Sleep deprivation

[Jadehxx]

I can’t take much more of the sleepless nights. How do you cope with it? My son is 6 months in 2 weeks!

[xhannahx]

What are his current sleeping habits like?

[Jadehxx]

He gets up for the day at about 4. He wakes up numerous times between then and when he goes to bed about 7. Sometimes earlier. As much as I’ve tried to get him to nap in the day he won’t! X

[FATEdestiny]

He sounds very over tired, at that age baby wants somewhere around 3-4h daytime sleep. Over tiredness spirals vecause it makes getting to sleep and staying asleep harder than it would if baby was well rested.

Maybe a focus on "any sleep, any how" for a week will help?

Do you have other children? If not, you could sleep with baby in the daytime.

[crazycatlady5]

What do you try for naps? Can you try as soon as you notice tired sings (rubbing eyes, yawn - weirdly my little one puffs out her cheeks when she’s tired!) take him into a darkened room with white noise on (we use rain on an app called sound sleeper) and lay with him and feed to sleep (this can work with breast or bottle feeding). Then just lie with him for duration of nap. Other than than have you tried a sling?

[Spam88]

Yeah I agree that you need to try something else to get him to nap, although I’m sure you feel like you’ve tried everything! If you let us know what you do currently hopefully someone can suggest something else to try.

My DD is 5.5 months and has a nap after every two hours awake time (and she’s a bit of a nightmare as it gets to the two hours, really irritable). We listen to music and rock in our chair with a dummy.

Do you try getting him back to sleep at 4am? I wouldn’t accept my DD getting up that early... She gets up anytime between half 5 and 7, sometimes I can rock her back to sleep but she stays on me because she wakes if I put her down, occasionally she won’t go back to sleep but we still stay in the nursery in darkness nice and calm until 7am.

[SnugglySnerd]

I've been having similar issues with my slightly older ds. I spent a day enforcing naps by walking miles and miles with him in the buggy. It seems to have helped him your catch up a bit and he is still waking but not as much and he's having better daytime naps of course by saying that I have just cursed tonight!

[Jadehxx]

He has an Ollie the owl for white noise and lullaby. I have no other children but live in a 3 bed house with 6 people so very noisy. I do try and get him to go back to sleep but he will just scream if we don’t get up! X

[Jadehxx]

I have a sling but struggle to use it due to back problems and a very sore c section scar

[Jadehxx]

I try rocking him in my arms, the buggy, putting him into his cot with music, I try going for walks. So any suggestions are welcome

[FATEdestiny]

Will be have a dummy? Have you tried a bouncy chair? Will he sleep with you on the bed?

[Jadehxx]

I’ve tried all of the above 😬 x

[Desmondo2016]

Also you should get your scar checked out definitely.

[beansbananas]

I feel your pain... my 5.5 month old has been a real challenge when it comes to sleeping. I’ve found persistence and consistency has been really helpful for the day naps. If she wakes up before 6:30, I resettle her in her cot with a dummy or in bed with me until 7am. Then I open the curtains and start the day. This never changes and she has got used to starting the day in this way. She then naps every 2 hours, and her first two naps are always in her cot with curtains closed again and white noise. She used to cry her eyes out when I put her down but by always following the same routine and following the sleep reassurance techniques, she now starts telling me she’s tired and goes off to sleep with very little fuss. I would say don’t be afraid to let him cry a bit, but obviously never let him get too worked up. I never let the crying go on more than 45 mins and will pop in at varying intervals whilst it is going on if I feel the crying is getting too intense and out my hand in her chest and tell her it’s sleepy time. It is hard to listen to your baby crying, but eventually they do sleep, and feel reassured by the routine and knowledge you will always be there when they need you. I’m still struggling to get her to sleep through the night but it’s improved a lot since we cracked the day sleep. Also gives me more time to have a break and the occasional nap too. Good luck, I know it’s exhausting but you will get there.

[snackarella]

Mine is 20 months and has slept through twice. It’s horrendous and I’m due another in 8 weeks. It scares me
Shitless how awful it will be if the next one is the same.
I’ve tried EVERYTHING. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, she changes her mind all the time and I’m exhausted - good luck! X

[Jadehxx]

Desmondo2016
Yes I’ve had it checked recently. They said it looks fine so there is no problem

[Jadehxx]

Yes I probably could let him cry a little more. I run out of the shower if he’s been crying for a minute!

[Jadehxx]

Thanks for your advice everyone :)