'Sleep is for the Weak' for anyone with August/Sep 06 DC's

[justJAM]

GM, Cruise and anyone else with LO's born around August/September 06' - this is a support thread for when you have no clue as to why your LO is doing the exact opposite to what they were doing last week and when you are thinking WTF????
Post on here and we shall all compare notes and comfort each other!!

and thanks Tibsy and Ginger - means a lot

cripes! so many messages but I cannot

{{{{{{{pavlov}}}}}}} I am so sorry to hear about your mum, can't even imagine what you must be going through. I lost my dad last year and can remember the insomnia. It's a huge thing to get used to. I'm so sorry. And sorry that you haven't got the suppoty of your sister either.

ginger/pavlov - my lo won't sleep on me either - so different from ds1 who I had lovely nap cuddles with when he was little. he won't even sleep in his cot (on a "normal" day) if I am in the room with him! I have to leave him alone to settle himself funny bunny!

ginger - yes ds1 does go to pre-school 3 sessions a week (for 2 1/2 hours) which helps. it's even better if I can get lo to nap at the same time ! are you going to try the baby rice again? ds1 hated it too but he loved the fruit and veg purees. you could always mix them with the rice to flavour it a bit?

tibsey - yes have been offering lots of boob, he drains it and sucked it so hard once today it felt like my nipple was going to drop off ! I'm expressing before bed too when I have milk but it'll be a while before lo will want a feed. Doing all I can to boost my supply! Oh yes and ate LOTS of cake today

Yes it could be just a growth spurt. Time will tell...

OUCH - my poppit just woke for a top up feed. And she bit me. Twice. With her very very sharp new teeth.

However, she just did something else she has never done before. She went to sleep afterwards. Not comatose due to milk, so grumpy and trying to get to sleep. She stretched a big content stretch when I took her off me, then as I put her down stretched her arms & rolled on to her side and made content, 'i am ready for sleep' noises, and thus went to sleep. OMG, is it a break thru?

Sorry about your Dad too Kiera. My sister is dealing with her own stuff, perhaps I should be there for her, but I need to deal with my own stuff this time. She is the older sister, she should be looking out for me. She is wrapped up in her own world of grief/anger/negativity and wont let anyone in, which means I am left without her support. However, my bro, who I never used to be v close to, we have turned a corner. Moved a step closer to each other, without even trying. I respect him more than I used to....anyway this is best for another thread perhaps, deviating from the theme of sleep! I am doing fine tho, really. I am throwing myself into being the best mum I can, to emulate my own mum. If my DD feels about me how I felt/feel about my mum when she is my age, then I have succeeded.

kiera,I think it sounds like you need to give him some food.i think the 6 month thing a tall order,I started at 4 1/2 months.Try it ,it may just be the answer.good luck.
ginger,please don't be offended,but I think you are making a rod for your own back with the day sleeps.I did that for first month,but at this stage,they need to know that going to sleep in a cot is part of their routine,and they can't be glued to you all the time.If you get into these habits now,it's so hard to break down the line.You have to persevere ,otherwise you won't get anything done.I don't mean to sound patronising,I do understand what you are going through

myrtle,do you use grow bags?

Grobags (or sleeping bags, just different makes) are great. And the LOs look soo cute in them!

They are the best,I think they could do with arms in for the winter though!

Hi Redbeki
I agree I could be creating future problems. I've only done it for about 4 days so far but I was so deighted that she slept for more than 30 mins I thought it was worth it and reasoned that she wouldn't be having daytime naps for ever. Plus I rather like the cuddling because she hasn't been a very cuddly baby up to now like Pav's LO is more interested in what's happening around her. Honestly I've tried everything else and I've already decided I won't be doing this every day but you do what works at the time don't you and bugger the consequences (or start another thread about it )

Oops,is it a grobag,I'm thinking of the tomato ones,I've always been a useless speller!

ginger,I know,I'm sorry.You do what's right at the time,you must be so tired.It's soo nice to have cuddles,and really important,I think I have just too much to do in the day,so my lo has to go in cot,for all of 20 mins today.which was a pain.Sometimes my advice comes across as being a bit harsh,if you can make up your lost sleep at night ,then go for it.

I think I'll get some baby rice in tomorrow then and give it a whirl. He really did some hungry today, poor little mite

I like the original grobags. I am using one from Mothercare and two from Mamas and Papas at the moment (not at the same time tho' lol!) but a friend lent me a proper grobag when he was newborn and it was much more snug so I have got some 6-18 month ones off eBay (they retail at £30 new ). They are so snug they recommend babies only wear body vest and pyjama top in them at temps of 16-20 degrees! So guess what I'm bidding on now...

Redbeki - you can buy ones with arms in actually, detachable ones. I saw them somewhere online - cant remember where, or what they were called. Fat lot of good that is I know, but they do exist. They were like £50 tho.

I am off to bed. I have had a large glass of red wine, naughty I know, but I do it so rarely it tastes soooo good! and most of a large bar of coop fair trade crispy milk chocolate. LO is still asleep, for now, and I am ready for sleep. I expect that means she will wake up in about half hour, just as I drop off into land of nod. Fingers crossed I dont wake at 2am and stay up all night, either with baby one or due to insomnia!
I hope you all have great nights, fingers crossed there will be some stress free hours, even if only a couple.

Kiera - I hope you are feeling better and manage to get some shut-eye, hope things feel more positive tomorrow.
Take care all, nighty night.

mmm,chocolate and wine,a marraige ,made in heaven,just can't think how to spell that?derrr.I think I function well all things considered,but then my I realise my brain is only working on two cylinders,due to lack of sleep.Some days i'll drop things and be really clumsy,others,I just can't hold an adult conversation that's worth any meaning,then I'll be dead on my feet by 6 o'clock,then when it's 11,I can't go to sleep for fear of waking up really soon to lo! It's just madness.I had a large southern comfort and d,coke earlier,so maybe that's why I'm so wide awake.After one year of being t-total,I think it's long overdue.So here's to wine and chocolate and the blissful thought of long uninterupted sleep.We wish.sweet dreams

Hi can I join this thread? DS born on 6 Aug 06 and hasn't slept for the last 6wks. On a good night he wakes 3 times and at his worst 15 with an hour of play time when I have given up trying to get him back down.
He sleeps well through the day - 3 naps about an hour in length (just enough time to do the bare essentials of house work) I am completely knackered as he can be sooo demanding through the day and hates when I leave the room. As a newborn he was a shocking sleeper then on the 3rd of Dec (I can remember THAT date) he just magically slept through the night. He did this just long enough for me to get comfortable then back came the monster! Any suggestions?

hi genlay and welcome! sorry to hear you've having such a horrendous time. we have been trying all sorts of things - have a read down the thread. my lo started waking 2-hourly on 22nd dec and did it for 6 weeks until I got dh to give a bottle for one feed which ended up being formula as could not express enough, then he started going longer (3 or 4 hourly) again. also we moved him into his own room and that helped too.

pavlov - mmmmm crispy milk chocolate, my favourite! I used to looooove nestle crunch but you can't get it anywhere now and worst if all they have stopped doing the 150g bars I only like crispy milk chocolate!

shit night here. settled brilliantly at 7.30pm. woke 12.10, 2.15 FOR 2 AND A HALF HOURS. sick of this don't know wot to do. i despair.

Cruise - you poor thing. I don't know what to suggest but am sending you lots of sympathy hugs
Thanks for the advice about grobags. DS does wear one at night and has a blanket but his room is particularly cold as it has 3 outside walls. We've put a blow heater in there and will put it on a timer to see if that helps. May also put him in a long sleeve vest too tonight.
He was up at 3:30 again last night although he did feed for a bit longer this time so maybe he was a bit hungry.
DH away this weekend so just me and DS.

cruise if its any consolation, we had a wakeful night. think dd could be on a growth spurt as ate and drank LOADS yesterday. went to bed at 6.15, woke at 11.45 for HUGE feed, then agfain at 1.45am, 3.45, 5.30, up for day at 7am. on the + side, she settled well every time and even took herself off boob b4 i did. i dreamt i had 9 nipples last night? did you have chance to look at website or r u 2 knackered at mo?

god girlies, all this talk of choccie and booze has left me hankering after my fri/sat nites b4 dd. bacardi and coke drink of choice or nice bottle of red pavlov!!

myrtle, good luck for the weekend, i was on my own last sat nite and sun day but it was ok and dd and i had lots of room in the bed for her night time waking antics!

welcome genlay altho sorry its because of lack of sleep do you co sleep at all? 15 times, crikey, you must be up and down like a bloody yo yo. as for the housework, i must admit, if dd is napping i like to have a sit down, she only does 30 min naps so no time for housework
my dd went thru a week long period of sleeping thru at 3 months, hasnt happened since (not that it wont for you) but have given up expecting now, just riding with it. permanently knackered but riding with it....

Well, My DD has NEVER slept through so on the one hand I'm mighty envious of you ladies however, after almost 6 months of no sleep I think my body has adjusted so I think it's worse to have something taken away than never having had it in the first place.

Genlay, I agree with the others. Sod the house work even if it's for a couple of days. Rest, read a magazine or watch a bit of telly. I found it very hard to adjust to the 'don't do anything' advice because I'm quite anal and love cleaning but frankly something had to give so my house is a flippin' pig sty!

Well, DD actually had a good night. She woke and fed at 10.30 (after numerous wakings from 7 ish) She seems to have gotten ino a pattern of waking at about 1.30 ish and in my bleary state I've been feeding her although I doubted she was actually hungry. Well, last night I gave her a dummy when she woke at 1.30 and she slept until 5 when she woke with a big fart, and dirty nappy. I changed her and poked the dummy back in but she didn't really settle so at 5.45 I fed her and she sept with us 'til 8!!!!!

Tonight if the same happens I'm going to bring her into bed and not feed see if that works cos I want to get her used to not feeding every 3 hours. She wasn't at all bad tempered though and I really don't think she was that hungry at 5.45 either because she took very little. Perhaps if we can get away with not feeding during the night the sleep thing will come.

Cruise, I sympathise. I think we've exhausted all the suggestions. I had a look at the page that website that Tibsy recommended and it made a lot of sense. I think the trouble is we all want a quick and easy solution because our brains are totally fried and it's begining to occur to me that it's actually going to require more effort in the short term. That said however, I'm buggered if I can be bothered to fight it at 3 oclock in the morning when all I want to do is sleep. I've also turned into a friggin insomniac so when DD isn't waking me or DH snorting like a pig. I'm waking up flapping about one thing or another. When will it end???????

ginger, my house used to be spotless too, was a complete neat freak,.... no more!! quite liberating aint it?!! ha ha

took lo in with me after the second wake up last night, dp been to pub (lucky sod), so he fell asleep on settee. more room for us!!

she's been asleep for 45 mins so far, definite improvemnet last couple of days, was always 30 mins to the second before...

ps a good night for you, if the fart hadnt happened, who knows?

Ginger - Completely agree. Sometimes its so much easier just to feed them at 3am rather than be faffing about with re-training their sleep habits. I too also seem to be suffering from either vivid dreams or insomnia! Last night i dreamt I was on Strictly Come Dancing and didn't know the routine so I just ended up standing there frozen to the spot
DS has never slept through either and I do think it would be worse if I'd had a taste of him sleeping through only for it to be taken away.