how the hell do I get her to sleep?!

[fishmother]

Hi,

My DD used to be a pretty good sleepy. Now, at 4 mo she seems to be going through the classic sleep regression. Last night she went to bed at 7pm [just because I cannot keep her awake any longer] and was then awake at 9pm, 11pm, 12.30am, 3am, 4.30am and finally 6.30am

Since then she's had a nap at 9.30 for about 20 mins, 11.30 for about 30 mins and 1.30 for 15 mins.

Quite frankly she needs to sleep, I'm on the verge of hallucination and I'm an insomniac so I'm used to it!

Any ideas?! So far we've tried and failed with:

feeding to sleep - she wakes up 5 mins later with wind.

Dummy - wakes as soon as it falls out

my finger - no longer works

Rocking in the pram works sometimes, but unsustainable in the long term.

She seems to get more distracted if I'm there so I'm at a bit of a loss.

Help!!

How long has it been going on for? I found that with both mine every so often we'd go through a completely disrupted bad patch, but it would just last for several days, or a week or two (or, in one awful case, 5 months - but that was due to repeated illness...) and then get back to normal - in fact after the disrupted patch, their sleep had moved on a stage and was better. Each time it happened, I would immediately think everything had fallen apart (disrupted sleep does that to you...) and only recognise afterwards that it was just a phase, and usually due to illness/teeth/developing a new skill. Poor you, though, i know how you feel. Co-sleeping worked for me at that age, but it's not for everyone.

do you have a sling? i have 6 week old asleep on me now, we walk around and potter and eventually he drops off.

Oh hang on, yyou mean night-time. Co-sleeping? Ride it out?

It's been about a week, gradually getting worse each day / night. I'm happy to ride it out but I worry about the effect on her of not getting enough sleep.

At night I just feed on demand [bf] and co-sleep if it's really bad. But the only thing that works at the mo is feeding her to sleep, but then she soon wakes up with wind and I have to start all over again.

I haven't got a sling as rocking her in my arms doesn't work at all and I have a bad back anyway. I might have been able to carry her at 6 weeks, but at 4 months she's far too heavy for me to carry very long.

She's fast asleep now as she's just had her jabs. Can't really do that every day ;)

The frustrating thing is that she used to be able to self-soothe and would sleep anywhere... Now I just feel a bit clueless

Oh I know, those patches where you think 'aha, i've got it' then it all changes. It WILL pass. I remember thinking oh gosh how will I ever get ds to sleep without rocking and somehow we ended up with a new plan (he'd fall asleep literally on me ).

If the baby-baby things don't seem to be working, maybe try thinking how you would comfort an older child - stroking, hAnds on tummy, singing for example.

I am trying to remember 'this too will pass' as we rock crazy newborn who doesn't want to feed/does want to - argh. This is my third but so easily forgotten!! And clueless, yup.

Hi fishmother
Sitting with my 4 month old sleeping while still on my boob. Dare not move in case I wake him as since his jabs on Thurs he's been riidled with cold/cough and his sleep has suddenly gone haywire. Could have written your post as he used to be a good sleeper til last week!
Im praying it's just a blip - but then keep reading how coughs can last and last!

I keep doing the same routine - nappy off before bath, then bf in darkened room. He then drops off and I'll get at least a couple of hours. Then will just take it from there.

Sorry = no words to help - but you are not alone!

repeat with me Chocolateteabag; "it will pass. It WILL pass"

fingers crossed tonight we both have a better night!