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.

Oh and btw, any idea how long till the actual teeth appear?

My DS took 3+ month to get 2 & then he had a break & then started sprouting them in multiples! Every LO is different.
Dentinox teething toothpaste is meant to be great as well as you can massage the teeth with a special little finger brush.

Glad u got somewhere imnot at least u can understand what's going on. Hope it improves for u.
Last night was pretty good but still feel so knackered, she slept from 7.30 to 4.30 then had a feed but only slept another hour but can't complain at all.
I know this isnt the thread for it but wanted to ask u guys about feeding. I'm am giving solids, as she is just over 6months now she is doing well but very constipated so tried natural ways to help but not working. Anyway I'm worried I'm not doing it properly, she is beginning to have three meals a day with milk in between but I'm not sure she is getting enough milk. Our routine most days are: 6.30 milk
7 porridge
10 milk
11 possible snack
11.30 nap
12.30 to 1 lunch
1 milk
4 to5 dinner
6 milk
7 bath and last feed then bed

Does this ok ish? It doesn't always work like that, hasn't today at all. Plus I breast feed so never know how much she gets but Im finding it hard for some reason worried what to give her solid wise.
Anyway sorry know it isn't the thread for it but felt I could ask as we seem to have a understanding of each other on here.

Hope all slept well and hope we all have good nights tonight.
Xxx

Hi birchy weaning is a minefield isn't it? I loved it with ds1, now just feels like more work and stress! A good guide is that until 1 year, they get almost all their nutritional needs and calories from milk (excellent if you bf until then). Food should not replace any milk so try to offer it one hour after bfing, never before or instead of. Milk remains the most important thing so don't worry about how much food she is eating too much. There will probably be more help on 'weaning' topic though. Sleep sounds good!

scotty so sorry we can't tell you when it will get better, just that it will, it really, really will. We are in teething hell at the moment, slightly more bearable due to co sleeping but poor ds2 is really struggling; temperature, red cheeks, drooling, very congested and a bit 'flat' iykwim. He still has no teeth but goes through phases like this for
perhaps a week, then it subsides for a week or so (to be replaced by, say, a cold or something!)

Babyhood really is, to me, a time of relentless ailments, an ordeal to be endured. 6 mths plus just gets easier and once they are toddlers it is a whole different game. We'll probably all be together in 'behaviour and development' fretting about the next thing!

Helps to keep it in perspective, I know when ds2 was younger I couldn't imagine a time when it would feel easier and now he is heading for 7 months, we have some answers and I can see light at the end of
the tunnel. You'll get there scotty. Then you'll think about having dc2

Thanks, yes I think I have been doing too much I need to give more milk not sure what's wrong with me I just have struggled this time round. Cheers for advice though.
Dh is getting up at 6 tomoz so he said he will have her so I can get some sleep which Im excited about lol.
Good luck everyone!

Things are still totally gash here. DD has barely slept the last couple of days/nights, she sings all night (and I mean LOUD) then gets up for the day at 5am. Since we live in a small flat with paper-thin walls, this also disturbs my usually fab-sleeping DS, who is now waking in the night needing one of us to lie with him. And then also getting up at 5am. So no one is getting any sleep. The children look like hollow-eyed ghosts, DH and I are joyless automatons. Feel like there is nothing to do but put my head down and survive.

Sorry, too tired to contribute more of any worth

Poor you Bender (love your name btw), it seems hard with 1 then i hear the stories from people with 2 not sleeping and count my blessings (and think that DD may well end up an only child at this rate). She only fed every 3 hours last night but took 1&1/2 hours to settle after 2nd feed, this might sound odd but i think her weird, bright, I want to start the day in the middle of the night behaviour might be related to her bowels, always hear an explosion within 10 mins of her chattering starting. Anyone else have/had this experience?

funnily enough DD rarely poos during the night, a marked contrast to DS at this age who regularly unleashed a midnight poonami as well as peeing like a racehorse and flooding his sleeping bag.

all a distant memory now of course

it's a good job our babies are so cheerful eh? DD is so delightfully happy that it's hard to be angry about the tiredness. and she smells like warm waffles with maple syrup :)

Morning ladies....how was everyone's night? DS went to bed at 8:30pm...fidgeted twice or dummy- 12:30am & 2:30am & then woke at 5:45am...took him in bedroom with me to see DH & he snuggled back down til 8am. I think it's helped we have switched bedtime drink etc. scotty....my DS only had night-time nappies when teething badly. But bad wind throughout sometimes.

Last night was better than Friday. Friday night he went down like a dream at 7.15, then woke at 8 and took 3, yes 3 hours to resettle. I finally went to sleep at 11.10, then he woke at 1 and at 2.30 at which point I took him into bed with me. Last night I at least got an evening. Down at 7.45, then woke at 8.45, 10.20, 12.30 and 2.40. Took him into bed with me then. But at least he wasn't doing the whole "Look at me I'm going to sleep, oh no I'm not I'm up again" thing like he did on Friday evening.

Teething seems to be coming and going. Does that sound right? He's generally chomping at his fists when he wakes up around 2 but doesn't seem in agony. I guess its just enough to keep him awake unless he's lying next to me with a nipple in his mouth in which case he knows no pain and all is right with the world.

He'd better be nice to me when I'm old...

SB

script....that's sounds about right for teething. Some nights are worse than others. We were told to elevate the pillow so DS wasn't laying flat. Did seem to work on/off. Good luck tonight coming your way

Hello,

last few nights have been fairly shit. Been reluctantly cosleeping in DD's room as at least it means I don't have to get out of bed. She goes down about 830 and then wakes maybe at 1030 or 1230, but is really really screaming. Seems to be wind, as she farts and farts and farts and then relaxes and sleeps. don't know why she's so windy, I think maybe it's this awful cold, she's swallowing all the mucousy crap and it gives her a bellyache. She quite often then wakes a lot til DS gets up but will then sleep 3 hrs or so from 6am ish, helpfully once DS is up . Some nights are better than others but they're all shit.
Going for coffee tomorrow with a friend and at least managed to dye my hair (was going VERY grey) and got some boots in the sales, so feeling a little better.
DD seems to have been teething the top 2 teeth FOREVER!

Pipoca - I feel your pain. We're waiting for the top two to come through. Good work with the hair and boots though.

Thanks for the advice, Wifey. He definitely feeds better propped up. He's too small to have a pillow. I'm not sure if there's any way of raising the whole mattress or cot...

SB

pipoca....sleep deprivation has that effect on your hair . Teething is a whole new ball game & feels like it goes on forever!
script...I used to lift up DS cot mattress & prop it up with a small pillow. I still do that now he is in a toddler bed. HV recommended it. Apparently it relieves the pressure on their ears & jaws
Works for us. Hope it works for you too.

Hi everyone, sorry not posted for a bit.

Things are still the same here. I still dont get why DD is waking so frequently. She doesnt even really cry and is still fairly easily settled. She just wants me to stroke her tummy and hold my hand then she goes back to sleep. But she wakes up every 40 mins until we co sleep and then still wakes up a couple of times. I just dont understand what she's after.

Glad your treating yourself pip, it always makes me feel better. What are your boots like?

How is everyone?

Sending sleepy vibes to everyone's babies. Hoping mine will catch some too.

Anyone else find that just when they've steeled themselves for a night as bad as the one before their DC ups their game to a new level of sleep deprivation hell? I spent all last night hearing DD toss and turn,half the time she'd stay/go back to sleep,half the time she'd wake and either chatter or cry till i did something. Occasionally white noise helped but generally only feeding got her back to sleep. Think from 1215 onwards i only got 15-20 minutes at a time :-(

Hope others had better nights.

Sympathies scottygirl - my DD was up every hour so SHOUTING AND BLARGING AND GOING AAAAAAAAAAAAAAABLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR at full earsplitting volume. I mean, it's nice that she's happy and not crying, but she is so incredibly loud. DH got up at 4am and walked her around for half an hour to get her off to sleep...laid her down as carefully as if she were a Ming vase...she woke up instantly. It does my fucking swede in tbh. DS woke lots at this age but always fed straight back to sleep, or was shushed. There is no shushing DD. She's awake and she wants the world to know!

Broom Do you think she is uncomfortable? What exactly does she do?

scotty YY to bowel movements causing wakefulness. DS2 will always feed to sleep except on odd occasion whebn he is wide awke and restless and absolutly impossible to get to settle. Always get a bowel movement within 10 minutes. Dont know how you change timings though!

Pip I am goiong very grey too! And am too tired to care

scotty and bender that sounds like a rough night. Hope you've had plenty of chocolate to make up for it.

Imnot I'm really not sure what's causing it. But I'm really starting to think that something is waking her up rather than her just waking herself up. She normally whinges and cries a bit, if I don't go into her she will scream. I think the temperature is ok. Well it's usually about 19 degrees at night. I really can't work out what it might be. She wakes up and is usually annoyed about being awake and just wants me to help her get back to sleep straight away. Anyone any idea's?

Hi everyone, please can I join?. I feel ill I am so tired, I have pains in my head and ears, I can barely function anymore. I have a 2 DC aged 7mo and 3yo.

Will link my story. It has got worse from there, I sometimes go to sleep wishing I don't wake up, which sounds awful but I am struggling so much. Our house is miserable, we are all angry and shout a lot. It's not the lovely home it used to be, and I am so worried about the impact this is having on both DC. I simply cannot go on like this, but don't see any way out.

Not sure where to start with reading the thread, so if anyone could point me in the right direction..........

Story here:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/1371499-To-ask-for-help-here-am-losing-my-mind

Hi thisis. I can't read your link on my phone. But I hope your alright. Sleep deprivation is one of the worst things I've been through, the constant headache, frustration and bickering it causes can really get you down.

In this thread we usually just post about how the previous night has been, ask for advice, give advice if we can. Really it's just a safe place to have a rant and offload.

Sending you hugs, paracetamol (for the headache) and a big slab of galaxy.

Thanks Broom, just starting to read the thread. Some of the stories sound very familiar........

In brief, my 7MO will not sleep, day or night. She is completely hyper, 3am is like hell for us as we know she will be awake for another 2 or 3 hours with no break. She is a lovely happy baby during the day (I have no idea how she keeps going, she has huge bags under her eyes). If we go into her room (moved her into nursery a couple of weeks ago in desperation) she will settle for me in an instant but wants to play. If I leave the room she cries. She will sleep for 40 minutes usually, but after the 3am wake-a-thon she will only sleep for 20 mins at a time from about 5/6am. Then DD1 wakes up.

I have tried to get her into a routine for the past 4 weeks, I have hardly left the house. But we are getting nowhere, she is completely unpredictable.

I really feel like I can't go on, I cry most of the day :(

Welcome thisis....sorry to read how bad you are feeling...cant read the link on my phone. Feel free to rant...ask advice & offer some if you would like. We are here to support eachother...no judgements...just
support when you need it. Wishing all you lovely ladies & your babies a restful night.

Do you have RL support thisis...?
Have you spoken to your health visitor?
Sleep deprivation, as alot have said is torture. We are all here for eachother.