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Original poster

Child won't sleep

18 replies

bluewater8 · 10/04/2019 23:36

I'm falling apart. Currently sat trying to soothe my baby to sleep. He was in such a good pattern. Asleep by 7:30, woke up a few times to feed, awake again 6:00am, 3-4 naps in the day then same again. The last week he has woken up every hour to play. Every damn hour! I left my ex because of abuse, I'm on my own, and I'm really starting to suffer. I catch up on sleep when he sleeps but I'm really exhausted. I'm going to guess that nobody has advice, but it'd be nice to hear that it might get better? I'm trying so hard to stick to his previous routine but for some reason it has all just gone to pot... Sad anyone else find similar? Any tips?

OP posts:
Teanocoffeethanks · 10/04/2019 23:38

How old are they?

Original poster
bluewater8 · 10/04/2019 23:38

Sorry forgot to mention. He's 5 and a half months.

OP posts:
Original poster
bluewater8 · 10/04/2019 23:42

He's just looking at me sweetly at the moment. At least he's not crying when he's awake. Would love him to settle for more than an hour though. He must be tired too poor thing Sad

OP posts:
SSpidge · 10/04/2019 23:46

My DS went through this phase and it turns out he was sleeping too much in the day. I reduced his naps and his sleep went back to one feed a night. He was about 5 months old too. Now he wakes at about 6:30. Has a short nap at 9am then a bigger nap at 12/1. Occasionally if he's very tired he will have a mini nap about 3/4 for 15 mins.

Thesearmsofmine · 10/04/2019 23:47

Sleep deprivation is hard going.
Will he sleep in bed with you?

Original poster
bluewater8 · 10/04/2019 23:47

My DS does sleep a lot in the day. If I try and keep him awake he gets miserable and screams the place down. Maybe I should try again.

OP posts:
SSpidge · 10/04/2019 23:48

If he's happy fed and changed leave him in his crib. I did with DS and one minute he was talking to himself and the next he was asleep. It was the start of him learning to self sooth and sleeping through the night

Original poster
bluewater8 · 10/04/2019 23:48

@Thesearmsofmine he always sleeps in bed with me. Amazingly he's one of those babies that I can (for now) put down to sleep wherever. He just won't stay asleep for long.

OP posts:
Original poster
bluewater8 · 10/04/2019 23:49

@SSpidge we co-sleep so he's in my bed but I guess the same concept!

OP posts:
SSpidge · 10/04/2019 23:50

Toward the end of the day when he's getting tired I used to let DS sleep. Now I entertain him until it's bedtime (unless he's super tired and then he has a very short nap)

SSpidge · 10/04/2019 23:51

I've never co slept but one night when he was wide awake talking to himself I made sure he was safe fed and dry and just went to sleep. And so did he. I don't know how co sleeping works but as long as he's safe then leave him be (unless he starts crying)

converseandjeans · 10/04/2019 23:52

He should only have about 45 mins in the morning and 2 hrs at lunch. You will need to keep him awake somehow as he's getting too much sleep in the day. It seems cruel but is better for you both. You need to get him up 6.30/7 in the morning too. Good luck 😉

Original poster
bluewater8 · 10/04/2019 23:54

@converseandjeans he has a 30 minute nap in the morning, 1.5 hours midday and 30 mins again in the afternoon so he's not getting THAT much sleep. But I guess I could try and cut the afternoon nap. He screams if I do that though and gets overtired.

OP posts:
converseandjeans · 11/04/2019 00:00

That sounds about right then. Only advice could be to try for later lunch nap say 1-3 and try to avoid afternoon one? Also try to make night time as boring as you can. No eye contact or chatting to him?

Sweetooth92 · 11/04/2019 00:03

We had similar issues-trim the afternoon nap down to 10-15 max. Then phase it out, It feels cruel waking them but it does help. At that age we were up 6.30, nap 9.30-10, 12.30-2.30, 10-15 at 4.45 ish but always up by 5 & bed at 7, once we dropped the afternoon nap our bedtime came forward to 6-6.30. Took a week or so to settle but made a huge difference. They change so quickly when they’re little-as soon as you find a normal it’s too much for them and back to square 1!

AlunWynsKnee · 11/04/2019 00:08

My ds was a horror for a bit when he had more stamina but wasn't getting enough activity. He was a dream once he started crawling. Can you give him more activity to wear him out for his sleeps and rejig his naps 10 or 15 minutes later each couple of days to push him to two naps a day?

MRex · 11/04/2019 00:24

I agree his nap schedule is probably changing as he gets towards 6 months. I don't think the schedules advice would have worked for my DS, he went down for a nap after any 2.5 hours awake and kept 3 naps until 8 months. Then we moved to 2 naps, 3 hours awake and a 7/7.30pm sleep. He's always slept at the top end of average (but only if I let him cling on for naps, so it isn't all fab!) and will have a longer morning sleep if we have a bad night and then a shorter lunch nap. So I think you should adjust it, but work it out based on how long your DC likes to be awake and what length of naps he prefers. Trial and error. Like if you were retuning a guitar, someone else's instrument is helpful to give you the sound, but you've still got to find exactly what works for yours.

SSpidge · 11/04/2019 00:26

Like if you were retuning a guitar, someone else's instrument is helpful to give you the sound, but you've still got to find exactly what works for yours.

Love this. Exactly right

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