Is anyone else up and down all evening settling their baby?

[Caz10]

Dd is 4mths and goes to sleep around 7-8. When she was cluster feeding I just kept her downstairs with us, or sat up in bed watching tv etc. Then it started to seem like she was more ready for a "proper" bedtime so we started bath/feed/sleep...she conks out immediately but then I am up and down to her every 20 mins or so till around 10.30. She's still feeding every 2-3hrs and I don't mind that, but would love her to sleep solidly eg 8-11pm so I could either have a bit of an evening, or get to bed early! Anyone have any success in "fixing" this?!

[Caz10]

Oh Lordy it's just me then!

[NewChoos]

You're s step ahead of me by getting her to sleep :)

[missrose]

I didn't actually do anything to 'fix' this but DD has just started doing it herself. She used to wake every half an hour, then every 45 minutes but now sleeps from 7.30-10.30ish with the odd wake up every now and then. She's 11mo now though... (sorry!)

Having said that, last night she went from 7.45-12.40 with one wake up. Amazing!!!

[MamaChocoholic]

have needed to do this with all my babies. it will pass, just takes time. sorry. I think the worst time for sleep was between 4-7 months too.

we have more consistently had evenings since about 11 months this time too, and dt1 at 12 months can now do 7-1am quite often it would help if dt2 could too of course, but even he now normally manages 7-11 with a very brief wake around 8.30.

[Josieannathe2nd]

Could you just hold your Dd while she sleeps and stay downstairs? I've been doing that and then I noticed after about 4 MO he was sleeping more solidly so popped him upstairs to sleep and he sleeps for maybe 1-2 hours on his own. If he wakes up then I either settle him by feeding back upstairs or bring him downstairs if I have to try and settle him more than once (Or in the middle of a film etc...). Slowly he's going for longer and longer on his own. Very slowly!

[beancounting]

Have you got a DP who can help in the evenings? DD did this and nothing we did made much difference until she was about 5.5 mo when DH started going in to resettle her if she woke before about 10pm. Not sure if she grew out of it or if it was just getting her used to the idea that she wouldn't be fed until later, but after a couple of evenings she stopped waking up (in the evening anyway - night was a different story and still is). Sorry if you've tried that already!

[Caz10]

Oh thank you all! I should remember all this from dd1 but it's all a blur! Last night was terrible, all these wee 20-40 min sleeps went on until midnight, so I didn't even get my normal 10-12ish stretch of sleep! Hoping tonight will be better!
I do send dh up every now and again but he is away on nightshift sometimes, those nights are frantic as I am trying to tidy kitchen, lock up house etc, interspersed with running up and down the stairs every 20 mins!
Dd still doesn't sleep through at 3yrs so my expectations are low ha ha!
I stopped bringing her downstairs as she wasn't sleeping as solidly down there as she was at say 2mths, she seems to need the peace and quiet which is fair enough! She has just nodded off, wonder how long it will last?!

[aledwasago]

My dd is nearly 10 months old and is usually in bed between 6:30-7:30, and wakes about an hour later, then, if we are really lucky, it might be 3 hours til we see her next, although more often than not she will wake every hour or so. After that she'll wake approx every couple of hours until we get up at 6:30am.
At 4 mo, until about 7 mo, it wasn't unusual for her to have an early evening nap and she then might stay up until 10:30pm. Maybe your Lo just isn't ready to go to bed so early?
Whilst no expert, I've spent enough time lurking on the Sleep topic to realise that sleep will come naturally, it will get better, and not to stress about it. Follow the path of least resistance. Some poor souls have spent months doing various sleep training methods only to achieve the same result as me (who is a co-sleeping bf to sleep-er!).

[Caz10]

I am def a believer in path of least resistance, although some people would point at dd1 and ask why?!? But all along my aim is that everyone in the house gets as much sleep as possible and I don't really mind where or how that happens!
She is def ready to go to bed earlier now, it was a definite change, and she is now a misery if awake past about 7...but it just doesn't seem to be a sound settled sleep.
aledwasago do you still feed your LO every couple of hours? I just feed dd every time she peeps atm. Tried to stop night feeds at about 9mths with dd1, I got my period back and she kept waking anyway!

[aledwasago]

I keep trying to get her back to sleep without it but more often than not I whip out booby, whether for comfort or food. She's gone again in minutes, no fuss. She's improving slowly - we have a video monitor so I can see that she is getting herself back to sleep, and those times I do have to go up are getting fewer.

[ReastieHorrorShow]

OP this looks very familiar to me. We've had a similar pattern with dd who is now 7mo

[Caz10]

What are they doing now at 7mths (scared to ask!!)

[ReastieHorrorShow]

caz dd is the same (ish) now as 4 months. She goes to sleep at about 7pm, wakes up at 7:30 - 8, doesn't go back to sleep until 9 - 10. She might be awake on and off in that time or be fully awake, but never sleep through. We have been trying controlled crying to get her to sleep as we have sleep issues with her going to sleep on me or feeding, but now she's snotty we've put that on hold. My hv said some babies just have certain body rhythmns, it seems mine might just naturally be awake for that period in the evening . We are starting to just go with this in the evening and not fight it. Her sleeping otherwise through the night is mixed - she has and can sleep through after 10pm - 7am or so from about 4 months, but at the min she's up 1 - 4 ish times a night. HTH