Sleepless Nights Support Thread

[rachxbaby1x]

:wave: Hi ladies, im joining you too

Harrison has never been a good sleeper, but the last 2 weeks have been so hard

He's been waking every hour and half
I am to the point of desperation, i dont know what to do with him

We struggle to get him to take regular naps also, so I think that doesnt help his sleeping

I get up every morning and tell myself tonight will be better but it never is

At least were all in it together though

Heres to tonight!

xxx

 

[aliss]

I took a short vacation from this thread but I'm back.... and I'm annoyed. NOW, it is purely waking up for the habit of wanting 1-2oz of milk several times a night, rather than hunger. I'm offering water right now. I'd be more than happy to wake 3-4x a night for true hunger but 3-4x a night for a taste of milk at older than 8 months? No thanks... lol.

 

[PeaceLoveBaby]

I'm here..still haven't been sleeping, just haven't been posting here lol.

Last night was a very fidgety, restless night for LO. Not sure what's going on..unless it's the dreaded 4 month regression starting.

Aliss, I hear ya! That would annoy me too. hope you can break that habit asap!

 

[MrsJ08]

ladies

I hope you don't mind me joining you? My DD was an angel sleeper until 16 weeks and then it all went out the window. Although she was a bit of a nightmare between 6pm-9pm she would go down at 9pm/10pm and sleep until 5/6am. Since 16 weeks it's all gone wrong and she rarely sleeps for more than 3 hours without needing a BF. Over the past few weeks we have been moving from 3 to 4 hours between feeds during the day and this has been pretty successful. Routine in the day is pretty consistent and she has two naps of between 40mins-1hour and one in the afternoon of between 1-2hours. I have been weaning her for a couple of weeks and that is also going very well, we did 2 weeks of "tastes" at lunch time and we are now having breakfast too. Initially I think the sleep disruption was due to her injections and partly her consolidating her sleep as she has started going to bed around 7pm which is great because we have got our evenings back. But, I'm still BF at some time between 11-12, 2-3am, 5-6am. I'm absolutely shattered. I've tried dreamfeeding her when I go to bed but it makes no difference she still wakes up at 2am. The best night we have had in the past 6 weeks was one where she went down at 8.30, slept until 12am and then went back down until about 5am. I've never been so grateful for 5 hours of sleep!! I thought that the weaning would help her sleep at night but it's not really helping yet although she is enjoying her food and dutifully opens her mouth and makes appreciative noises. I talked to my HV and she told me to try and hold off weaning (the Dr on the other hand told me to wean) and give her a bottle of formula before bed. Unfortunately in the real world she won't actually take a bottle so even if I wanted to give her formula I can't. Any advice would be gratefully received

 

[aliss]

MrsJ08, you are going through the (very) nasty 4 month regression which can last 4-8 weeks IMO (ours lasted 6). I say you just have to keep sticking to it... it WILL end, but it's a massive growth spurt requiring huge amounts of food.

 

[PeaceLoveBaby]

At least we'll have healthy, plump bebehs at the end of it!

 

[Seity]

We had a really good night last night. He only woke every 3 hours to eat I hope tonight is good as well.

 

[PeaceLoveBaby]

Good luck hun.

 

[MrsJ08]

Thanks Aliss - my little flump went down at 7.30pm tonight after a monster feed. I'm wondering whether she might go until midnight. I think I'll go to bed at 10pm just in case she does and I can squeeze in 2 hours of sleep. I hope you are right about the 4 month regression - so far it has been 6 weeks so maybe it's coming to an end (she says clutching at straws!) Since the beginning of December she has gained nearly 4lb so that would contribute to the growth spurt theory too.

Fingers crossed we all have a good night

UPDATE
We had an awful night, one of the worst we have since she was a newborn. Off to bed she went at 7.30 and proceeded to wake for feeds at 9.30pm, 12, 2.30am, 5am, 6.30am, 7,30 am. I'd like to say she was waking for comfort but she wasn't, she had not only one but two boobs at 3 of those feeds. I am like a Zombie today I hope you guys had a better night than me.

 

[Babydayz]

I'd like to report I was up every hour last night! Not only that, but I couldn't get DD to sleep in her crib at all, so she spent the whole night in bed with us! that kinda put a damper on VDay! I'm so used to the lack of sleep that's it's now kinda the norm. If she sleeps at all in the next few days, I'm gonna read The baby Sleep Book by Dr. W. Sears and pray he's got the answers for me lol

 

[Seity]

Back to the usual up every 2 hours. Ah well, after nearly a year of it at least I'm used to being sleep deprived.

 

[Marie1337]

Hi ladies, just looking for some advice/support.

LO was a good sleeper at night, always sleeping in his crib and would self settle if woken up. I could put him down after he fell asleep by either rocking or on the boob. He started to sleep through about mid-January and I felt everything was great.

Fast forward to last week. He now instantly wakes up when I try to put him down and if I do manage to get him to settle he wakes up in half an hour. I have started taken him to bed with me as it is the only way both of us will sleep. Last night he was un-settled all night long and constantly rubbing his head with one hand and sucking his thumb with the other.

Is this the start of the dreaded sleep regression? He also has bad cradle cap which we have been treating, could this be bothering him?

I have been looking for advice online but dont know if I should try any of the sleep techniques. We have been baby led in everything and it works for us and feels right. I am just worried he isn't getting enough sleep.

Thanks for any replies and hope everyone has a good night.

 

[Sarah10]

OMG jayden you are getting worse lovey!!
HELPPP.
He got a cold last weekend, has recovered now, he sleeps from 6pm-8pm, screams til he has his bottle, sleeps til 9, up til midnight, then from there he is up for his dummy every 5 minutes, and i thought it was hard before.

Doesn't help he won't stay asleep longer than 10minutes in the day, i timed him yesterday out in the pram, 9 minutes!!!!
Thats all he had all day, nothing works, rocking/sleeping on me/flat on back, on my chest for nap, dark room etc not a sausage!!

 

[WanaBaba]

I feel so misserable....
I'm so tired right now it hurts
My LO lets me have around 3 hours sleep per night and it's really starting to get me down, i cant do much through the day as i just feel dead on my feet, and it really doesnt help that she spends most of the day screaming the place down cos she's tired but wont go to sleep. All me an hubby do is argue now cos were both so tired and grumpy. oh and now hubby is ill with man flu so im gunna have to do everything myself today and i just dont know how im gunna cope....

Sorry just needed to get that off my chest..

 

[sjminimac]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz <that is how my night went in hourly intervals. Cold? Check. Teething badly? Check. Never been a good sleeper anyway? Check. Overtired? Check. Possible 6 month sleep regression? Check. What am i doing wrong? I feel like a creature today

 

[MrsJ08]

sleep deprived Mummy's

Babydayz - did you have a better night?

Mare1337 - Scarlett started the head rubbing when she first started teething at the same age. Do you think it could be that? Do you have a mobile in the cot or have you tried the Fisher Price Sea Horse? I use both to settle my baby. The other piece of advice I was given which has really helped me is that most baby's can't stay awake for more than 2 hours without getting over-tired. Try putting your baby down before you think they are really tired. I know it sounds mad but I found often I wasn't reading the signs - especially during the day. Now, if it's been 2 hours since she woke or I get 2 sleep signs (i.e yawning or eye rubbing) I put her straight down in her cot. I would say it works about 80% of the time and now we have a great day routine with consistent nap times. Night time is another matter although we had a good night last night. Hope this helps x

Sarah10 - what a little rascal, if he was going 20 mins I would suggest he was having trouble going from one cycle to the next but if it's only 10 mins he isn't even getting that far. Sorry, I don't know what to suggest.

Wanababa & Sjminimac -

 

[aliss]

We've jumped head first into the 9 month regression.

Last Tuesday night he slept 7pm-5:30am straight for the first time ever,

This Tuesday night he woke at 7:45pm,11:30pm, 12am, 1am, 2:30am, 4am, 4:30am, and up fresh for the day at 5:30am Taking over 24oz of milk alone just at 12am and 4am. Even worse, my OH is on night shift this week and comes home at 1am, waking me up yet another time just being loud coming into the house!

 

[Lydiarose]

thank god for this thread! im lydia and oscars 15 weeks he has never been in a routine despite our efforts! and he has always been a terrible sleeper we have never had a full nights rest the longest hes ever slept is 4 hours ONCE! he ussually goes to sleep between 8pm and 10pm wakes at 12 IF were lucky then again at 2 - 3 30 4 45 5 30 and 7 hes awake for the day the last few nights we havnt even had that he will not settle and is very irritable and i have no clue why hes been very clingy and wingey and will somtimes yelp in pain then be fine a few minutes later hes dribbiling everywhere and trying to put everything in his mouth is it to early to be teething or 4 month sleep regression x

 

[aliss]

thank god for this thread! im lydia and oscars 15 weeks he has never been in a routine despite our efforts! and he has always been a terrible sleeper we have never had a full nights rest the longest hes ever slept is 4 hours ONCE! he ussually goes to sleep between 8pm and 10pm wakes at 12 IF were lucky then again at 2 - 3 30 4 45 5 30 and 7 hes awake for the day the last few nights we havnt even had that he will not settle and is very irritable and i have no clue why hes been very clingy and wingey and will somtimes yelp in pain then be fine a few minutes later hes dribbiling everywhere and trying to put everything in his mouth is it to early to be teething or 4 month sleep regression x

Absolutely not too early for teething! Mine had 2 full teeth out at either 10 or 12 weeks, can't remember. Teething can start in the first month. 4 month regression is also a double whammy - it lasts about a month. Won't lie - it's very difficult, but it's just a massive growth spurt and brain development. Mine was always a horrible sleeper but 5-7 months is a bit of a good period of sleep (1-3 wakings, even a few 6-7 hour stretches!!!).

 

[Marie1337]

thank god for this thread! im lydia and oscars 15 weeks he has never been in a routine despite our efforts! and he has always been a terrible sleeper we have never had a full nights rest the longest hes ever slept is 4 hours ONCE! he ussually goes to sleep between 8pm and 10pm wakes at 12 IF were lucky then again at 2 - 3 30 4 45 5 30 and 7 hes awake for the day the last few nights we havnt even had that he will not settle and is very irritable and i have no clue why hes been very clingy and wingey and will somtimes yelp in pain then be fine a few minutes later hes dribbiling everywhere and trying to put everything in his mouth is it to early to be teething or 4 month sleep regression x

This sounds exactly like my LO right now. Last night was the worse so far. I think we managed to get a few hours broken up through the night but from 2 to 5 am I just sat there putting his pacifier back in so that he could soothe himself for 5 mins and sleep.

I am pretty sure he is teething. Plus he has tried to roll over and his hand eye coordination has increased dramatically since last week. I am just hoping the restlessness can calm down. Unless I am holding on arm down he won't settle. Has anyone tried swaddling an older baby and did it work?