I think im going mad with lack of sleep!

[Hotpotpie]

I dont know if I want advice, sympathy or a ramble, maybe all three

My 6 month old has slept at least a 10 hour night from being 14 weeks old, however over about the past six weeks her sleep has been poor

Typically she stirs at between 12.30 & 1.30am, then at 2am ish again 3am ish and again 5.30-6 ish then she wakes between 7 & 8, sometimes shes just grumbling in her sleep looking for her dummy, other times shes awake, smiling and wanting to play,up until now shes never cried at night

if I put her dummy in she will settle after five minutes or so, if shes awake it can take up to an hour, as she never cries Ive never lifted her from her cot and with her mobile on she will usually settle

Recently we have made the following changes-

• she moved in to her own room, DH;s snoring was waking her 12-14 times a night, the move does seem to have helped

• the GP has FINALLY after months of dismissing me agreed that she is lactose intolerant, shes on new milk which has made a massive improvement, as she was refusing milk, at 5 months 2 weeks due to weight loss we started to wean her, Ive not rushed this at all shes still only on 1-2 meals a day im led by her, im also offering her more milk (she only takes 4-5 oz per feed) but she wont take it

• Ive stopped giving her gripe water (she was on 5 doses a day due to the milk issue) she doesnt seem to be gripy but could this be a problem?

• she altered her day time sleep shes napping much less

Last night was an awful night she woke at three and that was it she stayed awake, the night before was 4 and awake all night however her nappy had leaked and she was soaked

I know a lot of people have it much much worse but im going back to work soon and I have no idea how im going to suvive 12 hour days and on call nights with such poor sleep any ideas??

I've no answers but just wanted to say you are not alone. Baby pickle has had the same sleep pattern as your DD for the past 2 months, but without the lactose intolerance (she has silent reflux instead!).

It's rubbish, isn't it.

Even though I'm not going back to work yet, I've considered sending her to nursery just in the hope that she would get a day time routine and it might wear her out enough to sleep through. But I've no idea if that would work. Is your DD going to childcare?

hotpotpie - is she teething? any developmental leaps eg rolling/sitting/crawling? these can all upset sleep.

what does her daytime routine look like? wakeup time, naptimes & length & bedtime?

The dummy may well be part of the reason for the NW. If she is used to ducking the dummy to fall asleep, then when she wakes in the night she will need to do the same each time. So if she can't find it & put it in her mouth then she will need your assistance. This is something that will change over the next few months, so you may find once she can replug she will do it quietly on her own without needing your help.

If she is just awake & smiling & wanting to play, and is laying in her cot but not crying, tbh I wouldn't even go to her. She needs to learn that night is not for playing, it is for sleeping. If you go to her, smile/interact with her or stimulate her with the cot mobile, she is going to thing its time to get up & play, so keep it low key with lights dim/off & she should figure its boring so I'll go back to sleep!

WRT weaning, I seem to recall we had a few weeks when first weaning where DS would wake at night with a bit of wind/constipation, but that settled down once he got used to it. Are you sticking with just fveggies/fruit for now?

Pickledlily - wrt nursery - I honestly wouldn't rely on that in order to set up a good daytime routine - yes they may have structured naptimes, but many mums would agree that their children sleep better at home than at nursery (less disturbances). Whats more wearing them out enough to sleep more can often backfire - if they get overtired they will often sleep poorly.

HTH.x

Rats. Back to the drawing board then.

Sorry ladies ive had no computer for a little while - shes is just eating fruit and veg yes, and shes been teething for months! I can see the little peggies but none have broken through TBH though she just seems awake, its pretty much consistently 3am now and shes smiling and laughing, I dont ever play with her or lift her or even talk to her, just pop her dummy back in and sometimes flick her mobile back on its got a soothing jungle noise setting that I use

omama her day time is that she gets up between 7.30 & 8am, she has a 3-5oz bottle shes never particularly hungry first thing, breakfast is about 8.30-9.am

she some times naps 10.00 - 11.00, then feeds at 11, other times she has the 11am bottle and then naps until 12ish when she has lunch

next bottle is 2pm she occasionally has a short sleep before this, and then she usually naps 3.30ish to 4.30ish, tea time bottle is 5

She has tea at 5.30pm, bath at 7, bottle at 7.30pm and is usually asleep by 8pm

If she had never slept the night id accept that she just wasnt ready but shes been going 10-12 hour stretches for ages so im baffled why she would stop! oh she has pretty much stopped waking at midnight now

oh and pickledlily its nice to know someone else has the same issue you have my every sympathy!