Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Sleep

Join our Sleep forum for tips on creating a sleep routine for your baby or toddler. Need more advice on your childs development? Sign up to our Ages and Stages newsletter here.

Baby cries for 3-4 hours

8 replies

LittlebearH · 08/10/2010 09:27

This is my first time on here and I am at my wits end. I have had nothing but problems from a broken coccyx in delivery to having to get my milk back to breast feed only for it to fail after 5 months due to my anxiety because of sleep deprivation. I am considering controlled crying but when I have left my dd to cry it out she will scream for 3-4 hours. She wakes 4-10 times a night and generally all she needs is the dummy replacing or a stroke on the head but other times she is wide awake and I cannot re-settle her at all. This is usually worse on days when her lunch nap goes wrong. She needs 2 hours but wakes after each half an hour. I have to listen out carefully because if am too slow she will not go back to sleep. As a result I am trapped and on valium and citopram. She will not sleep in car or buggy either unless moving.
I have tried to research cc but I cannot see anyone who's baby cried for this long and it worked. Sorry for long post. Can anyone help?

OP posts:
thisisyesterday · 08/10/2010 09:31

how old is she now littlebear?
personally i dislike any form of sleep training that involves leaving them to cry, so i might not be the best one to ask about CC!

do you have a partner/husband around to help during the night?
have you considered co-sleeping? that might reduce the need for you to resettle during the night as she would be comforted by your presence

LittlebearH · 08/10/2010 09:46

She is 8 months and co sleeping used to work but she just crawls about or thumps her legs. She is horrendous as when she is over tired. My parner tries to help but he has to be up at 6am and drives for a living. People have said to me she perhaps she doesnt need the sleep but she really does. I have looked at everything from what she eats to different routines. The best is when she naps at 9am for half an hour and 12.30 till 2pm but it means making sure she does the 2 hours and re settling. Otherwise i have to take her for a drive at 4pm or she wont make it till 7pm and takes forever to settle due to being over tired and constantly waking through the night. I have to get this sorted somehow as I go back to work in Jan and I have to be up at 5.15am to drive to work at 6am.

OP posts:
LittlebearH · 08/10/2010 12:19

Also how long does cc take?? I am scared to try as because my baby will cry for 3-4 hours i am terrifed in case it takes weeks rather than days.

OP posts:
InmaculadaConcepcion · 08/10/2010 14:41

CC is supposed to work within 5 days, it it's going to work at all.

Also, with CC, you go in at varying lengths of time to calm the baby until the baby gives up crying and goes to sleep, rather than just leave the baby to cry it out.
BUT
If you're baby is a "stress increaser" rather than a "stress decreaser" when crying at night, it may not work at all.

Did you try CC at night or for a nap? Babies will hold out a lot longer for naps and CC doesn't tend to work so well for daysleep.

Rather than rely on the long lunchtime nap, maybe see if she'll do a third nap between 1500 and 1600? Five hours is still a long time between sleeps for an 8mo, so perhaps she's overtired by bedtime, despite the long lunchtime nap.

My own experience indicates the gap between sleeps is at least as crucial (if not more so, sometimes)as the amount of daysleep.

My own DD is just over 8mo and she naps for half an hour at some point between 09.00 and 10.00 and for another half an hour between 12.00 and 13.00. I then take her for a walk in the pram from about 14.30 and she usually gets between 1 and 1.5 hours, waking no later than 16.20. Sometimes the last nap is shorter than an hour, but that seems to matter less than when she wakes up (ie, as long as it's after 15.30, she can usually make it to 19.00 okay).

I'm sorry to hear it's so tough for you. I hope some of this may help. Worth a try, anyway, if you haven't already!

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 08/10/2010 14:47

Is there any way you can bed-share for naps too? My DD will sleep for about 20 mins on her own, or 2 hoursish if I am asleep with her. I think I need the nap as well anyway Grin

Also, have you considered a sling? She might sleep in it allowing you to get on with other stuff. I also found that fresh air seems to tire out DD more, so I try to get out for at least 30mins a day with DD i a sling. She is happy if not sleeping, and the fresh air and exercise is good for depression.

jinglesticks · 08/10/2010 15:37

Poor you. I agree that more short naps might be better than one long one - IME its definielty the time between naps that matter more that the length of nap. Try one at about 3 - this has really worked for me.

8 months is a notoriouus time for sleep regression - I've just been through this and after a few weeks things are starting to improve - only two feeds last night and only ONE the night before - hurrah!

LittlebearH · 08/10/2010 15:38

Thanks for your advice. The best is when she naps at 9am for half an hour and 12.30 till 2pm, then she drops her 4pm nap and she goes straight off at 7pm. Then maybe only wakes 2 or 3 times in the night. Otherwise i have to take her for a drive at 4pm but she takes ages to settle at 7pm and wakes up more times as she does when she doesnt do the full 2 hours at lunch.
There is no consistancy with her at all yet I have tried to be.
As for whether she is a "stress increaser" rather than a "stress decreaser" I am not sure but last night there was no let up until I put her in with me at 4am after her waking at midnight I tried to settle her for an hour and when I didnt work I let her cry until I couldn't take it. Everyone begged me to give up breast feeding and give her formula she will sleep, when that happened at 6 months and she still woke then people said when you start solids she will sleep and yet still no let up!!

OP posts:
lisajok · 08/10/2010 19:31

Hi littlebear ,CC is not nice and I couldn't go through with it either-I just ended up in tears! I got in touch with Jo Tantum who is a sleep expert .She came to see me as I also had to go back to work and was so worried!Jo came and my little one slept through withinn 48 hrs and very little tears! She also does a 24 hour thing or I think she comes for a couple of hours her email is www.babysecretsltd.com
Hope this helps you x

New posts on this thread. Refresh page