HELP!

[megcleary]

I am losing the will the live. DD IS 22wo and i know it is probably teething but her sleep has gone mental.

she is shattered but 1930 and for the past two nights it has taken me and DH to settle her. We lie her in her cot give her her dummy and she starting rubbing her eyes and pulling her ears to the point she hurts herself.

Then i hold her hands so she cant do that and she starts thumping her legs up and down and turning her head side to side and spitting her dummy out.

Last night after an hour or so of this and wailing DH came and stroked her legs and eventually she settled for an hour.

Then we fed her at ten and brought her in with us to try and get some sleep.

At 2 she was up again fed and then another hour of dummy spitting and hand holding. at 6 up again and fed wailing when dummy given only settled chewing muslin square. up at 8. all times back in with me DH went to spare room at 2 as knackered and has work today. Before we could feed her she would end up asleep and we could put her back in the cot.

Is this eye rubbing/ near gouging what other peoples babies do, even before the sleep got worse it took her an hour to settle doing this without crying etc now she seems angrier/pain and is hurting herself.

Long I know thanks for sticking with it.

bump

help

Yes! just quicky as am feeding atm - sounds exactly the same as my dd right now .... will write more when i have both hands , but you are not alone!

Hello
Poor poor you. I remember going through no sleep with my ds. It is so hard but will pass so keep remember ing that. try to get some sleep when you can.

Is she sleeping during the daytime at all? Sometimes if babies get too tired during the day they cannot sleep at night either.

Right, she's gone for a nap, now you have my full attention :)

My DD does exactly the same with the dummy spitting, eye rubbing and shoving her fingers in her ears. It wakes her up, scratches her skin and pulls the dummy out all at the same time. So when she's hard to settle I hold both her hands as she drops off. Last night I considered swaddling her to see if that makes a difference - she's way too old for it but I've heard (on another thread) that it could work.

If she chewed the muslin square, and that worked, could that be a lifeline? I think it's better if thet get attached to a soft comforter rather than a dummy, as they can easily reach for it and it won't fall out and cause those issues. My DD has ignored the material comforter I keep giving her, but I persevere, in the hope that we can escape the tyranny of the dummy completely one day!

I've also heard that an earlier bedtime can help, as they won't be so shattered that they resist sleep. It works for helping my DD settle in the evening, but it hasn't helped her sleep for longer stretches particularly. Might be worth a try though, putting her down at 6.30 for a bit?

Knackering though, isn't it? I find it hard to stay calm and sane during the nighttime resettlings if they're a long struggle. Last night she only woke once but it was for two hours, between 11.30 and 1.30. Lordy. What a rumpus! It used to be that I would bf, then she would go straight down without a peep!

Sorry for the long ramble, more for moral support than anything else. They are little buggers, aren't they?!

the moral support does help

i thought it was just mine that did the eye rubbing etc

i read so many posts here about putting babies to bed etc but none detail physically holding their arms so they don't keep waking themselves up

evening bump

I am sat on the stairs whilst ds 7 months chunters, leg kicks, eye rubs and ear pulls himself to sleep. It is getting quicker each night and putting him down earlier helps. He seems to be settling better now he can get himself on his front and often falls asleep like that. Bear with it it will improve

Tonight he is an hour late to bed so I may be sat here a while

Can she be overtired? My DS (17 months) will get bad nights if he's too tired. I would try to put her bedtime forward and see if it makes a difference.
Have you tried putting her down without the dummy? She may not want it anymore. DS used to have one until I realised it was disturbing his night sleep more than helping it. Maybe introducing a soft toy as a comforter can give her some reassurance.

Also (duck as people may throw things at me) have you try giving her some paracetamol/ibuprofen before bedtime in case she's under the weather.

I hope you find a solution. Good luck