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Original poster

10 month old sleep issues

201 replies

ditziness · 16/03/2013 02:25

She's 10 months.she's never slept more than three hours. The last two weeks she's been waking 6-10 times a night. She screams so loud that she wakes the neighbours, who I can hear talking now. She's already been screaming six times tonight since 10pm. It's like torture. It's effecting how i feel about her, I'm genuinely less patient, I just hate her right now.

Hate co sleeping, can't sleep with her next to me in my arm pit pinching me and sucking. Can't stand the nagging feeling that that's the reason she sleeps so crap. Can 't do cc anymore either, the noise of her crying just makes me sob and feel like my head is going to explode. She doesn't give in either, none of this cries for an hour the first night, but sleeping happily ever after by the third. She just screams for hours until she gets fed.

I hate this. I don't know what to do

OP posts:
Pigsmummy · 16/03/2013 16:06

Have you seen a cranial osteopath? Last resort, sorry can't think of anything else. Tiredness sucks and big sympathy to you xx

stargirl1701 · 16/03/2013 16:11

Hi. My DD is the same but ff. She has silent reflux, eczema and may also have CMPI. We are waiting for a paeds appt on 3rd April. She sees a chiropractor too - for skull plate asymmetry. It's bloody hard and not what I imagined having a baby would be like at all.

Is your HV supportive?

undercoverSAHM · 16/03/2013 17:39

I just wanted to give you virtual support. It's tough. So tough. It WILL pass. As someone else said, try putting her in her cot now and again and having a break with the door shut (assuming she is clean and fed). Even half an hour. She really won't come to any harm. If you feel bad for the neighbours doing it at night then maybe go and talk to them and see if they are going away at all over Easter. Or perhaps you will find they won't mind too much if they have warning of a couple of bad nights to be followed by (fingers crossed) peace. Also, I second seeing the GP to rule out anything other than a proper little madam (as my DD was...).

Oh, and YES, the mobile that goes off when the baby starts to cry. Unbelievably brilliant...

loopylou6 · 16/03/2013 18:07

She sounds like she might be a bit hungry, what did she eat in the daytime? Can you try keeping her awake till 8/9 pm and feed her some porridge or wheetabix before bed? If she GA a Fuller belly it might help her settle better. Hugs to you x

loopylou6 · 16/03/2013 18:08

If she has*

ToomuchWaternotWine · 16/03/2013 18:38

Another one coming on to say a friend had similar problems to you with her bf baby, yep, turned out to be a dairy allergy, once she (and lord, giving up milky tea for her was the biggest sacrifice of motherhood!) and baby were dairy free, things got a lot better. Not perfect, but a lot, lot better. So worth checking?

It's ok to feel those feelings, if you didn't you would have to be a robot. Sleep deprivation is the worst.

Original poster
ditziness · 16/03/2013 18:42

hello all.

Just put her to bed now.

Dinner of chicken fajitas (nibbled and sucked) and a bowl of porridge at 5pm. Bath at six, calpol in bath (as she's teething on and off and wanted to rule it out) breastfed after, predictably fell asleep while feeding her.
Woke her up to get her in pyjamas and nappy, and then gave her a cup of milk, which she refused and read her a story, that she liked. Put her lullaby CD on and gave her a cuddle, put her in her hammock and rock her gently, said night night and left the room. She cried for five minutes, so went back in and rocked her again and sang hushaby mountain and went to sleep.

This is pretty typical. Although about half an hour early tonight as she was overtired after last night.

fingers crossed as always that she will stay asleep.

Going to sleep in the living room tonight and leave my husband to it.

going to read back thru thread now and answer questions.

Thanks for all the support , makes me feel less crazy

OP posts:
Mosschopz · 16/03/2013 18:44

We had this with DS. Absolute nightmare. 8-10 times per night between 3-6 months. Had to get my parents over to help and cold-turkey him off the breast and onto bottle in the end...2-3 hard days/nights then he really settled. Happy to tell you what we did if it helps.

Original poster
ditziness · 16/03/2013 18:56

stop bf - don't really want to :-( she's only ten months . That doesn't sit wel with me. I'd rather night wean her.

muslin - Just given her one tonight, with the corner soaked in breast milk

scratch mits - will give that a go later when she starts pinching

music - already use the same CD every bedtime and everytime she wakes up.

sleep consultants - tempting, my friend did this. but i suspect they'll just tell me to do cc and i don;t know if i've got the heart or stomach for it. never say never though

dummy - might try this. my son sucked his thumb, still does. she doesn't do anything but breast feed. Maybe she needs something to comfort her

teeth - she got a couple of teeth a fortnight ago. She's not obviously teething at the moment, but i guess it could be the case. I usually give her some calpol if all else fails

dairy allergy - my son had CMPI and she doesn't have any of the symptoms he had and had had no reaction to anything she's eaten. With him it was pretty obvious as he had green diahrea, excema and threw up if he had any dairy. She has been rubbing her nose recently. But then she's had a pretty much permenant cold too.

latex teats - spent a small fortune on bottles and cups recently..... another one to try!

breastflow bottle - ditto

light and sounds mobile that is triggered by crying - link?

white noise - tried it to no effect. will revisit. worked a treat on my son

cranial oesteopath - not tried it

HV - will try

A big issue is that she's still in our room as we're needing building work done and her room isn't ready yet. She was going to go in with my son, but he sleeps so well and is so happy just now, I don;t think it's fair on him.

anything else I've missed

Thanks so much x

OP posts:
MmeThenardier · 16/03/2013 19:03

Is she getting enough calories in the day? If not she may be waking at night hungry. Remember if she's just having a bit of a nibble on some fajitas thats not as much energy as a big bottle/boob of milk.

Have you had her weighed lately? Is she gaining weight? This could give you a clue.

I've been where you are. It will pass.

Will she take a dummy?

I know people have suggested allergies but if she's happy enough in the day this seems unlikely.

OP I would post in the sleep section where there are lots of people going through similar things and others who regularly post advice about sleep issues.

Good luck, I know its literally torture but you will look back and it will just be a memory xx

bigkidsdidit · 16/03/2013 19:05

you don't need to give up bf! What I did was specify a time that I wasn't going to feed him between at night. So I'd feed loads in the day, and a big feed at bedtime which was 7pm. Then I would not feed him till 11, and DH did all wakings. 11-12 ish I'd feed again, then not till 4am.

Gradually he stopped waking so much, then I started making the night feeds quicker, 2 minutes then 1 etc, all while feeding loads during the day and giving him banana / avocado etc before bed to fill him up. Then he slept through and has done ever since, bar illness.

I went to a CO too and it didn't affect his sleep, unfortunately, although I know a lot of people love them.

Beamur · 16/03/2013 19:14

My DD stayed in our room until she was 14 months because her room wasn't ready either! I was on my knees with tiredness, but being in her own room really made a difference. Good luck with all the tips you've been given - hope you find a way to get your baby (and you) to have a peaceful nights sleep.

Original poster
ditziness · 16/03/2013 19:15

nibble of fajitas AND a big bowl of porridge. she ate loads today in general. and breast feed every couple of hours.

weight, yeah she's perfect, following the same centile line since birth.

haven't tried a dummy, i might. although to be honest, it seems unlikely as she won't put any kind of teat in her mouth. She seems a bit fussy, it took her ages to latch properly when she was newborn, used to throw up a lot, and when i started weaning her she has a very sensitive gag reflex and has taken very slowly to eating in big amounts, She only in the past month let my spoon feed her. Although she still has to check each spoonful with her fingers before open her mouth for it. Very choosy with which cups she'll drink water out of too, and usually spits most of each mouthful out.

That's what i'm trying to do big kid. But she just screams so much and wakes so often and i'm so tired I end up cracking and feeding her and she shuts up and we can all sleep

OP posts:
MmeThenardier · 16/03/2013 19:25

So if you give her calpol does she sleep then?

WitchOfEndor · 16/03/2013 19:26

Try putting you DC in their own room and if they wake in the night send DH in with a bottle or just to shush to sleep. Once they realise that boob is not forthcoming then they don't bother to wake so much. Either start this on a Thursday or Friday night so your DH can recover over the weekend or get him to take some time off. If that still doesn't work try cranial osteopathy.

tethersend · 16/03/2013 19:27

Oh Christ, are you me?

DD2 is ten motnths, and slept through until 6months when she went mental and stopped.

She has no daytime naps and stays up until about 9pm then wakes 3-4 times until 7am.

I am a husk of my former self.

I took her to the sleep clinic, expecting to be told to do cc, but the HV all but diagnosed obstructive sleep apnoea. Today, the GP referred her to the ENT specialist. Time will tell as to whether we see an improvement, but it really is worth getting her checked out- we feel less angry with her for not sleeping now we know there's a medical reason.

Good luck Smile

MmeThenardier · 16/03/2013 19:31

I second what witch said. Offer a bottle but send the message that boob is for in the day. You could do it over Easter if your dh has some time off for you all to recover

bigkidsdidit · 16/03/2013 19:35

it did take about 6 weeks and obviously DH had to be totally and utterly on board too as he did most nights in that time.

the trouble with sleep deprivation is that when it's 3am and you've woken 5 times you just can't think straight and stick to a plan! Partners need to be there to keep each other on board I think.

I have huge sympathy, it is so utterly shite.

midori1999 · 16/03/2013 19:40

Ditziness, I'm not going to offer any advice, but I will say that my DD went through the absolute worst of night wakings about 9-10 months. Every hour or more and we did cosleep because it was the only way to get any sleep when she was like that. However, then she just suddenly started sleeping through. I couldn't believe it! So hopefully things will get better for you soon, hang on in there and do what you have to do to get what sleep you can. It sounds like you're doing a great job!

Footface · 16/03/2013 19:47

Do she sleep during the day at all, as ds used to get over tired and scream.

Every day for two weeks I put him in the car at the same time and drove around for 40 mins. ( sounds extrem but I was desperate) having him better rested in the day seemed to have a knock on affect at night

leniwhite · 16/03/2013 19:52

Not sure if this has been said already but when you move to bottles you should get someone else to give them because if baby can smell you nearby they won't take the bottle and will still demand the boob!

This advice was given to us by the BFing support worker so could help?

candyandyoga · 16/03/2013 20:35

The 'stop bf' and 'give a bottle' suggestions are very ignorant and annoying. Op has clearly stated she doesn't want to give up bf and bf will help her baby immensely with teething as it is.

Op please talk to a trained bf support lady who can advise you how best to approach how and when to bf. good luck and let us know how you are.

Offcolour · 16/03/2013 21:03

Hi ditzi, just came back to this and noticed you weren't keen on sleep consultants because you don't want to do cc or CIO. I was exactly the same, also b-feeding every hour or so during the night and didn't want to do cc. I stated this to the consultant and she advised gradual withdrawal, there was some crying (maybe for 20 mins the first two or three sleeps) but I was in the room shushing and patting her and she could see I was there, so it didn't seem too awful. My expectations were just that she would wake once or twice a night, I didn't expect her to sleep through, but she did, within 4 weeks and it was really pretty painless. And I continued to b-feed to 20 months.

TreadOnTheCracks · 16/03/2013 21:12

I second the Cranial Oestopath suggestion up thread.

My DD was a very difficult baby. A cranial oesteopath transformed her. She slept for 4 whole hours in the day time after our first visit - the longest she had ever slept in one go (night or day). We had 3 visits and it cost approx £30 a visit. She made steady improvement as we went along.

I hope you find a solution soon