Let's all meet here for a sleep deprivation support group

[ImNotAnsweringIt]

I though it might be helpful to have a general thread with survival tips for dealing with the exhaustion and misery of the long or short term effects of lack of sleep. I bet we can all find someone worse off than ourselves, and that's always a help, hmm?

My little tips for making things more bearable:

Make sure you are warm enough when you have to get up in the night. Have dressing gown and slippers by your bed if neccesary. This also helps you get back to sleep quickly, should you be fortunate enough to have the opportunity!

Have lovely breakfast things in. I always have expensive cereal in the cupboards Just For Me.

Anyone else? Hang in there everyone, I am having a very down day today which is what inspired me to start this.

bender how are u feeling today? Sounds pretty awful what ur going through but totally know what ur going thru, hope u had a better night.

Broom at your neighbours.

birchy I hope your poor little DD feels better soon. Glad you had a decent night.

Another shitey one here, but DD is asleep now (in her car seat since she won't be put down anywhere else!) and I am gearing up for a long session of Gruffalo snakes and ladders with DS. DH and I have decided to try and implement a shift system while things are so bad - so, I go to bed when the kids do, he tries to settle any wake-ups until 1am, then I take over. I know she isn't actually hungry all night - she can't be - and I really really don't want her to consolidate the habit of sleeping while latched on.

She is such a light sleeper though, compared to DS. He woke lots but at this age could be shushed/patted back to sleep if not hungry. She just pings wide awake and nothing but intensive effort or boob will get her back to sleep.

Welcome to Bender and Sheep.

Wifey I shall have a look at that book, thanks for the suggestion. I couldn't try the technique last night because of all the noise from the neighbours . How did DS sleep last night?

pip how are you feeling? Did you manage to get anything good in the sales?

mrsD did you get another good night? Will DD not sleep in carseat, pram, sling? I l know you've probably tried everything. And sometimes you can't keep goof for a random wander/drive whenever you need them to sleep!

Ems my DD is 6 months and I've decided to stop attempting to feed her in the night. She was only having a ounce or two anyway. We tried it on Tuesday night and for the first time ever she finished all of her morning bottle and then went on to feed really well all day! And she was more easily settled in the night because I wasn't faffing around trying to feed her.

birchy that sounds so terrifying. I would really really panic and not know what todo. Glad DD is alright. Sounds like you k ow what do to in a crisis.

My DD ended up in our room because the neighbours were really going at it. I could hear every word they were saying they were shouting that loud. It was the third night in a row they've been arguing but last night really was ridiculous. I want to phone the police but I've had problems with them before and tbh I'm quite scared of the man that lives there. The main reason we will be putting the house up for sale in spring.

broom....what awful neighbours!
DS was asleep by 8pm...fidgeting for dummy at 12:30 (same as night before) & again at 4:20am then woke up at 6am. We make a big fuss in the morning as praise the he has stayed in his own bed! DH bought him in with us at 6am before he left for work & DS feel back to sleep til 8:30am.
I'm noticing that DS sleeps better at night if he had a day time nap...so have started making sure he has one.
How was everyone else's night?

Can I rejoin you guys? I posted quite a while ago but at the time DD was so demanding during the day that I never got time to read or post. She's now 4 months so generally easier during the day and (woo hoo) no longer sleeps on my chest at night. However in getting her into her crib I sacrificed sleep as she went from waking 2-3 times a night, easily re-settled, and sleeping till after 6 to the hell we have now - woke 3 times to feed last night, not including when she woke at 4.30am as that is when she started the day, wouldn't go back to sleep after that feed. She refuses to co-sleep so I don't even have that refuge and is a rubbish napper, 20-30 mins on my lap after a feed generally .

I feel like I'm going insane through lack of sleep and thought that it might be worth joining you guys again as misery loves company and all my friends' babies, yes even the 5 week old, sleep better than her. What gives me hope is some of yours seem to be doing a little better than when the thread started [clings desparately to any sign that things might get better one day].

Welcome back scotty....sorry to read you are having a bad time of it. Is your LO weaning yet? I found my DS woke more before he was weaned & he became more satisfied by having solids.

Welcome back scotty my DD is better ( a bit) than when we started, except for when she has a cold or tummy upset (most of the time) so swings and roundabouts really. Sorry you're having a pants time. No advice really (sleep deprived useless emoticon) but lots of and sympathy. Comfort eating crap is my personal crutch.

So.......Last night I spoon fed DD a yoghurt. We're doing BLW and with DS that was fine and once I'd started BLW I didn't spoon feed at all but I've got a bit desperate this time. i gave her scrambled egg and toast first to BLW with and she made good headway but then DS was having a yog and she started bouncing up and down in the chair squeaking at his yog so I spooned one in to her. She kept on asking for more so I gave her another . She then slept 830 to 130am had a huuuuuuge bf, woke at 330am, another bf and slept til 930am. I've done the spoondfeeding at teatime before (yog or porridge) and it's been hit and miss, some nights she slept better, others she didn't. I don't think it's the answer cos she seemed hungry at 130am judging by the monster bf, but I have been wondering if we've got things (DD and me, I mean) with too much milk at night and not enough solids (maybe partly cos of BLW...she's very slow with the food) during the day.

Not quite sure how to resolve this without making my life worse, but I've been mulling it over. Going to try and encourage her to eat as much solids as poss and have blenty of bf during the day. Don't want to go too much down the road of spoon feeding for various reasons.

Have also been wondering if maybe she just doesn't need a lot of sleep? Mum says I NEVER (not even as a newborn) slept during the day. She's very insistent on this. I slept 7-7 from about 4 months but never napped. DD has now been awake since 930am (so 7 odd hours). I've tried to get her to nap but to no avail. She doesn't even seem that tired. She's not grizzling or anything. Maybe she just doesn't need all that much sleep?

DH taking DS for a haircut later so I'm going to roast a butternut squash for tomorrow..woohoo . Sales were crap, off for another look tomorrow morning.

Welcome sleepymam...there is often one of us mummies around day or night! Hope you find this as helpful as I have.

Pipoca I hear you on the BLW. I did it for the first month as DD really didn't want to be spoonfed but she was bf'ing hourly so I was really happy when around 7mo she let me spoon feed. Now it's hit and miss, so I make sure I always have plenty of finger food for her and something to spoon feed as well, which just goes back in the fridge or bin if not used. I find a real relationship between when she eats a lot of protein and her having a heavy first part of sleep. A couple of things she eats quite well are slices of hard boiled egg and meatballs. My recipe (which I also use for me and DH) is 500g beef mince, half an onion, garlic clove, 1 medium egg, squirt of ketchup and mustard. Mix all together and shape, leave in fridge for half hour, then cook in frypan. She also goes through zillions of those Laughing Cow cheese triangles (broken up into pea size bits), she has had 6 today, and the Organix corn puff type snacks - the carrot ones get smeared everywhere and she looks like an oompa loompa. I'm going to try and make fish fingers when I find the energy, as she loves salmon.

Welcome Sleepymammary

Oh just noticed with the recipe, I should have said you need to cook the onion and garlic first, before mixing it in with the other stuff...[sleep deprived woolly head emoticon]

Thanks for the words of comfort ladies. Not weaning DD yet,only just 4 months at the mo and don't think her head/neck/trunk control is good enough yet,sounds like it brings its own set of challenges!

oh yes, scotty don't even go there til at least 6 mo, so much extra work, even if you blw! Well DD didn't nap at all today. She was awake from 930am til 830pm, so we will see what tonight brings. Thanks for the tip about meatballs and boiled eggs, she likes eggs so will give that a go and meatballs is a great idea as DS likes them too. Had thought of fishfingers too but was going to buy them...lazy slattern emoticon.

Talking about BLW I'm weaning my 6 month old and am freaking out, I can't remember what to give her ( admittlingly there is a 9year age gap) I am trying her on alsorte to be fair but do get worried. But have to say she is sleeping a little better since solids.
Hang in there all.
X

Hi all, sorry I keep failing to post but I am here checking up on you all! Been ill with chest infection and general run-down-ness. Welcome to newcomers.

DS has suspected non-IgE protein allergy to cows milk and soya. Spoke to the dietician today having been dairy and soya free for the last week. He has started to go 4 hours now, hooray! As my mundane, this is how he should have been as a newborn (now heading for 7 months!).

Just a thought, check out symptoms for this (according to dietician) common and under-diagnosed condition. As she said to me, the frequency of wakings and obvious discomfort are not normal and are usually indicative of something. Reading all your posts makes me wonder if some dc may have physical causes for being so discontented.

On another note, ds1 is now staying in his bed all night!really regret writing that now, what have I done?!
Good luck tonight everyone.

Not my mundane, that makes no sense! As my mum said

Typing on phone, left handed, bfeeding ds2 in dark

Imnot - haven't been following the whole thread but it sounds like you hopefully have some much needed answers. Hope things continue to improve.

Have had a crappy night after a brilliant day, DD woke every 1 hour 50 mins to feed but then wouldn't take much so kept waking again. She then randomly woke at 4.30 and hasn't gone back to sleep. She was chattering away which is very cute during the day but very annoying at night. I just don't know how to get her to not wake ridiculouly early. I was in tears from 4.30-6 when we gave up even trying to settle her back down . When or how do things ever get better?

scotty I really feel for you, I felt like that fir about the first 5 months.

Google '4 month sleep regression'. Could be it? No solutions, just survival. Make things as easy as you can fit yourself and try to relax about it. Dint try to 'achieve' things like self settling or long naps. Just go with it and each of you get sleep where you can. It will get better, promise.

Early mornings are a killer do you have the room as black as possible (blackout blinds?)

Yes to blackout blinds but have en suite light on with door almost closed, used to be to give me enough light to see to feed, DH wondered if it bothers DD but when i tried having it off she screamed every time she woke so not sure about it now. Thought she was having 4 mo sleep regression a few weeks ago (see thread here) then thought it was getting a bit better (another thread!) but now wondering if its all the same mess! When will it end?!?!

scotty...could our LO be teething? I know everyone asks this...but my DS started teething at 3.5 months & that's when I noticed his sleep deteriorate.

You know wifey that is a possibility. Her sleep is awful anyway but it has got much worse and she is drooling furiously after been a very un-drooly baby till now. Plus she has the rosy cheeks and frantically rubs one ear...

That sounds pretty textbook to me. Try giving calpol and teething gel to see if it helps.

Oo poor LO...teething is awful! We found teething granules are amazing at easing pain...calming baby & settling upset tummies. Ashton & Parsons or Teetha granules are great options.

Thanks ladies!