Sleepless Nights Support Thread

[honey08]

Can I join even though it is my almost 5 year old who keeps me up?

He has cerebral palsy and goes through periods of vomiting at night for no reason. As well as waking because he is stiff and sore. And the random '4am is morning, like totally mum' episodes too.

Last night I went to bed at 11pm, Amber (baby, see siggy, I forget how old she is) was awake and has a bit of a cold. So I git her up for a cuddle till her nose unblocked a bit, settled her for 11.30pm, then DS1 (8) was up for a pee and a speech about his nintendo DS. I got some sleep about midnight, DS2 up at 1am sick, luckily in the plastic box that stays in his bed, so sorted that out, sat with him a wee while. Back to bed at 2am, back up at 4am with DS2 again who needed a drink, back to sleep for an hour, back up with DS1 asking if it was morning just after 5am, he got told no, 6am he was back in so was told to go downstairs and watch tv quietly, Amber up at 6.30am and brought in bed with me, alarm goes off at 7am, my head hurts so much and I've came down with a head cold so I get some paracetamol and climb back in bed for 15mins that turns into hitting snooze every 9mins till 8am when I get up knowing I'm now running late, boys being very loud and head cold and headache is trying to kill me, swallow a coffee while getting kids fed/washed/dressed/ready, DS1 leaves at 8.45 for school, DH, DS2, Amber and I leave at 9am to take DS2 to nursery in the next town and drop off my car for an MOT that was due a month ago, oh and the road tax was due yesterday too (crap!). Got that done, car not ready to pick DS2 up at 12, so he has to walk, which means that tonight he will be up with sore legs again (and probably sick because he is sick if he has walked a lot that day) and tomorrow night will be the same because he is going for a walk and a train ride tomorrow at nursery.

All in all, a good night!

ur amazing

 

[blondeNklutzi]

I feel so guilty!

Mika was in a pretty predictable routine, had his nights and days worked out right and everything. Then he started getting sick and was up two whole nights vomiting and pooing which ruined it all! Now we are trying to work that all out again. So last night he went to bed at his usual time (about 8) and woke at 10 to eat (usually it is 12). He went back to sleep for an hour and then woke up again about 11. He ate again (!) but only about half an ounce and then was awake...wide awake. He finally fell asleep about 1, but every time I put him down he started screaming again. OH was no help because he thinks that when he is fed and diapered we should let him cry it out (He's 3 weeks old! I'm not letting him cry it out!). Finally after putting him down and going back to him about five billion times I finally gave up about three and slept curled up on the couch with him.

I feel guilty though because at one point when he decided he wanted to graze on his bottle instead of really eat I said in a really gruff voice "just shut up, eat, close your eyes, and sleep!" I felt so guilty I cried for about an hour when I got up this morning...

 

[vegasbaby]

Blonde so sorry to hear that your lo has been sick. I hope you can get his days and nights back in order.

My OH thinks our lo should cry it out too, but I think she is way too young. But sometimes it is hard when you know you have done everything for them and they still cry. I'll admit it, I've yelled at my baby too. I know she doesn't understand the words, but I feel so guilty about my tone. I just keep saying mama needs to sleep too. Wish she understood that. They say it gets easier. Let's all hope so.

Hugs to all the sleepy moms out there.

 

[blondeNklutzi]

I hope it gets easier for you soon Vegasbaby. I know he doesn't understand, but I felt soooo bad.

We went to his pediatrician today and she put him on infant reflux meds, we are hoping that will help because he is waking up screaming in the night bc of his reflux. Fingers crossed!!

 

[Reedy]

last night was bad - I cried for most of it he was in bed for 7.30pm woke at 11.15pm & wouldnt settle so i fed him then he woke again around 2.45am on & off then woke at 4.30am & hasnt been back sleep since DH left for work at 5.30am & wont be back till 6.30pm tonight I'm so tired its untrue x I just wish i knew why he was waking up so much all the time x I thought at almost 5 months he would be sleeping through or at least waking maybe once & going back to sleep.
I have shouted before aswell & felt so guilty afterwards x
I find it hard to be mad though when he lays there smiling at me lol x
Think he is finally going to have a nap so I'm going to have one too x

 

[duffers]

Can I join you ladies? Some support would be good. I want to scream each time hubbie says "at least it's only every other night that's bad". A good night being ME getting up to soothe/feed Esme twice and a bad night like last night being ME getting up for her at 11, 1, 2, 4 and then up for the day at 6am. MEN!

 

[EMYJC]

Hey, can I join in. My names Emma and I have a 2 month old son called Lucas. Any ideas why this is happening all of a sudden? I am so exhausted pls help
So since he was born really I have always incorporated a nighttime routine for my son. He usually has a bath, bottle and is put down for bed around 7-8pm. He had been doing really well and slowly started going longer before he would wake for his nightfeed. He was waking around 2-3 am and then going through til 630-7. I was happy with this and thought we were making progress.

Now, for the past week he has been waking consistently at the same time. He wakes at 1 am where I feed him as I havent dreamfed him at 2300 and know he needs the milk. He will have around 5 ounces. However, from then he wont go back to sleep properly again all night! He'll go til about 330-4 and then wakes again and is wide awake. He isnt hungry as when I offer the dummy he would normally suck on it really intensely if hungry, he'll just spit it out and have a crying fit on and off all night until I give in and get him up around 6. Not helping as I am obviously not asleep while he is crying.

OH and I will take it in turns to go in and comfort him, just a pat and sshhhhh. We pick him up at first too to make sure he hasnt got any wind. He isnt oversleeping in the day. He'll have anywhere from 2-4 hours of nap time in the day.

I dont know what to do to try and break this cycle. I am so tired i am starting to not enjoy my son.
He was 5 wks premature and have read in books they take a lot longer to go through the night as they are programmed to be in lighter sleep states so they wake for food etc but I know a girl whose daughter was also born this early and she's sleeping through no problem and is the same age.

 

[blondeNklutzi]

I have the same problem. Some nights Mika will wake up and will NOT go back to sleep.

Are you swaddling him? That has made a HUGE difference for us.

 

[Helabela]

any late nighters out there tonight?? mt LO keeps waking every 10 mins or so so i have grought her pram, which she sleeps in, into the living room (we are in a flat) so that hubby can get some sleep! i just have to keep getting up to put her dummy back in and rock her back into her light sleep but she just wont go into that deeper sleep stage. Im getting really frustrated about it as im so tired because she didnt settle after she woke at 2.30am this morning so have hardly slept at all. have had things to do in the day when shes sleeping

 

[blondeNklutzi]

Hi hun! It's only 8:30 pm here but I know how you feel! Mika did the same thing this morning!

 

[newmommy]

hey all,

I was just wondering what everyone uses to pacify their child... The one thing that seems to work every time is putting them in the car and driving around the block, but are there any other techniques or different products you use to quiet your child? Is there some kind of vibrator (LOL) that you can use in the crib to simulate the car?

Thanks for any help you can give!

 

[Helabela]

another sleepless one for us last night, nice of Sophie to leave it till a weekend night though, thats the only good thing about it! I think she likes her vibrating bouncer chair thing too much as it seems to be the only thing that will settle her along with a drive out in the car! We cant keep putting her in that to sleep though, especially over night! So i took her out of the seat last night at 11 for a feed, then she wouldnt settle in her moses basket or even her pram. I ended up having her in her moses basket so close t the bed i didnt have to get up to keep putting her dummy back in, just leant over to do it! So it meant we had some rest but it wasnt sleep as such as Sophie spits her dummy out every 10 minutes! Hubby gave her a feed at 3 but she still hasnt settled after that. I gave up at 4.30, got up and am now here, shes just settling to sleep, back in her vibrating chair thing again! We are off to do a car boot sale now so cant get any sleep! Great!

 

[kristen77]

hi everyone,

my lo has a really stuffy nose at the moment and so is feeding every couple of hours but only for 5-10 minutes. he is 17 days old.

does anyone have any tips?? we tried saline spray which is helping but he's still awful snuffly...

thank you

 

[sineady]

hi everyone,

my lo has a really stuffy nose at the moment and so is feeding every couple of hours but only for 5-10 minutes. he is 17 days old.

does anyone have any tips?? we tried saline spray which is helping but he's still awful snuffly...

thank you

lewis had a cold around that age too
i got one of those vicks air freshner kind of things that you just leave im the room it really helped his blocked nose

 

[Tasha360]

hi everyone,

my lo has a really stuffy nose at the moment and so is feeding every couple of hours but only for 5-10 minutes. he is 17 days old.

does anyone have any tips?? we tried saline spray which is helping but he's still awful snuffly...

thank you

My LO has a cold too. Iv got the saline nose drops which seem to work. I remember using karvol capsules with my son, you can put on babys bedding or something near and its supposed to clear their nose. Not sure if you can use them from birth though x

 

[Jellyt]

Hi everyone! My lo is just 3 days old but i'm wondering if it's really meant to be THIS bad?! She will not go down in her moses basket at all and will only sleep on me after a feed (which she is doing all the time). Midwife has assured me it'll get better but how am I supposed to get ANY sleep? I've tried everything

 

[littleblonde]

It does get better hun. Although it wont seem like it. Do you wait till she is properly asleep before putting her down. That it what we did and still do. I hold her till she is in a deep sleep and then out her down. For the 1st 4 weeks we didnt get more than an hour at a time. Is your partner off work. Its not ideal but to start with we slept in shifts. So least we had rest. Sorry cant help more

 

[littleblonde]

Also do you swaddle her. She is used to being all cosy in you . so the big wide world will be a scary place. Swaddling in blankets makes them feel safe and cosy.

 

[Hopeful3]

Hi everyone! My lo is just 3 days old but i'm wondering if it's really meant to be THIS bad?! She will not go down in her moses basket at all and will only sleep on me after a feed (which she is doing all the time). Midwife has assured me it'll get better but how am I supposed to get ANY sleep? I've tried everything

I found that with my LO, but apparently they need the reassurance that you are close...they have spent the past 9mnths with you so being apart is alien to them. I let my little one really settle into sleep before putting him down and its only the last two nights that have been better...he's 15days old.
Catnap when you can...are you breast feeding? I am and this makes things harder as you've always got to be 'on-call'. Just relax and don;t worry about doing anything else apart from being there for LO, you'll get there...stay positive :hugs'

 

[Tsia]

sat here falling asleep whilst LO naps. ANother sleepless night last night.
I just dont get it.. he sleeps fine from 7ish til midnight but after nidnight hes wakig every hour or two.