Sleepless Nights Support Thread

[aliss]

hi ladys i was wondering if u knew the sort of age babies should start sleeping through the nyt??? or when i should start a bed time routine my baby is only 7 weeks old at the moment and 10 weeks premamture so just wanted rough idea xxx

There is no set age. 6 weeks-18 months is a common range! Mine started at 14.5 months.

You can start a bedtime routine right now! You don't need to have it at an exact time but you can try and do the same bath/bottle/snuggle routine and keep up with it, over and over, for as long as you wish. As your baby gets older (and many find that 8-12 weeks is a common age), your baby will start to establish a bedtime. I'm not sure if that's corrected or actual age for preemies - many preemies are used to routine already from the hospital.

 

[aliss]

My lo is just 7 days old and she sleeps all day and is up all night. She refuses to sleep in her crib. Any idea on how I can gradually change her schedule around?

This is 100% normal unfortunately and will take several weeks/months for her to understand day/night. Most newborns hate their crib, try swaddling her and rocking her to sleep. don't put her down right away, wait a good 10-15 minutes to ensure she is asleep deeply (no eyes fluttering, limp muscles)

 

[aliss]

Hello...

I am having major trouble getting my LO to sleep at bedtime. And then once she is asleep, she wakes every 2 hours for food!! She just wont sleep in her crib. She's fine in the living room with me, usually in her bouncer/play mat/on me. But as soon as I put her in the bedroom, in her crib, she wakes and screams! She is always fed, clean, warm, not in pain or discomfort....I have no idea what is wrong!

Anyone got any idea's that might help? At the moment, I dont get to go to sleep until 2 - 3am

Are you swaddling? She probably needs to feel tight/close/startle reflex restrained.

 

[elly75]

I'm so pissed right now and blaming myself. It is 3:30 am here, she's awake due to being totally wet and after we changed her, she's not going back to sleep.

 

[qpaulina42]

Hello...

I am having major trouble getting my LO to sleep at bedtime. And then once she is asleep, she wakes every 2 hours for food!! She just wont sleep in her crib. She's fine in the living room with me, usually in her bouncer/play mat/on me. But as soon as I put her in the bedroom, in her crib, she wakes and screams! She is always fed, clean, warm, not in pain or discomfort....I have no idea what is wrong!

Anyone got any idea's that might help? At the moment, I dont get to go to sleep until 2 - 3am

Don't know how you'll feel about this but when my LO needed to eat every hour or so, for the first 3-4 weeks, we ended up bed sharing. It wasn't so much a preference of mine, but I was starting to hallucinate from lack of sleep so... She really liked it! She would latch on and suckle away, drift off to sleep, wake up, wake me up, I reattach her, and on it went. All I had to do was attach her and I could sleep too. I got so much sleep then! More so then I do now that she is sleeping longer and I'm putting her in the crib. I understand if you are hesitant though. I was so worried each night about sleeping in bed with her. Now that she is bigger I don't worry as much if I take her into bed with us, but I do it much more rarely.

 

[qpaulina42]

Have you girls tried giving them before bed baths. I have been doing that since LO was 4 weeks old and he goes to sleep at 10pm . . . wakes up once between 3-5am for a feed . . . he will be back to sleep within 15 minutes then wakes up again by 7am.

My mom swears by bed time baths. And baby does seem to go down quicker. But I have super dry skin and I worry about bathing my baby every night - what if she has dry skin too and will be uncomfortable? Weird worries. And I don't want to use any lotions on her skin...

 

[lightweight]

Good night for LO last night - but I still feel knackered as DH seems to think we can stay up later on a Friday night still as he doesn't go to work next day - and then he's asleep still! Having said that he'll often get up with DD one day out of weekend - I just could have done with it this morning as we're up and out tomorrow so that's it for this weekend.... still I'll make sure it's his turn next Saturday

 

[NewMummyx]

LO has the cold atm so instead of 1 5 minute feed and back down again Im up 5-6x to resettle him, like having a newborn again

 

[tokyo_c]

Trying to get my LO to sleep in her own bed, sitting next to her rubbing her back but she's been crying 40 mins now and it's breaking my heart

 

[MissFish]

I am soo tired, like everyone else I suppose. I'm in need of some advice too...

First I have to say I don't want to co-sleep & never did...but it's what we have resorted to!! My LO doesnt have troubles falling asleep or staying asleep... So long as she is sleeping on my chest. I recently have been considering sleeping her on her tummy at night in her crib but am very nervous, due to increased SIDS. That said, she has great neck control & I have seen her lift her head & turn her head many times while laying on her stomach.

Usually I give her her last bottle of the night & she falls asleep right away in my arms. Ill usually wait 15 or so minutes & watch for cues she is sleeping deeply (limp arms, legs, etc) Then the second I transfer her to the crib she wakes up either instantly or within 15 minutes. We swaddle her tightly, white noise, make sure she's clean & dry. Of course she settles immediately if I take her in bed with me & she will usually sleep another 4 hours on my chest.

I'm starting to wonder if her sleeping on her belly in the crib is not any worse than sleeping on my chest on her belly?? Surely the risks for sleeping an infant on their tummy apply to any surface be it a parents chest or a firm crib mattress?? I don't know what to do at this point! I feel like a bad mom if I put her down on her belly. I'm running on fumes..

 

[Kittifer]

.

 

[farmbaby]

I have a 7 month boy and what helps him go to sleep is a nice warm bath. He loves playing in the sink. I wanted to share a link of him playing in the sink and trying to grab the stream of water. He's so intrigued and confused why he can't grab it. LOL

Enjoy!!

https://youtu.be/UL_Co2GXKPE

 

[ALnLou]

Hi all

I am new to baby club, it is 3:45am and just thought it would make me feel better to know other people are awake at this hour!!

When LO wakes in the night it usually takes me an hour to feed and resettle him - is this normal?

Lou x

 

[MoonMelody]

LO has been up since 4:00am and it's now 8:45am. He's fighting sleep SO hard, and I feel like I'm going to keel over. I have the most outrageous dark circles under my eyes.

 

[Lolo5]

I'm sure that you are all tired, but when you see this small creature near you you just want to share this great feeling with the entire world, isn't it amazing???

 

[NewMummyx]

I'm sure that you are all tired, but when you see this small creature near you you just want to share this great feeling with the entire world, isn't it amazing???

at 4am when ive had 2hrs sleep in 3 days erm no, it wasnt my first thought!

 

[lucylu79]

I'm sure that you are all tired, but when you see this small creature near you you just want to share this great feeling with the entire world, isn't it amazing???

at 4am when ive had 2hrs sleep in 3 days erm no, it wasnt my first thought!

My thoughts exactly!!!!

Yes babies are amazing but when your knackered and personally feel like pulling my own hair out of the sockets I can't say that lovely baby thoughts are first to spring to mind!!!

 

[msq]

My 5 month old daughter sleeps very well. She goes down to sleep between 7 and 8 and wakes up 3 or 4 times through the night but goes right back to sleep after we give her the paci then she wakes up to eat between 5-6am. Sometimes she stays awake when she gets up that early (sucks!) but other times she goes back to sleep for an hour or 2. The only problem is that the last few days pretty much every time we lay her down for a nap or bedtime she cries a lot. It's been taking us 30 or so minutes just to get her to settle and fall asleep. This has been very frustrating and I'm wondering if anyone has some insight?

She's also been VERY cranky during the day...We cannot set her down for more than 5 or 10 mins without her crying. She needs us to be standing up while holding her and it's very frustrating.

She sleeps in a rock n play and we need to transition her to the crib, I'm worried about doing that because we wont be able to tuck the blanket around her like we do now and she is very active when we lay her down and pulls her paci out of her mouth. What should we do???

Help?

Thanks ladies

 

[qpaulina42]

teething maybe?

 

[Cocoa]

I am soo tired, like everyone else I suppose. I'm in need of some advice too...

First I have to say I don't want to co-sleep & never did...but it's what we have resorted to!! My LO doesnt have troubles falling asleep or staying asleep... So long as she is sleeping on my chest. I recently have been considering sleeping her on her tummy at night in her crib but am very nervous, due to increased SIDS. That said, she has great neck control & I have seen her lift her head & turn her head many times while laying on her stomach.

Usually I give her her last bottle of the night & she falls asleep right away in my arms. Ill usually wait 15 or so minutes & watch for cues she is sleeping deeply (limp arms, legs, etc) Then the second I transfer her to the crib she wakes up either instantly or within 15 minutes. We swaddle her tightly, white noise, make sure she's clean & dry. Of course she settles immediately if I take her in bed with me & she will usually sleep another 4 hours on my chest.

I'm starting to wonder if her sleeping on her belly in the crib is not any worse than sleeping on my chest on her belly?? Surely the risks for sleeping an infant on their tummy apply to any surface be it a parents chest or a firm crib mattress?? I don't know what to do at this point! I feel like a bad mom if I put her down on her belly. I'm running on fumes..

This is exact same as us, she will fall asleep fine on my chest or in bed with us, as soon as we wait until she's fast asleep and move her very slowly and gently to her crib she wakes up and screams!

We have co-slept a few nights and we get a great sleep, but I'm so worried about SIDS or the covers going over her head and I just can't bear the thought of anything happening to her. My husband is a very deep sleeper and I have to have my back to him with Emily at my front so he doesn't roll on her. I pop her on my side and put my arm around her and my other arm under my head. She just seems to love our soft bed, she'd sleep there for hours if she didn't wake hungry!