Sleepless Nights Support Thread

[angie-roo]

I know controlled crying is controversial, but we did it from about 10 months.... Blimey wish we had done it sooner, baby now sleeps 7.30-6.30 every night, when you take into account lack of sleep during the last trimester, well a year of little sleep was driving me crazy. Yup, if I have another that doesnt sleep, cc will be used at 6 months. Baby either goes down with no fuss or sings moans to herselfin her cot and is asleep in under 10 minutes then sleeps all night.it is a miracle

 

[Nut_Shake]

I know controlled crying is controversial, but we did it from about 10 months.... Blimey wish we had done it sooner, baby now sleeps 7.30-6.30 every night, when you take into account lack of sleep during the last trimester, well a year of little sleep was driving me crazy. Yup, if I have another that doesnt sleep, cc will be used at 6 months. Baby either goes down with no fuss or sings moans to herselfin her cot and is asleep in under 10 minutes then sleeps all night.it is a miracle

Please tell me what you did!!

I'm so sick of not sleeping, I'm going bloody mad! And it upsets me that family all come and get the fun stuff and I'm just a walking zombie just there to feed them, I just can't enjoy them right now because of the lack of sleep...

 

[aliss]

I know controlled crying is controversial, but we did it from about 10 months.... Blimey wish we had done it sooner, baby now sleeps 7.30-6.30 every night, when you take into account lack of sleep during the last trimester, well a year of little sleep was driving me crazy. Yup, if I have another that doesnt sleep, cc will be used at 6 months. Baby either goes down with no fuss or sings moans to herselfin her cot and is asleep in under 10 minutes then sleeps all night.it is a miracle

Please tell me what you did!!

I'm so sick of not sleeping, I'm going bloody mad! And it upsets me that family all come and get the fun stuff and I'm just a walking zombie just there to feed them, I just can't enjoy them right now because of the lack of sleep...

I know you're tired, it's a million times harder when you've got more than one. If it's getting bad, I would suggest you shoot a PM or message off to kitty23, she has twins and had to do some sleep training, she's probably the best one to ask as I'm sure there's some strategies you need to change for twins.

 

[Seity]

I know controlled crying is controversial, but we did it from about 10 months.... Blimey wish we had done it sooner, baby now sleeps 7.30-6.30 every night, when you take into account lack of sleep during the last trimester, well a year of little sleep was driving me crazy. Yup, if I have another that doesnt sleep, cc will be used at 6 months. Baby either goes down with no fuss or sings moans to herselfin her cot and is asleep in under 10 minutes then sleeps all night.it is a miracle

Gabriel goes down with no fuss, he just happens to wake often during the night. He can even soothe himself back to sleep if he wakes and doesn't need anything. I can see where CC would be very useful with some babies though.

 

[angie-roo]

I signed up for babysleepanswers you buy the book and they'll send the hard copy through the post and an electronic one via email. The bit in the book re controlled crying was literally only a paragraph long but it was enough to be going on. What I found the most help was posting questions to the author and her team and literally her just writing, don't worry, keep going.

It was very hard at first and I wanted to buckle and give in, but the daily posting to the site and my hubby kept me going

I was co sleeping before this and she just stopped falling to sleep with me feeding her and she kept trying to escape from the bed. Now we put her down usually between 7 and half seven and she sleeps til 6-6.30 or sometimes later. Very rarely she wakes and may grizzle for a few minutes, but honestly, she just rolls over now and goes back to sleep, she also is happy to see me in the morning

The book also covers gradual withdrawal and pickup putdown techniques. I would have gone with that but it was obvious very early on that the more I hung about fretting the more upset she was

They only suggest cc from 6 months. I so wish I had bit the bullet then! Baby now gets 11 hours uninterrupted sleep a night and usually 2 hour naps a day. I also have my evenings back with my hubby ;-)

 

[Seity]

I got the best Christmas present ever! Gabriel slept the whole night through. He went to sleep at 10 pm and didn't wake until 6:30!

 

[aliss]

I got the best Christmas present ever! Gabriel slept the whole night through. He went to sleep at 10 pm and didn't wake until 6:30!

omg! Merry Christmas!!! Now THAT is amazing and something you can't buy

I hope you were able to sleep through too?

I had a good night too. 3 night feedings, back to sleep. Self settled on waking #4!

 

[stevie123]

wow seity thats amazing!
charlie went to bed at 8pm and i prayed hed sleep well, but he woke at 10pm and it took 2 hours to get him back to sleep. again he would be fine if one of us was holding him, but as soon as he was put down he would scream. i just dont understand why.
so he finnaly went to sleep at midnight... to wake again at 2am, when i fed him as i figured he may be hungry. he went straight to sleep after the bottle, though he was in our bed by this point as im still ill with flu and im so utterly exhausted that i didnt have the energy to even try to put him in the cot! he then slept till 7am, so quite good really in the end (well it would have been good if i could actualy have slept myself but im still too ill to sleep properly)!

 

[Sarah10]

I love jayden but he is seriously driving me crackers! the past week he sleeps from 9pm till 10:30pm then after that he won't settle? i don't know what to do! i have tried leaving him 5 minutes but he gets louder and louder then full blown starts crying.
he has been messing about of the past half hour.

 

[leoniebabey]

well my baby miust have knew santa was coming
put him down in travel cot at 7.45 (we stayed out for xmas)
woke up 11.30
wouldnt setlled had to sleep with him in a SINGLE BED. i dont recall going to sleep i must have vaugly been dozing inbetween him waking
was up at 6.45 opening presents! soooo tired
bloody teething

 

[stevie123]

we were up every hour lastnight nearly. went to bed at 8.30, up at 9.30, 10.30, 11,30, 12.30, took him into bed with us at this point, where he slept till 4am, then up every hour again untill morning.
he is ill now though with a cough and he sounds all funny, so im assuming this is making an already bad sleeper even worse!

 

[aliss]

Last night was crap (although not as bad as stevie123, sorry, sounds awful!!)

Mine's obsessed with rolling, had to go turn him over 5x last night, plus he's now decided to go to an 8pm-4am schedule!! And sleep 6 hours in the day!!! Will need to take some action but it won't be pretty, will probably involve a witching hour.

Still no sign of CC or CIO. i can see why people do it but I just can't bear to.

 

[aliss]

LAST NIGHT WAS AWESOME!

Baby was still screwed up from missing a full nap on the 24th (stupid family. he wouldn't sleep in his pack n play) so finally last night I put him to bed at 4:55pm (LOL) and he slept until 5:30am (waking at 10pm, 2am).

Night off!!!!

He's always up at 5:30-6am anyways.

 

[stevie123]

wow thats amazing aliss! glad your lo gave you some rest!
poor charlie is really poorly at the moment so his sleep is worse then ever. he went to bed at about 8pm lastnight and woke up every 30mins. but i would hear him coughing then he would start to cry poor baby
i went to bed at 10.30pm and he woke again crying just as i was getting into bed, so i just picked him up and took him to bed with me as i really didnt see the point in even bothering to settle him in his cot as he was coughing and sniffing.
once in bed with us he didnt do too badly. woke at midnight and 5am, up for the day at 8am!

 

[dreamwarrior]

Last night was the worst so far. She was up from 11:30pm at night to 12pm in the afternoon. She writhes and cries until she's held and/or fed. Even now (2pm) she's sleeping more lightly than normal. Typically she sleeps perfect in the daytime, waking up to feed without crying at all.

 

[lrxjessica]

I'm having a terrible time with my LO. He usually doesn't go to sleep until 3 or 4am. As of tonight/this morning, he just fell asleep at 4:30am. Once he is asleep, he usually only wakes up once for a feeding and diaper change. I'm exhausted but glad I'm not a working mother at the moment. I try laying him down around 11pm and he'll sleep for about 30 minutes then be wide awake. He feeds constantly between 11pm and 4am. I can tell he's tired but fighting sleep for some reason.

 

[CocoaOne]

Urgh. So. Tired.

Last night LO slept beautifully between 7:30-12:30, but then would not stay asleep at all after feeding and didn't fall asleep again until gone 2am, woke again at 4am and didn't go back to sleep until nearly 6am, and then we got up at 8 (but I hadnt gone back to sleep as I was holding her in a funny position! )

I just don't know what's up with her sleep, every night is so different! The night before last she was awake literally every hour at 20 past the hour until 1am then slept until 5 when we got up. Xmas eve she only woke once at 5am for a feed and then when straight down again!

I wouldn't mind so much if it was consistent and I knew what I had to change. Grrrrr

I'm still thinking of trying CC when OH goes away in a couple of weeks time. The only thing that puts me off is it being disrupted by illness and teething (LO has no teeth yet) and having to do CC again and again. I've got no idea what to do for the best. Something needs to change soon though as I've got to start going for job interviews in the new year, and I can't go like a zombie!

 

[elixir]

hi ev one. ok so here is my problem n i wd love and appreciate some advice plz. my LO goes 2 sleep between 11 to 12 at night and sleeps till 10 am. but at 3 30 to 4 am she squirms and starts eating her hands but does not wake up, her eyes stay closed. i give her a bottle n she drinks while eyes closed and stops squirming straight aways. again at 7 am. if i dont feed her she ultimately starts crying n then wakes up. what do i do?

 

[stevie123]

oh dear doesnt sound too godd here at the moment! lots of mummys not getting much sleep
lastnight charlie went to bed at 8pm, and woke at 9pm, 10pm, 11pm. each time crying and took a while to get him back to sleep. he then slept till 2am, when i took him into bed with me, and he slept on and off till 8.30am. he kept waking and fidgeting next to me, so overall i didnt get much sleep. BUT.....he got 2 teeth yesterday! so i think this may be keeping him up.
cocoaone - poor you, i see your lo is 8 months, youd think by then lo would be sleeping a bit better im considering cc soon too if things dont improve. i hope lo starts sleeping better for you soon.
elixir - how old is your lo? it sounds like they are just hungry.do they go back to sleep as soon as you have fed them? if i was you i would just keep feeding
hope we all get some better sleep soon.

 

[CocoaOne]

Elixir - Maybe pre-empt and give her a dream feed at 3 before she starts squirming?