6 MO waking every 3 hours

[TheresAHuppoInMyHouse]

My DD is 6 months (4 months adjusted age as she was premature and arrived at 30 weeks). She gradually started sleeping for longer and longer periods and I was feeling very pleased with myself! Then a month ago the night wakings began again, for no apparent reason. She would only have been 3 months (adjusted) so too early for a growth spurt I reckon? Anyway it's still going on and I'm starting to think there must be something I can do to get back to my nice long stretches of sleep!

She is awake for 1.5hr-2hrs at a time during the day, so she normally has 3 naps of an hour each at regular intervals. And a little catnap in the sling sometimes. Perhaps this is too much daytime sleep?

She is exclusively bf and has started to be more distracted suring daytime feeds (those maddeningly endearing pulls-off and smiles! are a killer!) but I'm spending more time feeding, so am trying to keep up the daytime calories.

She is generally happy to settle herself to sleep when drowsy - although always after a bf. For a nap, this only takes a few minutes so perhaps I've started an unhelpful sleep association? Sometimes she's obviously knackered so falls deeply asleep a-boobing, and stays asleep when she's transferred to her cot.

Every time she wakes at night, I feed her and she goes straight back to sleep. I'm a bit nervous of trying to settle her without a feed, and tbh I wouldn't know how to do so. Any tips?

She goes to bed at 7ish and wakes for the day at sometime between 6 and 7. Reading this, I feel like I've got nothing to complain about, but WHY won't the little bugger darling sleep for longer than two or three hours at a time, when she used to do so, apparently effortlessly?!

Feel a bit frustrated today. One step forward and five back. I find when we are at home in familiar surroundings I can see a small light at the end of a very long tunnel. However because DH works away and is currently off for 6 weeks I am away visiting family to keep my sanity every couple of weeks. Understandably DS is more unsettled so wakes more and cause I don't want him waking everyone I feed him . I know I should be strong but I can't face the battle, esp when he is in a travel cot and I can't really reach him to settle so even end up bringing him to bed with me to keep him quiet which I know is a big no no.

Think I am just going to have to stay at home now return to work date is looming....humph.

greenone I bet it was frustrating when your DP laughed off your concerns but you are doing a great job under trying circumstances and he knows it. Wish my DP would acknowledge it, I am sure he thinks it but would like to hear it once or twice.

Right sorry for rant, just needed to get it off my chest, will be more positive from now on

Ugh ugh ugh, over the past 4 nights we've had the 2 best nights ever and the 2 worst! The only pattern is that they seem to alternate. After the second good night (she slept from 7 till 7!!!!!!!!!!!) I was really thinking she had cracked it, then last night all she did was yell.

And now she is making up for it with a massive 2 hour nap, so I have been out for a sunbathe, hurrah!

baileys we are using a travel cot too, it can't be good for our backs, can it - spending half the night leaning over, trying to rub the tummy/replace the dummy/hold the little hands/tuck in the sheet, all at once. Tbh I'm a bit jealous of you being able to get your DS into your own bed, it's so cosy and lovely to be in there together. My DP wouldn't hear of it, but when he was away recently I leapt at the chance! I say enjoy it, don't feel bad about it.

I wonder if the heat is upsetting them? I kept DD's window open last night, and she only wore a vest, perhaps it was noisy or she missed her pjs. What a little Princess and the Pea!

I can hear stirrings. Have a lovely , restful day everyone :)

baileys do what is easy. Really - you are visiting family to give yourself a break. I am sure DC will settle when you go back to work anyway...they will have no choice!! Enjoy your time with other people to help.

theresa so glad you got a 7-7am stretch. Amazing. This heat sucks! DD was in vest only last night and her room is only small so the temp was pushing 29!! She eventually settled about 8!

After those two horrendous days I now have my smiley bouncy girl back and two teeth to show for it! So relieved I can leave her again for longer than 5 minutes...until the next time!

She is still waking between 5am and 6am but she is going down at 7pm without the piriton and the itching doesn't seem as bad. She is due her nap soon and I really need to wash my hair but also need to catch up on some sleep....decisions! Better get the hair washed. All the other Mums at our baby group wear make up and look so amazing - I just about manage to get dressed!

Morning ladies - I am beyond tired today. Just when I think we've cracked it we have the worst ever nights again. Poor DD seems to get totally bunged up to the point of not being able to breath at about 3 in the morning. Night before last we settled her in about 45 mins. Last night, she finally settled properly, having woken at 3, at 6am and guess what - yes DS woke at 6.10.

Don't know what to do. I'm losing the will to live, and today I have to spend the day with in-laws (brother, sister and mother plus myriad nephews and nieces) whilst my poor DH has a day of parent/ed psyche meetings (he's a teacher) and has gone of feeling like death warmed up.

She went back to sleep from 6-8.15 and is now up all smiles and happy.

Is it illegal to put children up for auction on ebay?

meggy I use Karvol in DD's room and it works a treat. I think mine suffers from hayfever and she was waking up similar to your LO.

greeneone such great news, I hope you enjoyed your baby group, feeling refreshed, with everyone admiring the cute and smiley baby, not to mention your lovely clean hair!!

meggy, have you managed to decide between adoption or ebay! My fantasies when DD won't shut up, are of flinging her out of the window.... .. thankfully the parental control seems to kick in (how or where from, I don't know!), and I have managed not to defenestrate the child as yet ... now ebay is certainly a good idea ....

In the last six nights, DD has slept through the night THREE times. This is truly groundbreaking. However, last night, she woke at 10.30 and would not settle at ALL. She yelled and yelled until 2.40am. NOthing worked - bottle, breast, water, cuddles, walking, talking, lights on, lights off, leaving her alone, dummy, no dummy. She has never done that before and it was horrible. The only thing that worked was to put her inthe sling and walk. She just didn't want to come out of the sling at all.

Where would that come from? Now she refused her morning nap as well, and struggled on till midday before conking out. It's so bizarre - all day yesterday she was such a little angel, just seems she wanted to redress the balance overnight!

Well I was going to come in here and moan about last night, but after reading your post theresa I can not complain last night sounded horrendous for you, I hope it was a one off.

We do have one shiny new lower incisor, so guess I had better dig out that free sample of toothpaste and add it into the bedtime routine.

Fingers crossed for tonight for all of us xxxx

Ugh huppo that is truly horrendous. We had an indian take-away last night with brother-in-law and wife. I had more wine than I've had in at least 3 years (2 large glasses - what a light weight), dream fed DD at 11pm and she slept through (or maybe she didn't but I was out for the count and I certainly did :)). Spice and alcohol must be the answer.

Have decided ebay would be more profitable and yes, I've had the window fantasy too.....

Hiya, I'm new to mumsnet, but my-oh-my do I know where you are coming from on this sleep pattern! My son is now 6.5months old and was exclusively BF on demand up until weaning at around 22weeks. I'd always fed him to sleep and we had a really bad bedtime routine (ie we didn't have one). I did try, but he'd be in his crib for 30mins and would then wake up and scream the house down until he was sick (he screeches like a chimpanzee who's been shot in the leg). I'd then take him downstairs and feed him again until he was asleep and then creep back upstairs to put him in his crib.
Before weaning he was sleep for 4-5hours, I'd feed him and he'd go back to sleep. He suddenly started waking every 1-2hours and I was at the end of my tether and at the point of giving up BFing as I was so despondent - crying at night, yelling at the baby to shut up and like a zombie all day, resenting the little sleep thief.
Anyway, my husband did some internet searching about sleep training techniques and we paid £30 for the 'sleep sense programme' by Dana Obelman. It's basically controlled crying or 'empty chair' technique. I am the world's biggest sceptic, but had nothing to lose (she offers a 6 month money back guarantee) and I found that the tone in which the information was given to me wasn't patronising and let us tailor it to suit us as a family as we are generally really bad at set routines. It also gave us reassurance, like when he was crying for over an hour we checked the Q&A about how long we should let him cry and it reassured us that we should let him cry for as long as it takes. 2hrs 10mins for the first few nights. Let's face it, it was a whole new ballgame for baby James being put in his cot while he was still awake.
After trying the empty chair technique (where you stay in the room and move further away from the cot each night) with hubby and I taking 30min shifts to sit in the dark with the screaming banshee, we realised that us being in the room was making him worse, so we decided to just leave the room, checking on him only if he sounded in real distress. And we agreed a plan of action that only hubby would go to him in the night (so James couldn't smell me/my milk) and that I would only give in and feed him after 6am.
It was hard. 3 weeks of wondering whether we were doing the right thing, but 4 weeks on, we have an easy bedtime routine that sees James in the bath at 6.45pm, fed and in his cot at 7.30pm and usually asleep after little or no crying/fussing. It also means that we've dropped all the night time feeds. This week he's been sleeping through until 5.30am. It's a bloomin miracle. (I sound like I'm on commission - honestly I'm not, just so so happy to be getting some decent kip after 6 months).
I also have a 5 year old daughter and we were rubbish with her routine when she was a baby. At 2 years old she was waking up 2-3times a night and I was BFing her back to sleep. She had never learnt how to settle herself back to sleep. I could see that we were heading that way again with DS and realised that if we didn't do something different, then we'd end up with the same pattern all over again with DS. I could never have let DD cry it out (maybe with her being my first baby) but with DS I realised that something had to give and luckily the short term pain of leaving him to cry for extended periods has paid off.
Sorry for such a long 1st post, but I could really identify with what the original poster was saying, and having seemingly found something that worked for us, thought I should share our experience.

Ruth

oh, and the sleep sense programme says to take away all the sleeping props we tend to use to send baby to sleep - dummy, rocking, singing, boob, music, pacing, patting, rubbing (ho ho ho, been there, done them all!) - but to give the baby one item that is only associated with sleep. We've got a little soft blanket that James has in the cot - theory is that the baby can grab onto something like a small blanket to soothe themselves, but can't put a dummy back in themselves.

Hi all

Well we are nearly a week into DS being in his own room. First few nights were a bit hit and miss, waking up at random times through the night. Tuesday night he woke at 10, 3, 5 and 6...yawn...and then last night he just would.not.go.to.sleep until 11pm but then slept through until 6am. Yay. Napping in the day has gone down the pan and I think I'm just making things worse as I'm panicking about doing a few days at work in a month and will be leaving DS with the grannies for the first time.

Welcome Ruthselina - glad the sleep sense programme works for you. Not sure I could leave my DS to cry for 2 hrs 10 mins. 2 mins is about my limit!! Glad it has worked for you though.

Meggy hope you enjoyed the - it tastes so good doesn't it?

Baileys Congratulations to your DC for their new tooth. At nearly 8 months there are still no sign of DS's teeth...dreading the start of that debacle.

Huppo Eeeeuuurrrrgh. That night sounds horrendous! Um, I suppose all the walking, erm, is good, um, exercise?!

Greenone What is this Karvol of which you speak? Think DS is getting a cold and snuffles and snorts his way through the night...

How does everyone else get their DH/P involved with the night wake-ups/bed time routine? We bath DS together and get him into his sleepysuit and sleeping bag and then its down to me. I feed DS to sleep and if he wakes up in the night then I get up to try and settle him. DH has tried once and seemed to wake DS up more than settle him down. So then it took me ages... Not sure what my point is...I think I just worry that this is my job for life and DH will never do it, even when DS doesn't need feeding in the night.

Good luck for tonight everybody :)

Hello everyone! Nice to see you, ruthselina.

Thanks all for your sympathies about the other night. Yes what a shocker. Last night was fine by comparison - she woke at 1am and was easily settled back to sleep with the dummy and 5 minutes of handholding, and then she woke at 4.15am, which was trickier and involved me giving her some water from a bottle, a cuddle, and she was asleep by 5. Then up for the day at 6. Hey ho.

You'll see from earlier posts, ruthselina, that a few mothers from this thread have also braved the controlled crying (or versions of it) and they're not on the thread any more, which I take it means success. (Or they just got bored of us wibbling on! ) I just haven't got the heart for it yet. DD is 8 months now and on the few occasions when she has slept through the night recently, I have felt very relieved that I haven't had to resort to leaving her to cry. It is certainly an option which I will consider, but the time isn't right for me yet.

Some of the things which you mention I am already doing - I put her into her cot awake, for every nap and for her sleep. But I usually hold her hand while she drops off (probably 60% of the time) and I do the same when she wakes, but I haven't fed her overnight at all for a couple of weeks now. She uses the dummy to drop off when she wakes overnight. The idea of a single sleep prop like a blanket is excellent, and I am planning to try it since reading your post this morning - so thank you!

Zimbo hi there! About the magical de-snotting potion, we use Olbas Oil which has the same effect I think. A drop of it on her sheet gives off a menthol-y type vapour which clears the passages. I remember my mother using Karvol when I was little, it's the same kind of smell which she used to put drops of onto my pillow. You get it from the chemist I spose.

And about The DP's involvement in night-time settling. I do it all at the moment, while I'm still on mat leave and he is working fulltime. It seems fair that way. When I go back to work, though, we may have to renegotiate! I have been thinking that we could take the strain on alternate nights. And it might be the case that DPs are more successful at resettling, as Ruthselina has found, as the baby doesn't get the idea that they might get fed. Right now though, I don't know if DP would be up for it, especially as DD doesn't get fed overnight now anyway. I expect I can just settle her more quickly (with the odd major exception!).

Actually. I think it's my job for life and I just need to not think about it never ending too much. If DP got up to settle her, I'd only be awake listening to how it's going, trying not to intefere, I expect!

Theresa it's so true. Even if we are not doing the settling we are still woken up anyway. I felt awful the other morning. I was settling DD at 1am and she arched her back, and threw her face into mine which really hurt. I lost it and shouted her name loudly. When I had settled her I went back to bed and DP was snoring loudly. Meh!

Ruthselina you are stronger than me. I really couldn't leave LO cry that long. Glad it worked for you.

zimbo Karvol is magic - you can get it from most pharmacies and also supermarkets. They do a plug in which we use.

All ok here. In fact today was the nicest day I have had with LO to date. Nights are hit and miss. She has been waking around midnight the last few nights and is always up at 5am for a feed.

I think she is dropping day feeds though. After her 5am feed today so didn't then feed again until 1pm! I did offer and she didn't take. Felt weird as she always has a feed after her morning nap. She does now polish off a huge bowl of ready break first thing so that might be why.

I love you ladies! Really - you have made the last few months so much easier to deal with. I am off to bed with a hot choc soon as DP is out and I get the bed to myself tonight. YAY!

Hello ladies, just checking in to see how we're all doing. We've had four straight nights of good sleep - meaning she's slept through from 7-6 with a dream feed at 11. I feel extremely blessed and feel like there might be light at the end of the long dark tunnel.

However, we are due a crap one tonight what with fairly ropey naps today (out all day), a v. snotty nose - think she's got hay fever - can babies get it? and foolishly I gave her lentils followed by banana for tea which is not the most easily digestible - so I will be back on tomorrow morning to bemoan my fate. She's cried out once already and has only been in bed an hour and a bit so it's not looking hopeful :(

She has suddenly "got" solids and is eating masses - I can't remember now (even though I've done it once before) are you just supposed to keep stuffing it in until they stop eating?

Here's hoping July is the month of miracles for us all :)

Thanks for the warm welcome. As to the idea of leaving LO crying for such a long period, believe me that I NEVER EVER thought that I would be capable of doing it. I don't think that I ever left my DD (now 5) cry for more that 30 seconds and I really think that the difference is that DS is my 2nd child and somehow I've become more immune to the crying. With DD I would barely leave her alone to go to the loo or to make a sandwich. This time I was more of a mind that a couple of minutes of whingeing wouldn't do DS any harm and he would soon settle down once I was back in the room to entertain him.

The real proof of the new 'regime' came last night as It was the first time that DH was home alone and had to put both the kids to bed. I wasn't sure how DS would react to having milk from a sippy cup as opposed to boob, but I was really pleased to get a text from DH at 7.15pm to say that DS was asleep and had settled for him. Although I was then woken up at 5.30am by both the kids.....

Think you might be right Ruth with regard to first children and crying. I'm just not used to a lot of crying so the thought of cc frightens me. It's just me and DH being kept awake and we don't have another little one to consider. I'm sure I would feel differently if I did.

You are also right about DC smelling milk on us when we try and settle without feeding. hippo I also feel like all the night wakings are down to me as DH works full time. I don't really mind most of the time. I'd also just lie awake wondering why he didn't settle him my way the way that works :o He is good at getting up at the crack of dawn to bring DS into our bed so we all get some more kip.

greenone i suddenly remembered I had some olbas oil from last year when I was pg with DS and couldn't take any proper drugs! :) so put some on a muslin in the cot and think it's helping to dry DS out a bit!

Good luck everyone and thanks for all the virtual handholding :)

Ps meggy I just stuff food in until DS stops wanting it. In the last few days he's decided half way through that he wants to 'feed' himself. What. A. Mess!!!

Hiya everyone
Hope you are all well (and rested!) on this lovely sunny morning. Now we are back at home I am pleased to say the day naps and self settling are back on track, but the nights are still frustratingly hit and miss. He went through a period of being wide awake in the middle of the night for a couple of hours and nothing would settle him. He would be trying to go to sleep but just couldn't manage it, now the problem I have is that he is constantly rolling onto his tummy then screaming blue murder. He will fall asleep on his stomach with me rubbing his back, but will not stay like that for several hours, always waking crying 1 1/2 to 2 hours later. Any of you guys experienced this, anddo they just 'get' sleeping on their tummy suddenly?

Re feeding meggy DS is BLW and I find he starts getting tired and less capable which is the signal for end of feed time. I feel he is eating masses with 4 BF during the day as well (plus the regular odd night feed) so am dreading my next weigh in when the HV tells me off for his weight gain

Zimbo re DP involvement. Unfortunately as he is only around at weekends and not at all the past 6 weeks, he has pretty much done no night settling. partly because he sleeps through the crying for longer than I and also because I would just lie there awake anyway wondering what he was doing!

Hey ho, off to prepare lunch and enjoy the sunshine, congrats all those with sleeping babies xx

Tummy rolling - what a PITA! My DD is now doing it and constantly moves around at night. Also we always let her grumble before running in so I am never quite sure how long she has been 'stuck' on her front for! My friends LO has just started sitting up on her own. That's the next hurdle sigh

meggy babies can get hayfever (according to my doctor) and now we know that babies under 1 can have piriton with prescription as my DD had it. She hasn't had it for ages though thank goodness (although the drowsiness was a real plus point).

Ruth how old is your LO? Mine is still getting used to the sippy cup and won't even hold it! Expects us to hold it for her. I am assuming that will change soon but just interested.

We had a screaming session last night - I had held off dairy as I wanted to see if it improved DD's eczema. I gave caulli cheese last night and she woke up with really bad wind. Given milk with her cereal this AM so will see how we go.

Also unrelated to sleep my DP is being made redundant and mentioned yesterday how he might like to stay at home while I work. I feel pretty gutted as to be honest these few months have been pretty hard and now he wants be a stay at home Dad just when DD is getting interesting :( I just know he wouldn't take her to music groups or out with other Mum's which she loves. Sorry for the diversion but feel sad!

DD isn't rolling over yet (although the other morning she had wriggled to 90degrees from where she started in the cot), so I wait with dread interest for the issues that that will bring! baileys I hope your LO starts being happy to sleep on his tummy for longer - I must say, I find it much the comfiest way to sleep!

We've had two rubbish nights (waking every 2 hours and after 4am every hour) but last night she only woke at 3.30 and 5.30, she settled really quickly each time, and woke up, gorgeously happy, at 7.15. That's my girl. More like that would be fine. I'm still buoyed up by last week's three full nights of sleep - it's really helped me keep a positive attitude - she CAN do it, so she WILL do it again, hopefully soon!

greeneone, bad luck for your DP's redundancy, that's never an easy thing to go through. Were you planning on going back to work yourself, or were you hoping to be at home with her for a bit longer? It's always hard when plans change anyway. I feel the same as you, except it's the nursery staff who will get to enjoy her now she's much easier to look after and much more fun to spend time with. It doesn't seem quite fair, does it?! If your DP does end up being at home with her - it might be better than a nursery, and he would have to find some stimulating outings otherwise he will get cabin fever and be SO bored! I hope it works out and you can find a solution that you're happy with. You deserve some recognition for getting the family through the hard grind and out of the other side!

Greeneone LO is 7 months old next week. we've never had much success with bottles. I was determined that this time we would get the baby used to having the odd bottle, but yet again laziness got in the way. I never havebeen very good with the whole sterilising bottles routine, so much easier to just whip out a boob. L tries to hold the sippy cup when it's meal ime and makes some gt attempts at getting it in his mouth for himslef, but DH obv had to hold it for him when he gave him mil in it the other night.

Hello ladies. So my 4 straight nights of good sleep has gone up to 8. Last night was the 9th night and she woke at 3.30am. I was GUTTED but I went in to her and discovered her long sleeved vest sleeve was down over her hand. It was soaking so she'd obviously been trying to suck her thumb. I untangled her hand and left her to it and didn't hear from her again until 7.10am!!! 7.10!!! 7.10!!!

DS didn't wake until 6.50 either - it is nothing short of a miracle. Sadly we are potty training him and he woke at 12.30am saying he needed a wee. I told him he had a nappy on and just to do it in that but no, he would not. So sat him on the potty, he did the most monstrous wee and then went straight back to sleep. Anyone know anything about potty training? I thought night time weeing was supposed to come months afterwards?

I am torn now between being exceedingly happy with our nights to being terrified as we are going to my parents tonight for three nights and I'm convinced it's going to set DD back weeks and weeks. I've seriously thought about cancelling it :-(

Hope you're all doing OK. I've been exceedingly lazy embracing breast feeding too and have not got round to introducing a bottle with DD and am now kicking myself for it. Ah well....

Meggy what super sleeping! You must feel human again. COngratualtions! (I love the idea of a 'monstrous' wee, btw! Sadly I don't know anything about potty training, and am determined to be in denial about it till it happens.... )

Don't cancel your trip! Your parents will be able to help out, you will get some more rest, and all DCs love their grandparents. Let us know how you get on.

We've had very reasonable nights, no more sleeping through, but generally she goes off easily at 7ish, wakes at 3ish or 4ish, settles easily with the dummy and then wakes at 6ish or 7ish. So far so good. Yesterday was nursery, however, which always seems to cause some issues, as she woke quite a few times overnight, not being unhappy, just singing away and playing with her furry toy. The longest stretch of sleep was from midnight till 3.45. But because there was no crying, it was fine. I do worry slightly about the effect of nursery for more than one day a week, but I'll have to cross that bridge when I come to it.

One more thing which is driving me mad and making me laugh at the same time - I can't get DD to drink water for love nor money! She has a sippy cup, which until recently she used to drink from when I held it for her, now she wants to fight for it, fling it away, and if it makes it to her mouth she blows instead of sucks, and thinks that's hilarious! JUST DRINK FROM THE DAMN CUP, DD!!

meggy fab news to have that length of good nights sleep. Re visiting your parents, I have found that when I have gone away, I have disturbed sleep, but DS has gone back to previous sleep patterns when home, so don't panic!!

We had an epic 2 1/2 hour waking period last night. He was so frustrated, and wanted to sleep that he got hysterical. Calpol didn't help and he eventually passed out in exhaustion. I didn't feed him as he hasn't had any milk overnight for over a week now, but part of me thinks it might have made him sleep and I feel a bit that I put him through it.

We have been using a slanted cup for water and my DS loves to have it held up to his mouth, but he dribbles the water down his front or tries to inhale it! Don't know if he is swallowing anything, and definately doesn't want to hold it. Hope he gets the hang of it soon