To give up my career because baby will not sleep?

[GingerMaman]

DD at 10 months and wakes up every hour at night and has been doing so since 4 months. Can't find a cause and sleep training not working.

I'm due back to work part time (which is a paid training type of work), and have a place for her at nursery, but there is no way I'll be able to focus or concentrate on such broken sleep.

AIBU to call it quits on the career front?

Agree you need to ensure getting enough food so not so hungry at night. I tried "pick up put down" technique where basically when ever child cries and wakes up you puck up. Don't talk or any thing once they settle you put back in cot. If they cry again even before you may have not put her back down fully. You keep this going until she is so tired she falls asleep. Works on the principle you are there to settle her but not for play or food. You can get more info from web sight called "sleep answers". Good luck

Thanks everyone!

Weasie, that could be an option to delay for another year, but tbh I really don't want to. Apart from being exhausted, I'm really bored too. I don't have a social circle around me, and I've ever not worked or studied, so it's quite difficult not to be doing something. Also, getting a break from DD will do as both good I think.

Gwenig, I think I'm going to ask DH to try that technique when he is off work.

Oops I was talking of NI/pension not passion earlier!

Can you drop one of her day time sleeps and get DS to co sleep alone with her for 3 nights - Thursday, Friday, Saturday. He can have long sleep ins to help him get through

I used a sleep trainer at about 10 months and it changed everything. She was waking every 1-2 hours and being fed to sleep, not eating through the day, napping for 30 mins... it was a nightmare. The first night of trying her suggestions and she slept for 8 hours instead of being lucky to get 2!

I didn't want to do anything where she was left crying but she'll work with whatever you need. She's called sleep fairy parent rescue and will do phone or skype consultations if you're not local. She's a lot cheaper than others that have been quoted on this thread too.

Send her to nursery and I bet she will be eating normally by end of the week. The amount of times mums say they wont do this or that, no routine, wont nap in day, wont take bottle/beaker but its always do able for nursery/childminder

CC took us about a week. My DD was the same as yours, waking every hour and only going back to sleep if BF. I think you just have to persevere - it does work. The difference in my quality of life for her improved sleep was astounding. She's a happier baby in the day when she's slept better, she eats better and has really good naps in the day. She can go into her cot awake and settle herself.

We did it at 10.5 months just before I went back to work, I couldn't have coped with my job being sleep deprived.

It did take longer than expected - most of the threads on here talk about it taking 2-3 nights. I'd say that the first 3 nights were similar in terms of the number of wakings and crying but by night 4 there was a definite improvement and I think she was sleeping through by night 7.

Dd has only just started sleeping through and she is now 17m. DS started to sleep through closer to 2y. We tried no cry sleep solution (worked for DS but not dd), night weaning (dd still woke for cuddles), CIO (dd would self settle but still woke frequently), DH doing all night time care (didn't help), dressing her warm, dressing her cold, we even got a bloody fan that we kept on in winter to see if that helped! So I can emphatise with you completely. But the question really is how much do you enjoy your job and will it be something you regret later?? Being a sahm can be really difficult when babies become toddlers and you have more than one! For me being at work (most people would call my line of work stressful and physically/ mentally demanding) is a piece of cake compared to staying home with my dc.

We used Millpond when DS was waking every night. They recommended gradual retreat as we didn't want to do CC and it worked. I think the main thing is things take longer to work than you think and having the emotional support of someone telling you to keep going when you are sleep deprived is so valuable. Good luck.

I would try settling her in at nursery sooner rather than later and see if that helps. Obviously they would need to make sure she only ate what she should but my DC whose sleep pattern was similar to yours ended up much better at sleeping after a day at nursery and her eating habits improved too. I felt guilty but think I had been so focused on it all and she probably sensed that stress. We did try lots of milk in the evening until our bedtime, own cot and own room as well.