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Parenting

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34 replies

JustPlumPombear · 25/09/2025 23:26

Baby is 15 months has a cold and cough and all week I’ve had more then 5/6 hours sleep ( currently Thursday ) and she’s teething ( a true hell combo)
she won’t co sleep or be put in bed and I’m at a loss as she’s waking every 20 -40 mins in bed and co sleep
shes not got a temp; she’s not hot or cold she’s just sick and I knows she’s just a sick baby and needs me but I need sleep so badly she sleeps 40 mins in the day but just wants to be held in naps so I can’t nap then

point is I’m crying all day and night I’m running on 1 hour sleep. A day I’m exhausted I’m not sure I can literally live much longer living on such little sleep I have some heart issues going on and I’m having extreme palpitations ( awaiting checks) and I’m scared this is going to kill me mt health is suffering

I’m also dealing with the fact no one actually cares, I’ve asked her dad to have her even for a few hours , but that would mean helping me so he won’t he’s actually worked more so he says he can’t !
he likes me to suffer so that’s a no
and I’ve been messaging my mum too who has either ignored it or put a sad face
she’s hasn’t offered to let me get some sleep either
so I feel lonely exhausted and just so fed up I have a doctors app tomorrow just fyi but I’m feeling just so deflated like I’m living in hell with no one who cares
I even rang her dad 4 am last night crying my eyes out begging him to help me even offering to pay him he said im working I can’t and said I’m not staying in the phone to you all night and hung up and no he won’t like I said he would rather me suffer

OP posts:
Hercisback1 · 25/09/2025 23:29

Have you given her calpol and nurofen?
How about the calpol plug in?

When she wakes, what does she want? Have you tried making a nest on her floor and sleeping there.

Piriton might help her to sleep as well, pop her in with you once she's asleep and hopefully she'll stay asleep.

I'm sorry you have so little real life support. You're doing a great job and sleep deprivation is hell.

JustPlumPombear · 25/09/2025 23:37

Hercisback1 · 25/09/2025 23:29

Have you given her calpol and nurofen?
How about the calpol plug in?

When she wakes, what does she want? Have you tried making a nest on her floor and sleeping there.

Piriton might help her to sleep as well, pop her in with you once she's asleep and hopefully she'll stay asleep.

I'm sorry you have so little real life support. You're doing a great job and sleep deprivation is hell.

Yeah I’ve just given her some but doesn’t seem to improve sleep or help her really, can’t do calpol plug ins we share a room still and I get bad asthma with that ( unfortunately)
i just don’t know what to do she was asleep by 7 and tried at least 6 times to sleeep I’m at breaking point I’m really feeling low it is torture and I don’t know how much more I can take

OP posts:
JustPlumPombear · 25/09/2025 23:38

I’m more annoyed with how evil and horrible her dad is and how the mum has to suffer through everything alone he doesn’t pay financially and sees her a Sunday for 2/3 hours

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TheBirdintheCave · 25/09/2025 23:39

To clarify have you actually asked your mum outright if she’ll have the baby so that you can sleep and she’s said no? Or are you waiting for her to offer?

Sorry you’re going through this. My 16 month old had Covid last week. It’s horrible to see them so sad :(

JustPlumPombear · 25/09/2025 23:40

I did say to her can you help me out to sleep around Tuesday and she said I’ll see what I can do as she does work, and she doesn’t get back to me I think she hopes I forget I asked I don’t feel like she needs to offer as she didn’t decide to have a kid but I’m shocked how little she seems to care im a breaking point

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JustPlumPombear · 25/09/2025 23:40

i hope you lo is better now it’s so horrible I wish I could take it all away from her and just suffer myself

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TheBirdintheCave · 25/09/2025 23:45

Augh that is a rubbish reply from your mum :( Would the baby’s dad’s parents have her?

My little girl is much better thank you :) Thankfully it didn’t last very long.

JustPlumPombear · 25/09/2025 23:48

I’m hoping next week she’ll start to be better but even when she’s well her sleep still isn’t good!
but better than this !
and his parents aren’t even in the uk! 🫠🫠

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JustPlumPombear · 25/09/2025 23:50

I just feel like I’m going insane I feel so unwell myself like what do you do when u cannot sleep but you NEED sleep it’s torture

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NorthernSk · 25/09/2025 23:55

Hello! My DS was like this when he had chicken pox at 16m, it was absolutely awful. And I have a helpful partner, so heaven knows how you're doing it.

We gave him piriton and it properly knocked him out. I wouldn't usually recommend using it just to get your baby to sleep, but your circumstances do sound extreme.

I'm currently up waiting for 12m old DD to go back to sleep after having a poo 🙄 she's been waking at night for a poo for the last week. At least it's not 2am this time. Not as bad as a poorly, teething baby, but thought it might make you feel a little bit better that you're not alone wishing you were asleep right now with a baby who won't let you nod off.

123Carrotake · 26/09/2025 01:25

For the last 4 weeks, my 1 year old has cut TWO molars, has had the flu for the last 2 weeks and now also has an ear infection. I got 30 minutes of sleep last night.

Horrible. You have my sympathies.

FTMbg · 26/09/2025 05:16

This sounds really hard.
Could you find someone DBS’d and pay them to come and sit with DC while you sleep a few hours in the daytime or evening to catch up? Eg via a nanny agency, or call a local nursery and if they don’t have a space to send DC in as a one off, see if they can recommend a staff member that does babysitting after work or on days off?

I would also recommend posting on a local FB mums group if there is one. I appreciate you won’t want to leave DC with a well meaning stranger while you sleep, but you can make some local connections who might help next time, and there might be organisations locally they can point you to for help.

i hope you get some kip. Just a few hours can make a big difference .

Forkmaiden · 26/09/2025 06:13

Give her a drowsy antihistamine, go to the pharmacy and ask for children's piriton, it's proper name is 'chlorphenamine maleate'.

She needs a good sleep to get over the illness as much as you need it to survive!

Hercisback1 · 26/09/2025 07:05

Have you claimed via CSA for dad's payments?

Anabla · 26/09/2025 09:07

This sounds really hard and the attitude from your appalling. Just because he works doesn't mean he gets a free pass from parenting or helping out through the night.

If I were you, I'd be taking your child to the doctor to get checked over. My eldest when he was about 8 months had similar symptoms and after several nights of no sleep, we took him to the doctor where it turned out he had a double ear infection.

PersistentRain · 26/09/2025 09:13

Will she sleep if you sit on the sofa and hold her. She’s probably so overtired at this point she can’t drop off.
or take her for a walk, at this stage she just needs sleep anyway.

once she’s managed a nap then nice long warm bath, painkillers, bed with her head raised in case she can’t breathe (raise the mattress at the top end a bit) and some menthol rub on her chest and make sure she is warm enough. Temperature at night has dropped this week.

JustPlumPombear · 26/09/2025 18:59

Thanks everyone I tried getting her in the doctor today they’ve just said as long as her chest isn’t sucking in we don’t need to see her … so no help there I’m just at my whits end
she refused her nap today and she’s been screaming the past hour inconsolable , I’m fed up I need sleep I really think this is going to give me a heart attack or something

OP posts:
Anabla · 26/09/2025 19:16

JustPlumPombear · 26/09/2025 18:59

Thanks everyone I tried getting her in the doctor today they’ve just said as long as her chest isn’t sucking in we don’t need to see her … so no help there I’m just at my whits end
she refused her nap today and she’s been screaming the past hour inconsolable , I’m fed up I need sleep I really think this is going to give me a heart attack or something

I'm so sorry OP you've and your daughter have been let down by your GP. I'm quite appalled that with such a young baby they haven't seen her given it sounds something isn't right.

I would be ringing 111 if I were you. When my youngest was 2 weeks old, he had literally been screaming non-stop for days on end (undiagnosed CMPA and silent reflux). I ended up at children a&e after medical advice and when I disclosed the impact it was all having on my mental health and history of severe PND, I was actually given the option of staying overnight in the paediatric ward where nurses would have taken over the feeding of baby overnight to give me a rest. I never took it as I had my husband and toddler at home but it could be an option to explore.

PersistentRain · 26/09/2025 20:17

That’s terrible. My doctors always saw a baby if you were worried. they would tell you to pop down and sit until someone was free.
Id also ring 111 even if they give you an out of hours GP appointment for tomorrow at least.

JustPlumPombear · 26/09/2025 21:10

Yeah I was shocked when they said that they’ve seen her straight away for far less in the past I feel let down but a lot of people this weeks!
her dad seems to think he s coming to see her for a few hours tomorrow I’m going to try sleep then

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wishIwasonholiday10 · 26/09/2025 22:01

I would try to get her to a doctor and rule out secondary infections like an ear infection for example. 111 can be helpful and will often send to A&E at that age (or maybe other options if there are any local ones like out of hours GP or walk in centre).

Sometimes they are just miserable when sick at that age which is also awful for us. My daughter had several viruses at that age where she wouldn’t sleep anywhere except on me like a newborn baby (but much heavier) for a week or more. By the time she was well enough to go back to nursery I’d be on my knees with exhaustion and sometimes hallucinating from sleep deprivation. That first winter at nursery revisions the worst period in my life since be becoming a parent.

JustPlumPombear · 27/09/2025 05:03

I don’t think it’s anything else’s tbh, she’s a lot better sickness wise today I’m starting to wonder if now she is just a total waker in the night as tonight I’ve had 1 hour sleep 11-12 that’s it
shes never been a good sleeper newborn days till about 9 months she woke hourly I dont know how I survived that so maybe I need to accept I’ll be getting 1 hour sleep a day from now on
sleep deprivation is hell I wouldn’t wish anyone to go through this and it’s so hard with no support I feel so low
I think what’s worse is everytime I go to shut my eyes or I think she’s been asleep long enough to try myself she wakes up it just doesn’t end and there’s no end to my day it’s one continuous loop of torture
thing is I just really can’t cope much more no sleep I’ve genuinely slept less than 7 hours in a week nearly now

OP posts:
Anabla · 27/09/2025 06:38

I don't think you need to accept you get 1 hour sleep, it isn't sustainable at all. There's a reason sleep deprivation is used as torture. Furthermore it isn't healthy for your daughter to be waking so much as well. She needs to learn to sleep for her own health and development. She's no doubt exhausted and sleep deprived herself and that isn't good for her.

I would still get her checked out and then once she is better, work on some sleepy training program. There's multiple ones you can do and it doesn't involve just shutting a door leaving them to cry.

FTMbg · 28/09/2025 05:32

You both sound sleep deprived and it’s so hard. Lack of sleep raises stress hormones (cortisol) which can then make it harder to get good sleep in the small windows you do get. It sounds like their is a lot out of your hands, like her dad and your mum not helping, so I would suggest focus on what you can do, try deep slow breathing through the day and night, relaxing music, reaching out for support, getting outdoors in nature, the more your stress levels come down the better chance you have of getting quality sleep in the windows available and your relaxation may be a bit contagious to her too.

I will post a link to national sleep helpline who open Monday 9-11am 7-9pm, I rang once and found them very helpful. I also suggest contacting your health visitor for support.

If you’re sleeping lightly half an hour will feel like you have only blinked not slept, but it will all help, try and nap at every opportunity until you feel better, let housework etc go when the sleep is this bad.

One thing I used to do with my poor sleeper (undiagnosed allergies) was put a travel cot mattress on the floor by her cot so I could sleep there and pop a hand through the bars to comfort if needed while barely waking up myself.

There are lots of little pieces to try like bath before bed, nighttime associations like red nightlight and maybe relaxing music or white noise that she learns to associate with sleep time.

Is her daytime nap better/longer in a pushchair? Worth a try, then as soon as she drops off wheel her home and kip on the sofa. If she sleeps much better in the pushchair it’s possible there may be silent reflux which can be medicated or may resolve with diet changes. More daytime sleep may help her sleep better at night if she’s overtired.

Also a bit of hope, this is not forever. They change so quickly and it can all shift as they grow and as you find things that work for you. Hope you both get some Zs soon.