Sleepless Nights Support Thread

[Rodnabell]

Have any of you considered cranial osteopathy?? A few friends have suggested it... out of desperation, I may have to give it a go!

 

[Brieanna]

What is cranial osteopathy?

 

[sarahloulou]

Dougie is twelve weeks old, we do bath, bottle, bed but it takes him at least an hour to finish enough of his bottle. I take him into his room where only the nightlights are on, i read him a story i talk softly to him and settle him and by now its between 9-10. He will oftehn wake one or two times within the first half hour or hour then he usually sleeps until between 12-1, wakes and we give cuddles but he wants a bottle so he usually goes back to cot at about 2 then sleeps for another 2 hours then wakes we try cuddles again this sometimes works or we have to give him a couple of ounces, this is when he is very hard to settle back into his cot coupled with us being pooped so he often ends up in bed with us until morning. he is a big boy was over ten pound at birth so always hungry i bf until about ten weeks. Any tips? xx

 

[rocknrolla]

urghhhhh feel pretty useless today, OH has only been back at work 2 days and i forced him to stay home today....

LO only slept 1.5 hours allllll night (3am-4.30am) and pretty much same night before, i needed an extra hour or two sleep this morning and asked him to stay and take her.

she's been pretty much routinely feeding 12.30am, 2ish, 4/5am then up at 8.30/9am...but lately has been staying awake after feeding at night (and then getting hungry again after an hour or 2 fussing) and just grizzles which ends up with crying fits and i'm sure it's a burp but get nothing and she's not comfortable anywhere.

i hope it's just a phase and maybe the 3week growth spurt.

it's really hard at night to get my head together and know what she wants/needs. i end up fussing her too much and this doesn't help!

made me feel like i can't do the nights and days alone, feel like a rubbish mum right now....bleurgh!

 

[floofymad]

urghhhhh feel pretty useless today, OH has only been back at work 2 days and i forced him to stay home today....

LO only slept 1.5 hours allllll night (3am-4.30am) and pretty much same night before, i needed an extra hour or two sleep this morning and asked him to stay and take her.

she's been pretty much routinely feeding 12.30am, 2ish, 4/5am then up at 8.30/9am...but lately has been staying awake after feeding at night (and then getting hungry again after an hour or 2 fussing) and just grizzles which ends up with crying fits and i'm sure it's a burp but get nothing and she's not comfortable anywhere.

i hope it's just a phase and maybe the 3week growth spurt.

it's really hard at night to get my head together and know what she wants/needs. i end up fussing her too much and this doesn't help!

made me feel like i can't do the nights and days alone, feel like a rubbish mum right now....bleurgh!

Pm me if you want. We have similar issues!

 

[Lauki]

urghhhhh feel pretty useless today, OH has only been back at work 2 days and i forced him to stay home today....

LO only slept 1.5 hours allllll night (3am-4.30am) and pretty much same night before, i needed an extra hour or two sleep this morning and asked him to stay and take her.

she's been pretty much routinely feeding 12.30am, 2ish, 4/5am then up at 8.30/9am...but lately has been staying awake after feeding at night (and then getting hungry again after an hour or 2 fussing) and just grizzles which ends up with crying fits and i'm sure it's a burp but get nothing and she's not comfortable anywhere.

i hope it's just a phase and maybe the 3week growth spurt.

it's really hard at night to get my head together and know what she wants/needs. i end up fussing her too much and this doesn't help!

made me feel like i can't do the nights and days alone, feel like a rubbish mum right now....bleurgh!

There is a major growth spurt at 3 weeks, that might be what's keeping her up? Try offering more milk. If you breastfeed just let her nurse as long as she wants, as then she's just working up your milk supply for after the spurt. If you FF have you tried offering more ounces or feeds more often?

 

[Rodnabell]

Listen up ladies... I may have stumbled across a sleep solution!!!! Took LO to see a craneal osteopath to address sleep issues on the suggestion of a few friends. It involves touching the head and torso to address any issues re reflux/ head plates not being alligned/ tension etc... Well the osteopath couldnt find anything 'wrong' with LO per say, but said he would work on his fight/flight response to address the frequent waking and reluctance to go to sleep.

Well... Im not saying this has addressed every sleep issue we seem to be having, but

LO will now sleep 5 hrs plus (although in with me not in the cot; he used to wake every 1-2 hrs even in with me).
He will nap for up to 90 mins during the day (this was unheard of)
We no longer seem to have to pace the floors to get him to sleep; just sitting with him on us will get him to sleep.

Back tomorrow for another session to work on the issues further, but it's honestly 100% better than it has been so fingers crossed!!! Cost £40 for a 30 min session and was worth every penny!!!!

 

[larudy13]

Hey some light at the end of the tunnel, my LO now sleeps 6-7 hours a night! and actually at night!!! I switched her schedule by staying up all day(it was horrible) and keeping her up with me, she now goes to bed at 10pm, *sometimes i wake her up at 4 if I get up to let her feed* then she sleeps usually until 7, then i put her in bed with me and she BFs and I sleep until about 10 am, good luck to everyone with the night owl babies, and hopefully mine sticks on this schedule for awhile

 

[rocknrolla]

so how do people go about getting their LOs to settle back down after night feeds? mine wont go down herself and i end up cuddling her to sleep which can take up to 2 hours... either that or she ends up in bed with us which is not ideal....

 

[Rodnabell]

rocknrolla... have you tried warming the cot??

 

[shmoo75]

so how do people go about getting their LOs to settle back down after night feeds? mine wont go down herself and i end up cuddling her to sleep which can take up to 2 hours... either that or she ends up in bed with us which is not ideal....

Have you tried a dummy? I used and still do a dummy when DD was 3wks old and it really helped. She just has it for her nap and bedtime so you can always wean your LO off of it gradually like I have. I also have a slumber bear which I bought when DD was 3mths old and I wish I had bought one earlier I will def be buying one in the next week or so for my next LO as its a godsend. Look on amazon for them.

 

[rocknrolla]

rocknrolla... have you tried warming the cot??

good idea, OH has warmed her blankets before with his body heat. our room's pretty warm already though. think she's just a little clingy and loves cuddles like her mum

 

[MissMaternal]

Oh my god I am at breaking point lol! LO has always been quite clingy to me, and is breastfed, so I was surprised when at 10 weeks old she started sttn, 10 hours straight without waking. I thought it was too good to be true and it clearly was...the past 3 nights she has been so unsettled...she is very easy to get to sleep, I have no problems there but as soon as I lay her down she wakes up its so frustrating...last night it took 9 attempts in 4 hours before she finally went to sleep. Looks like I am headed the same way tonight...I'm on attempt 5 so far

 

[shmoo75]

MissMaternal - there is a 4mth sleep regression that could start about now and also, my DD started suffering with teething pains at 3mths old and she cut her first tooth bang on 5mths old could your LO be teething?

 

[MissMaternal]

MissMaternal - there is a 4mth sleep regression that could start about now and also, my DD started suffering with teething pains at 3mths old and she cut her first tooth bang on 5mths old could your LO be teething?

thanks for replying! Ahh yes now that you mention it I have heard of the 4 month sleep regression! And yes she could be teething, I can't see any coming through yet but you're right she could be having some pain. Thankyou!

 

[xxchloexx]

Girls just a tip.. most women ive talked too said when that 4 month sleep regression slips in its cause baby wants more food. I find giving my LO some rusk in her late night bottle does the trick every time. Worth a try x

 

[Lauki]

Sleep regression has nothing to do with food. It's a development in the babies brain that changes that sleep patterns. They go into a lighter sleep during their cycles and if they can't settle themselves back to sleep they will wake up constantly to be soothed back to sleep . That's why it's so hard!

 

[shmoo75]

Sleep regression has nothing to do with food. It's a development in the babies brain that changes that sleep patterns. They go into a lighter sleep during their cycles and if they can't settle themselves back to sleep they will wake up constantly to be soothed back to sleep . That's why it's so hard!

I think it has something to do with LO learning loads like rolling over ect and they go over and over it in their brains whilst they sleep.

 

[emzilouu]

we put bradley to bed at 9, he gets a bath and bottle before been put down in his cot, we dont soothe him to sleep by rocking him or anything he settles really well himself, hes usually up between 12-3 for his 1st night feed then hes up at 4/5 for another but after his 2nd feed he just will not settle back down to sleep! we try everything, rocking him stood up, rocking him in the chair, iv even tried singing to him! he just wont go back to sleep.....sometimes he just lays in his cot mumbling to himself but we hear it over the monitor and cant sleep but after a while he gets bored anyway and just cries. he doesnt really sleep too much during the day hes very responsive and alert always chatting away to himself lately as hes finding his voice. anyone got any suggestions how we can settle him down after his 2nd feed? xx

 

[GHPBWoman]

I'm just hoping I can sleep with DH again someday. Right now one of us is in the livedng room with our lo while the other is in bed trying to sleep. I miss sleep and my husband.