Anyone want to accompany me while i sleep train DD?

[MrsKoala]

I am starting to sleep train 13mo DD tonight. She has been a terrible sleeper since birth and always co-slept on the boob. I had a consultation with a sleep expert today who has talked me thru a gentle process of sleep training.

I am starting tonight as DH is away for a week from next Thursday, so i want it in place for then. DH is not particularly supportive because he hates them crying (and i love it obviously ) so it would be great if there was someone who was doing theirs at the same time for a mutual support group!

Back to stage one in my house! There was a fireworks display literally outside DD's window at 10pm. Now she's screaming and won't go back to sleep. Don't know what to do

@FannyTheFlamingo ahhh nightmare! I have turned into a mad woman who goes mad at any sound like blasting car radios etc and quietly rant to myself at anything I think could wake DD. She is a super light sleeper though, DH woke her up at 10:30 by banging around before bed. If looks could kill he would have dropped dead on the bedroom floor!!! Hope all is well now. I just feed and put back down when DD wakes up properly

Ahh I detest fireworks! Where I live, everyone seems to have fireworks for every bloody occasion or just a random Saturday night! My poor dog is terrified of them.
DS woke at 12 last night, after 5mins I put him dummy back in and he went back to sleep. Woke again at 5 but he settled within 5 mins. Then up at 6.30. He has improved so much over the last 2 weeks or so.
It was the dogs turn to keep me awake last night though.

Worst night ever! Tried to do CC after the fireworks, but at 11.30pm I gave up because she was screaming and it was a different kind of scream, so she was never going to go to sleep. Put her in the bed that's in her room with me, that didn't work, gave her milk, put her in my bed with me, none of that worked. Eventually sat on the sofa, where she naps on me and she fell asleep at 2am!! Transferred her to bed with me and she woke at 4.30, 5.30 and 7.30. I'm sure I made things worse by moving her around so much, but I was so desperate for sleep. I'm hoping I don't have to start with the CC from the beginning again tonight. All for a few, crappy fireworks.

Oh no, that’s so frustrating. I get disproportionately furious at inconsiderate shit like that. It’s fine for people who have heavy sleepers or kids who just settle themselves, but when I get a tinkly laugh and told ‘oh it’ll be fine just do x’ and they look at me like I’m unhinged I feel absolutely incandescen.

We went on hols when ds1 was 20months old and he just never slept. We spent 3 hrs every evening traipsing round with him in the buggy till midnight. I was also heavily pregnant. One night I had walked him for 2 hours, missed dinner and it was now about 11pm. He had just drifted off and a group of people walked towards us, I parked him in a door way to let them pass and was obviously rocking and shushing a sleeping baby. They decided that exact location was where they were going to stop to light their cigarettes and let out the loudest laugh eruption. Ds1 instantly woke and and I burst into tears. I said something sweaty at them and they all looked at me like I was insane. I then spent till 1 am walking ds1 round the square.

Anyway, slightly better night here as I put dd on the boob at 9.30 and she was on it all night. She woke for an hour twice but I didn’t get up. Boys woke at 4 am and they are all so full of cold so we got up then. Dds eyes were crusted shut and her entire face was cracked in snot with loads of hair dried into it.

Sweary! Not sweaty - although I was also pretty sweaty too.

That sounds a better night, glad you got some sleep. Is dh back today?

That holiday sounds awful! DP and I were thinking about going on holiday with DD and his other DC, but I just don't know if it's worth it until DD is older. She won't remember it and the whole sleep situation is far too stressful. Glad you had a better night though. Just think, in a few years we'll all be struggling to get our DC out of bed and this sleep hell will be a distant memory!

Sorry you had a bad night fanny.
My DH is back today and he's got to put DS to bed tonight as I'm going out for dinner with my friends. I don't think he has ever done the whole bedtime routine by himself so hopefully DS goes down ok.
We were starting to think of a holiday for next year, hadn't even thought about the sleep situation! This year we went to centre Parcs as we thought it would be easier than going abroad with a 4 month old. While we were there DS hit the 4 month sleep regression and his sleep got to an all time low! Nice relaxing holiday that was

We went to centre parcs when ds1 was 3.5 and ds2 was 1.5. We arrived at 10am and by noon ds1 was covered in chicken pox and had to be quarantined. We spent the whole week shut in our cabin watching the Minions dvd on loop.

Last year we went to Eurocamp in Biarritz and we all got d & v. Stuck in a tiny caravan with 3 kids in the roasting heat while we all had projectile vomiting and explosive poos has got to be the nadir of holidays. We thought...

We are now going skiing end of Jan...

That technique is shown in every episode of super nanny. Sit next to the cot and quietly withdraw.

You could have got that for free rather than paying an expert

Wow thanks for that FreeNiki! We'll be sure to call on you next time we need some unhelpful advice.

No problem 😍

I'll tell the sleep consultant her detailed plans for all 3 of my children are a waste and that could have been reduced to that.

Oh silly me, if only I'd just watched supernanny 6 months ago!

Oh MrsK you don't have much luck with the holidays do you! Skiing in Jan though, at least you have the potential to exhaust the kids in the snow all day and hope they sleep at night?!

Good luck tonight ladies. We’re on night three of CC. Only taken 20 mins to settle but still multiple wake ups. I’ve managed to not BF and he’s had one bottle at 4ish each night. Wondering if I can handle trying to ditch the milk tonight.

Hope the sleep fairy visits all our houses tonight, especially OP!

DH has taken ds1 up to bed - he is shattered. This first term at school has totally exhausted him. DS2 fell asleep this avo so isn't quite ready for bed yet (he has a terrible barking cough) and dd has had two 2hrs sleeps today as she is really poorly with the cold now. I'm tempted to not go back to sleep training till after xmas as i have no school time to nap in in the day and i just can't be up all night with the kids and all day with them too.

The SC suggested we put it on hold for a while till we are all ready. DH has agreed to no more work travel for a year - whether he sticks to it is another matter!

He brought in fish n chips and wine and i've had a lovely hot shower.

Sounds sensible. Do whatever you can to get sleep over Christmas. Enjoy the sleepy cuddles and let us know how you’re doing when you start again in the new year. Hope everyone is better ASAP and you get as much sleep as possible

Ds1 is now having a fucking asthma attack. Dh will sit up with him and if it gets worse have to drive to a&e. We’ve done so well avoiding them so far. This cold has really knocked him for 6.

I’m laying in bed with dd on the boob and a bucket at the ready for ds2 who is gagging again.

On top of it all the school decided this weekend should be the one that Gerald the fucking giraffe should come home and we should show him a good time. Suffice to say lots of pics of him in bed with ds1 looking sick. But the printer isn’t working so I can’t even do the pics anyway. We look the shittest parents ever!

Good luck tonight everyone.

Jesus Christ, you poor thing. I don't know how you're still functioning at all. I hope ds is ok and you get some rest tonight. It sounded like dd was making real progress and hopefully you'll be able to get back to that quickly.

Ds2 was very sick and we had to strip and move beds. Ds1 asthma has finally passed. Dd is wakeful and on the boob. I don’t think I remember what sleeping feels like!

Hopefully you'll all be well and able to enjoy Christmas MrsK! I think it's good idea to have a break and resume in the new year. Just do whatever gets you the sleep for the time being. Every time DD goes to any baby groups, she catches a cold, so we're not going out anywhere this side of Christmas!

DP's flight home was cancelled last night and DD was back to square one with the CC after the bloody fireworks, so not much sleep over here either. DD started walking last night though, so I'm enjoying watching her staggering around everywhere this morning.

Oh no Fanny - all your hard work. That's so frustrating for you. Hopefully it wont take too long to get back. And yes baby groups and soft play are just germ fests. That's how we all got D&V before our summer hol and chicken pox before centre parks - DH took the kids to soft play before we went away so i could pack in peace. We now have a no soft play for 2 weeks before any holiday rule!

I have 3 sets of bedding to wash today after DS2 was repeatedly sick in the night. DS1 is still very wheezy and has his asthma so no school today. DD was very snotty all night and woke up with her eyes crusted shut and had to be bathed in salt water open while she screamed.

We have very little food in the house - just enough for breakfast and lunch and dinner for the kids. There is some pasta that i can have with butter on! i tried to do an online shop but everywhere is booked up for xmas.

DH is really busy and said he may need to work late. My mum might be able to pop over about 5 so i can get to the shops.

Have you ever thought about getting an Au Pair? Obviously I'm not saying you need one....you sound like bloody superwoman to me. There's no way I'd be able to cope with all you've had to in the past few days, with my sanity intact! I was discussing it with DP straight after we decided we'd like another baby sometime, because I have no outside support and DP goes away quite a lot. I had an au pair when I was little and loved it, so it might be something I'll look into.