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Sleep

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Original poster

Not coping

17 replies

Beansprout30 · 21/12/2016 05:52

I don't know what to do with my 5 mo daughter. Her sleep has been all over the place for about 8 weeks now and it just seems to be getting worse.

I put her to bed at 7pm, pj, a good breastfeed downstairs from 6, upstairs for story, cuddle and another quick feed then put her down awake and she usually goes off to sleep within 10 mins.

2 hours later on the dot she wakes crying, and this then goes on all night every 1-2 hours. It's getting harder to settle her and she only wants to sleep on me in the early hours.

She naps during her day probably has about 2.5 hours spread through the day. I've been awake since 1am this morning and feel like shit.

Do usually works away but he's home for Xmas but sleeps in spare room. If I get upset he basically tells me to get on with it. He does take her in the morning so I can have an hour but I struggle to sleep then.

Just don't know what to do to fix this

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Original poster

Beansprout30 · 21/12/2016 05:53

Sorry for typos my eyes are sore

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Joinourclub · 21/12/2016 06:07

It's only a phase. It's hideous now but it's only a phase. You think you can't cope but you can. It's only a phase.

If you struggle to sleep in the morning, maybe your husband could do the evening shift, up until maybe 1 and you sleep from 9-1. And he sleeps 1-7.

Maybe he can give you one complete night in the spare room to 'catch up' on some sleep (then he might realise how tough doing nights solo is!)

It's so , so hard. My 6 month old was waking hourly for a month and then suddenly this week has been sleeping in 5 hour stretches. I have no idea what caused the change.

LapinR0se · 21/12/2016 06:26

It's so hard.
Are you feeding her back to sleep during the night or putting her down awake?

Original poster

Beansprout30 · 21/12/2016 06:53

It seems to be going on forever I cannot see any light at the end of the tunnel. I'm feeding her each time because otherwise she gets upset and now i think she must be getting most of her milk at night instead of day.

To make it worse my horrible neighbours have got a bloody puppy that is yapping at 5am and now dh and I are at each other's throats

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Original poster

Beansprout30 · 21/12/2016 06:55

Joinourclub do you breastfeed? Did you do anything different for sleep to improve?

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Pirandello24 · 21/12/2016 07:02

Hi, I don't have any useful advice but just wanted to say we are going through the same with our 6mo DS, I feel your pain. Slept well until 4 months, then gradually getting worse and now waking every 1-2 hours and so hard to settle after.

I really, really hope it's a phase!

LalaLeona · 21/12/2016 07:08

You're probably bang in the middle of a sleep regression hopefully it will pass with time, think my baby was the same. Just be consistent and carry on what you're doing. It's really great that she goes down awake at bedtime you are doing a great job.

Luckystar1 · 21/12/2016 07:12

In the last few days I've done the following with a good degree of success:

Moved the crib to the bottom of the bed so DD isn't right beside me

Put in 1 earplug (so I can still hear, but not every little thing)

Any wake ups prior to 12am and then 4am are resettled, I'm refusing to feed to sleep before those times.

DH took her for 2 nights and slept through everything (including her crying for her feed!), I figured that I'm waking to absolutely everything and going to her when she doesn't actually want or need me and probably waking her when she was just having a moment!

Mine is exclusively breastfed, so I still expect night feeds just not the hourly wake ups we were getting!

Good luck!

cookieswirls · 21/12/2016 07:21

I'm having similar trouble with my 10 month old twins. They've been doing it for months. I'm so exhausted you have Sympathy from me

Floweroct2 · 21/12/2016 07:28

I could have written this! I've stopped offering a feed before 11 and rock him back to sleep. Last night I did nothing different and he slept 7 to 6.30 with one wake up at 2.30, hoping it wasn't a one off. Is she on solids yet my lb is nearly 7 months and been in solids since 6 months and he did seem to eat more yesterday so don't know if that helped. But although you can't see an end there will be. I've been reading the no cry sleep solution which is quite good x

Original poster

Beansprout30 · 21/12/2016 07:49

Thank you for giving me some positive stories. Last night I was trying to rock her back to sleep but I think I was putting her down too soon and then gave up and boobed her.

I don't have space to move cot but I might try sleeping the other side of the bed, people keep suggesting i put her in her own room but I don't think it's the right time.

Cookies, hats off to you coping with twins how do you ever manage to rest?

Not on solids yet, was going to give it a couple more weeks. When I feed in the night she does seem quite hungry though, I'm going to try and up her daytime feeds and see if that helps

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Joinourclub · 21/12/2016 08:46

Yes I breastfeed. She is on solids now so maybe that has helped. We have made an effort to settle her in her cot rather than holding/feeding/rocking her to sleep. Tough at first, but I think that had helped her too.

Luckystar1 · 21/12/2016 09:42

Might be worth trying to resettle her in situ, without lifting her, as she'all go mad for boob then?

DorotheaHomeAlone · 21/12/2016 09:43

Agree this is the lingering effects of the 3 month regression. It is so hard. She's really in the habit now if soothing via feeding. If she can go down awake at bedtime that's great. I think it would be worth the effort to hold out on feeding again until 12/1am. It'll be hard at first but you may find the whole night improves once she learns sh can't feed with every waking.

Original poster

Beansprout30 · 21/12/2016 10:06

Thank you all for your advice, going to make an effort on getting her settled for naps in her cot and will try and hold off the feed until midnight tonight.

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Original poster

Beansprout30 · 21/12/2016 10:59

Well I just got her off to sleep in her cot without feeding to sleep, she put up a fight for ten mins so I gave her a cuddle and gentle rock then put her down and she drifted off. Thank you all for giving me a bit of a boost

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Luckystar1 · 21/12/2016 13:29

Well done. Every little boost of confidence helps. Don't be afraid or worried about comforting her to sleep either, it's completely normal. She doesn't need to be able to 'self-settle', she just needs to be able to sleep through some sleep cycles and return to sleep with a little comforting from you.

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