Sleep Sense Support Group!

[history_girls]

Hiya Ladies!

Well the night continued well! Up at 1.30 for milk. half an hour to self settle with no crying or dummy up for the day at ten to six!!

Brilliant!

Hope others went welll

Naps today have been a different issue!

 

[flowers04]

we didn't have a good night last night - she just kept crying and crying and when she did fall asleep it was for a short period only and then she was crying again - bless her - she ended up in our bed again - sure enough she was out like a light

back to the cot tonight though

Polaris - i would defo miss the night feeds - if she ever gives them up lol - they are so much more chilled out

well done everyone else - hope everyones naps are going well today

Cattia - yes we have all purchased the programme - it works out to be about £30 but i read that someone purchased it for less when you go through facebook

it is hard for the first couple of nights from what everyone has said - i haven't carried out yet as stated in the book - but am using bits and pieces and that is working - i think it is worth the money as she explains everything step by step and also includes how to tackle problems. Have a look on the website there is a lot of info on there - please ask anymore questions if you need to

 

[history_girls]

Flowers04 - I was like this the night before but went back to the drawing board and started again and she went well. Probably a fluke

Nap is still a disaster - had to walk her to my mums house to get sleep this morning, now in travel cot screaming house down.

Better stop by 4 - the rugby's on!

 

[bloodbinds]

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.

I agree too.

Up until last night i though Bella would just cry and cry until she got herself into a right state, like she usually does. But have learnt that exactly, she just cries to see if she can get my attention, and after 10 heartbreaking minutes she thinks 'Ok, i actually am really tired, i'm just going to go to sleep now. My fist will have to do instead of the breast' - lol.

It's a bit of a miracle.

Also, Bella hasn't seem interested in napping today? Not good :-/

 

[Cattia]

Thanks for the advice ladies, I just have a couple more questions:

1) Abigail already puts herself to sleep at night, I put her down awake and she self settles, but she won't sleep through yet. Will the programme still be able to help her sleep through?

2) She also goes down no trouble for naps in her moses basket, but she will not sleep for longer than 45 minutes unless I rock her basket. Will it help with this?

If you think the programme can help with these two issues even in a baby who already knows how to self settle but just doesn't do it when she wakes up after sleeping, I would gladly buy it!

Thanks again.

 

[Wombat]

Hi girls!

Just ordered the sleep sence package.
Will be trying it out tonight. I am rwally desperate for a good nights sleep.

 

[polaris]

Thanks for the advice ladies, I just have a couple more questions:

1) Abigail already puts herself to sleep at night, I put her down awake and she self settles, but she won't sleep through yet. Will the programme still be able to help her sleep through?

2) She also goes down no trouble for naps in her moses basket, but she will not sleep for longer than 45 minutes unless I rock her basket. Will it help with this?

If you think the programme can help with these two issues even in a baby who already knows how to self settle but just doesn't do it when she wakes up after sleeping, I would gladly buy it!

Thanks again.

Thomas was already able to self-settle at bedtime when I started, but was waking every two hours during the night - it has definitely helped hugely with that although he doesn't sleep through, he still has one night feed but I think he still needs it for the moment.

Can't really answer for the naps as I'm still working on that.

 

[polaris]

Hi girls!

Just ordered the sleep sence package.
Will be trying it out tonight. I am rwally desperate for a good nights sleep.

Good luck! Let us know how it's going, it's hard at the beginning so just ask if you have any questions!

 

[polaris]

How is everyone getting on today with naps? Things are not going great here - he is definitely getting much better at settling down for his nap in the cot without crying - but we are still only getting 45 minute naps.

I'm not able to leave him when he wakes up after 45 minutes - I can leave him for 5 or 10 minutes if he's just grizzling but when he starts to cry I have decided I am just going to get him up - I can't leave him in the cot crying - it just feels wrong. I left him for 15 minutes when he woke from his morning nap, 10 minutes of grizzling and then about 5 minutes of crying, when I went up and got him there were real tears streaming down his face, I felt so awful. His lunchtime nap was only an hour - I was sure he would sleep for longer when he went over the 45 minutes but no such luck. I ended up bringing him out in the pram for his third nap because if he had had another short nap, he would have been awake by 3.45 and then would have been too tired to make it through to bedtime. He's been asleep for nearly two hours so he must have been shattered.

I'm seriously thinking that I might take a break from working on the naps until he's a bit older - I'm not sure that he's ready yet. I might just go back to taking him out for a walk for his lunchtime nap - at least he gets a good long sleep that sets him up for the afternoon and I get some fresh air and a bit of exercise. Do you think that would be OK to do that if I made sure that he took the other two naps in the cot?

 

[TennisGal]

Polaris, am sure that will be fine - am going to work on two naps in the cot and one on me. Foogirl suggested this, seems like a good idea to me...I struggle if she's upset during naps and similarly worry about the length of napping.

Btw - Sophie arrived, what a brilliant giraffe she is!! DD LOVES her. THANK YOU for such a great recommendation!

Welcome Cattia and Wombat!

How is everyone else doing today?

 

[polaris]

Btw - Sophie arrived, what a brilliant giraffe she is!! DD LOVES her. THANK YOU for such a great recommendation!

Brilliant - so glad that she is a success!! She's really nice and chewy for little mouths!

 

[history_girls]

Welcome new people!

Another successful bedtime here but OH had to wake her up after bottle as really sleepy so 5 min game then into bed. 4 mins later with nunu on head she was asleep.

Naps are a disaster it was turning into making all day to get her to sleep! The sobbing was too much for me in the afternoon as she was beetroot and shaking. Slept in 40 min bursts again! Will try tomorrow but with mothers day it will be a disturbed day again.

Quick clarification - do you stay with you lo for an hour and 10 min even when gone to sleep as nap time?

and no dummy all day (and we went house hunting!)

Hows it going for all of you?

 

[TennisGal]

great news, history girls! Hope the house-hunting was successful, too!

I am fretting about naps, too - the whole idea of trying, baby getting up, trying again etc worries me...as will that not interfere with their feeds? DD likes to feed every 3 hrs-ish, and the nap thing means this could get totally thrown off schedule. Any advice, anyone?

History_Girls, when DD has fallen asleep at nap time, I've left the room...if she's even a tiny bit restless, I stay

 

[PieMistress]

Hi Everybody!

Loads of post to catch up on! Am losing track of how many we have on here now!

Has anybody actually emailed Dana with specific questions and got a reply?

Well, last night was a good night. Kyle didn't need any PU/PD - just some gentle soothing words from OH and resting of his hand on Kyle's chest. He was actually wide awake after his feeds (midnight and.45am) but as soon as he found his fist to suck on was happy and fell asleep himself. I think he slept so well as he had had 2 x 2hr naps (admittedly when we are out and about in the pram in the fresh air).

Tonight has been a different story but today we went to Ikea (2.5hrs drive there and back) so he was cat napping in the car all day and then was awake for 2hrs + before bedtime so was horrifically overtired. OH did PU/PD over 20 times until Kyle settled (45 mins) and was really upset by it all I have to wear earplugs when I do it now!

I am also dreading naps. Everytime I try and put Kyle in his crib during the day he just howls and will not go to sleep in it. He is also on a 3hrs feeding routine and yesterday I ended up taking him out in his pram so he would nap as figured it's better he sleeps rather then ends up so overtired he won't sleep at night?? One step at a time I think and as others have mentioned will be concentrating on the night-time first. My OH has been utterly brilliant in all of this though and really taken it all onboard and doing his best to help

I read somewhere that it's best to concentrate on the long lunchtime nap as this is the one that they will continue to have until they are 3 yrs old?

Does anybody else wake their LOs up from a nap to feed them?

Sorry, another question but when you see your OH start to yawn do you then just go and put them in their cot (for naps?)

How many of us are there now? Does anybody else have a LO around Kyle's age (11 to 12 weeks?)

Happy Mothers Day tomorrow everybody! OH is giving Kyle a bottle of expressed milk tonight so I can sleep on the sofa and maybe get more than 4hrs unbroken sleep!

We also need to now transition Kyle from his crib to a cot and also then into his own room. Not sure if this is maybe all too much too soon. Also, I forgot to mention - the second night we did PU/PD Kyle start 'head rolling' during the night which I found really disturbing and has been doing it every night since? It's horrible!!

xox

 

[polaris]

great news, history girls! Hope the house-hunting was successful, too!

I am fretting about naps, too - the whole idea of trying, baby getting up, trying again etc worries me...as will that not interfere with their feeds? DD likes to feed every 3 hrs-ish, and the nap thing means this could get totally thrown off schedule. Any advice, anyone?

History_Girls, when DD has fallen asleep at nap time, I've left the room...if she's even a tiny bit restless, I stay

I haven't found that it has interfered with feeds to be honest, I was a bit afraid of that too. However I have found that Thomas will generally always go to sleep for his nap, he just doesn't sleep for long enough - I guess it might be more of a problem if LO just wouldn't nap at all - I think if it was coming up to their feed time then I would offer a feed before trying to settle them down again for their nap so that they wouldn't miss a feed or else wake early from the nap. What I have been doing differently as well is giving Thomas an extra top-up feed before putting him down for his lunchtime nap so that I know he's not missing out on a feed and in the hopes that it will encourage him to sleep for a bit longer.

This is the routine that I try and follow based on what seems to suit my LO, but it varies a lot from day to day and gets thrown off track most days, LOL.
6.45/7 a.m. Get up
7.15 a.m. Feed
8.30/9 a.m. Put him down for first nap
10/10.30 a.m. Feed
12 p.m. Top up feed
12/12.30 p.m. Put him down for second nap
2.30 p.m. Feed
3.30/4 p.m. Put him down for third nap
5 p.m. Feed
6.30 p.m. Top up feed
6.45/7 p.m Bedtime

 

[Foogirl]

Foogirl - I would love a video monitor! Can't really afford it though

I just sold mine on ebay for £35 + postage.....

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

The patting etc is fine, as long as it is used to settle them, not to send them to sleep. I'd say it should only be used if they are fussing, to calm them down. Once they are quiet, stop and let them try to fall asleep themselves.

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

Yeah, sorry ladies but Abby would pretty much sleep through a hurricane! She really doesn't mind noise. I can even hoover when she is asleep. However, if I drop a teaspoon on the laminate flooring in the kitchen just below her room, she will wake....

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?

Weird......

Morning girls, how are you all doing?

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.

Weird too....

And Lyre. Weird.

I hated the 3am feeds! Thankfully it was the first one she dropped at about 3 months!

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

I understand totally, but what do you have to deal with now? There must be issues or you wouldn't be thinking about sleepsense! This way, a few nights of crying will get it over and done with and the days, months and years following will be stress free.

Thanks for the advice ladies, I just have a couple more questions:

1) Abigail already puts herself to sleep at night, I put her down awake and she self settles, but she won't sleep through yet. Will the programme still be able to help her sleep through?

2) She also goes down no trouble for naps in her moses basket, but she will not sleep for longer than 45 minutes unless I rock her basket. Will it help with this?

If you think the programme can help with these two issues even in a baby who already knows how to self settle but just doesn't do it when she wakes up after sleeping, I would gladly buy it!

Thanks again.

This sounds like Abby when we started. We fed her to sleep but apart from that she self settled. She napped fairly well, but they were getting shorter and shorter and it was becoming harder to settle her down for them. Sleepsense will help and as a bonus, you'll probably find it much easier as you are half way there!

I am fretting about naps, too - the whole idea of trying, baby getting up, trying again etc worries me...as will that not interfere with their feeds? DD likes to feed every 3 hrs-ish, and the nap thing means this could get totally thrown off schedule. Any advice, anyone?

It shouldn't interfere with feeds. And you can always be a bit flexible in the short term.

Keep at it! Naps will get better!

 

[history_girls]

Well nothing from LO until 1.10 (quick cry at 9 but put herself back)
She fed then did massive poo! Took a comined effort of me and OH to put her back (took two hours) then up at 6 for the day!

Lovely oh got up with her as it was mothers day!

We have just put her down for her first nap as she was eye rubbing - so shes gone in cot at first sign. Currently playing with the side of it!

Hopefully it will produce a nap and quiet a long one!

Hope others had ok nights?

Elski - the crying is ok, I only get upset at the whole body shaking but the general cross cry I can put up with now.

 

[PieMistress]

BAD NIGHT!

Kyle was sooooo overtired after Ikea it took forever for him to go to sleep. He then woke up at 11pm, had a feed then went down awake and fell asleep okay (I guess I should concentrate on this positive rather than the upcoming negative). I then went downstairs and got my mother's day present (sleeping on the sofa and OH doing the graveyard shift!!). He woke up at 3.30am though, had another feed but it took OH an hour of PU/PD to get him to go back to sleep.

I felt so bad when I saw OH's face this morning, he looked shattered and upset I really hope all these tears (from all 3 of us!!!!) are worth it in the end as I sometimes find it hard to see that we are making any progress.

This morning's nap has been a disaster, started winding him down about 90 mins after waking and he has just howled ever since. This is such hard work !!! I now start fretting that he's just not going to get enough sleep during the day so will end up very overtired again!

History Girl - the body shaking cries are horrible aren't they, and the ones where they step it up a notch and it becomes so high pitched it goes right through you

TennisGal - I am fretting about naps too, dreading tomorrow when OH is back at work and i'm flying solo with it (!!) Not sure what to do now he is finally relaxing and might sleep but due a feed in 15 mins?? Think if he does fall asleep we will let him go past a feed for 30 mins.

 

[jacs]

Had a busy day yesterday, now I'm sooo out of the loop!

Had a great day for naps (only 2 though, they were so long!), and LO had a lovely sleep. Polaris, I wanted his feed to go on forever last night, I just love looking at his sleepy face, and he cuddles right in at night! It always hits me how lucky I am, when I do this feed (didn't really feel like that when I was up all the time though!).

Welcome all new Sleep Sensers, and Happy Mother's Day everyone!!

PieMistress - I don't wake Evan to feed, but I do find I'm chasing my tail a bit, trying to fit bottles and meals in! I wait 'til I've seen about 3 eye-rubs before putting Evan down, as when I did it straight away, he took longer to settle - maybe not tired enough? Kyle might be different though, I would just test it out and see what works best. What is the head-rolling like? Evan used to shake his head in his basket, it was his way of shuffling to the side (he liked to 'kiss' it and would sleep with his face pushed against it!). He doesn't do it in his cot though.

TennisGal - I do have issues with feed times, but I assume Evan would wake if he was hungry.

flower04 - hope you've had a better night!

 

[jacs]

Hi PM, didn't see that post.

Have you tried shortening his awake time? I know all babies are different, but Evan has only just started going longer than 1.5hrs. Sorry you had a rough night