Worst night so far....

[kateqpr]

Just couldn't get Poppy to sleep last night. She was wide awake from midnight after a feed. She then got sleepy, i put her down fast asleep, and she woke ten minutes later screaming. This went on for 3 hours (hugging her, her dropping off, putting her down, her waking inconsolable) until i gave up and put her in bed with me, where she was fine.

I have tried letting her settle herself before ( a few weeks ago) but she just cried and cried so i gave up , plus everyone said she was kind of young to try that (ie leave her to cry).

Any tips on how to help her self settle? I did try that first last night, and amazingly she just lay in her moses basket silently for about 15 mins and i thought we'd cracked it! Then she started crying.....

I'm so so tired today as is my OH. I'm wondering whether i should move her to her cot in her own room (even though i have such mixed feelings about that, mainly that the SID guidelines say she should stay with us for 6 months!) but not sure we can both cope with her in our room much longer if i can't suss out how to sooth her or help her sleep better.

Any advice? Even in the day she fights having naps... I put her down half an hour ago because she was struggling to keep her eyes open, then half an hour later she wakes herself up, still grouchy! Or just pings her eyes open the minute she's put down to sleep

The only thing i can do now is letting her sleep while breast feeding...and i know that's not the best routine to set! Plus she still wakes up wondering where i am ten mins later!

So so tired - would love some advice!!

 

[sparkswillfly]

Have you managed to get her to take a dummy? Meadow naps better in the day with one. She doesnt have it at night tho so not much help sorry.

 

[Michy]

I feel your pain, Alfie was like that and even now he still wakes 3 times a night for food, I HATE night time feeding.

 

[PixieKitty]

Hmmm... well we've been letting Jack settle himself, he's doing fine with that. Has a bit of a shout then nods off to sleep, wakes around 10ish for a feed, goes back off, wakes about 3ish for another and nods off til morning. I don't see the problem letting him settle himself off, it seems to be working brilliantly and it'll do him well for the future.
Good luck getting her to settle hope tonight's better!

 

[kateqpr]

Have you managed to get her to take a dummy? Meadow naps better in the day with one. She doesnt have it at night tho so not much help sorry.

i haven't tried the dummy in the day. tried it a few times at night but she drops it out straight away as she sleeps on her side. might give it another go though..

 

[shampain]

We put Patrick in his own room in his cot at 9 weeks and he has slept through the night ever since. We have a routine where he gets in his jamas at about 7ish or has a bath and then in his jamas...has a bottle around 8 then he nodds on who ever has fed him for a min then off to bed....usually by bout half 9ish...we dont hear off him until any time between 7-9am. Im not trying to influence you but when you think about it, maybe you snore, maybe your partner snores and poor baby is there in room with you trying to sleep through it all, plus your tossing and turning.The main reason we put Patrick in his room was he was outgrowing his mose basket/no room for cot in our bedroom.Its worth a try hun, do you have a mobile or light projector for over babies cot? We have the ocean sounds one and it works wonders!

 

[lollylou1]

have you tried swaddling her hun, maybe then she will feel like she is being held and will settle when put down

Lou
xxx

 

[emma_27]

Ellie was alot like that as well i ended up having to cosleep with her for 13 weeks to get any sleep at all now she self settles in the daytime and she sleeps through the night. Have you tried putting some of you clothing in her bed so she can smell you when she sleeps cus Ellie liked it when i did that.

 

[Linzi]

She's still very young hun so it migjh be a case of waiting it out Im afraid We had the same with Seth. Few things we found useful:

1. Put a tshirt that you/OH have worn through the day in with her
2. Tilt the mattress up slightly using a book or 2 (we put them under the back legs of the moses basket)

Also the dummy thing, Seth was terrible at keeping his in so we had to keep popping in and putting it back, but when he was in a deep sleep he didn't realise when it fell out.

Also if theres someone to help you out, me and my OH found on the bad nights it was good to do 'shifts', Id do like 3 hours, then he'd do the next three or something like that.

Hope she settles down for you hun, definately not the easiest thing about having a baby!

xxx

 

[Max&Mom]

I had max in his own room at 6 weeks because like you I was going nuts ..

I bought the angel care monitors with the sensor pad ..it helped ease the fear of SID

 

[LuluBee]

i can only get alex to sleep day or night with his dummy in. my sister had problems settling her little girl and bought a 'womb sounds' teddy from mothercare that would send her to sleep without fail. hope it gets better honey, must be very frustrating

 

[louise1302]

Archie refeuses to sleep at night unless hes tightly swaddled in a certain shawl..it has to be the same 1 not any other blanket..lord knows what ill do when the weather warms up..i tried to leave him unswaddled the night before last and he was up 12 times crying compared to usually 1 feed at 4ish
strange little creatures they are

 

[babymama]

I know exactly what you're going through because I am in the same boat. Phoenix seems to only settle down being held and as soon as we put him down, it's like he knows and starts crying. I know he's really young and needs physical contact so I do lots of cuddling but we are slowly letting him settle down on his own and sometimes it works. We also use a soother (dummy) and it helps (except when he looses it and starts crying) I'm also thinking of getting an ocean sound CD or something like that.

As frustrating as nights, and even some days are, I just remind myself that he is still adjusting to life outside of the womb and whatever I need to do to help him settle is what I do.

 

[UKMummy]

If your OH works then it might be advisable if you and baby are in one room and he is in another for a while as he needs to get enough sleep to function properly at work whereas you may get the opportunity to nap in the day.
Your LO may be going through a growth spurt, or has a cold or sore throat so it is sometimes unclear as to what is up with them. I co-slept with all of mine at some time or another and also they all ended up sleeping on their tummies as they settled better like that but I know not to recommend it to anyone for obvious reasons.

 

[caggimedicine]

Harry always fights his sleep in the day too. I always get him to go to sleep by wrapping him in a blanket, putting a dummy in his mouth and cuddling him up in the breastfeeding position and rocking him whilst patting his bum! If he won't go to sleep then and he's grouchy, i'll let him have some nappy off time and a little kick to wear himself out... then try the blanket/dummy/cuddles again.

We've also started letting Harry settle himself at night. We get him ready for bed, swaddle him and I take him upstairs at bedtime (7pm) and breastfeed him in his nursery which is pretty dark. I then put him in his cot - he's usually either already asleep at this point, or nodding off, but he does usually wake up and cries a little bit, but not proper crying - just whinging on and off. If he does start crying properly, we go in, shh him a bit, give him his dummy if he wants it, stroke his hair/cheek... if that doesn't work, I give him another cuddle/let him have a comfort suck of boob and then put him back down.

We also put Harry in his own room from week 2/3, which some wouldn't agree with, but he sleeps so much better in there than he did in our room. I think we were keeping him awake, and he was certainly keeping us awake unnecessarily with his little noises. I think we were disturbing him for no reason. So he's in his own room, and i'll only go in if he's properly crying... not just "pretend" crying.

 

[KatienSam]

with Ella we wrapped her in a blanket so she didnt notice so much when we put her down (putting baby into a cold cot/basket woke her up!) also humming to her helped! if Ella got overtired it was a nightmare getting her to sleep (never believed in overtiredness until i had baby ha ha! thought it was just a lee evans joke!)!

On the sleep front we started off with hubby doing 9/10pm until 2am (inc. 2am feed) bringing baby up and then i took over so i had a good few hours then he slept (he could sleep in spare room if he didnt want to get disturbed in the night) xx

 

[Chellebelle]

Simeon would not sleep in his basket at all at first, so I put the nursing cushion in the basket and wrapped it in a blanket so he didn't sink into it. He could then see me a little over the basket and he seemed more comfortable so he has slept on it on and off since. He still doesn't sleep through, I put him down at 8.30pm, he wakes at 3am for a feed then at 6am, but when I put him down after a feed he goes straight to sleep so it's not too bad.


I hope it gets better for you tonight. xxx

 

[sparkswillfly]

My dad used to put a hot water bottle in my sisters moses basket/cot before putting her in it to warm it up so she didnt notice she was being put down