Will I ever get more than 3hrs of unbroken sleep?

[Sleepybunny]

Sorry I'm sure this topic has been done to death but I could do with some encouraging words and just a rant really.

My 15 week old has just never slept more than 3 hrs in one go night or day. Previously I just excepted it because she was hungry. But now I'm not convinced she really is.
now we've hit a sleep regression or growth spurt as she goes down at 6pm for 3hrs then can be up every 1-2hrs all night. She's also taking longer to settle aswell, maybe upto an hour. Leaving her to self settle, hush-patting, dummy or feeding to sleep doesn't work, she can settle on me though eventually.

I'm so tired, I have no family nearby and DH is useless so no break, ever!! Arghhh :-(

She naps no more than an hour during the 3-4 times, we go out every afternoon for fresh air and she is ebf if any of that is relevant.

Have you thought about co-sleeping?

Dd2 was an awful sleeper until we started letting her sleep on her tummy. Obviously that's not recommended but you could always look at safe co sleeping?

Yes you will. DS (now 10mo) was exactly the same at that point, he never slept longer than 3 hours at a time, at that point he used to wake up at least four times overnight.
Things that helped:

1. stopping feeding to sleep
2. nap routine in the daytime
3. time
4. consistency
5. bedtime routine
6. chocolate and cake (for me not him!)
7. keeping nightimes dark and realllllly dull. No toys, talking, playtime, lights on etc etc.

Cosleeping has never worked for us, I think it really depends on the baby and the parents. TDS just howls and pokes me in the eye now if I try and put him in bed with us. When I was still bf he would just drift off latched on and I hated it! I personally would rather get up in the night and then be able to roll over in bed, than have a baby latched onto me all night.

Thanks for the words of wisdom, wheresmycaffine I'll try co-sleeping, I had been avoiding it because I thought I would make things worse, but any sleep will do at this stage! I'm thinking though I might be nervous in case I hurt her or something :-(

I'm guilty of feeding to sleep and not really having a routine in the day so this could help! Thanks

If your reluctant to co sleep, you could always try sleeping with a muslin and then giving it to her. The smell of you may be enough to settle her.

At this stage I think I'd probably give co sleeping a go just for a little while. A few better nights sleep will help your dd sleep and eat better and you can perhaps then start to see a pattern to her day time sleep. And go from there as to maybe finding a routine a bit.

The word routine horrifies many a parent but I found it soooo much easier being able to rule out causes as to y they were crying.

Once things r a not more established you can look at putting her back into a cot "the no cry sleep solution" seems to be recommended alot in here although she is very young for that kind of stuff at the moment.

Hmmm. DD is 9 months and so far I've not had more than a 3 hour stretch. So yes, at some point you'll get there but I would prep for a bit longer yet.

Sorry to be a misery.

I'm lying here thinking the same thing! Ds is 15.5 weeks old and seems to be getting worse at going to sleep. have a routine in the day and bedtime etc.
I read sonewhere how they fall to sleep at the start of the night is how they will wantto be soothed back to sleep.
ive found this to be true with my Ds

Oh man, I'm 17 months in and yet to have three unbroken hours :(
Having a non-sleeper is fucking shit. One of the worst things (apart from the absence of sleep itself) is the attitude from some parents of sleepers that you must have created this situation or be doing something to sustain it. I'm so sick of 'helpful advice'. I haven't found an answer yet. Hardcore reflux drugs have helped somewhat (in that he now goes about two hours at a stretch twice a night) but realistically I am just constantly repeating to myself 'this CANNOT last forever'.

Thanks thinkaboutit, I have found adjusting my expectations to be helpful actually! I presumed that she'd be sleeping through just now as she was low birth weight but has now caught up with her peers. Seems now that weight has not to do with really. I have five friends with babies roughy the same age and they all seem to have exceptionally long periods of unbroken sleep, which doesn't help as I'm constantly comparing!

Where'smycaffine, I'm compromising tonight in that she has eventually fallen asleep in her cot, but after the first waking I'll take her into my bed. Hoping I can get away with part of the night co sleeping. Will try the muslin idea too for tomorrow's naps.

Charles, DD used to pass out in her cot at the beginning of the night, and I always put her in half asleep, but seems she needs a lot more soothing now. Nothing seems to be the same two nights in a row! At least we are not alone!

Lamazeroo what reflux drugs are you using? I have ranitidine for her silent reflux.

Mine were both appallingly bad sleepers but it doesn't last forever and they now have to be woken up for school (they are 4 and 7) so there is hope!

I found I slept even less when I co-slept as every squeak and moan had me on feed alert! I went to bed ridiculously early for about a year, just slept whenever I could (11am, 7pm whatever. If they were asleep, so was I!)

You'll get there in the end!

Yes. Your baby is really tiny. I know that's easy for me to say with my galumphing great ten year old, but it really doesn't last long at all.

My DS has silent reflux too and has been on ranitidine and/or omeprazole since he was ten days old. He's now just on 10mg omeprazole as he was suffering liver damage - I'm sure that was great for his sleep!
We had a hideous night last night; how about you?

No, it won't go on forever (though it might feel like it ).
One little idea - with our son we started his 'night sleep' training at 1 am. That way if he only slept 3-4 hours we got to take advantage of it in the middle of our night. As he grew older, and slept more in a go, we slowly bought his bedtime back. He was going to bed at midnight and sleeping till 5-6am when 3 months old, but it was quite a while before he was going to bed at an officially sensible time - but at least he wasn't waking us up at stupid o'clock.

Oh, and more bizarrely, shortly after DS (now 5) was born, we got an "Ocean waves with alpha brainwaves CD" from Amazon, and for a long time it seemed to help soothe him to sleep. We ended up leaving it on continuous play upstairs throughout the night for about 6 months - it helped us sleep, as well as him!

We also found that the swirly lights of our computer's screen saver used to help mesmerize him back to sleep in the middle of the night.

I also after only a few weeks of trying to "settle him in his crib" resorted to letting him fall asleep on me then slowly and carefully transferring him to his Moses basket. This is against usual advice, but it avoided him becoming dependent on co-sleeping, which we weren't keen on, and I think made him eventually feel safer and happier in his cot as he didn't associate it with being left crying in it. We had to do that for over a year, but not forever.

Good luck!

Lamazeroo, DD is also on ranitidine, it has helped a bit. Not sure it's done much for her sleep though.

Still waking every 2 hrs the last couple nights but settled relatively quickly.

Fossil thanks for the advice, I've got a similar CD that does sooth her I think, although I haven't left it on long, so maybe I should leave it playing. Also extending the night tine sleep bit sounds like a plan, she currently goes down early and usually this is her longest period of sleep, so I miss out on a potential 3 hr sleep usually as its every 1-2hr after that.