Sleep Sense Support Group!

[polaris]

Hi ladies , i hope you dont mind me popping in for some advise !

I have an 18 month old who doesnt sleep and im reaching the end of the line , i am exhusted !
Would you recommend trying the sleep sense and why ?

thank you

Hi momandpeanut, welcome. I haven't used sleepsense with an older baby but there are a couple of ladies on here who have, with good results. How does your LO sleep at the moment? You must be exhausted after 18 months.

logan goes down really well he has his bottle in bed then we just sit int he room till hes asleep no taking or anything , its the night time wake ups that are the problem when he wakes he just will not go back to sleep , we have screaming or just point blank not sleeping

Oh no, that must be a bit of a nightmare. Does he wake often during the night? What do you do at the moment when he wakes at night? Does he nap during the day? What time does he normally go to bed at? Sorry for all the questions, just trying to get a picture of how things are for you at the moment.

he wakes anything up to 5+times a night ! i just lay him dont repeatadly no talking and sometimes he has milk . he has 1 nap in the day for about an hour and goes to bed around 7pm

last night was a nightmare he woke at 11 ,12 and then was awake from 1 till 4.30 ! im reaching the end of the line !
polo is sending me some info today so hopefully things may start to change soon

Oh wow, you must be totally exhausted. I really hope things start to change for you, it would make such a difference to the whole family if you are well rested. Sometimes even small changes to the way you do things can make a huge difference. And some babies just need more help than others to learn to sleep properly.

 

[hivechild]

Well you strike me as very on top of things for someone who is supposedly winging it!! Are you planning to do BLW? I would highly recommend it, it is loads of fun and Thomas loves it!!

We are! I'm really excited and looking forward to it. I'm even planning a trip with him to Ikea next month to get his highchair. Can't you tell what an exciting life I lead!?

How was Thomas the last couple nights? I'm not sure what I'd do with Ronan at his age. As it is now, if it's been more than a few hours since his last feed, I nurse him again and just make sure not to let him fall asleep on me. Right now, he settles himself back to sleep if he stirs for anything other than hunger. I'm dreading him 'regressing' to the point he won't since I've not had to soothe him back to sleep without a feed in forever.

HG - Glad to hear your LO is feeling a bit better. Hopefully it was just a one off bad night for her!

Cattia - I hope the move to Abigail's own room goes smoothly for all of you. I can imagine how frightening it must have been for her sensor to have gone off. I don't use one but I sneak into Ronan's room from time to time just to check on him. He's so cute when he's sleeping, either sprawled out starfish style or curled up on his side like a little pillbug.

Poppy7 - to Elliot. What a champ he's been for you lately! Great news that he's doing so much better with his daytime napping as well.

momandpeanut - You poor dear. You must be so exhausted. I really hope that you can get SS working for you and Logan. I'm sure he'll be just as happy with a full night's sleep as you will be. Keep us updated with how you go?

Well, Ronan's doing ok through the night for now, still only waking once or twice for a feed. I'm taking every night one day at a time until we make it through the next few weeks/months and the dreaded 'sleep regression' period and counting my blessings when it's a good night!

Daytime is a bit more of a mixed bag. I haven't done myself any favors and have been inconsistent with getting him to nap on his own unfortunately. It's been tough since I would like to work on it for the first nap of the day, but most days I need to get the dog out for his walk at that time so he ends up taking a mini-nap in the pram instead, usually followed by a couple more catnaps until he's Mr. Crabby-bum and we take our afternoon snuggle nap together just so he can get a good couple hours of kip.

That being said, I was proud of him holding it together today! We took Bailey to the park for a walk first thing this morning, and then afterward took a ferry ride into town to attend a charity event (all you can eat ice-cream!) so we were out and about until early afternoon and he barely napped at all since everything was too exciting and he just wanted to look around. I fed him on the ferry ride home and thought the boat's motion would put him to sleep, but nope, he wanted to sit on my lap and check everything out!

We had a nice nap together this afternoon, though. I was a bit worried that he wouldn't settle well this evening when he had a hissy while taking his bath, which he usually loves, but after his feed and a few minutes chilling with daddy and reading a story, he dozed right off.

As always, sweet dreams and good sleep vibes for all, bubbas and mommas alike!

 

[cutie4evr01]

Hi everyone! The last few nights C has woken 3 times to feed, and has only been getting 8.5-10 hrs sleep in total over the course of the night. We think she is teething, but she feeds well at each waking, so possibly a growth spurt also? Luckily she has been going down fine for bedtime and also after each night feed, so each waking only takes about 20 minutes for me, then I can go back to sleep. She does wake other times in the night too and we hear her stirring, moaning, or even sometimes chatting to herself or her blankie, but will put herself back to sleep, so I'm pretty sure the times she cries out means that she needs feeding, and she's always awake when I put her back down after. So we're not sure what's going on, and although I don't really mind the quick night feeds now that she self-settles, I do wish she was getting more sleep at night.

HC, Christina has started rolling in her crib (just after I told you she never did), but doesn't seem to be a problem yet. Also, I wouldn't worry about Ronan regressing - it seems he has been settling beautifully from quite a young age, so I expect he has definitely learned how to put himself to sleep and don't anticipate you will have any problems. I bet once he doesn't need those feeds, he will continue to settle himself completely through the night!

Poppy I'm so glad to hear of Elliot's sleep improvement, and secretly I hope that solids may help Christina sleep better too, so I'm actually glad to hear you think solids may have played a role for him. I don't know if we're going to do BLW or traditional, or some of both, but I'm looking forward to it yet a little nervous about starting as it seems much more work than just milk.

Cattia, good luck with moving Abigail to her own room - I'm sure she will sleep brilliantly there (although you may be awake )

Polaris - tough call on whether or not to feed at night. I would say if he's taking a good feed, continue feeding, but if not, try offering water. My pediatrician wants us to eliminate night feeds after 6 months, but I won't even consider it until I feel she's eating enough solids and we're hoping to not begin them until 6 months. Another sleep book I have says sometimes babies still need night feeds until 9 month, especially if they are breastfed. You could always offer water and then if he doesn't settle back to sleep in some time frame, then feed? It's really hard to know!

momandpeanut - I'm glad to hear you are in touch with polo and good luck!

 

[polaris]

Hi everyone.
Well the last two nights have been a lot better, if still not quite back to normal.

On Tuesday night he was back to just one feed at about 3. I did try giving him water and he drank down about 3 ounces but then still obviously wanted a feed - pulling at my top! - so I just fed him. I did hear him stirring at 5.30 ish and thought we would be up for the day but he went back to sleep by himself after a couple of minutes until 6.30! Yay!

Last night he woke before midnight which is very unusual for him. Tried giving him water but he was not interested at all and just wanted a feed. Settled easily after the feed though. Woke up again at 4.30 and again just wanted a feed but settled easily afterward and didn't wake up for the day until 7!!

So on the whole I am very happy with that, it is definitely an improvement on the way things have been for the past few weeks. Cutie4ever - I have read that about needing a feed until 9 months too. To be honest I don't mind feeding him at night if he needs it and settles back to sleep easily after the feed, I just don't want to get into the habit of feeding him if he wakes for a different reason just because it's an easy way to resettle him.

Hivechild - we didn't have a four month sleep regression at all so maybe you will be lucky! Although Thomas only actually started sleeping well at four months so it would have been a bit rubbish if he had regressed straight away, LOL. I guess we've been maybe having a bit of a regression the past couple of weeks but I'm hoping things might be getting back on track now. I think a big part of it was that I thought he was ready to drop his third nap whereas he definitely still needs it.

 

[polaris]

Thomas just woke up screaming at 9.30 p.m. - what's that about? There didn't seem to be anything wrong when I checked on him, his nappy was fine, he's not too hot or too cold, he's not showing any signs of teething, he wasn't hungry (well I didn't offer a feed but he wasn't looking for one), there wasn't any sudden noise or anything that could have woken him. I gave him a little cuddle to calm him down as he was so upset and then did some sleepsense and he went back off to sleep in less than five minutes. But I don't understand why he woke up in the first place! Any ideas - am I missing something? Do babies have nightmares??

 

[history_girls]

Ladies please please help us.

Phoebe has been poorly all week but today she has been generally fine. Most naps on me (i know my own fault) but for the past three nights we have just had uncontrollable screaming. LAst night it was 5 hours worth on and off. Made no difference whether she was on me or not. Only thing that stopped her was a walk around the block at midnight.

So far tonight and hour and 15 mins of screaming. She just won't stop. To be honest I think I've cried for most of it too. So tired now of a bad week of sleep and working. Her crying is worse than when we started SS. I left her on her own for 10 mins tonight I just couldn't hack it any more. Shouted at OH and had a big falling out. He is now sitting with her.

What do I do? Do i just need to toughen up? but 5 hours last night? and now and hour and 20 tonight and no signs of stopping.

help me ladies.......

 

[polaris]

Ladies please please help us.

Phoebe has been poorly all week but today she has been generally fine. Most naps on me (i know my own fault) but for the past three nights we have just had uncontrollable screaming. LAst night it was 5 hours worth on and off. Made no difference whether she was on me or not. Only thing that stopped her was a walk around the block at midnight.

So far tonight and hour and 15 mins of screaming. She just won't stop. To be honest I think I've cried for most of it too. So tired now of a bad week of sleep and working. Her crying is worse than when we started SS. I left her on her own for 10 mins tonight I just couldn't hack it any more. Shouted at OH and had a big falling out. He is now sitting with her.

What do I do? Do i just need to toughen up? but 5 hours last night? and now and hour and 20 tonight and no signs of stopping.

help me ladies.......

Oh no!!
I feel so upset for you just reading your post. Five hours of screaming, I would have lost the plot totally. Did you go to work today? I feel sick just imagining what you are going through, I would be crying my eyes out too.

Do you think she is still feeling a bit poorly? Could she have an ear infection maybe - apparently the pain is much worse at night for some reason, so the baby can seem OK during the day but then be in severe pain and unable to settle to sleep at night. I don't have experience of this myself but I remember reading it somewhere. I am very reluctant to give any medication but have you tried giving her Calpol to see if it helps her to settle? That amount of screaming doesn't sound right. I would expect maybe a bit of protest about going back to the old routine after being unwell but not to that extent, especially since she has been such a good sleeper.

I really feel for you hun, you must be totally exhausted.

 

[Cattia]

HG - glad to see from your post in Baby clun that Phoebe is sleeping now - has she stayed settled?

Polaris - I am not sure what would cause Thomas to wake up screaming like that but Abigail does it too sometimes, and it really does seem like a nightmare, apparently babies do have them! I am not sure what she would be dreaming about. An empty boob or something? It's weird, but Abigail usually settles straight back to sleep after this happns. Could be a little bit of trapped wind or something that wakes them up then it quickly clears?

Well, Abigal is in her own room for the first time I am not looking forward to sleepin without being able to see her little face but I do know it is the best thing to help us all with sleep. I just hope we don't have too bad a night. She has been really out of sorts this past week as well, fussy and crying for no reason and not her happy self. Pretty sure it is her teeth. I can hear her stirring now, so hope she'll settle back down without a feed!

 

[polaris]

Cattia - I had a good giggle at our LO's dreaming about empty boobs and waking up screaming.

I hope Abigail has a smooth transition into her own room. I found Thomas wasn't at all phased by the move and I was expecting him to be disturbed by it because he is normally very sensitive to changes to his routine. Like when I moved him from moses basket to cot he woke up literally every hour the first night. But he coped fine with the move into his own room, hopefully Abigail will be the same. I know what you mean about missing them beside you - doesn't the room look so empty without the cot in it? There is something really lovely about watching a sleeping baby, I really miss that. I do creep into Thomas's room sometimes to watch him sleep but I haven't dared recently because he has been waking up at any little noise.

 

[history_girls]

Well last night was pretty awful. It took until 11.50 for her to go down completely. She just gets absolutely hysterical at whatever we try. I;ve decided if she is going to be hysterical on me then she might as well stay in her cot. She is heavy and very strong now to fight on me.

The dr checked her on Thurs and said no ear, lung or throat infection. Get the results of urine test on monday. In a way i hope something shows up! SHe has grown massively this week and had to buy new clothes yesterday as nothing fit.

 

[history_girls]

oops didn;'t mean to press post!

I thought her morning nap was going same way - screaming but now after ten mins she has gone on her own - big progress.

Cattia - hope the move was ok last night? We moved LO at about 7 weeks and I was paranoid! In all that time I've only run in once in a state of panic.

Have a good day - I'll be back tonight when the screaming starts again....

 

[polaris]

Oh no, HG, what a nightmare last night again. At least she settled by herself for her morning nap. That's interesting that she has grown so much all of a sudden, maybe a growth spurt coupled with being unwell? I still think it sounds like she was feeling unwell, if nothing shows up on the results on Monday and she's still not back to herself then I think I would ask the doctor to check her over again in case something has been missed.

Cattia - how did the move go last night?

Well we are going to a wedding today and will be away overnight, OH's sister is minding Thomas. I really hope he will be OK. She is very good with babies and he likes her, so hopefully all will go well. She does understand how important it is that he gets his sleep so that is good, I think she will stick to his routine, I just hope that he will settle for her. I feel nervous about it, but looking forward to it at the same time. It will be the first time that both myself and OH have been away from Thomas (apart from the odd night out after he's gone to bed so he wouldn't even have known we were gone).

We had a good night last night - back to just one feed at 2ish although he was awake to start the day at 6.

 

[kayleigh&bump]

could anyone please explain to me what sleepsense is? my lo's sleep has gone right out the window, and i really want him to get back on track. he wont nap during the day anymore, and wont stay in his cot past a certain point at night. We really didnt want to get into the habit of getting him into our bed but i think the habit has been made can anyone help? xx

 

[Foogirl]

Sleepsense is a step by step program which helps you encourage your baby to soothe themselves to sleep.

It gives help and advice about good sleep habits, starting with bedtime routine and advising you how to deal with it when your baby wakes. It also gives information about good napping and how to encourage that too.

It isn't CIO or CC, but you need to be prepared to let your baby cry instead of picking them up straight away. You can stay with them and soothe them if you wish though.

https://www.sleepsense.net is their website. Take a look at it and see what you think. Any questions, we'll try to help!

If your wee one has had good sleeping habits in the past, it will probably be quite easy for you using this I'd say.

 

[polaris]

Hi everyone.
It's gone very quiet on this thread! where is everyone?

We had a lovely little holiday at the wedding - Thomas was as good as gold for his auntie except that he wouldn't take his late afternoon nap (always the trickiest one). But he settled perfectly at bedtime for her and only woke for one feed at 4 and went back to sleep until 6.30. We arrived back at about midday today and he was in fantastic form having just got up from a two and a half hour morning nap!

I'm so relieved that it went well and also that his sleeping seems to be getting back on track (hope I am not jinxing it now). He seems a lot more settled in himself than he has done for the past three weeks or so.

 

[history_girls]

well after three awful nights last night was better. Self settled to sleep at 7 and then woke up once but put herself back. melt down at 10 for an hour but she is so bunged up i'm not suprised! then through to 6.15 So well chuffed. hoping the screaming was to do with poorlyness. but she has doubled in size and brain power this week too.

Polaris - It sounds like you had a lovely time and what a good boy Thomas is! I'm lookng forward to Phoebe settling a bit better now!

 

[polaris]

well after three awful nights last night was better. Self settled to sleep at 7 and then woke up once but put herself back. melt down at 10 for an hour but she is so bunged up i'm not suprised! then through to 6.15 So well chuffed. hoping the screaming was to do with poorlyness. but she has doubled in size and brain power this week too.

Polaris - It sounds like you had a lovely time and what a good boy Thomas is! I'm lookng forward to Phoebe settling a bit better now!

It sounds like a physical growth spurt, a major developmental spurt, and being unwell at the same time. Poor little girl - no wonder she was having problems sleeping. Hopefully everything will settle down again now and she will go back to sleeping through.

 

[history_girls]

thanks for the support polaris! Just read your post to my OH and he agrees totally with everything you said! We had everything within 5 days.

Well she went to bed like a lamb, had good naps today and two on her own in the cot (two in the car to and from swimming).

We are going to be tough tonight and make her self settle if she wakes up. no cuddles just telling her its nun nights time and bit of head stroking.

 

[polaris]

thanks for the support polaris! Just read your post to my OH and he agrees totally with everything you said! We had everything within 5 days.

Well she went to bed like a lamb, had good naps today and two on her own in the cot (two in the car to and from swimming).

We are going to be tough tonight and make her self settle if she wakes up. no cuddles just telling her its nun nights time and bit of head stroking.

It sounds like she is getting back on track. Such a relief after the nightmare week that you have had!

Thomas seems to be so much more settled in himself too after a difficult few weeks (although nowhere near as bad as what you went through ). I think for me the hardest thing was not knowing whether things will go back to normal or not, if I knew in advance that it was just a phase and he would get over it in a couple of weeks then I think it would be a lot easier to deal with.

 

[Cattia]

Hello everyone!

Glad to hear the good news on all fronts. Polaris, glad you had a good time at the wedding, and Thomas was so good for you - what a star!

HG - so glad Phoebe is doing better, now you're back to work the last thing you need is a sleepless Sunday night so I hope you have a good one.

The move has gone OK for us, but has not made any difference to Abigail's night time wakings. We are thinking of giving her water, but I am worried about her being hungry. On the other hand, I don't think it's a good habit for her to be taking her milk at night instead of in the day, and I guess if I give her water when she needs milk, we'll soon know about it! It was weird the first night not to be able to see her next to the bed, and I think I have been waking up more than normal and going to check on her. The trouble is, every time I wake up I just lie there and get stressed about going back to work, and it takes me ages to get back to sleep. I have only one more week left I think it is going to be better for my sanity (and my bank balance!) when I actually just do it now.

Hope you all have good nights. I miss Tenis Girl!