the UK?
Jack tends to sleep until around 7.30 usually, often with one wake up around 6.30 where I either leave him or pop his dummy in. Recently he started waking at 5.45!! Usually he'd go back to sleep with his dummy then too. Since he's had this (very mild) cold the past 2 days he's slept til 6.20-6.30 which is better! But then coughs the whole time. I can tell he's still tired as he's moaning for sleep. And actually I think he is still mainly asleep when he's coughing!

With the poo thing though this morning I've changed him and brought him into our bed. He'd usually try and escape but this morning I'm getting a gorgeous cuddle and he's gone back to sleep! It's 8am now. I'm wide awake as he's still coughing intermittently lol

Funny you should say that about the poo, since solids Jack has gone at least twice a day! And 2 days ago he went 6 times!!! Now this new habit of pooing when he wakes early. Argh x

 

[AngelUK]

I guess the poo thing is different for Jack if you BF? With formula it is normal that babies go several times a day, so I am kinda used to it but 6 times is a lot! He probably thought it would be a lovely treat for you
As for humidifiers, I don't have one but am thinking of getting one. My first port of call is always Amazon as I like reading the reviews. But this time I have to say I am not convinced one way or the other. Very mixed reviews on the whole. Maybe the other ladies have a good recommendation? For now I guess I am going for a old fashioned hanging radiator humidifier like this one from Robert Dyas.. I remember that my mum used this for us when we were kids

 

[MrsPear]

Boo I think Argos do humidifiers.

Sunnie, that's great that you got a good night in the end!!

Libby it sounds like you're still not really getting a good stretch of sleep at night even if you don't have to resettle you're still being woken, I hope it gets better soon. A happier baby when awake though is a good thing!

As for me...meh! I'm thinking of switching to formula, I know people say it doesnt work but I'll give anything a go right now x

 

[Boo44]

Thanks guys! Angel, jack has been on formula since 6 weeks so maybe this poo thing is just normal lol. He's been exploring a lot of different foods lately so that could explain it. Plus doesn't teething cause funny poos?!

Thanks for the humidifier tips everyone. Have been to boots and got him some baby tixylix and will try the olbas in his bath tonight x

 

[bananaz]

Haven't had a chance to read through everyone's posts yet but things are worse than ever here

The first night of our trip she went to bed an hour and a half late but in spite of that she only woke up twice at her normal times and then got up for the day at 6:30 so that was okay, but from there everything went in a massive downward spiral. The next night (the one before my interview) I tried to put her to bed on time but it took over an hour of screaming to get her to sleep and then she woke up every 3 hours before getting up for the day at 5:30am. The night after that was pretty much the same except she decided to get up at 5am. We got home yesterday so I was hoping things would improve but instead she woke every 1-2 hours and then got up for the day at 4:45.

To make things even worse I haven't been able to settle her at night without feeding her. When we were travelling we were staying with people in an apartment with neighbors on either side so I couldn't just let her scream while I tried to pat her to sleep so now I'm terrified that she's gotten used to having all these night feedings and it's going to take me months to get rid of them again.

I seriously can't function right now. I just want to run away

 

[megangrohl]

So, lastnight was my breaking point and DF and I decided that is it, we are doing CIO and we did. Please don't judge, for those reading this thread. We tried every single other method and nothing worked and we've been going through this for 9 months. I just wanted to update with the progress we have made as CIO seems to be the best thing that has happened for our situation and our baby.

What happened to make us start CIO is she wanted to cosleep at 6:30 and I can't do that. I even had her in the crib and held her hands but she was properly freaking right out and would not settle. Usually if it is her being scared she will calm down with me or DF doing that and she wasn't so I knew she was just mad she couldn't sleep in our bed.

Not only that, but I can't go to bed that early and I can't have her repeatedly kicking, punching, kneeing me in the face, chest and stomach. Bouncing on the bed and having her head hit the wall and waking up etc. That and she is constantly moving around and I am an incredibly light sleeper so I wasn't getting any rest, which in my opinion a mother needs to be a good mom, and she needs to be broken of this habit too.

Lastnight was the first night. We put her into her crib at 6:45 and she cried until 7:45, she vomited a little bit from being too upset as she has in the past but it was a tiny amount more like a little bit of spit up.

She slept 7:45 to 2:30 and woke for 5 minutes and whimpered and put herself back to sleep until 4:30. The same thing, another 5 minutes and she slept until 5:30 and the same 5 minutes and then she was up for the day at 6:30 as usual.

Today for her first nap, she was in her crib at 8:30 this morning. She whimpered, not crying, talked a bit and fell asleep at 9:00 and slept until 9:45. This was better than we expected because lastnight was 1 hour and she normally is held, bounced and cuddled to sleep. We are doing none of that anymore. She needs to learn to self settle and I know she is capable of sttn because she will do it if she is in bed with us.

So all in all it was not too bad of an experience other than the 1 hour of crying which I read is usually worse for the parents to experience than the child. She was happy as ever at 6:30 this morning and excited to see us. So I know that this is a work in progress and is not affecting her in a totally bad way as some people think it does.

I just wanted to give some people some hope if they are doing CIO as a last resort. I find that a routine really helps, as babies like routine. But consistency I would say is the most important factor of any kind of sleep training.

Sorry for the novel I really needed to let it all out! Hope everyone elses babies are sleeping OK!

 

[AngelUK]

No judgement from me! Just and good luck!

 

[MrsPear]

Bananaz- I'm sorry it's so rough. Did your interview go okay? I think if you get back into your old routine of not feeding to sleep and are consistent with it then it shouldn't take long to go back to normal- Noelle said that she went cold turkey with the night feeds after reintroducing them for a while, and it worked for her second time round. Our girls are swapping tips it seems!

Megan, we all understand what it's like!! Sometimes I'm simply at breaking point. Last night I had to go into another room and have a scream when Joni wouldn't settle at 2am- OH said he thought there was a wild animal upstairs haha. I think you did the right thing. I have found that in 'real life' as opposed to BnB, people are much more open to sleep training and it's the generally accepted method to get your child to sleep through the night.

Magic sleep dust to everyone tonight!!! xxx

 

[Noelle610]

Bananaz, I am so sorry. Do you think the traveling just really threw Elsie off or do you think this might be the 8/9 month sleep regression? Will you consider sleep training?

Megan, good for you! I know you were feeling really desperate and it sounds like night 1 was a success. I would just stick with it. Consistency is key. If you can give it a week, I bet things will vastly improve. Give lots of cuddles during the day so that Lilly knows you are there for her, but she learns to sleep on her own

 

[MrsPear]

Well this is it!! From tonight I am shhh-patting (or whatever it is called) joni to sleep. I put her down after feeding and a cuddle but not quite asleep and it took 45 minutes to stop her crying but we got there. I have put a chair by the cot. I am not saying I won't feed her or go to her in the night, just that when she goes to sleep, it's in her cot not my arms. I would bed share but to be honest she is so against sleeping anywhere except my arms that I think I may as well put her in the cot and she'll be just as happy/unhappy there as next to me. To be honest I thought it would take longer to get her to sleep this evening (I planned to reassess after 90mins and psyched myself up to keep calm till then haha) so I feel very encouraged. Wish me luck!!!

 

[Boo44]

Good luck Megan sounds like night 1 was successful. I really hope this vastly improves things for you, you deserve it! X

 

[Noelle610]

Well this is it!! From tonight I am shhh-patting (or whatever it is called) joni to sleep. I put her down after feeding and a cuddle but not quite asleep and it took 45 minutes to stop her crying but we got there. I have put a chair by the cot. I am not saying I won't feed her or go to her in the night, just that when she goes to sleep, it's in her cot not my arms. I would bed share but to be honest she is so against sleeping anywhere except my arms that I think I may as well put her in the cot and she'll be just as happy/unhappy there as next to me. To be honest I thought it would take longer to get her to sleep this evening (I planned to reassess after 90mins and psyched myself up to keep calm till then haha) so I feel very encouraged. Wish me luck!!!

Good luck! For many, sleep training at the beginning of the night translates to fewer wakings in the night. Hope it works out that way for you

 

[bananaz]

Bananaz- I'm sorry it's so rough. Did your interview go okay? I think if you get back into your old routine of not feeding to sleep and are consistent with it then it shouldn't take long to go back to normal- Noelle said that she went cold turkey with the night feeds after reintroducing them for a while, and it worked for her second time round. Our girls are swapping tips it seems!

I think the interview went okay, thankfully a little caffeine and a lot of nerves were enough to perk me up. And I hope you're right about things going back to normal. I do plan on cutting all those extra feedings cold turkey, she hasn't needed them in months so I don't see why she would suddenly need them now. Hopefully she'll agree with this assessment and just give them up on her own

Good luck with the shush-patting, it sounds like you're off to a great start already! I can't imagine trying to go to sleep with somebody patting me but that is one of the few effective techniques for Elsie too. I guess those baby brains just work differently

Bananaz, I am so sorry. Do you think the traveling just really threw Elsie off or do you think this might be the 8/9 month sleep regression? Will you consider sleep training?

It feels like it was the traveling and the change of environment, or at least that's what I'm telling myself because I'm not willing to go through another sleep regression! I'm going to give her a couple of days to see if she readjusts to her old routine but if she continues with this there is definitely sleep training in our future. I don't have the physical/mental resources to be up all night with her when I don't have any help and when I don't get any breaks during the day either. Hopefully it won't get to that point though.