Sleepless Nights Support Thread

[bekkie]

congratulations Reedy that is spectacular! I hope it keeps up for you.

 

[Shwhattam+1]

Hi!
My LO is 3 weeks on Fri (and I'm BF) and have the same problem. Brilliant sleeper in the day but come 11pm and lights off and I'm on a cycle of 10 minute feeding, 10 minutes to fall asleep, 10 minutes in crib, 10 minutes grizzling then cries, then 20 minutes calming before it starts again - it happens till around 6am then she goes back to her lovely day cycle. Is exhausting!

My health visitor said it could be a growth spurt which I dont think is possible as its night-time only. Tonight I'm going to try having a radio on low in the room in case its the quiet thats the problem.

If you have any breakthroughs would be good to hear!
Thanks!

I do think it's cluster feedings our LO's are doing...just wish they could be during the day!

 

[bekkie]

Bobby did his cluster feeds late in the evening and at night as well for the first 5-6 weeks - I always fed him on demand (still do but we're in a bit of a routine now) and let him suck for as long as he wanted and am very happy now because my milk supply has been wonderful.

Fingers crossed that tonight goes well for everyone! x

 

[Reedy]

He slept through again 2 nights running now x
Still have something at the back of mind though telling me its not going to last
I really hope we are getting somewhere, Finley is so much happier now he's getting some sleep & so am I x

Hope everyone elses night was good x

 

[jollygood000]

Hi!
My LO is 3 weeks on Fri (and I'm BF) and have the same problem. Brilliant sleeper in the day but come 11pm and lights off and I'm on a cycle of 10 minute feeding, 10 minutes to fall asleep, 10 minutes in crib, 10 minutes grizzling then cries, then 20 minutes calming before it starts again - it happens till around 6am then she goes back to her lovely day cycle. Is exhausting!

My health visitor said it could be a growth spurt which I dont think is possible as its night-time only. Tonight I'm going to try having a radio on low in the room in case its the quiet thats the problem.

If you have any breakthroughs would be good to hear!
Thanks!

I do think it's cluster feedings our LO's are doing...just wish they could be during the day!

Hey there Im new to the thread too, looking for a little advice as my 10day old little lady is exactly the same as this, the only way I get any peace at all on a night is to co-sleep, I was dead against it but my midwife gave me a leaflet on how to ensure its safe for baby and she has slept for 5hrs twice now and after a couple of nights getting only 2 - 2 1/2 hours sleep I feel like a new woman.

I keep trying to get her into a routine during the day in the hopes that she will settle better on an evening but nope, she sleeps well during the day then turns into the devil come 10pm!!

 

[Sarah10]

Jayden slept 10:30pm til 5:00am!! I'm in complete shock!!!!
He hadnt been to sleep through the day, just 2 half hour naps.
i hope he does that tonight! x

 

[sjminimac]

when does it get better? Charlie is 6 weeks old and breast fed, and for the past week has been waking at about 3,30am and taking ages to settle back down in his basket and go to sleep. This morning however he woke at 3,30 and has been awake ever since. I've changed 3 dirty nappies, spent ages trying to burp him and fed on demand. Nothing is settling him! I've now given up on bed and come downstairs

 

[Seity]

Gabriel was up for 2.5 hours last night. I'm pretty sure it was his teeth bothering him. I really wish one would finally make an appearance.
He won't nap during the day at all any more, but he's compensated by only waking one or two times a night now. I have no idea how he manages on just 9 hours broken sleep in a 24 hour period!

 

[Melissa_M]

when does it get better? Charlie is 6 weeks old and breast fed, and for the past week has been waking at about 3,30am and taking ages to settle back down in his basket and go to sleep. This morning however he woke at 3,30 and has been awake ever since. I've changed 3 dirty nappies, spent ages trying to burp him and fed on demand. Nothing is settling him! I've now given up on bed and come downstairs

I joined this thread when Alia was about a month old and she was a horrible sleeper...now she's two months and for the past week or so she's been sleeping great! We started a bedtime routine with a bath and then feed then burp then I rock her to sleep. She's been getting 5-6 hours at a time then waking once and going back to sleep for another 3. Last night she went from 11:30pm to 7:15am so almost 8 hours!!! Believe me, I thought it was hopeless and I was doomed to be a zombie forever, but it did get better for me, and I hope it does for you too

 

[JK1978]

Hi. I haven't had time to read through this read yet, but I intend to try and read as much as I can while waiting for some replies. I need some advice on how to deal with Jaxon's bedtime nightmare. We are going crazy in our house lately and I am nearing my wits end! Here is a typical night in our house.

Jaxon nursed or rocked to sleep at 8 or 8:30. It's fairly easy to get him to sleep most nights, but on occasion he fights real real hard. Within an hour of being put down he is up at least 2 times if not 3 or 4. DH goes to him and resettles him, usually by rocking or walking around the house with him. From about 9-3:30 when he is back down til about 11 or 12, he will sleep. When he wakes about midnight, I will go to him since it's usually him wanting to nurse. Then it repeats of him being up 2-4 times after for the next hour re-waking after being asleep for 15-30 mins. By 2 am he is usually SOOOO exhausted that he will finally sleep a few hours, but then it's time to nurse again (around 5 am ish) I usually give up and bring him to bed with me at that point and we both sleep a good 2-3 more hours before he is up for the day.

Even on nights where I cannot play this up and down game, and bring him into bed right off the get go, he is still waking on this schedule. Plus I sleep worse because he thrashes around alot, and moves down to the end of the bed or towards the edge of the bed. I manage to secure him when he is in there but i'm never getting that deep, full, uninterupted sleep lasting more then 2 hrs EVER. It's starting to take it's toll on me and I need sleep LOL.

Here is his day schedule:
8-8:30 wake, nurse
10 am banana or softened apple snack
11:00 am nurse
12-3 nap
3 wake up nurse
5:30 finger foods w/ us eating dinner
6 bath time
6:30-8:00 playtime
8 -8:30 bedtime nightmare begins

Things I have tried
~bed earlier... doesn't help he will just wake up within a half hour and then instead of going right back down he is up longer and usually wont go down earlie then 8 anyways.
~dream feeding... he wont eat pushes boob away and cries for binkie, then falls back asleep instantly only to wake within a half hour
~noise machine and music, makes no difference to him
~ 2 shorter naps during the day... if he naps later than 4 pm he is up til 10, so it doesn't help matters just pushes things back.

Do you see things I can change to help him out? He NEVER falls asleep on his own. I must put him down asleep so maybe how can I help him learn to resettle or self soothe on his own? I am at a lose for what I am doing wrong or what to do next. It's been 2.5 months of this.

 

[bekkie]

Reedy: that is AWESOME! so glad to hear you're all getting a good nights sleep - it gives me hope, going to read your journal

JK: I feel your sleepless pain - wish I had advice to give, but Bobby and I haven't made any actual progress.. it's like 1 step forward, and 2 steps back. the past 2 nights we've co-slept as my husband was out of town, but he's back tonight so we'll go back to the multiple wakings. Saturday night was horrible.. I managed to get him down at 10:30, he was up at 12:30, 1:30, 2:00, 2:30, 3:00 - 5:00, 5:30 (when I let him scream his little head off for a bit because I was ready to lose it) and then up for the day at 6:30.

Spent the weekend with my MIL (which is stressful enough on a good day) and got to sit and nod and smile while she informed me of why he wasn't sleeping (because spending an evening every week or so and now this weekend gives her better insight than me) and that if I wanted she could sit on me while he screamed so that I couldn't go to him... because that's the only way he'll sleep. Bleh... I treasure those nights where I manage to get 3 (or on the unbelievable nights.. more) hours of uninterrupted sleep, but they're so few and far between. I know tonight isn't going to be good because he didn't eat much for solids today because of his teeth again, and it's my time of the month so my milk supply is very low. I should buy stock in a coffee company with the amount of caffeine I've been taking in lately lol

 

[JK1978]

Damn my MIL says the same thing. Most advice I have gotten about it is to CIO but he gets soooooo worked up soooo quickly with the choking and gasping from crying so hard I don't think I could do it.

I put Jaxon down at 8 and he was up at 8:45. DH finally got him back down at 10:15. Fingers crossed he stays down a while..... fingers crossed.

I should invest in a coffee company, too LOL

 

[bekkie]

Bobby is the same way. Within a minute of him waking up he is standing at the edge of his crib screaming bloody murder and it's like the world is ending. I've read too many horror stories about CIO (like babies throwing up from crying) I just can't put him through it. I have nothing against people who have done it, and I know that many have found success with it... it's just not for me. He sleeps so well when we co-sleep but I know that isn't a permanent solution and it is probably preventing us from making any serious progress. Got him down at 10:50 tonight. now to try and get some sleep myself! Good luck!

 

[Reedy]

Hi JK x
The only thing I noticed about your routine is that after his bath at 6pm he comes downstairs & plays until 8pm x Finley used to have a bath at 6.30pm & then we would bring him downstairs to play until 7.30pm when we would take him up to bed & yeah he would go down fine (falling asleep on the bottle) bit then waking every hour or so from 12/2am.
So now he has his bath at 7pm then we take him straight in to his bedroom get him dressed for bed give him his milk then storytime, then bed awake (yes we did CIO/CC but it was a last resort & not suggesting you do this at all thats down to you to make that decision & not one that is taken lightly trust me)
By doing this he isnt being distracted & his brain isnt stimulated through play he now knows that its bed time & after 1 night of crying for 40 minutes (we were lucky it was only one night) he now settles himself to sleep & over the past week has slept so much better we even had 3 nights where he slept through
Also we used to bring him into our bed when it got to much, we realised that we were rewarding him for waking up by getting him in bed with us again luckily we only had one night where he woke at 4am & cried for an hour but we persisted & even though he does wake some nights (like last night) we go in give him his dummy & he goes straight back to sleep rather than waking & crying & not resettling. Sometimes when he doesn wake he settles himself back & we dont need to go in to him x

There is a link in my sig to our sleep journal if you want to pop in & see what things we have changed & how we're getting on x

Wow look at me I have one week of him being quite good & I make out I'm an expert seriously I'm not, far from it, I learn as I go along lol x

Bekki - hope you manage to get some sleep hun

 

[Melissa_M]

JK: How late in the day do you drink caffeine?? I find if I have any caffeine during the day it made Alia very restless and she wouldn't nap and then she would get overtired and it was more difficult to get her to sleep at night...so I switched to water. Not saying it would be the same for you but might be worth a shot.

 

[JK1978]

JK: How late in the day do you drink caffeine?? I find if I have any caffeine during the day it made Alia very restless and she wouldn't nap and then she would get overtired and it was more difficult to get her to sleep at night...so I switched to water. Not saying it would be the same for you but might be worth a shot.

I have 2 cups of coffee in the morning and none past 10 am. Think I need to cut back to one? wants to cry thinking about it LOLOL!

I will definately try pushing his bath back til right before bed. I was thinking more logistics... like washing him right after dinner since he makes a royal mess!!! what does it matter if he plays for in hour in a dirty onsie?

Happy to report that sheer exhaustion finally resulted in Jax (and mommy)getting and good night sleep. He woke at 3 am for a feed and went right back down til 8 am not getting excited but definately rejuvanating nonetheless.

 

[JK1978]

Night 2 and it's already sooo much better!!!

Things I did different. Gave him his solids at 5:30, pushed back bath to 7:00, went straight to his room and did a lotion massage, put his jammies on and dimmed the lights very low. I didn't speak after the lights were dimmed. I nursed him til he pulled off and then inserted his binkie. I hummed softly while rocking him. He didn't push away from me or try and sit up as he was doing. He resigned to letting me rock him while he fell asleep. At almost exactly the 45 minute mark he started fussing. I went in, put his bink back in, put him on his stomach and patted his back for a few minutes. with him awake, I left the room and without crying or screaming, he was back asleep in minutes. It is now 10. (1 hr and 15 minutes past his wake up) and he is still asleep.

I don't want to jinx things.. but this is HUGE for us

 

[bekkie]

Reedy: if anyone is an expert on how to get your baby to sleep, it's you lol - hope things are still going smoothly and that Finley is sleeping well!

JK: yay! hope it keeps up for you that's definitely a mistake that we make as well (letting bobby play after his bath) so I think we'll give that a shot tomorrow.

Last night was not great (as expected) he went down at 10:30 and did sleep until 2:30 - but then he was up within 5 minutes of being put down 5x in a row, and then he finally settled until 6 and up for the day. went down for a nap at 11:30 - 1 and then down again from 5 - 6 and now he's down for the night at 10:15. he ate really well today so we'll see how tonight goes.

 

[Reedy]

Reedy: if anyone is an expert on how to get your baby to sleep, it's you lol - hope things are still going smoothly and that Finley is sleeping well!
.

hmmm wouldnt say that x he's only slept through 3 times out of the 9 nights & last night was awful kept waking up (not sure what time) but just wouldnt settle back down left him to cry abit then went in gave him his dummy & within 5 minutes he was awake again, I knew he was tired though because could hear him yawning his little head off i dont know x
He then woke up for the day at 5.15am am sat at my desk at work trying my hardest to keep my eyes open

JK - sounds like you had a good night hope he keeps it up x
Also if Finley gets messy at dinner we just strip him down to his vest & if his vest gets messy then down to his nappy x

Bekki - hope Bobby is a better for you tonight xx

 

[Shwhattam+1]

No sleep at all last night...which is not the norm. I didn`t think it was possible for a 4 wk old to go that long without sleeping, especially since he`d had a bath and a massage. William wasn`t crying, just wouldn`t sleep. I tried BF, swaddling (he can break out now), cuddling, and soother. Everytime I would lay him in his bassinet he would fuss and his little arms would shake. I`d give him his soother but he`d spit it out after a couple of minutes. He was `wide eyed`and almost seemed hyper.

Anyways, I finally got him to fall asleep in his swing at 5am...even that took some time.

Exhausted today.