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....

Well, not an unreasonable night here. DH gave a bottle of exp milk at 11 and I went to bed. She woke at 2 and I fed her without really thinking about it. She did guzzle but not convinced she'd woken out of hunger, she did feel cold so I took her to bed and she slept until 6. Not great but not horrible. It's either the tooth cut or the sheepskin but something has settled her in the last few days.

back later

Well bugger me, she's just gone down in her cot for a nap without any hassle what so ever and I didn't even feed her. Has the wind changed? Well, we all know that saying that is the kiss of death but here's hoping.

good 4 u ginger!

morning girls. ds molar ahd come throug and has gone back to just 1 waking at 3 for milk. "it's just a phase" is definitley a well recommended mantra to get you throug the bad nights. the good ones are just around the corner.
ginger your night.
Wonder how tibsy's dd is, not heard so much from her last few days.
Keep wondering too how genlay is..do you think she lost the thread or is just too busy with uni/baby/time difference?

Hello all. I have not needed to be on this thread for a while but had a worse night last night than for a while - DS refused to go in his crib at bedtime (8.30) even though he was patently knackered (would spark out on me the moment I picked him up, but start wailing as soon as put down). Eventually we got the crib mattress out and put it on the bed, lay either side of it and shushed him, and eventually he drifted off and we were able to carefully lift the mattress back into the crib. He went til 1am (good) but then woke at 3 and 5 for feeds (not so good) and again at 6 when he started crying again. DH got up with him, bless him, and let me have a lie-in for an hour. I know it's not the worst night in the world compared to others here, but I felt like I was only getting two seconds of sleep before being up again. He has been having a growth spurt so that might account for it...

Pavlov - our HV recommended boiling a kettle with the lid off in the bedroom to make it more humid, we did it when DS was congested and it seemed to help a bit...

ami - i am convinced that i need to do something soon. myneighbour has visitors at the moment and they have 5 children. her youngest was like my lo and she said she offered ff instead of bf at bedtime and it worked like a dream. her dd screamed a bit but after a few days no problem. I have to do something. getting too tired to function. when your dd woke in the night did she create much? myds will wake dd which is a worry for me.

cruise, if you are exclusively breast feeding don't get sold on the "formula makes them sleep" line - it doesn't!!

My ds formula feeds while I am at work and last thing before bed - makes no difference. The ONLY reason to do it at nigth is so different people can put them to bed which is why I didn't breast feed as his bedtime feed.

It would be a shame to compromise your breastfeeding for no good reason.

Cruise: sorry you're having a bafd time at the moment. Good luck with whatever you decide to do

Better night for us - bath a 6, asleep at 7 (not fed to sleep) woke at 9:30, 12, 3 and 5 then awake at 7 for the day. Included a 3 hour stretch so aI'm feeling much better . Also, he had a morning nap in his cot ysterday and today - took him ages to settle but slept for 20 mins yesterday and 30 mins today. Afternoon nap out in pram as usual.

swizz, that sounds alright.

we had a good night too last night. asleep at 8, woke at 1, 4, 5, 6 and then 6.30 awake. at least there is a good stretch at the beginning. post 4am is always the downfall. i think i have to give up on naps... if he is cranky, then so be it. i can't spend hours each day putting him to bed, it drives me nuts.

ami - no i know that. have been bf for 7mths now so am ready to quit in any case .
crikey amber - that was a good night??? . i guess we are so used to being exhausted now . hoping for lots of sl;eep tonight for us all.....

yeah cruise, i know it sounds like a bad night, but we've been having a few good stretches when he first goes to bed - often 4-5 hours in the past week. it sounds terrible, that morning stretch and it is terrible, but it used to be more like that all night! so i guess i count my blessings. and he's still only 3 months, so room for improvement.
he's really fighting going to bed now though, I've come to expect a crying spell when I start putting him to bed. He loves the massage, bath, feed, but then what comes next absolutely traumatises him, even though i try to make it as nice as possible ...

Amber: I think 5 hours is technically 'sleeping through' at that age, so well done! I'm sure it will stretch out as your LO gets older. Don't worry too much about napping in the cot at this stage - if your LO will sleep in the sling or pram. can't see it as a problem

yeah swizz, it is great, though it doesn't 'feel' to me like he's sleeping through the night!

Amber, I let my LO sleep anywhere at that age, mostly on the sofa after the previously mentioned disasterous attempt at getting her into a 'routine'. She does now go in her cot for naps or on the spare bed (or buggy if we're out) and the transition wasn't nearly as bad as I'd thought it would be. She's now at the age where TV, radio or daytime activity is a distraction to sleep which is why I've moved her. Plus I didn't want her rolling off. I've got a friend who put her DS in his room for all naps and sleep from the begining and he will only ever sleep in his cot which makes going out etc very difficult so if your lo sleeps in the sling / buggy think of it as his way of helping you get other stuff done!!

Amber, I let my LO sleep anywhere at that age, mostly on the sofa after the previously mentioned disasterous attempt at getting her into a 'routine'. She does now go in her cot for naps or on the spare bed (or buggy if we're out) and the transition wasn't nearly as bad as I'd thought it would be. She's now at the age where TV, radio or daytime activity is a distraction to sleep which is why I've moved her. Plus I didn't want her rolling off. I've got a friend who put her DS in his room for all naps and sleep from the begining and he will only ever sleep in his cot which makes going out etc very difficult so if your lo sleeps in the sling / buggy think of it as his way of helping you get other stuff done!!

i was the same ginger. at that age my ds slept on me or the sofa or in the middle of the bed or buggy etc etc. he's now in a cot for his naps and at night and it wasn't that difficult at all plus as you say he can go to sleep anywhere which makes being out at friends or travelling alot easier.

well i took the plunge tonight. lo was fed to sleep as usual and tehn rewoke twice afterwards. dd was at her friends house and i was exhausted so I just did a cc type thing. he fell asleep after much crying after 45mins. I was going in at regular intervals and he seemd more stressed once i had been in. i was so proud of him for eventually falling asleep and now i feel that since i have done one night i must continue. all support gratefully received

btw- hadn not intended to do this this evening - just felt the right course of action at the right time somehow. plus i was alone at home so no dd to worry about. fingers crossed that it will be the start of a beautiful thing . off to bed now.x

good luck cruise- am rooting for you.

I put ds down at 9pm without any fuss at all - poor thing waas tired from playing in the park.

Let's share notes tomorrow - sending good sleep vibes x x x

wow! ds slept from 8:45pm - 6:45am!!!!!! he grizzled at 9:30pm and 5.55am but went back to sleep . i'll have to repeat the cc thingy tonight i guess but i am astonished and praying it was not a one-off. clever little boy, i knew he culd do it!

glad you had a good night cruise

wel done cruise! I had a so so noight with him being up and crying for 2 hrs from 1am until 3am.

will keep ploddon on!

i guess i'm trying to get Lo to sleep anywhere outside of the sling ... even the buggy is tough. pretty much whenever you put him down he'll wake up and he won't really put himself to sleep.

sympathise amber we've all been there. he's still only little and he'll get there in the end all you can do is keep trying. ds slept in bed with us until he was 8 months and went into cot with very little probs after that. Have you read NCSS?

morning and amber my dd was like this, after an initial good start when she would nap in her moses basket, she then decided she wanted to be attached to me 24/7. i worked really hard trying to dissuade her, but she wasnt havent any of it. once i decided to just let her, she decided she would sleep on the settee, or the bed, or even sometimes her cot ...contrary bloody mary!! hang in there, you're doing a fab job
i cant remember how old your lo is i'm sorry but its a big world out here, and i imagine it can be quite scary sometimes and they just need reassurance. sorry, thats not meant to be patronising, just something i tell myself when dd is attached like a limpet cos shes feeling under the weather or tired and i want to go to the loo in peace!