DD is 5 mo. She has always been a bad sleeper. She would only sleep on me for the first 3 months and even when awake would not let me put her down ever. My stretchy wrap was a godsend – she lived in it for 3 months straight. We have moved on from this in that she will now sleep in the crib or the pram but my god it is a struggle to actually get her to sleep. I put her down awake and within seconds she is screaming, nothing consoles her (other than picking her back up) and she just gets more and more furious. She can scream for hours. When she is tired enough and this can sometimes be 20 mins after putting her down or it can be hours then I have to stroke the bridge of her nose which will send her off. Plus I have to have white noise as loud as my phone will go. I have to do this every single nap time and night time and it is wearing me down. I dread reaching nap time if we are out with the pram as I know that getting her to sleep will involve approx. 30 mins of her screaming her head off (and the judgemental stares of everyone around me) before she will actually go to sleep. Also she prefers the pram to be still when she is trying to get to sleep – movement hinders her ability to go to sleep. I can move the pram once she is asleep but it has to be smooth pavement only. Someone dropping a pin two streets away can wake her up. We were using a dummy but it wasn’t helping her sleep (it did soothe her fractionally but didn’t help her get to sleep) and meant that me and DH were having to pop it back in 20-40 times every night so we ditched it. Our sleep has improved since we ditched the dummy but it is still far from ideal.
This is an outline of our day:
7.30/8am – wake up and feed
10am – nap for 1-2 hours (this is the easiest nap to get her to take – normally takes 20 mins approx. to get her off)
12 – feed
2pm – nap for about an hour (can take up to an hour to get her to sleep)
3/4pm feed
5pm – very very tired, eye rubbing etc. but won’t sleep (this is mainly because I have a DS as well and this time of the evening I will be preparing his dinner, bath time and bed etc. so don’t have the time to dedicate to getting her to sleep. More about DS in a bit). Ideally I’d like her to have a cat nap at this time – just 30/45mins to get her through to bed time.
6pm – feed
7/7.30pm – bottle of formula (my milk supply is v low in the evening )
7.30pm – bed time (can take up to 2 hours to get her to sleep) – she will also wake 2/3 times between now and the next feed and will need to be coaxed back to sleep
11pm-midnight – wakes for a feed (will go back to sleep reasonably easily)
3-5am – wakes for a feed (absolute nightmare in getting back to sleep – she comes into bed with me and screams for an hour or so before conking out)
DS is 22 mo. He has always been a fantastic sleeper, slept through the night 7.30pm-7.30am from 4 months old. He still does 12-13 hours at night and 2-3 hours nap in the afternoon. You tell him it is bedtime, he does a cheery wave goodbye and takes himself upstairs! From about 4 months all I’ve had to do is pop him in his cot, say good night and I can just walk away. Within minutes he’ll be fast asleep and he sleeps so deeply – nothing wakes him. So I’m not sure if my expectations are too high?! I don't expect her to replicate this but surely what we are doing at the moment isn't usual? I’m just despondent with how much time I spend every day trying to get DD to sleep and listen to her scream – it is exhausting and miserable for both of us. Help!
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5 month old - not a fan of going to sleep
7 replies
BalancingStick · 11/05/2017 15:25
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