Sleep Sense Support Group!

[PieMistress]

Morning All!

It's GLORIOUS here in Aberdeen today I looked in the mirror this morning and a tired haggard face looked back at me so the sunshine is making me feel much better (along with some under eye concealer!!)

Kyle did better than usual last night - asleep by 8pm (bath took longer than necessary as we were amused watching him discover and play with his feet) then a feed at 2.45am then up for the day at 5.45am (borderline bareable wake up time!) but that might have been because the osteopath did a bit of magic - who knows!!! He's not long down for his first nap so fingers crossed it's of a decent length!

Poppy - hope the mouth is feeling better today! The only good thing about going to the dentist (for me) is that he's quite fit! :wink:

Cattia - have a lovely time in Devon! I love it down there but unfortunately it's miles and miles away for us to ever visit (have been twice!). OH is usually in bed asleep before me as I really need to unwind reading before I can fall asleep. Not sure why as i'm always knackered but my mind seems to keep ticking over thinking too much about one thing or another!

History - you must be knackered!!! At least it's only one more day until the weekend, whoop whoop!!! It's scary how quickly the weeks are going past at the moment and I can barely remember when Kyle was just a newborn.

TG - Thumb Gate! Hilarious!!!!

Foogirl - your 12 hours are like a light at the end of a tunnel for me! I don't mind getting up in the night at the moment to feed Kyle as he's still young but I am hoping that a decent nights sleep will come at some point (as I do know of people whose kids are 4+years and still don't get this, that fills me with fear!)

Bump - wow 2 teeth! maybe that has been affecting her sleep a bit? how old was Helen when they came through? Kyle has been really bad lately with his teething.

Jay mentions dream feeds - how many of you do this? We did try it the early days but it didn't really work for us (plus I was too tired to stay up!) also, do you give the bedtime feed in the dark or have the lights on?

Ok, time for brekkie, election news and then get ready for going out to mums lunch. I haven't a clue how i'm going to get ready in the morning once weaning comes along!!

Saturday tomorrow - whoop whoop!

 

[TennisGal]

I really should learn to take advantage of the 12 hours she gives at night. I will. I promise!

I don't know if you're like me, but when DD is sleeping well...I get a bit of a swagger. Kind of like 'yes, go on then, I'll have that extra cup of tea and watch EastEnders at 10pm' You can tell I live life on the wild side

And...you know what....? I took it off today and the sticky bit of the plaster was over the hole instead of the fabric bit. Not only did they insist it was necessary but they didn't even put it in the right place

They did that to DD for her 3 month jabs, I was so cross - I had a rant at the nurse for her 4 month appointment! Poor love

Do you need the name of a good divorce lawyer? You'd get that one on "unreasonable behaviour" I'd say.

I opened the fridge this morning, and DH had nipped to the shop and filled it with a selection of bars. He knows that stealing chocolate for me when AF is around is NOT a good idea!!


Bump - Two teeth!!! HOW exciting!!! She's doing wonderfully well with her sleeping and teething!!

Pie - Sounds like a good night! Have a lovely lunch (and gotta love concealer, it's a saviour isn't it?) Weaning and organisation isn't too bad actually...I've always got a little freezer bag somewhere And I am NOT the most organised person by any stretch!!

Good news here - DD slept through the night again! She woke up twice, had a moan...I got up to feed her, by the time that had happened, she was asleep!!

Right...election news and a cuppa! And YES! Saturday tomorrow, DH and I got a nice weekend planned with DD!

 

[TennisGal]

Pie - forgot to say, I love that picture of Kyle in your avatar!

 

[Foogirl]

TG, we had to establish two separate chocolate stashes. Mr Foo has his own jar and I have mine. We did have a rule that if he ate the last he must replace the whole jar, but he would then leave one solitary mini dairy milk at the bottom and think that was enough. So he got his own jar.

Glorious day here in Falkirk too. Mr Foo is coming home early as I have a massage later. I'm glad because I'm knackered and we've got Crabby Abby today!

 

[hivechild]

Hello everyone!

Well yesterday evening was a brutal reminder of just how important naps during the day are (not that I needed the reminder)!

Hubby has his brother and SIL in town from California and so we've been doing a lot of family stuff (and he has a big family being one of 5 brothers) for the past few days which means Ronan didn't nap great on Wednesday either.

Yesterday though, I got sworn in as a citizen in Boston which was a 3 hour long ceremony. Between all the getting ready, getting family organized and driving into town, the ceremony and what not and then getting home at which point we had to prepare for a house full of people arriving in a couple hours for a BBQ, Ronan got about 2 hours worth of napping in 20-40 minute increments from the time he woke at 7ish in the morning. He usually has 3 times that during the day!

He also had diarrhea while we were trying to get things ready before everyone arrived, which necessitated a bath and his third outfit change. Poor monkey.

Unfortunately by 6:30 or so he was on the verge of a major meltdown and with people and kids running around everywhere he wouldn't settle so I excused myself, hopeful that I could give him a good feed and get him to sleep even if it was a couple hours earlier than his usual bedtime.

2 hours later after screaming and tears from him every time I tried putting him down, and tears from me because I was exhausted and felt awful for him, I finally manage to slink out of his bedroom and back downstairs to the party. Luckily my hubby held down the fort and was a gracious host to everyone in my absence.

I was bummed that I missed out on so much, and several people had had to leave while I was upstairs but I treated myself to a slice of cake and a glass of wine (my first since I got pregnant) after all of that and got to sit and chat with some close friends until later in the evening and well past when I should have gone to bed myself!

Fortunately, the rest of the night went good and Ronan slept until 3:30 and then went down until around 7:30 after his feed. We got up, had breakfast and then I took him down to the park with the dog for a nice long walk which he slept through the most of, and he's still asleep going on 3 hours now! I think he's catching up on all that lost sleep from yesterday but it's been nice since I've had time to help hubby clean and tidy the place up and then sit down and relax for a little bit. No doubt he'll be awake any minute now for a feed!

 

[polo_princess]

Sorry you had a bad beginning to the night Hivechild

Brooke slept through ... all night, not a peep

Pray for me that its not a fluke

 

[hivechild]

Sorry you had a bad beginning to the night Hivechild

Brooke slept through ... all night, not a peep

Pray for me that its not a fluke

Thanks. It hasn't been that hard to put him down to sleep since we first started!

on Brooke sleeping through. Here's hoping it's just the first of many such nights for you both.

 

[TennisGal]

Hivechild I've experienced 'day without naps', too...and it is HARD. LOs have meltdowns because they are so tired, and us Mummys feel so powerless!

Glad you had a nice evening, and enjoyed the cake and wine - and hope the ceremony was good.

I haven't had a glass of wine since becoming pregnant, either - it'd probably go straight to my head! Am planning a glass for DHs birthday.

Polo - Brooke is doing so well! Hope you have another good night...!

On the nap front, DD had a fab morning nap...and an awwwful afternoon nap. She wouldn't settle on me, settled in her cot for twenty minutes...then woke up moaning, escalated to crying. I tried to comfort her, but she got more and more upset. So, we got up...tried to settle her with me in bed (me awake) but she was laughing and pulling my hair and nose By that point, she was rubbing her eyes again and so we went back to square one...and repeated the whole thing. No joy! So, she sat in her bouncy chair talking to her feet. Any kind of playing got her v.cross, as she's so tired! She's now SERIOUSLY grumpy, and DH is trying to convince her that her apple dish is tastier than her highchair.

 

[Poppy7]

Hello everyone :wave:

Well...my mouth has been sore but better than I expected....John Merrick eat your heart out!

Last night wasn't toooo bad. Elliott went to bed at 7pm and then woke at 12 when I fed him. He then woke at 2am ish crying...I checked he had his blankies and then got back in to bed. He cried for 10 minutes and then drifted off again. He then woke at 4am crying. It sounded very much like a hunger call so I fed him. He then slept until 6.30am where I bought him in for a snuggle as I was feeling quite sore. When our eyes opened again it was 9am

I feel bad though as yesterday he was sounding a bit congested and today he has come down with a stinking cold and dry cough. Maybe he was crying at 2am as he was not feeling well and needing a cuddle?

Tonight he's gone to bed with a vapour plug in, mattress elevated and snuffle babe on. Poor little snuffle bug.x

 

[history_girls]

Righty ho - evening all! I am so tired that I may not make sense this evening

LO has turned into a poo machine (total of 6 so far today) and had a better nap at the CM. She got up when OH went to work at 5 this morning and as I'd stayed up late watching the election I just couldn't get up. So I popped her in with me and she slept until 6.30 and I dozed on and off. Then the morning was manic as I was up late

But two whole days off and it is my lie in tomorrow morning

Poppy - bless him - we've had a snot machine LO for about a week and tonight is the first night without olbs. She only woke once or twice this week because of it and she just wanted a snuggle.

Hive what a tricky party for you! Its horrible when it is so busy and they don't want to nap or miss anything! We are a gaint family and LO won't sleep if she thinks she is missing anything at all or it is noisy

Polo fab - so chuffed for you.

Tg- a fridge full of choccie?mmmmmm must admit OH brought jammie dodgers in with him from the station so I'm munching my way through them. Must see if I can get him to make a cuppa.

Foogirl - we couldn't do seperate choccie stashes. I'd eat his!!

Bump - don;t you just love it when the dog disturbs the nap! Ours is with excessive ear flapping then she won;t go back for ages

PM - did you go to the osteopath? how was it. we thought it was the best thing we could have done! Glad you had a more bareable night!

Right got to work on OH and that cup of tea......

sorry if i've missed out anyone

 

[BertieBones]

Hi just wanted 2 ask a quick question.
My LO has reflux and milk protein intolerance, so just wondering if any of.you that have used sleep sense have had babies with these problems but still found the programme 2 work?
Also how many nights would you say it took 2 c a difference?
Thanks
Sarah x

 

[history_girls]

Hello Bertie! My LO was a right wiggles with milk and the only milk she was remotely happy on was cow and gate comfort. There was discussion of reflux but her problem was always at the other end. I waited until she was about 5 months before ss (mainly because i didn't know about it) but by then she was very predictab;e with her feeds.

My experience if that night one was the worse with over an hour of grizzerling, then 25 mins, then 5 then nothing. So for inital sleeping it was 3 nights. My LO used to wake a lot and I would say it took just over a week to get her to learn to resettle during the night. Thankfully she tended to wake in the early part of the eve. She gave up her night feed about 4 weeks in - I wasn't prepared to make her to give it up as i thought she needed it.

hope that helps

 

[Poppy7]

Hi everyone,

I hope everyone had a good or atleast manageable night. I thought we were going to be in for a rough one as Elliott really wasn't sounding so good. I put him to bed at 7pm and he woke at 11pm very upset and crying. I went up he to him straightaway and he sounded awful. His little case of the sniffles had developed in to an awful cough and he was sounding very very hoarse. I gave him a bf and a dose a Nurofen and a big cuddle and he then settled him back down in his cot. He was asleep within about 20 mins. I was surprised as he then went through until 3am. I fed him again as when you have a sore throat you do want more fluids. He then fell asleep almost immediately and didn't hear a peep until 6am. I didn't think this was too bad considering he's obviously in a lot of discomfort.

Hi Bertie :wave: I have no experience with reflux I'm afraid. However it took about 2 nights for me to see improvements with Sleep Sense. We have now been using the program for over 2 weeks and my LO does not sleep through the night. However, this was not my aim. My aim was to only have a manageable amount of night wakings and for LO to learn to self settle. We have achieved both of these things so we aw very happy. I would highly recommend it to anyone

Bump and HG...just read your posts about your dogs waking LO up....I have a Cocker Spaniel who also shakes her ears. Vwhem she does this the collar rattles and coupled with the ear noise, wakes Elliott up. Since he's been napping in his cot it hasn't happened but when he sleeps downstairs I now take her collar off! The ear flapping noise will not be resolved unless I chop them off!!

Polo...how did your night go honey? Hopefully another good one for you.xx

Oh and can you all stop mentioning chocolate. John Merrick here is still struggling to eat! Mind you I did manage to suck on some galaxy last night xx

 

[shampain]

Hiya ladies just a quick question, im kinda worried ive been stupid! Im stopping at my parents for the weekend and after paddy sleeping through most of last week, last night he woke crying at 11pm just as i was about to go to bed (paddys cot is in my room) so i left him 10mins and he was showing no signs of stopping so went in lay him down etc and he never calmed at all so left him for a few more mins and it was obvious he wasnt gonna calm down. Im so hoping it was just because it was a change of scene etc...so i had to put him in bed with me for the night....because it wasnt like at home where i leave the room and he cant see me...once ive lay him down etc he can obv see me getting back in bed!! grrrrrrr im proper mad thinking ive undone my hard work! Another thing is obv its not really practical leaving him crying in the middle of the night and keeping my parents awake all night. Shall i just go with the flow here and then start again at home if we start having problems!?? heeeeeeeellllllppp x

 

[hivechild]

Bertie, Ronan has reflux and I still did SS. The goal isn't to get them to go to sleep at all costs but rather to sleep when they're tired but otherwise comfortable and content.

When you develop a bedtime routine, just be mindful of things like not having your LO's feed as the last step. Instead, you may want to feed and then have some quiet time and cuddles while you talk to them or tell them a story to keep them upright long enough.

It can be challenging at times but do what works and adapt as you see fit.

Shampain, I would try to maintain things as much as feasible but otherwise just go with the flow. If it's stressing you, your LO and your family out, then it's not worth it imho.

 

[cutie4evr01]

Hi ladies! Our pediatrician recommended using CC now to teach our LO how to self-settle, as currently we rock her into a dead sleep and lay her down, but it's increasingly taking longer and becoming more difficult for her to stay asleep during this transition from our arms into her crib. The pediatrician said between 4 and 6 months is the best time to start. I got some info from Foogirl about sleepsense and I guess what we are doing the leave and check method as opposed to the stay and console method. I'm wondering if anyone has tried both and if you have found one better than the other?

Also, the pediatrician said to go full throttle and tackle naps at the same time so she gets used to it all at once. So we've only just begun last night, and at bedtime she whined for 10 minutes, cried for 10 (with me checking in and saying "Mommy loves you - time for bed now", but not picking her up, about 5 minutes into the crying), then fell right asleep. She wakes for two night feeds and I was able to put her back down last night wide awake after those feeds and she settled herself with a little talking but no crying, so I thought we had just caught her young enough and lucked out that it would be easy. However, naps today are not going well. The first nap it took 30 minutes (15 of crying), and the second nap took 45 minutes (25 of crying). I check on her every 5 minutes and tell her I'm here and I love her, and she calms immediately, but as soon as I begin to leave she screams again. I'm beginning to crack already and we're only on the first proper day!

So my other question for you is: did you find naps harder than bedtime? Or maybe I'm putting her down when she's not quite ready yet? I whisk her up there to her crib at the first yawn or eye rub, so should I wait a bit longer before taking her up there? Thanks for any advice, as I am tempted to just rock her to sleep for naps and focus on bedtime, but deep down I feel like that will just make it worse and prolong the inevitable. Thank you for any advice!

 

[hivechild]

cutie, for whatever reasons naps and daytime sleep are so much harder than night sleep, so you're not doing anything wrong! Ideally you want to tackle it all at once, but if it's too much for you, then focus on night sleep and do your best during daytime naps until you can give it your all.

I would advise taking it day by day at this point. In the mornings and early afternoon try to get your LO to sleep with SS, but by mid-afternoon if she's napped poorly, then take on the nap at all costs approach.

This is what I do, since if Ronan doesn't nap well, he's overtired and getting him to sleep at night is so much harder. I still lay down with him and cuddle him for a nice long afternoon nap if he needs it.

Also, try to develop a very short (2-3 min) pre-nap routine to cue her that it's coming up to nap time, and if possible for 5-10 mins before she goes down for a nap, try to keep things quiet and calm so she's not overstimulated or excited from play.

 

[Foogirl]

Hi just wanted 2 ask a quick question.
My LO has reflux and milk protein intolerance, so just wondering if any of.you that have used sleep sense have had babies with these problems but still found the programme 2 work?
Also how many nights would you say it took 2 c a difference?
Thanks
Sarah x

Abby had reflux and we found it actually helped. Have you raised one end of her cot?

She does have a milk protein intolerance (which made her colic MUCH worse) but we weren't doing SS at the time. I have a feeling if she was sleeping better it would have been easier all round!

Hiya ladies just a quick question, im kinda worried ive been stupid! Im stopping at my parents for the weekend and after paddy sleeping through most of last week, last night he woke crying at 11pm just as i was about to go to bed (paddys cot is in my room) so i left him 10mins and he was showing no signs of stopping so went in lay him down etc and he never calmed at all so left him for a few more mins and it was obvious he wasnt gonna calm down. Im so hoping it was just because it was a change of scene etc...so i had to put him in bed with me for the night....because it wasnt like at home where i leave the room and he cant see me...once ive lay him down etc he can obv see me getting back in bed!! grrrrrrr im proper mad thinking ive undone my hard work! Another thing is obv its not really practical leaving him crying in the middle of the night and keeping my parents awake all night. Shall i just go with the flow here and then start again at home if we start having problems!?? heeeeeeeellllllppp x

We went with the flow at my parents as far as possible and reverted to SS when we got back. Assuming you aren't there for weeks and weeks! I wouldn't want to go outside it for more than a couple of days at a time, in the beginning. Try and keep to it as far as possible.

It can be a real pain when Abby is sharing our room when we go away. The slightest movement and she wakes up. She seems to think that since she didn't wake herself up, she's going to complain loudly about it!

So my other question for you is: did you find naps harder than bedtime? Or maybe I'm putting her down when she's not quite ready yet? I whisk her up there to her crib at the first yawn or eye rub, so should I wait a bit longer before taking her up there? Thanks for any advice, as I am tempted to just rock her to sleep for naps and focus on bedtime, but deep down I feel like that will just make it worse and prolong the inevitable. Thank you for any advice!

Naps are definitely harder. I tend to do her nap routine as soon as I see a sleepy sign. The routine is about 5 minutes. I found if we missed too many sleepy signs naps were much more difficult.

We took the "in for a penny, in for a pound" approach. We went the whole hog and did naps and nights at the same time. No messing. Of course there were occasions when I would give in and feed her to sleep if she just hadn't napped but that was real last resort. For us it took about a month to get the naps to the point where she went down with little protest and another couple of weeks before she started sleeping longer with them.

 

[polaris]

Hi ladies.
Still no Internet here arghhh!!!!
So apologies that I can't reply to you all individually. I've just managed toread through everything I've missed, sounds like most people are doing fantastic!
Tennisgal - Thomas cut his thumb today on a plastic box he was playing with (bad mummy!) and was doing the same very intent examination of said thumb - luckily he doesn't suck it to go to sleep anymore though- glad thumbgate is coming to an end for you now!
Big welcome to all the new people. Naps are definitely harder than night times. But they will come together in time.
Sorry I can't answer questions individually at the
moment but others have already given great advice.
I just wanted to share with you all how great things are going at the moment. I was at a baby group on Friday and it really made me realize how well Thomas sleeps listening to others experiences. Weaning is going fantastic and Thomas finally seems to be spacing out his breast feeds (4 hourly today!) and we seem to have finally cracked naps! We are almost always getting at least an hour and often longer, no more 45 minute wake ups, yay!!!! Still waking at about 4 for a feed but I can live with this! Just feeling really proud of my little boy and so glad we did sleepsense when we did! Thanks again to foogirl for recommending it.
Ok my fingers are worn out typing on phone so I will go for now. Hope to be back online properly next week.

 

[TennisGal]

Polaris!! Glad to hear the internet is going to be fixed - and more glad to hear all is going very well with Thomas SS really is such a find - it really does make you realise how lucky we are! How many BFs is Thomas on now? Sounds like he's really finding his groove with feeding.

Thumb-Gate is now over, but isn't that examining look so adorable?!

Bertie - Welcome! I don't have experience of reflux, but I can say that you notice a biiiig difference within a week. Amazing, really. The first couple of night are tricky, but then things really improve.

Shampain - we haven't really had DD too out of routine yet, but I think the literature just says to try SS where possible - like FG says.

Cutie - naps are harder, we started on night time first...and then worked gradually with naps. The lack of consistency (on my part!) meant it took a bit longer, but we found something that worked for me, DH and DD

WELL, DD slept until 5:40, woke for a feed, and then we all had a lie-in until 7am

She has just decided she's not that keen on a BF around lunchtime...although I offered several times. She had a great time with some roasted carrots, though...think light sabres and Star Wars! New favourite dinner - courgette, leek and potato 'soup'.