The dreaded SLEEP REGRESSION support and solidarity thread!

[Tiredemma]

Here we are. Sleep deprived, emotional and craving all things sugary just to survive the day.

bah.

An hour of screaming so far.....

Once more unto the breach, dear friends ...

Rubbish sleep today, and another milestone reached - DD2 rolled off our kingsize bed. Tears all round. Poor wee lovely, looked so hurt, and had proper big wet tears. The sound of the baby hits carpet thunk sends a chill through me every time. DH thrilled it happened on my watch!

Oh no, soup hope DD is ok!
No idea what happened last night, all I know is there was a lot of feeding...
Daytime naps have gone to pot, DD went from doing 40-50 mins to 20-30 and of course she's grumpy in between. I can't even go for a long walk with her as it's -9 here ay the moment and I'm scared of giving us both pneumonia...
To top it off DD has a rash on her butt and I'm not sure what caused it, while I have painful pimples on my nose that make me look like Rudolph the reindeer...:(

And yes, each night I start feeding DD thinking THIS will be the night...
Good luck to you all!
Ps. I can't sleep during the day either, i mean I can, but I usually wake up more tired than before the nap and,super grumpy...

We are like yoyos so far tonight. We get her to sleep, put her down but she's awake again and crying within 10 minutes max. Pick up and repeat. That's been it since 7pm. I don't know what it is that's waking her, she doesn't get through a full sleep cycle and when she wakes up it's not with gradual whimpering, she starts awake and goes immediately into full-on crying. Poor little bugger is exhausted, as are we. She's had one 90-minute nap today and that was courtesy of grandma taking her for a long walk. A five month old baby should not have bags under her eyes!

Good luck fellow sufferers. Soup I'm imagining that thunk sound! Hope your dd is OK. Cakebaby I really hope the screaming has stopped...

Artemis - so sad and def a reality check, alrhough when you're sleep deprived it is just so hard to see things clearly.
Cindy - I understand where you are right now. That probably doesn't help in the slightest, but I have felt so very alone in the same situation feeling like everyone else's babes 3,4,6 or 10 wakeups sound like a dream compared. I have loathed having to co sleep night after night after night, never sleeping properly and always suffering from a dead arm which seems to have to go just so under babe's head, like some sort of miracle pillow!! Dh and I were literally fed up of being told 'she's a baby, of course she'll cry/wake at night'!!
You know if something is not right and so good luck with the gp etc.
News from our dairy/soy free camp: she is still hard to get a drink down and can be really fussy even with bottle/prescription formula, BUT she now feels like she's behaving as she should at night: happy in her own bed - yippee!! - but still waking 3ish times a night. I know for other mums, this would be a 'bad night' for them, but it is truely magical and just feels right for our dd. I suppose the key thing is she is not screaming in between each feed and thus up all night!!

Cakeis - your recent post made me lol! It's taken so long to formulate this post and I'm so tired, I cannot remember why!! Oh dear god, when will I regain consciousness?! Hoping you are all asleep xxx

Ps.
Soup - poor you!!! I am dreading this happening, but I guess odds on it will at some point!

Re: daytime naps: ditto. If one more lo tells me to do this, I shall really let rip - anyone who can doze off without knowing if they are going to have 50 mins or 5 mins sleep, is really quite clever. Do we really want to add to the number of times we are woken up by crying?!

How's everyone doing during the day? We've had a lot of pyjama days since this started and I feel a bit rubbish about it. Getting out of the house feels like too big an effort when I'm tired.

Cindy - I hope your night was a bit better. Apologies if this is obvious but the stomach pains might be down to all the saliva she's swallowing due to teething. Hopefully you'll get a break when tooth pops out. X

Hi everyone - my 14wk old co sleeping ebf DS2 has started waking for a feed every couple of hours in the night and has decided that he totally won't sleep in the day... Could this be sleep regression? Do you think it's foolish to attempt any kind of sleep 'training' at this age? I am getting desperate for him to sleep in his cot at night and he's so crabby in the day due to lack of sleep that it's getting to be awful... Advice please!

erm.

back to 5x last night.

grrrrrrr.

Hi everyone. Welcome sid my ds had a major growth spurt at that age, I would feed, feed, feed! IMHO your little one is way too young for proper sleep training BUT you can instill good habits and try not to pick up any new ones.

Back later...jabs time...as if things aren't difficult enough! Bah!

Hi everyone. We had wake ups every hour or so, but I decided yo only feed if it had been 4 hours since last feed (baby is 7 months). It actually didn't go bad at all, I patted and rubbed his back every time he awoke, and he didn't cry for more than 5 min (thank goodness for that, as I can't take crying!). So I'm hoping to carry on with that and see if it helps. Got the idea from the gentle sleep solution.

Morning All.

Well, maybe the answer is rolling off the bed! Only 2 wake ups last night with four hours in between.

Hi Sid. I second feed, feed, feed. My DD2 went bonkers at the same stage. Up until then had done big long sleep stretches. Could easily be sleep regression and growth spurt.

I have to get out every morning to get DD1 to school. Makes a massive difference. I think getting out and about every day helps with feeling human - even if it is just to go to the bakers and buy cakes. I use a sling for DD2 - so easy to just get up and go. Sling also good for daytime naps.

Sorry you're back TE. Fingers crossed it's just a one night only blip.

Hi all
flopsy it doea help; thank you!
juvenille it popped last night so fingers crossed
emma oh no you poor thing...did we jinx you!? :(
sid hi...what cakebaby said!

I have no idea what happened last night! It was a blur of wake ups & attempts to settle without feeding. Some sucess some nightmare.

thanks all good to know that others have experienced the same at a similar age. Looks like for the foreseeable I will be mainly feeding then... soup you're right about getting out! it does help. We have to get DS1to preschool and playgroup and it forces us up at the same time every day. I don't like Friday because it's the only day we don't have anything in the morning. My OH has the day off on Monday so I am going to try and put him in his cot fir, sat, sun night and try to settle him there. Will let you know how we go!

Health Visitor advice for anyone interested:

Put in cot now, she's too big fir crib

Let her cry, not cc as too young but give her chance to settle as she may suprise me. A wee cry wont harm-

Shes waking because she wants her mummy. Try ignore 1st, shush 2nd, pick up 3rd, feed last.

Teething/development an exception. Needs comfort then but dont add sleep aids

Let sleep in day. Never wake up. Focus on day nap routine as will eventually transfer to night. I.e self settling. Put in cot to sleep at least one nap a day as shes good now at naps so will start associate with sleep.

Keep routines tight.

Recommended book = the good sleep guide by angela someone.

Its by Angela Henderson. (the book)

... Oh and that shes learning that we're seperate which is why she wants me so much. This is especially noticable in bf and co sleep babies.

Thoughts i had:

If its too hard in your mind to, say, go from sleeping in sling to cot, take a middle step so sling,swing,cot or feed when wakes, rock/cuddle when wakes then shush when wakes (over time)

That a lot of this comes from me. I'm not ready to hear her cry, i LIKE seeing her fall asleep when i shush, I'm not ready for her to be in different bedroom.

Thanks Emma!

Back again....on phone so difficult to go back to name check so sorry if I get some muddled!

Think it was artemis your poor, poor friend, how tragic and desperately sad.

Your LO waking pattern is similar to ds. I watched him last night, he doesn't seem to stir much, just starts crying in his sleep and transitions immediately to bawling. Impossible to catch and settle pre-emptively.

flopsy indigo and soup sounds like some improvements!

Welcome back tired sigh......

cindy hope you are having a better eve. Interesting info from the HV. Bloody well easier said than done though isn't it, especially at 4am with an hours kip under your belt. I tried not to feed ds last night when he woke an hr after a feed. He howled for 35 mins in my arms/in cot til I cracked first and gave in. I cannot stand the crying, it cuts through me like a knife.

1 nil to baby.

Cakebaby same thing happened to me! I thought 'right u little shite darling, you've fed an hour ago, you're not hungry, you can jolly well settle. Half hour of crying i gave in & fed.

Lets see what tonight brings

Soup I'm trying to resist the temptation to roll dd off the bed to see if it works!

Juvenile day times are tough. We've missed a few regular activities, baby groups etc as I've been too shattered and some days I don't dare to drive. DD is an awful napper too, I'm lucky if she manages 2 x 45 mins, so I do get out for a walk every day as the pram is the only reliable means of getting her to nap. I agree leaving the house is essential for sanity otherwise I just go from exhausting night to exhausting night with nothing really in between.

Cindy interesting stuff from the HV, more helpful than mine anyway! I'm like you though, not ready for dd to go into a separate room yet.

Last night it took over 4 hours to get dd to settle for more than 10 mins at a time but she did eventually, probably from sheer exhaustion. I stopped looking at the clock at midnight but I reckon she did about 5 hours before waking at 6am. We put her in the cot next to the bed so on the plus side that was the first comfortable sleep I've had since before she was born. Tonight is shaping up to be similar, so far 2 x feed to sleep and one rock have ended in tears the second she was put down. DP stuck his head round the door and pissed back off again, grr. The house is getting increasingly squalid and I can't remember when I last spent an evening in front of the TV.

How does everyone fare with nap times? As if nights weren't bad enough I just don't know where to start with daytime sleep. I keep an eye out for sleep cues and take her somewhere quiet to try to get her to drop off - rocking, feeding etc - but she fights it like a demon. I can easily spend 45 mins trying to get her to nap but she'll only stay asleep for 20 mins. I just feel awful that I can't help her to do this basic thing especially when daytime naps are supposedly the key to good night-time sleep. Poor little bugger looks knackered all the time and is only getting about half to two-thirds of the recommended sleep for her age

Xposted with cake and Cindy... The crying is awful, I crack too. I think we're programmed that way. Good luck with tonight everyone... Once more unto the breach and all that

Artemis, I feel you with daytime naps! I take DD into a quiet, darkened room and switch white noise on. I usually start getting her down for a nap about
2 hours after she woke up as she doesn't really display any signs that she's tired... Her naps have gone to pot recently, not sure why... She used to do 40-50 mins, now does 30 if we're lucky. I get so frustrated, ugh... If she doesn't get a proper nap she is more whiny and cranky. I suspect she's cutting a tooth and maybe that is disturbing her?
It takes forever to get her to sleep in the evening too... Currently napping in my arms but i'm sure she'll wake up the moment I put her down..

The crying last night felt like a knife being ploughed into my head