Sleep Sense Support Group!

[lyre]

does anyone else find their los get woken easily? max is a really light sleeper and he was just napping when my brother knocks on our bedroom door and barged in, bringing the noisy cat with him. needless to say max is now crying and awake..............so p*****d off. why cant people appreciate that having a baby in the house means you cant bang doors and shout. sorry, rant over. but so annoyed, he has only been asleep 30 mins and i know he wants to sleep longer.

 

[history_girls]

know the feeling. The dog shaking his ears wakes our lo up and he does it about 5 times an hour!

 

[polaris]

does anyone else find their los get woken easily? max is a really light sleeper and he was just napping when my brother knocks on our bedroom door and barged in, bringing the noisy cat with him. needless to say max is now crying and awake..............so p*****d off. why cant people appreciate that having a baby in the house means you cant bang doors and shout. sorry, rant over. but so annoyed, he has only been asleep 30 mins and i know he wants to sleep longer.

So annoying!! And then if you say it to people, I find you normally get a lecture about how 'you shouldn't tiptoe round them, my LO slept through any noise' etc etc.

 

[jacs]

Yes! Why should they have to sleep through loads of noise? It's not their fault they need to nap!
I've always found Evan sleeps when he has to anyway, like in his pram, even though we always have the house quiet. I don't think it is necessary to 'get them used to it' (just know someone's going to prove me wrong!).

Evan's been a little angel today - no tears at all before naps and bedtime. Not even winding down noises, just fidgeting! It's just lovely to have my happy little boy back, things changed around 12 weeks, and he's always been a bit grumpy since then - changing moods in an instant. Now, he's just so calm and contented.

 

[history_girls]

Ok think I am first to report on bedtime!

OH came in, took LO an read her aloud the sleepsense book (only the relevant bits) we were determined to succeed tonight despite the set backs last night and today. I've put the dummies in the shed at the end of the garden and I'm not going out there at 4.30am!

So did bath, bottle (keeping her awake) and into bed. Still awake - not wide cooing awake but most definately awake. I sit on the chair with a crossword to distract me, oh settles on the floor.

Within 3 minutes of putting nunu in her mouth and on her head she is asleep without a wimper! a few tired moans but in a cute way.

I know it is early but to get her asleep on her own without a dummy is brilliant!

Just need to deal with when she wakes up - we set a min of 5 mins before we go to her.

i think she saw her daddy reading the book and knew he meant business!

How is it going for everyone else?

I'll prob be back in an hour sobbing as she wakes and screams for an hour!

 

[TennisGal]

Firstly

So annoying!! And then if you say it to people, I find you normally get a lecture about how 'you shouldn't tiptoe round them, my LO slept through any noise' etc etc.

One of our neighbours says this ALL the time, after barrelling into our house 'yoo-hooing' at the top of her voice. REALLY annoys me! Her children are always awake late, but I'm far too much of a wuss to come back with anything. I tend to smile weakly.

History_Girls, hope your night continues to go well

Jacs- sounds like a great day!

Second to report on bed-time!

DD was asleep at 7:45. She even napped for thirty minutes earlier (at the time she normally only has thirty minutes, so am seeing it very positively!) When she woke up, she had a little grumble rather than a big cry...fingers crossed. Not sure it will go smoothly, but made me feel a lot bette

 

[jacs]

Wow, that's brilliant HG! It's such an unbelievable feeling, bet you feel so proud of your LO (and yourself!). If you ever have setbacks, just remember tonight, and that you can all do it!

We had a similar bedtime, just went out like a light!

TG - got everything crossed for you!!

Hope everyone else is doing OK

 

[flowers04]

Hello

HG - well done with the dummy - i haven't given the dummy at all but i have said to myself that if she is really unsettled in the car or when we are out and about then i will give it - not happened yet but sure it will soon

well lo had her first nap at 11.30 and slept for three hours - i had to wake her at 2.30pm as we were going out - i used wake to sleep so hoping this is what extended her nap. She realy didn't want her second nap - think she went to sleep around 5ish for half an hour. I then put her to bed at 9.00 as she wasn't showing any sleepy signs until then. She was crying in my arms so i put her in the cot and within seconds she was out - yeahhhh

one question about putting lo to bed/nap - do you pat/stroke lo when you have put them in the cot - we're not at a stage where i can just put her in and let her be? i have to pat her till she's relaxed then i ease off and then just pat her occasionally - i do sing to her though - not very well but she doesn't know any better hehe

I heard that baby's sleep through noise when they are really young - as they get older they are more aware of their surroundings and wake up easily

sleep tight to all the bubbas

 

[flowers04]

ahhhh spoke to soon bubs just woke up crying

 

[TennisGal]

flowers - hope things have settled down we patted DD for a good while...and then one evening she just grabbed her thumb and closed her eyes, as if to say 'you can go now, please!'. Just kinda happens bit by bit...

 

[jacs]

We shushed in one long, quiet shush, while stroking Evan's forehead. Like TennisGal, after a bit it wasn't needed, and would totally wake him up if I did it now!

 

[polaris]

Hi girls,
just a quick update from me.
Last night went well - it took him a little while to settle down to sleep at bedtime, he wasn't crying but just not settling, that is very unusual these days as he's normally out like a light, so I went up and winded him and sure enough he let out a big burp that I'd obviously missed and then straight off to sleep. Just woke for the one feed at 3 a.m. - I actually am really starting to enjoy our 3 a.m. feeds now that I know I will only be up once with him (fingers crossed!!). He is really snuggly and cuddly at night and much less distractible than he is during the day - I will be a little bit sad when he does drop his night feed - does anyone else feel like this or am I just a bit weird?

He does seem to be getting a lot better at going down for his naps without too much protest too. He got up at 7 this morning and was able to stay up for two hours, I brought him upstairs at five to nine, he did cry while I was putting him in his sleeping bag but stopped as soon as I put him in the cot and was asleep really quickly! I think as other people have said, that he likes the predictability of knowing what's coming, he understands now that when I put him in his cot it's time for sleep.

I'm finding it hard to keep track of everyone -
HistoryGirls - A huge big well done to you and your LO - that's amazing that you got her to fall asleep so quickly with no dummy. As you say even if she did wake up an hour later it is still huge progress - shows that you will get there in the end! LOL at your OH reading her the sleepsense book!
Flowers04 - when Thomas was just learning to settle himself at bedtime I always used to stay with him until I found that he didn't seem to want me there anymore - he would turn his head away from me completely and do his own thing and I also found that I was waking him when I was leaving the room. I didn't start leaving the room until I was confident that he could settle himself. What you are doing sounds perfect and you will be able to phase it out as your LO gets better at settling herself.
Jacs - I agree, it is so nice to see how much happier my LO is now that he is getting decent sleep. He never slept well when he was younger either (bad wind problems) so I actually think he has been chronically overtired for his whole life until now. He is such a smiley happy boy now, he just makes me feel so happy all the time!
TennisGal - hope your night went well - sounds like you are starting to crack bedtime anyway!
Hope everyone else is doing well too!

 

[lyre]

polaris, i think i will miss the night feed as well x

 

[bloodbinds]

Hey all, gosh so much has happened since two days ago! Lol.

Well first night was a total failure where i just gave in and let her comfort feed on the breast.

But last night went really well! Did bedtime routine, kept her nice and awake and she went down in her cot awake, didn't even scream just lay awake in the cot for about 15 minutes until she drifted off which was nice

Then in the middle of the night she woke after 3 hours and cried but settled again, but then woke every 15 minutes kind of whinging/crying so decided to give her a feed, then after that feed she woke once more but managed to resettle herself quite quickly, then woke at 8, so had a good 7 hours sleep pretty much straight! :-D
Going to see if we can improve on that tonight

 

[polaris]

Hey all, gosh so much has happened since two days ago! Lol.

Well first night was a total failure where i just gave in and let her comfort feed on the breast.

But last night went really well! Did bedtime routine, kept her nice and awake and she went down in her cot awake, didn't even scream just lay awake in the cot for about 15 minutes until she drifted off which was nice

Then in the middle of the night she woke after 3 hours and cried but settled again, but then woke every 15 minutes kind of whinging/crying so decided to give her a feed, then after that feed she woke once more but managed to resettle herself quite quickly, then woke at 8, so had a good 7 hours sleep pretty much straight! :-D
Going to see if we can improve on that tonight

Aw that's brilliant news! Well done Bella!! and well done to you too!

I was hoping that it would work quickly for her because it just sounded so similar to what I was experiencing with Thomas. I'm so pleased for you.

 

[Elski]

Morning girls, how are you all doing?

Today I'm going to talk to OH about sleepsense and get him to check out the website and see if he agrees it's something we should try. I'll also get him to read through this thread too

Polaris - I reckon I'd definitely miss the night feed, it's precious snuggle time! It's great that Thomas seems to be getting better at naps too.

HG - congrats on the dummy, it must feel like such an achievement!

Jacs - glad you got your smiley, happy little boy back

Hello TennisGal, Lyre, Flowers and BloodBinds

I'm really anxious about trying sleepsense, if I'm honest, as I read all these posts about all the crying and how it makes you lot cry and get stressed and I just wonder how I'm going to deal with it all

 

[bloodbinds]

Hey all, gosh so much has happened since two days ago! Lol.

Well first night was a total failure where i just gave in and let her comfort feed on the breast.

But last night went really well! Did bedtime routine, kept her nice and awake and she went down in her cot awake, didn't even scream just lay awake in the cot for about 15 minutes until she drifted off which was nice

Then in the middle of the night she woke after 3 hours and cried but settled again, but then woke every 15 minutes kind of whinging/crying so decided to give her a feed, then after that feed she woke once more but managed to resettle herself quite quickly, then woke at 8, so had a good 7 hours sleep pretty much straight! :-D
Going to see if we can improve on that tonight

Aw that's brilliant news! Well done Bella!! and well done to you too!

I was hoping that it would work quickly for her because it just sounded so similar to what I was experiencing with Thomas. I'm so pleased for you.

Thanks! I hoped it would work quickly too, Thomas gave me hope!! Lol.

 

[Cattia]

OK ladies, so I am coming to this group a little late as I see you're mostly already doing this programme, but I am in the dark. I see this is working for lots of you but what actually is this programme andhow does it work? I have had a look at the website and it seems I have to purchase the programme. What does this mean? If I buy it,what do I get and have you all paid for it, and is it worth it? Abigail is going through a growth spurt right now so her sleeping has gone to pot anyway,but she has never woken less than twice in the night and she also wont nap for more than 40 minutes unless I rock her moses basket.Will this programmehelp with that? My friend who has a baby the ame age is kind of pushing me to leave her to cry for longer but I am not so sure?Any info greatly appreciated!

 

[lyre]

Elski, I was really anxious about the crying too, but it wasn't that bad, infact he has cried less this week than he usually did before i started the programme. thing is, if you dont try it, you wont know if it could have worked for you. you can always quit if its not right for you and try again when she is a bit older. i found max couldnt calm himself down that quickly at 3 months, its only in the last few weeks that he can stop crying without it escalating, so i think we did it at the right time for us. love your lo name by the way x

 

[polaris]

Elski, I was really anxious about the crying too, but it wasn't that bad, infact he has cried less this week than he usually did before i started the programme. thing is, if you dont try it, you wont know if it could have worked for you. you can always quit if its not right for you and try again when she is a bit older. i found max couldnt calm himself down that quickly at 3 months, its only in the last few weeks that he can stop crying without it escalating, so i think we did it at the right time for us. love your lo name by the way x

I would agree with this. I think that the timing was right for us too and Thomas was just ready to learn these skills. I don't think we could really have done it much earlier because his wind was still too much of a problem for him.

Cattia - if you buy the programme, you get a pretty comprehensive manual that is broken down into different ages (0-3, 3-6, etc.) and covers all the issues like bedtime routine, night wakings, naps, etc. You also get access to online videos explaining how the programme works and planning and recording sheets to track your progress. I have bought LOADS of books about sleep but this is the first one that has actually worked for me, it helps you troubleshoot and gives really clear step-by-step instructions of what to do. I feel like a salesperson but honestly it is money well-spent in my experience. I would put it up there with the bouncy chair in my 'best buys for baby' list.