Knackered mother seeks encouragement

[jorange5]

Can I join in here please? I am mum to a 6 month old who has never slept for more than a 3 hour stretch in her life and will only sleep during the day in a sling. So here I am, heavy babe hanging round my neck, looking for support. Other babies can sleep so why can't mine???????????

Shake hands - stretching round the 6mo tyrant sleeping on my lap! And I have two more, neither of whom woke more than once a night from 2w old. We've been working on ds2's sleep since January, and it's only in the last month that we've seen a real improvement. Have you any other children? It's much easier to sort out the sleep when you don't have to meet the needs of the others at the same time.

Have you read The No Cry Sleep Solution, and Secrets of the Baby Whisperer? Both excellent resources IMO.

don't despair, you're not the first to feel like this and you'll not be the last. i sympathise with you, my dd was a bad sleeper from the start. when she was 3 weeks old, the hv said to me 'you might find she's more awake now during the day', my response was 'what do you mean more awake, she hasn't slept yet!'

we ended up in a right state, as i went back to work full time when she was 5 months old, and had to give controlled crying a go. 2 weeks later, things did improve, but if i'm honest, she was at least 2 before she started sleeping through properly.

ds was the opposite, we worried more about him as he slept so much and to us that didn't seem right as we were so used to dd

My 16 week old is the same. He sleeps for about an hour a day at the most and isn't a great night sleeper either. I just don't think he needs much sleep. I'm not doing anything about it though as I believe they find their own natural patterns, my older 2 did

Urgh. I need sympathy. Or is it empathy I actually want? I'm not sure I dare go back upstairs in case I find dh's decapitated body - how dare he tell me at 5am "You go to him, I was up giving him a bottle"? That was 5 hours earlier - what did he think I was doing between 3 and 4am?

Jorgange5, My dd is just the same. At 14 months the longest sleep stretch she's managed is a whopping 4 hours.

She would only ever sleep on me, but I decided to tackle her naps (NCSS helped here) when she was about 7-8ish months and will now nap in bed (alone), for anything up to 2 hours.

Will your lo sleep in the pushchair? Mine would never have hers, but one day I though blow this, I need some fresh air. I put her in it at nap time expecting huge resistance and to my surprise she settled down and was off to sleep in minutes. Now, it's still a dead cert to get her to sleep, if all else fails. It doesn't free up your time for other stuff, but you do get fresh air and exercise. After a bad night I feel loads better after our walk!

Empathy & sympathy coming your way PrettyCandles! My dd has a nasty tummy upset and a cold. I've had no more than 3 hours sleep in total for the last four nights. We were up at 5am today. My DH plods down the stairs at 7am, comes yawning into the kitchen, going 'god, I'm tired......'

Well, things have gone from bad to worse at night as me and the babe have both been ill. I reckon we all had about 4 hours sleep tops last night. The big problem that we have is that she is an extremely spirited child (some say hyperactive) and is very very strong (started crawling at 6 months and now at 7 walks around holding the furniture) so lying down and relaxing is not on her agenda. If i put her in her cot tired she will just pull herself up, fall down, crawl around for about 20 mins then cry her heart out. By this point she is wide awake. We try PU/PD but she just kicks, pulls, arches her back etc and is too strong for either of us so it just ends up in tonnes of crying which we can't cope with. The sling thing was OK while she was smaller but now it is a real struggle for me and I just don't know what to do...

jorange - no advice but huge hugs and sympathies

Again, she's sounding just like my dd. She was crawling at 6 months and cruising at 7 too. She didn't actually take off until 10 months though, then things really get interesting!. The good thing about walking is that it's much easier to tire them out. Swimming works a treat too.

How well does your lo eat? Mine is not a good eater and still b/fs like a newborn, but on the days does eat well she sleeps better. Not great, but better.

If the sling worked when she was smaller, have you thought about a back-pack? I find it helps loads. She can see what I'm doing, but there are no pudgy star-fish grabbing at the sharp stuff and surprisingly for such an active child, she doesn't mind it at all. Often she actually asks to go in it. Probably because I tend to dance her round the house singing to really cheesy disco music....

PrettyCandles I have no idea how you cope with another child as well - I guess you just have too but I salute you!

Last night was the worst night ever but luckily DP was working at home today so he did the sling naps while I zonked out.

I like the idea of the backpack, that would be a lot easier. I saw a cute one today but will have another look when I'm not so exhausted. TBH I would rather be getting her to sleep in her cot but again, I am too exhausted to even go there. We move house in 3 weeks so maybe I should ride this out till we are there then tackle the problem.

Danceswithbaby, our babes do sound similar. Mine breastfeeds every 3 hours and picks at finger foods but wont let me feed her with a spoon so I guess food is the main issue at night (so hopefully things will improve when she developes an appetite).

I am going to bed at 8 tonight just incase... how depressing