Sleep Sense Support Group!

[TennisGal]

Cattia - your sig is gorgeous!! Abigail is such a sweetheart!!!

Argh, poor DD, her ears are not giving her a fun time She slept in with us most of last night, but the night before I was downstairs with her at 1am. I just wish I could take it away for her

So sleeping is on a wing and a prayer at the moment, but she's got a very, very good reason for it all.

Pink Claire - Hi! Yes, I would recommend the programme - for us it was the perfect solution, as it got us results so quickly...but we could stay with DD throughout. We didn't start with DD until she was five months...and we knew we had to do something as none of us were functioning properly. Within such a short time she was sleeping better - and much more content.
Stick around and ask questions on here - it's such a supportive thread. We all know how you feel on the sleep thing

 

[cutie4evr01]

Hello ladies I hope you don't mind me barging in. I'm looking for some help. I'm at my wits end with James trying to get him to sleep and I'm thinking about trying the sleepsense. Would you guys recommend it? Xx

Yes, I definitely recommend it! Christina was getting way overtired and it was taking us an hour or more to get her to sleep each night/nap and then once asleep she'd only sleep about 45 minutes, so Sleepsense was very helpful for us. The crying is difficult, but it was only a few nights for us before she got pretty good at putting herself to sleep. She still fights sleep now (there are too many exciting things happening in the world around!) but almost always if we catch her at the right time, she'll go to sleep with less than 5 minutes of whining or talking.


Christina has been up more often the past few nights, we think due to her teeth. She already has gotten two over the past few weeks, but she's still chomping everything and drooling like crazy, so we're wondering if she's got even more coming already!

Polaris and TG, I'm so sorry your LOs are not feeling well - I hope they are feeling better soon!

 

[TennisGal]

Cutie, sounds like a tooth rush! Exciting!!

Tired today - DD was up for BFs several times in the night, poor thing...she's got a bit more colour in her cheeks today, so hope those antibiotics have kicked in.

 

[jaybee]

Morning Ladies,
After yet another awful night with Tobias I have decided it is time I do something. I did post on here a couple of months back but didn't do anything about it.

Tobias is 15+ weeks old, still rocked to sleep and waking numerous times in the night. (its killing me)

Would you recommend sleepsense for a baby his age?
Has anyone got any stories about the success of Sleep sense?

Thanks.

 

[polaris]

Good morning everyone.
I think Thomas might be going through a growth spurt on top of his cold as I have just learned that there is a big one at nine months. That would explain the constant feeding and extra night feeds. I've noticed he is going straight for carbohydrates at mealtimes which I have heard they will do during a growth spurt. So hopefully it will all resolve itself soon. He is a bit less clingy over the last couple of days which definitely makes it a bit easier as he is big now to be carrying around everywhere but as soon as I put him down he would crawl back over and pull himself up on my legs (not very convenient if you are trying to get stuff done!)

TennisGal - so sorry DD has an ear infection. The poor thing, they are so painful. Hopefully the antibiotics and all the great breast milk antibodies will kick in soon. How exciting about her first words! Can't believe she still has no teeth - they do say they are stronger if they come later (although that could be an old wives tale?) but also that they tend to suffer a bit more with them unfortunately. She will probably get lots of teeth in a short time when they do start to come through. The holiday sounds lovely.

PieMistress - I mentioned it on the other thread but what a relief that you've found somewhere more suitable for Kyle. It's hard enough going back to work without worrying about the childcare arrangements. That is crazy to expect a baby to be able to nap properly behind a curtain! Are there babies who will happily sleep like that?? I guess there must be? How is it going with cutting out the night feeds?

Hivechild - sorry to hear that Ronan has been unsettled too but glad that he seems to be getting back on track again. As you say, until the next phase! They do have rather a lot of them don't they?

Cattia - how is Abigail doing now? Is she still going through the night without a feed?

Pinkclaire and Jaybee - welcome! Jaybee I think 15 weeks is a great age to start (that's roughly how old Thomas was when we started!) The programme definitely does work, but you do have to be very consistent especially to begin with. Once your LOs are sleeping a bit better then you can bend the rules a bit more and get away with it. Although I'm sure if I stuck to the programme completely (e.g. cutting out night feeds) then Thomas would be sleeping through. But for me I'm happy to go on feeding him at night for the moment (he normally only wakes once). I do think you need to really stick to your plan to the letter for the first few weeks though.

 

[jaybee]

Good morning everyone.

Pinkclaire and Jaybee - welcome! Jaybee I think 15 weeks is a great age to start (that's roughly how old Thomas was when we started!) The programme definitely does work, but you do have to be very consistent especially to begin with. Once your LOs are sleeping a bit better then you can bend the rules a bit more and get away with it. Although I'm sure if I stuck to the programme completely (e.g. cutting out night feeds) then Thomas would be sleeping through. But for me I'm happy to go on feeding him at night for the moment (he normally only wakes once). I do think you need to really stick to your plan to the letter for the first few weeks though.

Thanks Polaris,
is the programme primarily for night time or do we need to be home for the daytime naps as well?
If its just night time then there is no problem.

I'm not convinced Tobi would sleep through the night anyway becuase he is such a hungry baby!!

 

[polaris]

Good morning everyone.

Pinkclaire and Jaybee - welcome! Jaybee I think 15 weeks is a great age to start (that's roughly how old Thomas was when we started!) The programme definitely does work, but you do have to be very consistent especially to begin with. Once your LOs are sleeping a bit better then you can bend the rules a bit more and get away with it. Although I'm sure if I stuck to the programme completely (e.g. cutting out night feeds) then Thomas would be sleeping through. But for me I'm happy to go on feeding him at night for the moment (he normally only wakes once). I do think you need to really stick to your plan to the letter for the first few weeks though.

Thanks Polaris,
is the programme primarily for night time or do we need to be home for the daytime naps as well?
If its just night time then there is no problem.

I'm not convinced Tobi would sleep through the night anyway becuase he is such a hungry baby!!

When Thomas was that age he napped in the pram quite a bit if we were out and about. He needed a nap after an hour and a half of awake time so if we had to be home for all his naps then I wouldn't have been able to go anywhere. I only started putting him in the cot for naps after he turned four months and after that I did try to make sure that he got at least one or two naps in the cot each day but he would still have the others in the pram (he was still having four naps a day most days). Now that he is older and only having two naps a day I do try to make sure that we are home for them as I have found that he doesn't sleep very well in the pram anymore.

So I think you can use it for nighttimes without having him taking all his naps in the cot for the moment. But it is important to make sure that they get enough day time sleep as otherwise they will be overtired and that can affect their ability to settle at nighttime.

 

[jaybee]

Good morning everyone.

Pinkclaire and Jaybee - welcome! Jaybee I think 15 weeks is a great age to start (that's roughly how old Thomas was when we started!) The programme definitely does work, but you do have to be very consistent especially to begin with. Once your LOs are sleeping a bit better then you can bend the rules a bit more and get away with it. Although I'm sure if I stuck to the programme completely (e.g. cutting out night feeds) then Thomas would be sleeping through. But for me I'm happy to go on feeding him at night for the moment (he normally only wakes once). I do think you need to really stick to your plan to the letter for the first few weeks though.

Thanks Polaris,
is the programme primarily for night time or do we need to be home for the daytime naps as well?
If its just night time then there is no problem.

I'm not convinced Tobi would sleep through the night anyway becuase he is such a hungry baby!!

When Thomas was that age he napped in the pram quite a bit if we were out and about. He needed a nap after an hour and a half of awake time so if we had to be home for all his naps then I wouldn't have been able to go anywhere. I only started putting him in the cot for naps after he turned four months and after that I did try to make sure that he got at least one or two naps in the cot each day but he would still have the others in the pram (he was still having four naps a day most days). Now that he is older and only having two naps a day I do try to make sure that we are home for them as I have found that he doesn't sleep very well in the pram anymore.

So I think you can use it for nighttimes without having him taking all his naps in the cot for the moment. But it is important to make sure that they get enough day time sleep as otherwise they will be overtired and that can affect their ability to settle at nighttime.

yeah, I have discovered that about being overtired. Tobi generally needs to nap after an hour and half..although they are starting to stretch to 2 hours between naps.
Good to hear about not needing to do it for napping necessarily. Cos we go out every morning for different groups for Tobi.

Thanks Polaris I think i will sign up for it.

Do you think it can be difficult emotionally (crying etc) so do i need hubby at home to help? or can it be done on my own?

 

[polaris]

Good morning everyone.

Pinkclaire and Jaybee - welcome! Jaybee I think 15 weeks is a great age to start (that's roughly how old Thomas was when we started!) The programme definitely does work, but you do have to be very consistent especially to begin with. Once your LOs are sleeping a bit better then you can bend the rules a bit more and get away with it. Although I'm sure if I stuck to the programme completely (e.g. cutting out night feeds) then Thomas would be sleeping through. But for me I'm happy to go on feeding him at night for the moment (he normally only wakes once). I do think you need to really stick to your plan to the letter for the first few weeks though.

Thanks Polaris,
is the programme primarily for night time or do we need to be home for the daytime naps as well?
If its just night time then there is no problem.

I'm not convinced Tobi would sleep through the night anyway becuase he is such a hungry baby!!

When Thomas was that age he napped in the pram quite a bit if we were out and about. He needed a nap after an hour and a half of awake time so if we had to be home for all his naps then I wouldn't have been able to go anywhere. I only started putting him in the cot for naps after he turned four months and after that I did try to make sure that he got at least one or two naps in the cot each day but he would still have the others in the pram (he was still having four naps a day most days). Now that he is older and only having two naps a day I do try to make sure that we are home for them as I have found that he doesn't sleep very well in the pram anymore.

So I think you can use it for nighttimes without having him taking all his naps in the cot for the moment. But it is important to make sure that they get enough day time sleep as otherwise they will be overtired and that can affect their ability to settle at nighttime.

yeah, I have discovered that about being overtired. Tobi generally needs to nap after an hour and half..although they are starting to stretch to 2 hours between naps.
Good to hear about not needing to do it for napping necessarily. Cos we go out every morning for different groups for Tobi.

Thanks Polaris I think i will sign up for it.

Do you think it can be difficult emotionally (crying etc) so do i need hubby at home to help? or can it be done on my own?

Yes I found the same with going out to groups, he would usually nap on the way there then be awake for the group then he would nap again on the way home. As he got older he was able to stay awake longer and now I can let him have his morning nap at home (usually 9 to 10), go out when he gets up from his nap, and be home in time for his next nap at about 1 or 1.30.

There is some crying at first but for me it was a lot less than I expected (there was more crying for naps than bedtimes in my experience). I think it is worth sitting down together with your husband and deciding on exactly how you are going to deal with him at bedtime and when he wakes during the night, so that you are both doing the same thing, and also so you can keep each other on track if one person is feeling a bit wobbly. It might be better to wait until hubby is around to get started but after the first couple of nights you could definitely do it on your own.

 

[Cattia]

Hi Jaybe, welcome to the thread! I agree with what the others have said, it sounds like a great time to start and it is definitley easier to start with nights and then work on naps later. I think nights are quicker to sort than naps, they take a bit longer. Abigail would not every nap in her cot but now she will as long as she is not over tired and she also naps when we are out and about, although it takes her much longer to fall asleep in the pushchair these days as she is too interested in everything that is going on!

Polaris, I didn't realise that there was ANOTHER spurt at 9 months! That's one to look forward to lol! Hope Thomas settles at night for you, it sounds as though he is coming through the worst.

TG- I hope that DD is better. It's so sad when they are ill Hopefully those antibiotics willdo the trick and she will be back to herself in no time. Glad you like my siggy, Jacs made it for me, I've wanted one for ages

We are not doing brilliantly. I am still not feeding through the night, as I feel that now I have worked so hard getting her to drop the night feed it would be unfair to re-introduce it. The thing is for the past few nights she has been waking up at 4.30am! I have been trying to leave her and she will settle for a bit then wake up again and that can go on until 6am! Last night though I went in after about 20 minutes of her sort of sleep crying on and off and I just sat in the chair in her room and kept saying 'sleep time now Abigail, night night' and then I went out of the room when she was still wide awake and she didn't cry and settled herself back to sleep! That I was pleased with. It is a setback to have her waking at that time again though as she had done a few nights of sleeping through until 6 or 6.30. Still,we are doing so much better than we were so I should not complain, and the fact that she will settle back to sleep does show me that she can do it.

Hope everyone is doing OK and we are in for a good night

 

[TennisGal]

P - hope the spurt goes well...don't think we had a massive one at 9 months, but after our 1000 week 6 month spurt, not surprised! I bet Thomas is prepping himself to show you something new

C - hope you have a good night tonight...it's funny how they pop in and out of their routines!

Jaybe - I definitely echo that nighttimes are easier than naps - we chose night first, as it got us all sorted with sleep, gave us confidence to try naps...they do take longer, but the nights clicking in helps SO much

 

[Poppy7]

Hi ladies

Sorry I haven't been around for a while. It's just things have been going so well on the sleep front that I don't want to jinx myself (yes, I am that superstitious!).

I do read about what is going on and lurk here often. Elliott is still being a star. Generally waking once a night for a feed. However, for the first time in his little life the other day he went 10 hours solid before waking - what a clever boy!!

We have had a few intermittent nights lately but I hear other people with LO's the same age as Elliott saying about the growth spurt and I think he has been having one too.

He must be having a development spurt too as I now have a crawling, clapping, cruising, chatting, smiley, waving, cheeky baby!! He is so much fun.

Hugs to you all.xxxx

 

[TennisGal]

Poppy - fab to hear from you, and great all is going so well What an adorable avatar pic of your boy!

 

[Poppy7]

Poppy - fab to hear from you, and great all is going so well What an adorable avatar pic of your boy!

Thank you hun

 

[Cattia]

Oh my goodness Poppy, Elliot has groooooown! He looks adorable!

We had the strangest day today. Abigail has been resisting her morning nap for the past couple of days, which I put down to her second tooth starting to come through. This morning we decided to take her swimming so we put her down for her nap first at 9.30 thinking she would be awake by 10.30 at the latest - and she slept until 12!!!! She has never in her life taken a 2.5 hour nap before! It was so strange! She was in a great mood at lunchtime, but it was too late for swimming so instead we drove for 45 minutes to get to the nearest ASDA (yes, we truly are that sad) so we could check out their baby event. What a worthwhile trip! We got a Chico stroller reduced from £89 to £35! We also got teo stair gates half price and a travel booster seat for feeding. Anyway, I digress. So she slept for a while in the car, and then was really tired for her routine and went down about 7pm. Last night was a great improvement, she woke just before 5am, I left her for about 5 minutes and she settled back to sleep, then she woke up at 6am for her feed! Hoping for a repeat this evening. Have just been up to check on her and she has fallen asleep with her thumb in her mouth. So cute

Hope everyone else is having a nice evening

 

[TennisGal]

Oooh, some good stuff in Asda, Cattia! And so pleased Abigail is doing well

Welllll, since DD has had her ear infection - she's been on the move since 4am every morning (if not a bit earlier...!) We're going with it while she's not feeling so well, but any tips if it continues afterwards? She roars with anger if we don't take her out of her cot, and if she comes in with us, she tries to climb up me and DH and up the bed frame!

 

[polaris]

Oooh, some good stuff in Asda, Cattia! And so pleased Abigail is doing well

Welllll, since DD has had her ear infection - she's been on the move since 4am every morning (if not a bit earlier...!) We're going with it while she's not feeling so well, but any tips if it continues afterwards? She roars with anger if we don't take her out of her cot, and if she comes in with us, she tries to climb up me and DH and up the bed frame!

Oh no, 4 a.m. is not good! Thomas has gone back to waking up for the day at 5.30 or earlier for the last three days so if you find any solutions let us know!

 

[Poppy7]

Oh my goodness Poppy, Elliot has groooooown! He looks adorable!

We had the strangest day today. Abigail has been resisting her morning nap for the past couple of days, which I put down to her second tooth starting to come through. This morning we decided to take her swimming so we put her down for her nap first at 9.30 thinking she would be awake by 10.30 at the latest - and she slept until 12!!!! She has never in her life taken a 2.5 hour nap before! It was so strange! She was in a great mood at lunchtime, but it was too late for swimming so instead we drove for 45 minutes to get to the nearest ASDA (yes, we truly are that sad) so we could check out their baby event. What a worthwhile trip! We got a Chico stroller reduced from £89 to £35! We also got teo stair gates half price and a travel booster seat for feeding. Anyway, I digress. So she slept for a while in the car, and then was really tired for her routine and went down about 7pm. Last night was a great
improvement, she woke just before 5am, I left her for about 5 minutes and she settled back to sleep, then she woke up at 6am for her feed! Hoping for a repeat this evening. Have just been up to check on her and she has fallen asleep with her thumb in her mouth. So cute

Hope everyone else is having a nice evening

I know! My little baby is growing up so fast I must admit though, this is such a fun age. He's in to everything.

We got a travel cot at the Asda event. Not sure when it will be used but it was a bargain all the same.

 

[Poppy7]

Oooh, some good stuff in Asda, Cattia! And so pleased Abigail is doing well

Welllll, since DD has had her ear infection - she's been on the move since 4am every morning (if not a bit earlier...!) We're going with it while she's not feeling so well, but any tips if it continues afterwards? She roars with anger if we don't take her out of her cot, and if she comes in with us, she tries to climb up me and DH and up the bed frame!

Oh no, 4 a.m. is not good! Thomas has gone back to waking up for the day at 5.30 or earlier for the last three days so if you find any solutions let us know!

Elliott usually wakes up once a night. Sometimes this isn't until 5-6am when it starts to get light. I will feed him and put him back down and usually he goes back to sleep for an hour. If he wakes up earlier, say 2am he will them often want to start the day at 6-6.30am I think it's because he will stir, realise it's light and then think it's awake time.

Ssooo, he always had a black out blind in his room which made it fairly dark but not perfect. I bought some curtains for his room on the weekend to dress it up a bit but actually it has had another advantage; he sleeps in longer! Yesterday he started the day at just gone 7am and this morning just gone 8am! I think that because it makes the room pitch black he's not disturbed by the light as also the birds song very loudly by his window as our house is next to trees. We shall see what tomorrow morning brings.

The only thing I do wonder is do you think I'm confusing him by having the room this dark? I mean in a way that he doesn't actually know it's morning (yes, I do worry about everything!).

 

[polaris]

Oooh, some good stuff in Asda, Cattia! And so pleased Abigail is doing well

Welllll, since DD has had her ear infection - she's been on the move since 4am every morning (if not a bit earlier...!) We're going with it while she's not feeling so well, but any tips if it continues afterwards? She roars with anger if we don't take her out of her cot, and if she comes in with us, she tries to climb up me and DH and up the bed frame!

Oh no, 4 a.m. is not good! Thomas has gone back to waking up for the day at 5.30 or earlier for the last three days so if you find any solutions let us know!

Elliott usually wakes up once a night. Sometimes this isn't until 5-6am when it starts to get light. I will feed him and put him back down and usually he goes back to sleep for an hour. If he wakes up earlier, say 2am he will them often want to start the day at 6-6.30am I think it's because he will stir, realise it's light and then think it's awake time.

Ssooo, he always had a black out blind in his room which made it fairly dark but not perfect. I bought some curtains for his room on the weekend to dress it up a bit but actually it has had another advantage; he sleeps in longer! Yesterday he started the day at just gone 7am and this morning just gone 8am! I think that because it makes the room pitch black he's not disturbed by the light as also the birds song very loudly by his window as our house is next to trees. We shall see what tomorrow morning brings.

The only thing I do wonder is do you think I'm confusing him by having the room this dark? I mean in a way that he doesn't actually know it's morning (yes, I do worry about everything!).

I wouldn't worry about confusing him! I wish I could confuse Thomas a bit as I know he thinks that 5.30/6 is a perfectly acceptable time to start the day. I got a blackout curtain for his room and for a while he was waking at 7 or even 7.30 but we seem to be back to 5.30 again now. So maybe he was confused for a bit but now he's just not fooled anymore, LOL!