New SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK thread - are we still here?

[PavlovtheCatthatgottheCremeEgg]

Another thread. My didn't we get full quickly! night sleeping good. Naps...not even 5 mins so far today...

welcome back genlay we have all been wondering where you'd got to

hello all, and sorry for the bad nights we all seem to be having! I have now caught my dd's cold and am feeling sorry for myself .

Sydney, I have the same problem as you not knowing when to feed her so am trying to stop feeding her altogether at night (she is nearly 6 months) by spacing the feedings by an extra half hour every night as recommended by Ferber (he of cc fame) . Hope that doesn't make me the antichrist! I've been reading some of the cc threads with a mixture of fascination and horror . Anyway, gave up at 5.30 last night as felt like shit and just wanted to go back to sleep so I fed her an hour before it was due . Oh well, tonight is another night...

She has been really happy in the day recently (since her two bottom teeth came through, I think) but then has the screaming ab dabs in the early to mid evening. Last night she went to sleep okay and then woke an hour later and screamed for an hour, even in my arms for much of the time. I'd given her calpol for the last two nights and DH was concerned I don't do it every night so I held off but not sure I was doing the right thing {hmm]. Could it be teething pain even though she seems happy enough in the day? Or am I just looking for excuses not to show 'tough love' ?

lillysma early evening is according to chinese medicine) a classic time for teething pain and ds always seemed to be like that too. to medicate or not to medicate always a tricky one in this house too. sympathise

lilysma, sounds like we're on the same page. I'm cracking down on the night feeds. Dh gave him a bottle of formula twice (after he had already nursed two times) on Saturday night and last night he only woke up two times. A big step in the right direction for us.

I am cautiously optimistic...

Well, small step on for us - after settling DS without feeding in the early evening he's slept from 7 to 10ish the past couple of nights and then fed every 3 hours (which is doable atm). Hopefully this will last and then I can get onto cracking the midnight/1am feed. I'm trying to cut down on a feed at a time by settling him without feeding.

Tamdin: hope your MIL's news is good. I remember the wait being the worst part when my mum went through this (esp as they hadn't expected to need to take lymph tissue as well). As I said before, she was (and is) fine, so fingers crossed for you

hello all, its been a while since i was here. just wanted to drop in and see how things were going? has anyone had any successes yet?

cruisemum - my situation was very similar to yours would love to know if youve cracked it yet and how?

we're still doing much the same - bf to sleep, co-sleep with a bedside cot etc wakes through the night freq. dd cant get to sleep any other way and is now 7 months

Swizzler, Jabberwocky, sounds like we're in a similar sort of pattern. DD is feeding roughly every 3 hours at night at the mo. Just about doable, but I'd love to stretch it that bit further. Am also worried about rotting the two little teeth that have just appeared on her bottom jaw (i need an 'aaah' emoticon here)! Onwards and upwards

ps I'm not even starting to deal with the naps, which are still only on the move in the pram

Lilysma: naps in buggy for us too. Though today I bfed him to sleep in our bed and we both slept for 2 hours

DS woke 2 hrs after settling and managed again to settle him without a feed! Have yet to extend this to the small hours...

sorry for not posting over bank holiday weekend - been mega busy with loadsa visitors etc. which has been lovely, esp for dd as lots of pals for her to play with. Well, I had to do some more cc over the weekend (not too bad though) as I had kind of let things slip with bf back to sleep recently. I hated doing it again but I was getting so bloody knackered that I could not see the wood for the trees with teh sleep issue. ACtually I am going to a drop-in sleep clinic tomorrow for back up and reassurance so I'll let you know how that goes. Have not read all posts yeta but will catch up tomorrow (if ds will let me ). Nite all

OK , I really am off to bed soon but just had a chance to read some posts so....
RAtfly - I do think you have to keep up the same routine cc wise as early evening otherwise they get so terribly confused that it isnt fair on them. I think my ds got muddled and reverted to wanting bf each waking cos I 'encouraged' it by not being consistent. Good luck
Pav - sounds like your resiliance to lo's grumpimg worked wonders - good for you!
Tam - those 2 hr wakings are just the pits. Gotta put a lid on those somehow
Genlay - Great to hear bout your seminar success and result - well done
lilysma - we all make excuses for our los wakefulness. According to just about everyone of my family members/friends, my ds has been waking due to teething since 12 weeks. He is now 8 months old and still no sign of a tooth! . It's because we love them that we can't admit they are just bloody awkward! ]

I used to be a regular many months ago but found that I just could not keep up. I really ust wanted to share the success we have had. We used to have hourly wake ups and this went on from 4 months to 9 months - sometimes longer, and sometimes ust not wanting to go back to sleep. I just could not do cc, NCSS helped but did not give any real success, co-sleeping did not help, so I was at the end of my tether.

Anyway my HV recommended the book 'teach your child to sleep' by The Milpond Clinic. It includes lots of different solutions and I chose the 'gradual withdrawl / gradual retreat' method.

We have been doing it for 5 weeks and last night we had our best night ever. Sleeping from 7.30pm until 12.30am and then until 6.30am. It has involved some crying and some screaming but I have never left him crying and the longest time was 20 minutes and this was only once.

The basic idea is that you gently teach your baby to self settle by gradually withdrawing the support you give and we also gradually increased the time between bf.

I also think though that my lo has 'matured' into sleeping more and is moving around more so is more physically tired but I found this very structured, but flexible, and gradual 'sleep programme' really worked for us. I wish I had known about it before but I would not have done it before 6 months.

I hope everyone has a better nights sleep

lori21

It's 9:30 pm here, ds2 went down about an hour ago.

Fingers crossed

thnaks lori. great to hear about your success tibsy and ginger and i think maybe amberjee are all doing GR/GW atm too. seems to be working for them too. will definitely order the book
not too bad a night here. 8-2 (bottle)
2-6.30
don't feel great today so just as well i'm not tired too. x

I've been lurking on this site for weeks. My daughter slept well up to 9 hours until 14 weeks and then starting waking up twice a night at least and recently 6-8 times. She is turning 6 months this week. On Friday we started gradual withdrawal NCSS sort of describes it, we have had great success in 4 days. We have graduated from waking 4-8 times a night when she would be BF to sleep to 2 wakings last night 1am at 4.15am. At 1am she was fed so she can sleep 5 hours without BF despite being at least 20lbs and never eats solids for dinner (despite several weeks of attempting), she didn't BF again until 6.45am.

I had to employ my DH to do it. We decided she could go at least 4 hours without BF so DH has to go and comfort her and put her back to sleep at any other times. It seems to be working. I feel so much better with so far 2 nights decent sleep. There has been some crying, awful to hear but we have never left her alone to cry. I cuddle and rock her and kiss her frequently to get her to sleep but never have eye contact. Now I can do the same when she is lying in the cot and don't have to rock her every time.

She won't even be BF to sleep now, she comes off and looks to say put me to sleep now. It hasn't been easy but the results have been quick. I was convinced she needed the BM obviously not.

Tapster - my DH has been trying to help with night wakings, but DS just seems to scream louder in outrage if he goes in (altho there is the odd time he will settle for him). This is pretty disheartening for him . Last night not too bad, BF at 11pm and 3 am (after going down just before 7pm). He woke up yelling at about 6.20 and I shouted through the wall that it was too early and he chatted on and off for half an hour - must have heard me .

I can sometimes get him to sleep by lying down next to his cot where he can see me and pretending to be asleep. It seems to reassure him, lots of thumbsucking and he eventually goes to sleep. Doesn't seem to stop the night-time waking tho... and it has to be me, not DH, so doesn't solve the being tied to bedtime issue. Oh well, baby steps. Just now I managed to get him to sleep by lying him in the cot and letting him suck my finger (dummy firmly rejected). The trouble is, he tends to work himself up into a right paddy and can't soothe himself enought to sleep. Think I would have trouble dropping off myself if I was that worked up!

Tamdin - that sounds like a fairly good night, sorry that you're not feeling so good.

hi all, welcome to the new ladies and bubbas too
well we're all finally recovered from the lurgy and dd is 'almost' the proud owner of 2 front teeth
sorry to hear that some bubs remain to be sleepless little so and so's!! last 2 nights have been good for us, jsut waking at 4.30am for a feed. GR working well, glad to hear it is for you too lori
have started introducing supper (bit of baby rice) after dds last boob feed of the day and 'touch wood', seems to be helping her last for longer without milk.
hope all had reasonable nights last night
hi tam, have been thinking of you and the family

tam, just read your post, you're feeling unwell, its the pits

hi lovely ladies.

it's all up and down here. we had 4 great nights in a row last week (2-3 wakings for feeds - quite doable), but then the last three nights have been 1-2 hour wakings again. sigh. just when you think things are improving. one thing i'm noticing and it could be coincidence, but the nights seem to be worse on the weekend. i'm wondering why this is. does any one else get this?

amberjee have never noticed that it's worse at the weekends. will pay more attention. Tibs keep meaning to ask you can GR/GW be done when the lo is still in your room? ds still in our room and don't want to move him. also was the link you put on here about GW from 'teach your child to sleep' book or another source?

tam, dd still in our room, in her cot, right next to our bed havent tried the GW link but lori has, it was the book that she tried i believe. if you click on my profile, you can link onto her post, 'help needed with gradual withdrawal' i think? i'm doing the GR, i think its a simplified version. or maybe i'm a bit simplified!!!!

simpler the better for me too unfortunately. is there a book i can buy on GR or was it a piece of research you read?

AAAAAARRRRRRHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

oh dear redbeki assuming you're having a nightmare day? anything i can say to help?

Hi Tam,My LO's sleeping has gone crazy,I don't know what to do .She's gone from only waking once,to being awake for hours in the night.It's madness.It's too much to cope with.sorry.