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.

Yay - go Cindy!!

That's brilliant news and makes it all feel worthwhile doesn't it?! Xxx

Thanks to emmas advice, I have a bath & feel so much better for it.

cindyrella- I have been taking my own advice. Its keeping me sane. Lovely smelling bubble bath- and I just sink in, close my eyes and briefly forget the demands that are being made on me!

cindy that's terrific. Love the positive news, makes me feel the perseverance might one day pay off. Once again I'm in bed just after 8, DD asleep on the cushion arrangement in the cot but I don't expect it to last so am getting some rest while I can. I miss my evenings and doing crafty stuff in front of the TV. Keep reminding myself it won't be forever.

Flopsy good news there too! Hope tonight goes well for you.

So good to hear some positive news!

Ds total nightmare kid today, tiny naps, ridiculously over tired, however....he went to bed...in his cot...without a meltdown! Had woken every hour since, but you can't have everything. AND for the first time in weeks, i'm in bed alone, lying flat! Don't care if it doesn't last long!

cakebaby thats huge! Doing a wee jig for you :)

So lovely to pop back to good news.

Baby giggles are just so lovely, they make up for a lot! It does melt you when they laugh and do their big cheesy baby smiles. DD2 has started putting her hands out to get me - it'll be annoying in a few months, but love it just now.

We've been out and about all day and left DD1 for a sleepover and just getting DD2 ready for bed now! She hardly slept all day until she conked out at DSIL and DBIL's house at about 7pm.

Wish us luck.

Little celebratory tap dance for Cakebaby, hope you are still doing starfish impression in your bed! And good luck Soup. Hope positive sleepy vibes are catching.

DD slept 3 hours in her cot on the cushion arrangement. Currently BFing back down, seems too much to hope she'll do same again...

It was too much to hope. Feeding again after numerous failed put downs, 2 x green nappies and over an hour of whingeing. She has seemed fine in herself today but we are on day 3 of numerous green slimy nappies, will ring HV on Monday. OH in a foul mood now after being helpful earlier but still refusing to f off to the spare room. Surely we are due a break sometime soon.

Hi!
Can i join this thread?! Having terrible problems with DDs sleeping and sending myself mad obsessing over whether i have caused this by cuddling her to sleep in the first place. I just feel i can't cope with this anymore. I am trying to get her to settle herself but am using the more gentle approach as i don't want to do cc but i am getting nowhere. So far she woke every sleep cycle after she went down and i have been cuddling her since midnight.
I am so tired!

Hi btheb' welcome. Lots of solidarity on here. How old is your dd?

orning!
cakebaby did you get the bed to yourself for long?
artemis my dp decided it was time to sleep in our bed again after relative success fri night. Have to say part pleased part gutted as like having bed to self
soup was sending u luck...hope u got on ok
flopsy was it another good night?
btheb welcome

average to shitty night but cant complain as getting better n better. When i tgink of where we were when i joined this thread.....

Haha dd just fell asleep fir first nap as i wrote this...on her play mat, on our bed with light blazing above her head. This is the girl who 3 weeks ago could only sleep in my sling for naps!

Morning all welcome btheb

The 15 minutes I had alone in bed were joyous! I think he sensed me there and woke up. Difficult night, awake for long periods with ds frantically feeding trying to get to sleep, such is the strong association. He had to stop a few times, literally puffing with effort and frustration

This has to stop, before it stops working IYSWIM?

cindy I dream of ds falling asleep anywhere but the ending my boob!

cakebaby it will happen...eventually! You really do have the patience of a saint! ...and your ds is a strong willed little man!

Only one thing i've not suggested which my hv suggested to me to break the association & thats to offer boiled water instead if boob. I cant remember if he woyld take a bottle??

Morning all. Welcome btheb.

Got on not to bad. DD2 awoke twice, 3 and 5, and fed then DH took her in with him when she woke at 7 and she slept for a couple of hours.

He's just also taken her away with what looks like a poonami. Dodged that one!

Cindy your DD must be getting the hang of putting herself to sleep! Hopefully the less shitty nights will continue to improve and eventually you'll get one that's actually good :-). I would definitely prefer the bed to myself not as if anything else is going on in there

cakebaby boob to sleep used to be a failsafe for us but now only works about 50% of the time. It seems less effective now in getting her back to sleep in the middle of the night and I haven't found anything to replace it. Hence DD had 2 stretches of sleep 8.30 - 11.30 and 1.30 to 5 with a 2-hour gap. Then 2 hours of whinging (her) and crying (me) until another feed got her back to sleep 7-9. The situation is constantly changing, but never in a good way. Tried a dummy again last night, but she just kept spitting it out.

Do you all have bath as part of your bedtime routine. Ours is meant to be bath - pjs - story - lullaby & feed to sleep but we never get to the story bit. She likes the bath but goes mental when I get her dressed and ends up screaming so it's not the relaxing routine it's meant to be.

X post soup. Well dodged!

artemis yes dd loves the bath too. Used to hate getting dressed but we heated the room more, warm towel off the radiator & a chase me to bed involving daddy helps!
You could also try wrapping up warm in towel, and having a cuddle or book before getting dressed???

The chase me to bed cheers her up for book if she is crying from being dressed

Artemis, DD2 loves her bath, sometimes it's just a very quick dunk to signal that bedtime is nigh. We have a tummy tub from when DD1 was wee which is so easy to fill and bung her in. She's usually pretty calm and relaxed after her bath, unless really tired in which case there can be a post bath meltdown. DD1 always went bonkers after her bath - in hindsight I think she was a) sore with reflux, b) exhausted from lack of daytime naps.

Our routine with DD2 is boob, bath, pjs, boob, sleeping bag, DD1 does a wee baby book story, upstairs into cot. I also wrap her in a massive warm towel after bath and let her roll about a bit bare naked if she's in a good mood in our warm bedroom.

cindy yes ds will take a bottle but the water attempt is a non starter, he won't take it and most of the time when he's latched on, he's not even feeding properly, just a death grip on my top and little fluttery sucks, but woe betide you taking the beloved nipple away. I wish I'd given him a dummy from the start. He refuses one now

artemis - just wondering if you've tried the tommy tippee cherry soothers? Our dd kept spitting out orthodontic ones and then some old hand friends gave us these and she can 'hang' onto them so much better as it were.

Our night, after a rocky start, was don't want to jinx it or brag a triumph. Two wake ups which given it was first night in her cot and she wasn't that pleased was amazing. Second wake up maybe not for food but for a poo stop but fed anyway. As mixed feeding it is patently obvious that dd will do an Olympic gold stretch after her prescription formula and barely 2 hours after bf. xxx

I second the cherry soothers, the latex ones (cheap ones!) are often the only ones dummy refuses will take first of all - worked for my ds anyway, then later on I moved him onto silicone ones once he loved/realised the power of the dummy

We've tried about 6 types of dummy, all treated with the same look of disgust and spat out. If I gently hold it in place, he'll suck but as soon as I let go, out it comes! Taken me 2 hrs to get him to sleep, but he's in cot....let's see how long it lasts tonight. He's been awake 4 bloody hours, so hopefully he'll sleep for a bit as he's exhausted.

Hi all,
It's so helpful reading about everyone's experiences and is good to know that there are others thinking as much about sleep (or the lack of it as I am). I find it completely obsessive and spend my whole time thinking of other things I could try to get DD to sleep without introducing any new bad habits. That's when I am not getting really cross with myself for getting into this mess in the first place - people mentioned how important it is that your baby can settle themselves but at the time I was briefly cuddling DD to sleep and she was then sleeping for 12 hours so I felt I didn't need to worry. if only I had.

As I am typing I am starting to get nervous about what tonight holds in store. Last night I only slept for about 2 hours in total. I get more anxious as the day goes on which I am sure doesn't help.

Nights seem to follow the same pattern - a wake after each sleep cycle which is quite easy to settle her after. And then at some point it all changes and she is impossible to settle. Even cuddling her to sleep doesn't help - she'll sleep on me or DH but we can't put her down. It doesn't make any sense as she is quite easy to get down for naps in the day (although they are short) and easy for the first two or three resettles at night. I wonder if something makes her uncomfortable after lying down for a few hours or if this is just a habit? After this horrid period of time she seems to sleep for a maybe two/three hours before waking up for the day. Does anyone have similar experiences?

Thanks flopsy and cakeis, I'll try to get hold of one of the cherry dummies tomorrow. The one we have is a little newborn one that came with one of the many bottles we've tried, and having tried again this evening I think she's struggling to keep it in rather than spitting it out. I don't really want her to have a dummy after hearing friends' tales of getting up every half hour to replace them then having to wean toddlers off dummy dependency but will try anything at this point.

I have had one of those days where I could have burst into tears at any point. Been at a family party which was nice but led to DD becoming completely over tired with people mugging in her face the whole time and wanting to play with her. I kept taking her to a quiet room to try to get her to nap and managed about 20 mins in total. "Helpful" advice from cousins whose DCs all slept through by 4wks old with no apparent effort on their part only wound me up. One claimed it was actually worse to have a good sleeper because the occasional bad nights seem so much worse. Nearly threw my coffee over her.

I can't remember who posted the sleep lady link, but thank you. Seriously considering it if things don't improve in the next few weeks. Lack of sleep is beginning to impact on my mental as well as physical health. I wonder how many women who end up diagnosed with PND are simply exhausted.