21 week old rubbish sleeper

[Picklepepperpiper]

Hi

My baby is 21 weeks tomorrow and has never been a great sleeper, but it is just getting worse and I am now exhausted.

Since he was 4 months he has woken every 2 hours since being put to bed at 7.

He is ebf on demand.

His daytime naps are a nightmare. I try to get him to sleep after being awake for 2 hours, but to do this I have to walk him in his pram. We have been in the fortunate position that hubby has been able to take some time out of work, but he is going back soon and I have a 5 year old daughter who will not be happy to pound the street to get him to sleep.

I have been trying to get him to sleep on his own at bedtime using the pick up, put down, cry down method. This has varying degrees of success, sometimes taking 20 mins, sometime it can take 50. Unfortunately he is sometimes so tired from having hardly any naps during the day that he falls asleep breastfeeding before I can put him down.

During the night when he wakes I lie down feeding him til he is asleep, is this where I am going wrong?

I am so exhausted that I am not sure if this is making much sense!

I really just want some advice on getting him to go to sleep on his own without using controlled crying at night and getting him to sleep longer. I am not expecting him to sleep through. I would also like some tips on getting him into a daytime nap routine where he is sleeping in his cot.

Thankyou

Hello, no advice I'm afraid, but lots of sympathy - my 16WO DS is very similar, and like you I have an older (4YO) DD, so I've no idea how I'm supposed to street-pound when I have her with me during the week next week (half term).

DS's sleep has always been a bit rubbish but at the moment he is waking most evenings between 45 mins and (on a very good evening) 2 hours after being put down for the night, when previously he used to at least do a 3-4 hour stretch at the start of the night (though was still waking 1-2 hourly after that). I need to try the PUPD method - have been waiting till he hits 4 months, which he will next week - but if he cries a lot I don't know if I'll persist with it as he's still so little.

Having had a dire sleeper in DD (who now does sleep, but it took her 3.5 years), I'm really dreading that we might be in for another 3 years of this.

Let's hope someone comes along with some magic advice for us

Some babies are just shit sleepers. If feeding to sleep gets him to sleep, then I'd use that for now, then concentrate on getting him to sleep by himself when he's a bit older and generally sleeping a bit better.

My DS is 22 weeks, and has had awful sleep since about 10 weeks. First I thought it was his jabs, then a cough, jabs, teething, jabs... It's just not got better though.

From newborn to 8 weeks he used to sleep on me in the evenings, then 10-2, 2-6 and 6-7:30/8. He'd also wake happy and very predictably.

Now he goes down (co sleeping only) around 8 but wakes up every 45-90 minutes all night re latching for a feed back to sleep each time. He's then usually up between 6 and 7 for 90 mins, before back down for a nap. If we co sleep for the morning nap we'll get up to 2 hours (with on/off latching and feeding), in his pram we'll get 30-45 mins.

He sleeps

Posted too soon!

He sleeps ok in the day, sticking to a sort of schedule - awake 90 mins, sleep in pram for 30-45 mins, wake, feed and repeat. If we go out he sleeps much less.

He's been diagnosed as having silent reflux - could this be a problem for you? Look at the info on kellymom. This can cause them invisible discomfort from the acid burn, which milk helps to settle (but they then have a full tummy again, causing more reflux).

I have no other advice, and dearly hope someone does. I would really like to get DS sleeping now he's on medication for his reflux. I'm worried its formed a bad habit. :(

Also literally just found this post linked from another. A solution that's worked for others - here