Sleepless Nights Support Thread

[creamcakes]

Hi Bexy,

I started her with a routine, bath at 6, bottle and baby rice at 6.30, bed by 8 but it doesn't seem to be making any difference. Should I do it later? Like bath at 8, feed at 8.30, bed by 10? I don't know whether i'd prefer more sleep or more tome to just chill out in the evenings

Just an idea, but how about making the whole routine shorter, so, say bath at 6, bottle at 6.30 in a nice, quiet dim room, and then bed?? It may be that by the time she goes to bed she is so overtired she is waking frequently because of this. Earlier bedtimes don't usually lead to earlier waking in the morning. I think sleep breeds sleep - funny that!

And maybe ditching the baby rice? It isn't very calorific (far less so than milk). Not quite sure how many weeks old your LO is but she seems quite young for semi-solids. It can really interfere with their sleep at such a young age as their bodies are busy trying to digest this new type of food. If she seems hungry then you could give her more milk at each feed if she'll have it, or try tanking her up during the day.

What do you do when she wakes in the night? Do you feed her or cuddle her or just pat her bum in the cot? If she's feeding but not having much each time she wakes it might be that she just doesn't know how to go back to sleep on her own.

Lucy

 

[AppleBlossom]

She's 15 weeks and she has 7oz of hungrier baby milk each time and is still hungry which is why i'm weaning, she hasnt slept any better or worse since i started so i don't think it's that. I try to make sure I don't hold her to fall asleep at night too and 90% of the time she goes to sleep on her own but I stay with her, just dont hold her. When she wakes up I either feed her or pat her. Sometimes the patting works, it just depends how awake she is. She doesn't sleep much during the day either which might be a problem? I might try getting her to bed by 7ish, it's just thats what time my OH comes in from work and so I'm usually making dinner at that time

 

[Vickie]

Hannah's still asleep. We put her to bed a bit earlier last night as she was cranky but she woke up a lot until 9:30 when we fed her 6 ounces, she went straight back down (on her own!) and slept until after 5. We fed her another 5+ ounces and put her back in bed (where she went to sleep on her own again!) and is STILL sleeping! Now if only I were still sleeping

 

[Ragirl]

I just need to vent- hope you all don't mind.

I am just exhausted. It has been 11 months since I slept the whole night through (always had to get up to pee when pg). I know I shouldn't complain as my daughter sleeps much better than my son did. But still...We lay her down at 9-ish, she wakes at midnight-ish to eat, and then, depending on the night, either tosses, turns, and fits until I have to get up at 5 or sometimes she will go back down and sleep from 1-4. When she tosses and turns, she will rest as long as she is being held, but as soon as I try to lay her down she starts screaming. I know since she is bf she is not going to sleep through the night for awhile. So it really isn't just about being tired, I can deal with that. But The most frustrating thing for me, is the effect being exhausted is having on my not losing weight. It's so hard to eat right and exercise when my body is demanding food for energy and, when I get an hour of down time, I'd rather spend it resting than exercising. I was doing so well on maternity leave in terms of diet and exercise because I could take naps. But now since returnign to work, I've put 5 lbs back on which means I still have 55 to lose I just feel hopeless that I will ever lose this weight- I've lost my baby weight, it's just that I had lots of pre-baby weight I was hoping to lose while I had bfing to help me with burning calories. Sorry to complain...I'm just so frustrated!

 

[AppleBlossom]

I just need to vent- hope you all don't mind.

I am just exhausted. It has been 11 months since I slept the whole night through (always had to get up to pee when pg). I know I shouldn't complain as my daughter sleeps much better than my son did. But still...We lay her down at 9-ish, she wakes at midnight-ish to eat, and then, depending on the night, either tosses, turns, and fits until I have to get up at 5 or sometimes she will go back down and sleep from 1-4. When she tosses and turns, she will rest as long as she is being held, but as soon as I try to lay her down she starts screaming. I know since she is bf she is not going to sleep through the night for awhile. So it really isn't just about being tired, I can deal with that. But The most frustrating thing for me, is the effect being exhausted is having on my not losing weight. It's so hard to eat right and exercise when my body is demanding food for energy and, when I get an hour of down time, I'd rather spend it resting than exercising. I was doing so well on maternity leave in terms of diet and exercise because I could take naps. But now since returnign to work, I've put 5 lbs back on which means I still have 55 to lose I just feel hopeless that I will ever lose this weight- I've lost my baby weight, it's just that I had lots of pre-baby weight I was hoping to lose while I had bfing to help me with burning calories. Sorry to complain...I'm just so frustrated!

 

[Vickie]

I just need to vent- hope you all don't mind.

I am just exhausted. It has been 11 months since I slept the whole night through (always had to get up to pee when pg). I know I shouldn't complain as my daughter sleeps much better than my son did. But still...We lay her down at 9-ish, she wakes at midnight-ish to eat, and then, depending on the night, either tosses, turns, and fits until I have to get up at 5 or sometimes she will go back down and sleep from 1-4. When she tosses and turns, she will rest as long as she is being held, but as soon as I try to lay her down she starts screaming. I know since she is bf she is not going to sleep through the night for awhile. So it really isn't just about being tired, I can deal with that. But The most frustrating thing for me, is the effect being exhausted is having on my not losing weight. It's so hard to eat right and exercise when my body is demanding food for energy and, when I get an hour of down time, I'd rather spend it resting than exercising. I was doing so well on maternity leave in terms of diet and exercise because I could take naps. But now since returnign to work, I've put 5 lbs back on which means I still have 55 to lose I just feel hopeless that I will ever lose this weight- I've lost my baby weight, it's just that I had lots of pre-baby weight I was hoping to lose while I had bfing to help me with burning calories. Sorry to complain...I'm just so frustrated!

Have you tried warming her bed before laying her down? Or swaddling her? We still swaddle Hannah at night as she seems to sleep better that way.

 

[Linzi]

Seth fell asleep really easily at 9 o clock!!! Shocked!!

But then my mobile just went off in his room and woke him up. I could throw the stupid thing out the window lol, canty believe I didnt set it to silent

xxx

 

[Always&4ever]

I need sleep

 

[Samantha675]

I need sleep as well!

 

[Sarah88]

The sleeping more during the day trick worked. Savannah slept from 11-4 this morning. But it was only after an hr and a half stuffin around, and she kept waking up after 5:30, but better than nothing.

 

[Always&4ever]

Thats really great for a baby who is only a month old.. Jasmine used to wake up every 3 hours at that age

 

[taperjeangirl]

I agree that more sleep through the day seems to help Daisy sleep longer at night.
She usually sleeps from midnight to 6am
Yesterday we were out shopping all morning so she slept in her pram for about 3 1/2 hours and last night she went down at midnight and slept til 7! A proper full nights sleep !!

Have you all tried Johnsons new sleep baby range?
It's in a purple bottle, you get bubblebath and bodywash, it smells amazing and seemed to help the sleep process with Daisy!
We are kind of non routine through the day, but I bath her at 9pm every night then she has a bottle, chills out for a while then has another couple of oz's just before she goes to sleep and that's her all night...

to all of you who are tired!

 

[Sarah88]

I have found that she doesn't like sleeping in her bassinette during the day which is why i think she wasn't sleeping much during the day. But if I put her on the couch or my bed she sleeps more. Fingers crossed for another good nights sleep.

 

[nikky0907]

I've just decided yesterday that I won't be trying for her to sleep through the night.She only wakes up once and it doesn't make her cranky nor fussy.I'm guessing she just doesn't need that much sleep because she rarely naps during the day too

and some sleepy dust!

 

[Ema]

Well im a walking zombie still!! Jacob feeding every 2-3hours still and his colic is getting worse. But saying that i did get sleep from 10-12pm last night then from 4-6am then i lay and rubbed his tummy from 6-9 as he was really tired but it hurts him so much, and rubbing it seems to ease it and he doses waking now and again for big screams and settling back down. Mummy doesnt get much sleep but the lil man isnt in pain. I feel so helpless, lil man in so much pain Not nice!! But i remind meself he is so so so so worth it and it wont last forever. So just get on with it Hopefully one night i might get more than an hour here or there but for now i should be thankfull of that XxX

 

[Ragirl]

We do swaddle her- she can not sleep without being swaddled. She did a little better last night- woke up at 2 and 5:30 to eat. We are the opposite of many of you, the less she sleeps during the day, the better she does at night. We only found that out after 2 10-hour car rides where she screamed for the better part of the ride and then slept GREAT that night. Although I have noticed it's a fine line- if she gets too little sleep during the day it's hard to settle her down at bedtime.

 

[nikky0907]

Well im a walking zombie still!! Jacob feeding every 2-3hours still and his colic is getting worse. But saying that i did get sleep from 10-12pm last night then from 4-6am then i lay and rubbed his tummy from 6-9 as he was really tired but it hurts him so much, and rubbing it seems to ease it and he doses waking now and again for big screams and settling back down. Mummy doesnt get much sleep but the lil man isnt in pain. I feel so helpless, lil man in so much pain Not nice!! But i remind meself he is so so so so worth it and it wont last forever. So just get on with it Hopefully one night i might get more than an hour here or there but for now i should be thankfull of that XxX

I think you're doing great hun!
Massaging and rubbing their tummy really helps.Hang in there!

 

[Vickie]

Hope it gets better for you two soon.

 

[Samantha675]

grrr, WIMP. Ok, so after a crappy nights for a week, I asked my DH to take over, and I would sleep in the guest room. He could still bring Bren to me, to nurse and if he just could not get him to settle. I went to bed around 9 and the DH brought Bren to me twice in the night to nurse and I woke up once when he was crying, but stayed where I was. Then this morning, DH comes in 'I need to switch' I asked what time it was, he said it was near 6:30, no, it was closer to 6. I just thought, 'fuck me, I have been doing this for months, without asking for help, only in the last week have I asked you to get up ONCE in the night, and this is the FIRST time I asked you to do a night shift, and you still can't give me till 8 o'clock to sleep'

Now don't get me wrong, there is a part of me that feels a bit like he did his best, and I did get more sleep last night then I have in a LONG time, and I really appreciate him doing this, but the other half REALLY wanted an extra hour or two of sleep.

 

[BlackBerry25]

Well im a walking zombie still!! Jacob feeding every 2-3hours still and his colic is getting worse. But saying that i did get sleep from 10-12pm last night then from 4-6am then i lay and rubbed his tummy from 6-9 as he was really tired but it hurts him so much, and rubbing it seems to ease it and he doses waking now and again for big screams and settling back down. Mummy doesnt get much sleep but the lil man isnt in pain. I feel so helpless, lil man in so much pain Not nice!! But i remind meself he is so so so so worth it and it wont last forever. So just get on with it Hopefully one night i might get more than an hour here or there but for now i should be thankfull of that XxX

Aw Ema! You are such a great mom! I hope you get some sleep soon