What can I do..? Sleep/co sleeping.

[superfrizbee]

I have a 3 month old ds who is wonderful. Such a happy, content baby! Unfortunately since about 9 weeks old his sleep hasn't been great. He was doing really well! He got to the point when he would wake any time between 2-4am and then again at 5-7am depending. Now however he'll wake at 10pm, 12am, 2am etc all night. He is EBF. I also have a 3 year old who has started waking at 5.30am and a 5 year old up 6-6.30am, so you can imagine I'm tired, busy, with no time to rest or nap in the day.

My ds has been like this for weeks. I know it can be normal and I'm happy to let it pass but I need more rest. I would cosleep but I have a double bed and there's not a lot of room. Dh is a very deep sleeper and I don't trust baby in the bed between us. He would easily overlay him. I have had ds next to me occasionally but there really isn't much room and he's a big boy - in his 6-9 month clothes already and has been for weeks. I've even looked at cosleeper cots but as he's my last and already 3 months old I don't want to spend a lot of money. Plus many of them seem very small. Ds is already in a travel cot in our room with a decent custom mattress because he is big for his crib.

Does anyone have any brain waves, other than riding this out?

 

[Zephram]

I co-slept with my second for this exact reason. I kicked OH out of the bed to our son's room where he slept on the pull out mattress. Actually not so much kicked him out, but he happily went as he didn't want to be woken all night and go to work the next day. Plus, DS1 slept better with him in the room. I wouldn't have co-slept at all if OH was in the bed. He's a big guy and he sleeps very deeply, he would easily have rolled on the baby if he was between us. Most co-sleeping guidelines say baby goes next to mum, not in the middle between mum and dad. Dad doesn't have the spidey sense that mum does about baby being there next to them, so it's really dangerous. Would your OH go to the couch/spare room/kids room for a few weeks while you ride it out with baby in bed with you? You could also just put the cot right next to your bed if you have room in the bedroom.

 

[Teri7489]

Big hugs! I know the pain of doing whatever it takes to get sleep - currently have a 4 year old I'm a bed next to mine! This was initially a cot which we put right beside our bed at the highest level, with the side down. So she was completely safe in her own bed, no risk of her rolling in bedside me but I could easily pick her up to fed, give her dummy back, pat her bum and so on. So could smell me, know I was there and she settled well this way. As she got bigger and was able to move i put the side up and just lowered it when I got her in and out. Again as she grew I took the side off and she kind of co-slept but has always liked her own space but to be near me. She only got her own room at 2.5 when we moved from a 1 bed flat to a 2 bed house so that why we were so close. It's only recently she has come back to my room as she has picked up lots of bugs from starting nursery so it hasn't been 4 years of cosleeping, not that I would mind that.

 

[jessmke]

When my baby went through a rough patch with sleeping my OH slept on the pull out couch in the office, and baby and I had the master bedroom. It allowed me to co-sleep on really bad nights with more room in the bed. He had a really rough time for about 3-4 weeks and now at 5 months old is doing really well, he's in his own room and only waking twice at night for a feed and then back to sleep. Hang in there!

 

[xdxxtx]

My 4-month-old is in size 9-12. We have an Arm's Reach cosleeper. She barely fits, but she does fit. I attach it tightly to my bed and let her lay on my bed, but if she were to roll, she'd roll into the cosleeper instead of onto the floor. She only rolls toward me, to stay snuggled up next to me, but it's nice to have that extra sense of security. I did spend quite a bit of money on it, but I see them used on Facebook yard sale pages all the time.

 

[MEPride]

I know I'm a bit late to the party, but....

Look at investing in s Magic Merlin Sleepsuit. You can always sell it to consignment after you're done with it. It was designed by a pediatric physical therapist to dampen the startle reflex in babies (similar to swaddling but without the swaddle) and give a deeper, more sound sleep. I tried it with my 3 month old for different reasons (it can take 1-2 hours to put her to bed and multiple attempts). While it didn't help our situation it did help her sleep for 8 hours uninterrupted when she normally sleeps 5-6 for the first stretch. I will say this, though: it isn't recommended for babies who are rolling already.

 

[lesondemavie]

Gosh I could have written this post. My daughter was giving me 6-7 hour stretches of sleep in her crib just before three months. Then I went back to work, she turned three months, and it all changed (right when I really needed the sleep). She is breastfed and takes bottles of breastmilk during the day with DH. I ended up cosleeping bc I just needed the sleep, but we have a cal-king. As time went on she got a bit better giving me 3 hours at a time, then she went even worse at 4 months. After 2 weeks of never making it through a full sleep cycle, I was a zombie and the baby blues started hitting. I was seriously considering sleep training (we are currently nap training), but now just this past week she started giving me 4-5 hour stretches. I’m so used to waking up every two hours now that I don’t always fully benefit from the second stretch of sleep but man those first 4-5 hours are glorious. Guess we’ll see what 5 months brings us? Sorry I don’t really have any advice, but you are certainly not alone!

 

[3boys]

My husband moved into our 4 year olds room for this very reason. Without co-sleeping i would get no sleep ever, i guess we all just need to do what works for us to survive the next year lol