new 'SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK' thread

[tibsy]

hi ladies, the other one ran out of space, so if no one else starts a new thread, here it is....

Can I out myself as a lurker? Pavlovthecat recommended this thread . I have 8 mo DS (first baby), sometimes he sleeps sometimes he doesn't. We had a good patch for about a week where he would go 10 hrs until 5am, but the last few nights have not been so good. He will ONLY bf to sleep or occasionally sleep in the buggy if I really persevere. I realised that I have been doing a version of the Pantley pull-off after reading about it on sleep threads. Basically I wait until he is lightly asleep and has stopped really swallowing and unlatch him. 9 times out of 10 he will grumble and then stick his thumb in and settle. I can then put him down in his cot. I do this for daytime naps when we are at home, it doesn't always stick.

I'm trying to deal with this sleep issue by relaxing about it and not fretting too much. 'Just a phase' is my mantra. But sometimes I lose my cool after a run of bad nights as I'm so knackered and DH has to deal with an emotional melt-down. Hope you don't mind if I join you.

maewest. welcome but that you find yourself here too. can't stay long. DH trying to put ds to bed and having no luck (might be the home made sugary apple crumble he had at his granny's this evening!)hope you have one of your good nights. see everyone in the morning

maewest. welcome but that you find yourself here too. can't stay long. DH trying to put ds to bed and having no luck (might be the home made sugary apple crumble he had at his granny's this evening!)hope you have one of your good nights. see everyone in the morning

sorry for double post... see how tired i am

Thanks Tamdin, think I will go up to bed myself now, give myself a bit of a head start for whatever tonight brings. DH is going to be away tomorrow night for the first time since DS was born, which will be quite odd, also rely on him to calm me down sometimes in the middle of the night

Welcome MaeWest, sounds like you'll fit right in Cruisemum has the same issue with BF to sleep so I'm sure will welcome any suggestions you may have there. The only thing that has worked for me (and when I say worked I mean waking once or twice a night, my DD has never slept through) is co-sleeping. See, my DD goes to bed IK. Sometimes it's a battle othertimes it's painless. My main problem is her staying asleep. She often wakes at least a couple of times before we go to bed at about 11 and I can normally pop a dummy in to get her back to sleep. However during the night she's a bit more unsettled and since we moved her into her own room a couple of weeks ago I've found myself co-sleeping more because I can't be bothered to trampse down the hall. This has meant that I'm getting a bit more sleep but I think I would rather she slept in her own bed (I do miss her when she's not there tho, poor kid can't win).

My DD has been really good today. Aside from the amazingy 1.15 hour nap this morning she had another 30 mins in her buggy later around at a friends. We've been out all day and she was really happy. She's gone to bed this evening really well although has woken briefly twice. Cross fingers for a sheepskin miracle tonight!!

Cruise, DH decided he wanted one too. They are lovely but I haven't seen any sheep big enough for him yet

welcome maewest! bf to sleep? hmm... problem here too as ds wakes for boob to resettle himself. sound familiar? more later, breakfast time but will be back later. pantley thing kind of in operation here too.
ginger - lol at sdh wanting sheepskin. has he tried a bison?

hello mae!

and to everyone else: my folks are avisiting for a couple of days so i probably wont get to talk sleep with y'all, but dont think ive suddenly got a sleepthroughthenighter! although, bless him, he's doing dead well still, only woke at 10 and then at 1, although awake from 5ish again practising his crawling. i do hope he cracks it soon, its driving him mad. i keep explaining he's on top of his game, 6 mths and can move across the room backwards is pretty fine, but he wont hear a word of it.
trust me to get a high achiever when im such a slack mum!
see you wednesday if not before.xxxx.

Cruise, bison yeah, that'd do it.

Mae, your LO is doing really well crawling. Mine isn't interested, hates being on her tummy. Once she learned to sit up she dropped the rolling over. Think she's going to be a lazy baby.

She was very unsettled for the first part of the night and at 9.30 wouldn't settle at all so I took her to bed and she was out like a light. Woke at 1 I tried to feed but didn't want then out again 'til 4.45. Pretty good night then really but I do want to address this issue of her being in my bed every night. I don't mind but it's a novelty at the moment. I anticipate being fed up with it sometime soon. Also it annoys me that my bedtime is dictated by her because she wont settle. I just don't have the energy to fight it. So much for that friggin sheepskin although she's back in her cot now. We'll see.

Swiz, meant to say thanks for the link to the sling shop. I may pop over as I've got a friend that lives close by so can't combine a visit.

last night 8:00pm - 11:30pm. BF.
11:45pm - 5:50am. BF
6:00am - 7:30am.
7:30am - 7:50am, played quietly in travel cot by bed.

YEY!
Is it going to last? She is poorly right now, has had a fever for last two days, keeping it down, but not gone completely .
Hope all are ok...sorry have not had time to read posts recently. The last two times I managed top get on for any length of time I found myself in the bar!!!

well done pav. that sounds like a very good night

Well. DS is asleep - he's been down for over 2 hours so fingers crossed! Have re-read (again) the NCSS book and am determined to give it a proper go - the thing I fall down on is a consistent day-time and nap-time routine. I go back to work for 3 days next week and DH i also keen to get into a routine for the days he's looking after DS, so here's hoping we work something out .

I know I've asked this before, but does anyone else have a good naptime routine? Any tips for getting him to sleep in his cvot? He will sleep in the buggy or sling as long as you keep moving.

Well done for those getting a better night - you give me hope. I've a stinking cold at the moment which is NOT helping (sniff)

Thanks for your welcomes ladies . I have high hopes for tonight as we went to baby swimming today and hoping that the boy is well and truly knackered. He crashed out for an afternoon nap in his buggy afterwards and managed to boob him down for a good hr or so morning nap. Last night only woke twice at 11pm and 4am, but then didn't want to sleep in his cot so ended up in our bed feeding and dozing on and off until 7ish. Was rewarded by a huge cheesy grin when he woke up properly tho, which was nice.

Part of me feels a bit fraudulent about posting on a sleep thread. It's just that in RL other people's babies just seem to sleep (or so they say ). Surely its more normal for them to wake up quite a bit in the first year?

hi all, havent been on for a few days as dd been really poorly. but she seems to be on the mend
everything has regressed however and she's refusing all 'solids', constantly wanting the boob and her sleep pattern has gone out the window.
not too bothered tho tbh as just glad that shes getting better.
hope everyone well and lo's letting you have lots of sleep

morning all. tibsy we've regressed too so you're not alone. these molars he's getting have messed up all the progress we had made. He's crying out alot in the night, wanting more milk than ever and needs lots of cuddles....but that's what being a parent's about i guess so trying not to sound like a moan
mae...waking up in the first year is totally normal. NCSS explains the science of sleep cyles and it helped me understand what's going on with ds.
sleeping through the night is considered to be 5 hours!!
our night was too ridiculous to even type but going out for lunch today with 2 friends and their lo's so at least i'll get to talk to some adults today other than dh. Also finally went back to gym last night. ache all over this morning but feels good to be getting fit again. only so long i can use the baby excuse (for mae he's 15m at end of april!!)
catch you all later X

Tibsy sorry also meant to say about dd. was it a virus?

Hello, my DS slept 7.30pm to 1am last night, and then woke at 3.30 and 6, then slept until 7. oh good gracious, are the times changing???

MaeWest, I think you're right. I'm quite happy for my LO to wake up a few times a night for the first year, as long as he goes back to sleep easily, and isn't waking up every two hours like has been the case recently. I think once or twice a night is quite reasonable really.

hi all,
quick hello from me, night wasnt as good as usual, think my lo unsettled by visitors! still, he did 11 til 3 as his major stint.
naptime routine: we seem to be getting better at naps, and it seems to be about my lo knowing what will happen next. when he sends out his tired signals, i start singing this "time for a nap" lullaby, and take him upstairs to his room, shut the curtains with him, still singing, then sit on the seat i give him a night for,and either feed him or have a quiet couple of minutes cuddling, then put him awake in his cot and say ' its naptime now'. taken a few days for him to suss whats going on, but now he seems to have started having decent length naps, and feels relieved when we go up.
damn, have to go, lo on the prowl,
x

Sounds reasonable to me too. DS didn't have too bad a night - waking every 2 hours rather than 1/1.5 - but then woke up at 5am and wouldn't go back to sleep until I brought him in with us. In the grip of a nasty cold so not feeling great anyway.

Hope your LO gets better soon Tibsy. Are the teeth through yet, Tamdin?

Amber: that sounds like a great night!

hi swizz, amber and maebee. he has the front molar on left side through and but the one on the right hasn't broken through the skin yet. it's just a big round ball of inflammed gum. it must be very sore. so hoping he goes back to normal when they're through. feeling bit defeated today. really though we were getting somewhere with NCSS

Glad to hear it has been working, Tamdin. Need to get DH to read it and then implement A Plan re daytime routine

maebee, i was thinking of starting a nap routine as well. its not as easy as the nighttime massage-bath-feed trip i guess, but i think it would help as he's getting better at putting himself to sleep if he's in a calm state. what is your naptime lullaby?
i've started to be able to get him to go to sleep at least once a day outside the sling. but the problem with our naps at the moment is that something always seems to wake him up - burp, fart, sudden noise, spit up, blah blah, you name it, it will wake him up at around the 1/2 hour mark. its difficult to get him back after that.
but its progress on 2 weeks ago when we couldn't even get him to sleep in the first place.

like you swizz after reading it i realised he didn't have a set bed time. always just depended on when he looked tired but for 3 weeks i did...
dinner at 5.30
bath at 6.15-6.30
pj's on, cudlle and look at some books
bed at 7.30
It seemed to work and he was only waking once around 2ish for milk but this last week it's gone back to being all over the place

morning
thanks swizz and tamdin, lo still asleep in our bed with dp (he's got easter hols at work), so i thought i'd creep downstairs and have a few moments to myself.
dont give up with the ncss tam, i had great results with it before until unfortunately it was scuppered by illness when dd is back to herself, i may try to implement it again. i really do like it as its so gentle
welcome to maewest and with regard to wake ups in the first year, yes, i've resigned myself to the fact that 7 months old is SO little really in the grand scheme of things, and that there are going to be setbacks (illness, teething and general development) so i'm trying not to focus too much on lack of sleep and more on the good nights we do get.