Anyone else gone backwards?

[scottygirl5]

DD2 is nearly 5 weeks. Since birth she's woken twice a night to feed, and two times has just woken once. Although she takes a while to re settle this is a million times better than DD1 at the same age. However in the last week she has started getting even harder to settle and sometimes wanting fed three times, not a huge problem it's just that I'm so anxious that things are deteriorating and I'll end up with another sleep resister like DD1. Has anyone else has a little regression then got back on track or is this a sign of sleep worsening?

In my experience sleep does not develop in a straight line, it's more like snakes and ladders if you see what I mean.

I understand the fear, dd1 was is a terrible sleeper. Dd2 in comparison is fantasic, and I haven't changed, it's just the way they are. But by fantastic I mean has actually slept through (12-6) frequently. So depends on your expectations.

Look up growth spurt times (6 weeks, 4 months, 6 months I believe) so you are prepared for rough patches. Usually I would say to give it a week before worrying it's a bad pattern developing. If you are breastfeeding I find it takes 3 days for my boobs to get the message that more milk is required.

Hello, was wondering if anyone could advise on sleep regression due to separation anxiety.

My son is 9.5 months and has slept through the night since 5 months. The sleep training we did previously wasn't anything specific but probably closest to the 'no cry' method, I.e. we slowly decreased the rocking etc until he went into cot awake and happily got himself to sleep. Through this he gradually slept longer and longer until he dropped the night feeds himself.

HOWEVER due to a series of events - our first weekend away (son came with us), his first real illness and his Dad returning to work after a 3 month sabbatical, we're now in the situation that our baby screams hysterically the moment he's left in his cot, and has also started waking in the night and just won't be settled. He screams, won't allow us to soothe him (pushes hand away etc) and keeps getting onto all fours and standing up in cot. He's been crawling and standing for a few months now so I don't think it's the mobility which is causing the issue itself although it obviously doesn't help!

After lots of research we are planning to use the gradual retreat sleep method as I really do feel that leaving him when he is so clearly scared of being by himself would be counterproductive. He also has a will of iron (!) and can become absolutely hysterical, so I don't feel any sort of controlled crying is going to work in this instance.

Sorry for rambling long post but any advice on how other parents have dealt with sleep training during separation anxiety would be so helpful. My husband is working out the house 7am-7pm so I am handling the majority of this solo and would so like to try and do the right thing first time. My son is incredibly, incredibly active during the day and I'm not sure how on earth I'm going to cope with that when neither of us are getting any rest to start the day off!

Thanks so much! xx

Hi scottygirl5 - just seen that I have highjacked your thread. So sorry! First time on here and was reading your thread and replied rather than starting a new one. Apologies!

In case it helps, my son definitely added feeds some nights in the early weeks. They weren't a problem and in your case it could be because your baby is approaching a growth spurt? As I mentioned in my post above, my baby was an amazing sleeper from a young age, despite a few dodgy nights, so I wouldn't worry about additional feeds popping up at this point. My baby is now an AWFUL sleeper but that's much later on and down to an Unfortunate Series of Events!

Hope all settles down for you soon. In case helpful, I started a bedtime routine with my son at 6 weeks - bath, bottle, bed - and from then on he quite naturally started lengthening time between feeds. If you don't have a routine already and you're not against the idea, could be something to keep in mind for the coming weeks? Good luck! x

Thanks for responses. Will see you tonight goes. Definitely want to start a routine soon but she's still cluster feeding in the evening so it's variable when we can get her to bed, and I'm going at the same time at the moment!

how tonight goes

Well so far she has screamed for 2 hours and refused to feed...

Oh no! Hope last night was better? x