Not looking forward to going to bed, although I must be exhausted...

[PavlovtheCat]

DS has a cough, has had it for a while (teething/cold/winter baby/snuffles get over it type thing from the gp). I don't remember the last good nights sleep i have had. for a few days I have had around 3 hours broken sleep. Last night I had the grand total of 4 hours. I went to bed at 9pm, and DS woke at 1am. I have been up since.

DS went back to sleep at around 3am or so I guess. once the calpol kicked in and the nasal spray started to work. By this time I was wide awake and dreading the next few hours of stop start stop start sleep, you know where every time you drop off, you get woken by coughing, choking, wimpering, snuffling and have to pick baby up?

So by 7:30am, DS, DD and I were in a cafe eating breakfast and our flat was pretty much spotless, washing on, dishwasher on, floors cleaned, I was showered, dressed, had makeup on. It was actually quite nice.

But now, DH said 'i expect you will be in bed as soon as DS is asleep eh?' and no, I don;t think so.

1. I want some time to myself.
2. I am not looking forward to doing the whole broken nights sleep all over again. I am dreading my head hitting the pillow, as, like last night, as soon as I close my eyes, 4 hours will have passed and it will be time to wake to feed DS, and for some reason he just struggles to get his cough under control after that, and he might sleep, he might not.
3. I don't feel tired, i feel exhausted, i feel beyond tired. I don't feel like that nice 'oh snuggling into my duvet would be lovely' feeling, It feels like I would go to pass out.
4. The bedroom is a mess, I hate sleeping in a mess, and I have not the strength to tidy it before having at least a few moments of my own time when DS goes to bed.

So, I think I might have wine instead. Good idea?

Not really anticipating anyone being able to help. Unless you can pass me some medised

[Dumbledoresgirl]

I have found that sometimes a night of coughing can be followed by a completely restful night. This might be your night.

Karvol works - sort of. Tixylix does too - sort of (though is he too young for that?)

Other than that, I think grabbing whatever sleep you can get takes priority over having me time. Sleeping is the ultimate me time and 4 hours sounds worth having.

[PavlovtheCat]

Dumbledore the problem is, the 4 hours goes so fast it is not restful, so I am not like thinking, oh lovely, a 4 hour stretch, I am thinking, oh no, it will be gone to fast, and am sort of fretting about it, sounds daft I know. And the me time, not really so much that I want me time, more that I need that time to relax my brain. But you are right. 4 hours is better than nothing at all, by a long shot. And he might sleep better. I not hopeful as he has had a cough for weeks and weeks, and over the last few days it has not been great at all (since the weekend). I have the Calpol nasal spray, and also Olbas oil for children. The cough itself, it is a product of excess mucous, rather than a cough itself, and its after a feed that it is worse, and I am guessing it is worse at night as he has had a chance for it to build up in his lungs.

I shall however, force my head onto the pillow and do my unwinding there.

[Dumbledoresgirl]

I am sorry for you. I have lived through many of those endless nighttime coughs. Often you get rid of one, and the next child starts with it.

I know what you mean too about wanting me time. I have the same dilemma on a mini scale nearly every day. I need a lot of sleep, but my oldest doesn't go to bed until 10 and I like the time after he has gone up to just be me and do my own thing. So every night I have the dilemma of wanting to stay up late versus the knowledge that not getting enough sleep will make me feel ill tomorrow.

Have you tried raising the head end of the bed/cot? That is another thing that is supposed to help night time coughs.

[JJ]

I used to prop my son's cot up a little - put a book or two under the legs of the cot so he was tilted up a bit, head higher than feet - so that the excess mucous had a chance to drain. Where it would drain, I don't know, but it helped a little. And a humidifier helped to keep it runny enough to run wherever it ran to. We still use the humidifiers for coughs or a wet towel on a radiator.

Good luck and hope you don't mind the unasked for advice! Sleep deprivation's awful.

[PavlovtheCat]

We have the mattress in his moses basket raised with blankets (he is 15wks tomorrow, my that has gone fast!).

Advice is good!

[TragicallyHip]

I feel your pain! DS Has had colds/teething on off since before xmas.

Dumbledoresgirl is right about the sleep tho, I've had a few nights when I've gone to bed at 7pm and not really slept till 10pm and then DS wakes for a feed BUT I feel more rested and calmer for the night ahead.

Do you need to wake DS for a feed or can you leave him until he wakes up himslef?

Hope you have a better night tonight

[PavlovtheCat]

i normally let him sleep til he wakes normally 2am (used tobe 4am ) but is creeping earlier (but so is his bedtime) and last was 1am. he used to sleep 10pm-4am 4:15-6:30am, 6:45am-8am and that was lovely. now it is 9pm-1/2am, fuss for hours, sleep between 5-6am, then up til 8am! by which time i am up with dd. He is knackered in the nght though, if not for this cough he would go straight back to sleep after a feed at 2am and sleep til 6am. i know he would.

[TragicallyHip]

DS used to sleep really well until these bloody colds

I have nothing else to suggest sorry! Have a glass of wine, it would probably knock you out..

[BettyTurnip]

It is hellish.

Could you express and your DH feed him and do all the settling etc? Give you the whole night off?

[PavlovtheCat]

betty would love for DH to feed him a bottle, but he is rather hit and miss with it (DS not DH!!) sometimes he takes it, mostly when he is not too tired or hungry. DH has had a few attempts over the last few days, and we have even got some formula in as emergency backup as I only have a little expressed milk, I am too tired to do any more. DH is giving it a go when he wakes, it is all prepared in the fridge just needs warming (if he takes it, it must be very warm for some reason he is a fussy baby!!), but tbh, by the time he has woken cried dh warmed it tried to get some in him for 10 mins i will be awake listening so might as well have just given him boob by that point! Oh, and best not talk to me about DH helping at night. Sore point right now .

DS is asleep, half hour earlier than planned. He is dosed up with nasal spray and olbas oil, no calpol as he seems ok but it is ready incase it is needed, so I am going to read my new book (robin hobb 'the dragon keeper') for half hour. That is a good way to unwind as I will fall asleep naturally (about 5 pages in most likely!). It is bloody cold tonight for some reason, so I have the heating on and have put a couple of ramakins full of water on the radiator to keep the room humid.

Night all. I hope I don't speak to anyone on MN again til it is light outside

[PavlovtheCat]

Oh and I would love a glass of wine. But none in the house. DH drank the rest of the lovely pink port he bought me last night, the bugger.

[BettyTurnip]

Good luck!

[TragicallyHip]

How do you heat up the milk? For late at night I boil the water and leave in a flask. So when DS wakes all I do is pour the water in a jug with the bottle and it heats up within a minute or 2.

Hope you get some sleep!

[PavlovtheCat]

Yey! DS slept from 8:45pm - 2:45am. Then he woke, fed coughed, spluttered and snorted for an hour. I dosed him up with calpol, nasal spray and olbas oil, cuddled him til he fell asleep. Then he woke at 7:45am!! Thing is, he normally wakes just before or just after DD gets up at around 6:30 or so for a feed. Often she wakes him! She got up at 6:15am and he did not. DH got up with her after i cuddled her for 15 mins while he could not be assed to get up. And I can't remember if DS was fed then or not . I am sure not.

DH just took DD to the shops. I asked if he wanted to take his boy with them and his response? Not, no i would rather not. He said 'like a hole in the head'. Nice.

[TragicallyHip]

Yay you must be relieved..

You had a much better night than me
We made the fatal mistake of visiting some friends last weekend who all had colds...I've been a bit off all week and now seems DS has caught it. He only got over a cold a week and a half ago!
DH has been up with him since 5.30am...I managed to have a lie in tho

at your DH

[QueenofDreams]

We went through this last winter with DS. He got his first cold at 2 weeks old in early october, then we were ill for the next five months non-stop. At the lowest ebb I managed a grand total of 3 hours sleep over three days. It really was hell on earth so you have my utmost sympathy.

[littlelentil]

Another one here, only it was ME whom had the all night coughing! DS caught a few colds this winter and I caught them too each time but ended with a really bad cough that dragged on for 6 weeks the first time. Seriously, up literally ALL night coughing somethimes, not a wink of sleep. 4 hours sleep was a 'good' night for me, and at one point I was so ill I could not look after DS through the night at all and DH had to do it for about 3 weeks and go to work next day. It was so hard and I got fobbed off by the GP. Finally I got a good GP whom diagnosed asthma and I got the right medication and almost immediately better. DS only had a few rough nights himself, and I co-slept with him a couple of times as kept choking on mucous. Now that we are both better, he has just started sleeping thru the night (never done that before!) so I think this is my 'thank you' for the hell I went through. I cannot believe I survived! Also I am quite sure Calpol night used to be for 3+ months old, but it was recently changed ( 6+ years I think). It had anthistamine in it, which can help dry the 'post-nasal drip' which your baby may have (mucus runs down back of throat builds at top of airways, causes coughing). There must be something the GP can prescribe that is similar.

[PavlovtheCat]

littlelentil thank you for that post, oh poor you! But how different it is when correctly diagnosed. When I had HG, i felt so rotten and even more so with the gp continually calling it morning sickness and telling me it would pass. Once he finally realised how serious it was for me, ie could not eat, he medicated me and i got better. Not great, but better, enough to eat something each day, and it made such a difference.

Someone has said to me that maybe DS has asthma, as he has had a cough pretty much continuously since christmas, but I am thinking more that what you are saying about the mucous dripping is more likely as it is only a problem at night. He does have a cough in the day though, but it is not a problem, but maybe that is because it does not keep him awake?

The cocktail of drugs he had last night worked for him and he has slept a lot today.

Not sure what tonight holds. I feel terribly tired today and when I was at a friend's for lunch today i poured a drink and had the shakes visibly as although i slept better last night than i have for days, i have not caught up on the missed nights by a long shot. I am having a glass of wine, and just going with it, with medicine prepared when he wakes up. Shame about the calpol Night, that would be perfect. Although, if I knew the dose i would probably give it anyway. I would use medised if i felt it would help, even though it is for over 2years old. I used it for DD as it had not changed then so I know the dose and that it is fine if not abused. But it is not appropriate to use it as it is a suppressant and i don't want him to suppress the mucous, but something to dry it out would be great.

He has a few other things going on so I am going to go again on monday i think, and will ask then about some medicine to help him.