SLEEP REGRESSION part 2...Roll up, roll up folks! Swap tales of woe, ideas, enjoy solidarity and get support here

[cakebaby]

Thought I'd start a new thread as I couldn't see another one yet (will get HQ to delete if already up and running).

Tis good to talk.....

[missmargot]

When DS started to regress he had always been able to self settle before and would still self settle during the day, only night times were a problem. Completely illogical.

[ellie3009]

Yeah, so self settling has gone out the window completely today.
He has been rolling over for a couple of weeks and is now trying very very hard to crawl. I give him plenty of chance to practice in the day, but he has clearly decided that his cot is the best location for this.
Put him down very drowsy tonight, just on the verge of sleep but still took an hour of failed crawling and rolling around his cot making angry frustrated noises before he finally gave in to my bottom-patting and fell asleep. Even the white noise failed, and that normally works fairly quickly.

[K1spoony]

Yep, the rolling over is a nightmare. My little one is doing that too, but can't get back over, so gets stuck on her tummy and a little upset.

That's funny, I didn't realise that could happen, I thought once they could self settle then that would solve all problems, obviously it's not the case. I feel then I might as well continue to feed to sleep if she would probably still have regressed even if she knew how to fall asleep. Maybe one day it will just magically fix itself!!

[ellie3009]

yep, for one magical week, at about 3.5 months my baby sucked him thumb to sleep. As soon as you put him in his sleeping bag, he would stick his thumb in and be asleep within 2 mins all on his own. Is was bloody brilliant.
And then he just stopped. No idea why.

Last night we had first wakeup at 11pm, 2.5hrs after he went to sleep. I fed him back to sleep because I was too exhausted to think about anything else. He fell asleep on boob within 5 mins and I transferred him to cot asleep to avoid the 'trying to crawl' nightmare that we had at bedtime. Pretty sure he was not hungry at all.

Second wake-up - 4.15am. Also not hungry really, fed back to sleep and back in cot within 30 mins.

Third wake-up - 6.30 - I would have fed back to sleep, but I didn't hear the monitor as I had ear-plugs in to avoid being woken by the birds, and idiot OH didn't tell me he was awake until he had been for 40mins... so then I had no choice but to get him up for the day as he was wide awake after doing circuits of his cot for that long.

Total sleep for him - 9.5hrs
Total sleep for me - about 6 hrs. (still shattered)

How about the rest of you ladies? Good nights?

[missmargot]

Not a bad night here. Down at 7pm and self settled (he always does at the start of the night). Dream feed at 10pm then slept until 3am. He woke himself up with a massive coughing fit and needed me to help him settle. The first time he went to sleep quickly but then woke again within 10 minutes and his gums seemed to be bothering him. Teething granules and gel were given, straight back to sleep for another 10 minutes. I then gave him ibuprofen and he went back to sleep until 7am.

DS is still in his Sleepyhead which is the only reason he's not rolling and trying to crawl at night as he spends all day doing it. He has almost grown out of it but hopefully if I can sell his bedside cot and a few other bits on eBay I can justify the cost of the Sleepyhead Grand.

[ellie3009]

I have never done a dreamfeed, but now wondering if I should try it. Baby is currently waking between 10.30-11.30, I don't think he is hungry, but just can't fall back to sleep alone. If I did a dreamfeed at 10.15 on my way to bed, maybe he would then sleep a longer stretch, instead of me being woken within 30-45mins of going to sleep myself.

Thing is, I am reluctant to start another night waking habit which I will then have to break further down the line. Most people seem to be weaning a dreamfeed at 6 months, so it seems batty to start one!

[K1spoony]

So, I did a dream feed last night, it didn't make a huge difference instead of being up at 1 she was up at 3, but then slept till 7.30 which was great! So, I think I'm going to skip the dream feed and if she settles on one night wakening then I'll be happy with that. Feeling much more normal today after 2 nights of much more sleep. I was up for probably over an hour last night but I have actually stopped looking at the exact time. It almost makes me feel a little better. Still loving the dummy, why did I not persevere with this sooner? It just makes the night much calmer. Normally I have a wake up about half an hour after she goes down, last night I didn't even have that. Long may this continue!

[ellie3009]

I am wondering if I should try doing wake-to-sleep for the 10.30-11pm ish night waking. Have tried it for morning naps - sometimes works and he sleeps 90mins, sometimes he still wakes after 30mins.

Has anyone tried this to address a habitual night waking?

[K1spoony]

I tried doing wake to sleep, probably didn't really follow a good plan, but she never once fell asleep (without me giving in) and the nights I tried were often worse with loads of wake ups than if she just peacefully fed to sleep. So I am back to that for the time being, maybe try again in a few weeks. I hope you have more luck than me x

[ellie3009]

oh, I think I was not clear. I meant wake-to-sleep as in where you jostle them an hour before the habitual waking to try and reset their sleep cycle.

I tried it last night, his earliest waking is 10.30, so I jostled at 9.30pm until he stirred.

But he then woke 30 mins later. Fail. Tried to resettle with dummy, he went back to sleep but woke again crying after 5 mins twice. Gave up and fed him after an hour. He actually seemed hungry though, he took both sides which he doesn't normally at that time.

He woke again at 4am, but think because he turned over and bashed his head on the cot. Fed him back to sleep, but he was defo not hungry as he was asleep within a minute of being on the boob!! I should have tried to resettle without boob but he just doesn't know how and I wasn't up for an hour and a half of crying, which has been the result every time we've tried it.

[K1spoony]

Just when I thought things were getting better I had another rubbish night last night. Went down at 7.30, woke about 10, settled quickly back to sleep, woke 10.30, back to sleep, fed at 11, then up and down till after 1, then finally asleep till just before 6. Again it seemed to be rolling over that was waking her, I really thought if cracked it with the dummy, but last night she kept spitting it out. I have bought a couple of different shapes teats. In possibly mad, but it's worth a try!

ellie I'm the same as you, at 11 last night I possibly could have got her back to sleep without a feed, but I just couldn't be bothered and wanted a sleep myself!!

[ellie3009]

Well I may have just stumbled upon something!
Baby is in bed and it is only 7.10! WIN!!!!!!
Went down awake, fell asleep within 10 mins.

How did I manage this?

1. OH is working late, so I did bathtime tonight (usually his daddy-son time) and I suspect it was calmer than usual...
   
   
2. I put a couple of drops of lavender oil on a cotton pad and shoved it up my sleeve during the bedtime feed.
   
   
3. When I put him down I patted his bum furiously (about 2 pats per second!) until he fell asleep. This seems to distract him from trying to crawl about.
   
   
4. I dosed with ibuprofen an hour before bedtime because teeth seems to be bothering him again.
   
   Not sure which of these things worked, maybe all, maybe none and it is total fluke. And he may not sleep any better overall. But he is in bed with no fuss and it didn't take 90mins like some nights this week. Hooray!!!

[ellie3009]

How were your nights ladies?

I got too excited about the successful bedtime... we are still on 3 hour wake-ups. Ugh.
First one, not hungry, asleep on boob within 2mins.
Second one, ate a little, but not really hungry, asleep on boob within 4 mins.
Third one (6.45am) up for the day.

I thought maybe the heat was waking him, but it was much cooler last night. I think he is sleeping through 2 sleep-cycles but can't manage to transition between the 2nd and 3rd. I really need to change this somehow as his current pattern means that I get a max of 5 hrs sleep in between his wakings and it's just not enough to function properly long term.

[missmargot]

ellie that's a shame, I really hoped you were on to something there. Four hours is the magic number for me, if I can get four hours uninterrupted sleep in one go then I feel loads better.

Not a bad night here, I picked up his larger size Sleepyhead yesterday and it's helped a lot. He slept until 4am before waking and then only because he was cold as the temperature dropped overnight. If he had still been in our room I could have given him blankets without even opening my eyes but now he's in his own room I wake up a lot more when I have to see to him so I was awake until 5am.

[K1spoony]

I also hoped you were onto a winner! But maybe if he falls asleep himself at bedtime again he will learn to go through. I had another rubbish night. Fed at 10 (although pretty sure not hungry) up and down till 1, another feed. Then up at 3, quick feed then down till 6.30. I don't actually mind the 3am feed, it's the bit between 10 and 1 that is driving me round the bend, cos I just get myself settled in bed about to drift off and bam, she's awake again. I find myself feeling bad cos I get so frustrated with her and it's not her fault, she doesn't no how to sleep without the boob!!

[missmargot]

K1 those nights are the hardest as you never get into a deep sleep. I can get very frustrated too and find myself huffing loudly in the hope of waking my husband, not because I want him to see to DS but just because I'm tired and cross. There is no logic at 3am!

[K1spoony]

missmargot my husband actually said to me the other night when dd was crying "I'm just going to close the door, cos I'm trying to sleep"! Seriously could have knocked his head off for that comment!!!

[ellie3009]

well, no drama putting him down tonight, but in fairness I did rock him until virtually asleep to avoid him doing laps of his cot. He just did a big huffy sigh, turned over and dropped off to sleep.

And, (this is where it gets really good!) it doesn't matter if he wakes every 3 hours tonight because OH is on duty with bottles of my freezer stash expressed milk! wooohoooo, I'm gonna get sleeeeeeeeeeep!!!!!!
I am even having some wine to celebrate since I won't have to feed the little guy. I just really hope he will settle quickly for daddy, since I can't sleep through him crying.

missmargot I also get all huffy at OH because he gets to stay in bed... even though he's up at 6am for work..
hope you all get a good night ladies.

[K1spoony]

Oooh, enjoy your wine!! It's been soooo long since I've had a glass, dd only took a bottle for the first time a couple of weeks ago, so will be trying it through the night soon.

No drama going down tonight either. But it's usually 10pm the fun starts, so we shall wait and see!

[ellie3009]

haha, two small glasses of wine and I am thoroughly tipsy. I am such a cheap date since pregnancy and breastfeeding!!

Still no wakeups, but 10.30 is when the party starts in our house...

[K1spoony]

Well, I don't like to speak to soon, but it's 10.40 and still no wake ups! Tonight I have actually made it into bed before first of all putting dd back to sleep. So here's hoping it continues, night night all, dreaming of sleep ...

[missmargot]

K1 how did the rest of the night go? Hope it was a good one.

DS had a huge coughing fit at 12:30 but settled again quickly then woke up cold at 4:30. This is two nights in a row this has happened but his room is warm at the start of the evening so I don't want to make him too hot early on. The best part is that he woke at 7am but I treated it like a night feed and he went back to sleep until 9:30

[ellie3009]

Missmargot I like your trickery with the 7am nightfeed!
Well, baby woke after 3hrs as predicted, but he grumbled for 5-10mins and fell back to sleep on his own.
He woke at 2am for a bottle with OH. (3 hrs later) then again at 6am (3 hrs after going down again) Sort of a success, because he put himself back to sleep after the first 3hourly waking, except that because he was then not awake for an hour as normal, he still had time to get two more night wakings in before morning!!

Right now he is upstairs wailing because OH is trying to put him down for a nap. He almost never cries when I put him down for naps. And with OH he cries for ages Every.Single.Time. It also turns naptime into a massive palaver, it takes me about 15 mins from taking him upstairs to him being asleep and me coming back down. OH took him up 25mins ago, and he is still not asleep. This means last wakeup from nap is later than it should be, which has a knock-on effect on bedtime. Ugh.

I don't know whether to let him do it, on the basis that he has to get used to it, or whether to just accept that I will always be the person who has to put him down, as well as the person getting up all night. During the week it's always me anyway, as OH is at work, but I would just really like to have a break at weekends.

[K1spoony]

That sounds great - a lie in till 9am!! The rest of my night was ok, woke up at 11 for a feed, then again at 3 (I have 4 hour wake ups weather than your 3 ellie) at 3 though I managed to resettle with a cuddle and dummy, I'm ping to try to avoid feeding at this time if possible as I don't think she really needs it. Well, she then woke up at 5 a little more upset, but managed to settle and bring her in with us till 7, when my husbands alarm woke us up! So I don't know what time she would've actually slept till. Feels like a bit of a success, so we'll see what tonight brings

ellie I am the only one who ever puts dd to sleep, anytime of the day. That's why in trying to force the dummy, as I think it's the only thing that's going to help. I'm back to work in August and it's not fair if she can't easily have a nap. I actually don't mind and if I wasn't going to work it would be fine. Don't people to have to take her a walk or a run in the car for every nap!

[Cakeismymaster]

Just checking back in before the thread ends and to take the most long standing members crown...unless artemis still around?
Rubbish nights here as top teeth just arrived and a cold and back to work... Naps minuscule
Only progress is a couple of pre 11pm settles with DH have worked and am feeding less at night (settling without feeding) and now can go 6am - 5pm without bf, has formula from nuk sippy cup.
In the school hols I shall get more strict and try and get to the bottom of the sleeping.
On a plus side, I've lost 5lb in 2 weeks