Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Sleep

Join our Sleep forum for tips on creating a sleep routine for your baby or toddler. Need more advice on your childs development? Sign up to our Ages and Stages newsletter here.

Please someone help, so many sleep problems, I'm just sitting here crying - I feel like I've let her down so badly (5mo)

35 replies

zambooloo · 23/05/2012 01:36

Ok so basically she is a terrible sleeper, day and night. We started off co-sleeping as for the 1st week of her life no one got any sleep. I feel like this was my first mistake, we also made the mistake of just letting her nap on us. I then moved the cot into our room & took the side off so it was sort of attached to our bed (no room for her in our bed & was so worried about rolling onto her). Anyway she gradually starting sleeping so badly with us that no one was getting any sleep - my thoughts were that we were disturbing her. She was literally waking every 20mins and I had to actually cuddle her in my arms all night.

So about 2 weeks ago we put the side on the cot (still in our room) - this was a disaster, still waking constantly so I thought again that maybe we were disturbing her as she slept best before we came to bed. So then we decided to move her into her own room. Since then (1week ago) she just can't sleep at all.

So i feel like a terrible parent as she is just so tired but incapable of sleeping.
She is still swaddled as she just repeatedly rubs eyes, pulls out dummy and gets herself so worked up. She is in largest size swaddle u can find & it's nearly too small so I need to sort this out as don't know what she cab sleep in next.
She has White noise on to help her - although obviously thus isn't actually helping any more.
She will nap in bouncy chair but she is fast outgrowing this too - am really working on getting decent naps too. I thought she had napped really well today but we are in the midst of the worse night ever so I don't know?!?
She always falls asleep in our arms but now always wakes as soon as I put her down. If I put her down awake but sleepy she just works herself up and up until she is screaming.
When she wakes in the night I can occasionally get her to go back to sleep by shushing & patting but she is always awake again in about 20mins.

I just feel like there are sk many problems here, I am totally out of my depth. I just have no idea what to do. I feel like I've totally let her down by creating this situation where she just can't sleep.

It doesn't help that all my friend's babies are sleeping through - I feel so alone. My dp does help a lot (he is with her now) but I'm just so lost.

So sorry this has turned into an essay - any help is do much appreciated. Thank you

OP posts:
CharlotteBronteSaurus · 23/05/2012 14:18

i had horrible sleeper. it is AWFUL.
here's and old thread of mine, with a few different ideas.

breadandhoney · 23/05/2012 14:35

Sorry op, don't have time to read all the replies so apologies if I repeat anything that's already been said. This sounds very similar to dd when she was that age. Between 3-6 months she wouldn't nap unless we were driving which meant I had to take her out in the car twice a day every single day to get her to sleep (ad I couldn't stop the car so that was about 3 hours driving a day!) It drove me crazy (no pun intended Blush) At night she would fall asleep feeding or being rocked in my arms after I had walked her round her room for up to an hour! At about 4 months she started to wake as soon as I put her in the cot and the only thing that would get her back over to sleep was to be lofted and rocked again. This could go on for hours at bedtime and she would wake requiring he same attention several times a night every night. It was exhausting and incredibly emotionally draining!

I finally lost it at about 5 months and decided something had to give so i did some research and we went with gina ford. ( I know people have strong views about her routines but it transformed our lives for the better!) we started controlled crying when dd was about a week off six months. First night she cried for 45 minutes. Next day first nap she cried for ten minutes. After that she went to sleep every time with merry a peep!! I know that sounds exaggerated but I promise you we were as stunned as you.

I would suggest having a look at getting her into a routine and trying the controlled crying. Those 24 hours (not even!) of tough love transformed our lives and dd's life. She was a happy, content little girl who just thrived on knowing what was coming next in her day and what what expected of her. She is 22 months now and still a good sleeper

I really hope this helps. And remember, whatever you decide, what you are going through now WILL NOT last forever!

zambooloo · 23/05/2012 19:06

Hi everyone - thanks so much for all your responses.

Omana- I agree, I feel like returning to co sleeping would mean the time we have spent to far would all be in vain.

As for naps - I have been working so hard at getting these right and would love some opinions on what (I think) is a good system now! I've only just started this pattern (yesterday & today).

So she is always awake by 6. I walk the dog at about 8 and she will sleep for between 1/2 - 1hr. I really try for the hour but today only managed 1/2 - she just would not go back to sleep even though she was yawning lots. So today we then went to jo jingles which finished at 12. She was v v tired so came home and she slept from 12.30 - 3.00. We then walked dog again, had mini picnic, came home, had quick play, read story, bath and now just feeding ready for sleep in a min so 7.00. Yesterday naps were the same but 1hr in the morning. What do you think?

She is fed just before bed, then dream feed at 10, then once more usually about 3. My mum thinks don't feed at 10 just wait and see as it might be disturbing her. Opinions on this?

So I can't stand the idea of cc but the results sound amazing. I'm just not sure & she is too young right?

I usually go to her at first sign of cry but once last night I thought I'd just wait & see what she did if left for a bit. She started a proper cry after about 5 mins and it tool me 1.5hrs to settle her! So I'm not doing that again!!

Thanks so much again, wish me luck for tonight!

OP posts:
tiokiko · 23/05/2012 20:22

Really feel for you - it's so horrible being so tired and feeling like there is no end in sight. We are just starting to come out of the same sort of thing with DD2 - she waking every 40 mins or so, taking 3h to settle at night etc - pretty grim.

I realised one night at about 3am that she would settle on her front - however sleepy I had thought she was, she always woke up when I put her down on her back then I would stand and pat for ages till she gave up and slept. I was so tired I think I put her down on her tummy by accident and she literally conked out instantly.

I then panicked and stayed up all night to check she was still breathing...so bought an breathing monitor mat thing so we could both sleep. It wasn't an instant fix to her sleeping but it was an instant improvement - I think once she was comfy we could work on her getting more used to sleeping if you see what I mean?

She is now 7m and is still waking for a BF at 2am but apart from that sleeps 7 to 6.30 and has two long naps each day, is almost self-settling and still happily sleeping on her tummy.

It may not be this but I thought I would post just in case - really hope things get better soon, in the meantime please don't beat yourself up about it or listen to any unhelpful friends - this is not your fault!

maddening · 23/05/2012 21:27

have you tried pupd? This is meant to be ok before 6mths.

we did have success with this - after swaddling for 6 mths we nursed to sleeo between 6&9 mths, had success with pupd for a month before a tummy bug saw us cosleeping -'was then back in work for 5 weeks before xmas during which time my gran died so had not the energy or inclination to do sleep trainjng again - by new year cosleeping was entrenched! Now going to do mattress on floor with dr jay gordon method.

zambooloo · 25/05/2012 17:27

Hello again everyone,
just a little update, would like your thoughts... Went to hv to ask advice. She basically told me I shouldn't have moved her to her own room before 6months and that it would take her a month to get used to it.

What do you think? A month seems ages!! Also said I should wean her at 22weeks?

OP posts:
tiokiko · 25/05/2012 18:02

That seems weird to be telling you off for not following the guidelines re: own room but also then advising you not to re: weaning?

Why does she suggest early weaning - is there a specific reason? Your DD will get more cals from milk than food with early weaning. If it was closer I would go for it but personally I wouldn't wean now without a good reason.

I also don't see why it should take her a month to get used to her own room - doesn't sound like HV was much help? How are things?

zambooloo · 25/05/2012 19:54

No change really. I'm going to start a sleep diary because in the mornings I just can't remember how many times I got up to her so I can't really tell if it is getting better or worse! I'm just living in such a blur now with the lack of sleep.

The only reason she said to wean was because I said that in the morning she doesn't seem hungry and only has about 2oz of milk but then feeds normally for the rest of the day. She got a bit fixated on this!!

OP posts:
CherryBlossom27 · 26/05/2012 06:30

Hi OP, sorry to hear your LO isn't sleeping well.

As mad as it sounds, my DS sleeps and goes to sleep better if we catch him before he gets too tired. What I would do is whatever works for your dd to sleep during the day is just do it, then at night time, have a bath, then a feed, then bed. Try putting her to bed early at 6pm and see if this makes a difference.

At night time, I would wait until she is settled/not crying and put her in the cot with socks on hands, even if she is awake but not asleep, leave the room and if you don't hear any crying, wait for 10-15 minutes and then go in and check. Sometimes I've accidentally disturbed DS trying to get to sleep on his own by going in to check him. I think sometimes if you spend time trying to sing lullabies it just wakes them up rather than settles them if they're not unsettled or crying.

Our DS rubs his eyes and scratches his head when he is tired. He is too wriggly to be swaddled now, so we put him to sleep on his back in the correct position and put socks over his arms (as scratch mitts are too small!), this has helped a lot as he's not fulling waking himself up with scratching and he doesn't have a bleeding head anymore!

A few weeks ago he wouldn't sleep during the day at all and it was awful, I did two days of putting him in his cot for an afternoon nap after his lunchtime feed and I was determined he would sleep as he definitely was tired. I put him in the cot and let him cry a little while and picked up up after 5 minutes for a cuddle to stop him crying, then put him straight back in the cot, I had to repeat it three times so he cried for a total of 15 minutes, but he suddenly gave up and fell asleep and slept for about an hour and a half.

I don't know if this is classed as controlled crying, but I did it for two days (afternoon naps only) and it worked. The way I see it is if I was bursting for the toilet and he was crying I'd have to leave him to cry for a couple of minutes, or if I had other children he might have to wait a couple of minutes, and babies do cry so I don't think it's too awful. Anyway, this worked on the afternoon nap after two days, I put him in the cot and he just went to sleep on day three.

I can only say this is what I do/have done and all babies are different, so it might be worth a try.

Also my DS tends to sleep better if we are out and about e.g. In the pushchair or the car. On the rare occasions he's cried in the pushchair or car it's been because he needed a nappy change. I think fresh air helps.

The other things that has helped DS is being introduced to solids, he was waking up around three times a night just plain hungry and milk alone wasn't cutting it. My HV was dead against introducing solids before six months, whereas my gp said introduce solids anytime after four months "when the feeds are becoming too frequent to manage". I know a lot of people on MN are against introducing solids before six months, but I think you know if milk is not enough anymore.

The last thing that has helped my DS sleep better at night is that he can now roll, so he always sleeps on his tummy now, I was worried at first, but if they can roll onto their tummies, the SIDS risk is lower as they can roll back or to safety if that makes sense. He definitely sleeps better on his tummy, although we always put him to sleep on his back!

In the last two weeks or so, DS now naps for approx two hours in the day, usually half an hour in the morning and an hour and a half in the afternoon. He now sleeps through the night, the times varying, but he generally has been sleeping at least 10 hours, up to 12 hours with no waking up.

Anyway, I don't know if this has been at all helpful, but good luck! I hope things improve for you!

loveisagirlnameddaisy · 26/05/2012 22:40

Not feeding well at breakfast is a sign of too much milk at night, not a sign that early weaning is required!! Some HVs are a bit bonkers, methinks.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page