Help me!

[GMtoBe]

DD is nearly 7 months and has woken me up every 40mins - 2 hours overnight for the last 4 months. Last night however she was up 12 times in 8 hours and was awake for the day at 5.20am. This is definitely having an impact on my PND and PTSD (birth related). I usually do all of the settling overnight as I'm ebf and it's often quicker to just give her a quick feed but my plan is to stop feeding her as often (maybe reduce to once every 4 hours to begin with) and get dh to settle her in between those times so she starts to get used to not having a feed whenever she likes. Does this sound like something that might work? For information, she naps well during the day and has taken to solid food really well. She goes down for the night quite easily and we have a good bedtime routine. She sleeps in a next2me. Also she only bf 2-3 times during the day now compared to 6+ times before weaning.

Hi GM. I'm so sorry you've had to deal with PND/ PTSD whilst dealing with a non-sleeper. I feel your pain as I've gone through something similar and know how hard it can be.

My DS is 11 months and from 4 months onwards he would would wake every 30 mins-2 hrs through the night. I also EBF and he slept in a next2me. I was very reluctant to move him to his own room and held off until he was 9 months. However, since we did he has slept so much better! Definitely not perfect and we are going through some serious separation anxiety at bedtime. But there are nights now where he will sleep for 4-6 solid hours at a time. Resettling can be tricky as I am trying to night wean. So he can get worked up in the night but I can deal with half an hour of tears if I know I'll be getting a chunk of sleep once he's gone back down.

I honestly think we were disturbing him when he was still in our room. And for a time we co slept which was helpful for night feeds as I would feed laying down but as he got bigger it just wasn't practical.

Have you considered moving DS to her own room?

Thank you for the reply! We tried moving her a couple of weeks ago and initially it was fine but after about an hour she woke up and just cried and cried no matter what I did. I'm not sure how to get her used to her cot, how did you do it?

We did it at Easter when DP was off work for a couple of weeks. It definitely wasn't perfect in the beginning and he still woke often and could cry for over an hour at times. At first we continued to resettle the same way we always did, rocking, singing, shushing and patting in our arms. I'd also breastfeed which 9 times out of 10 would send him back to sleep. We got quite good at transferring him back to the cot once asleep. Which I know a lot of people advise against. But he would usually stir anyway so we'd have to quickly shush pat before he came round fully. We're now trying the gradual retreat method. So picking him up less, no rocking or singing, and sitting in his room until he eventually falls asleep on his own. Some nights he can go within 10 mins others it's over an hour. But when he does go he's sleeping for a decent number of hours which for us feels like a huge step forward.

We also use a Ewan dream sheep. Lullaby is played during bedtime routine and then white noise each time we have to resettle. No idea if this had any affect but feel like it's a habit and no point stopping now.

I use white noise but not a ewan. I might have to get one though because a couple of people have said it's good now. My dh is off for a week at the end of May so we'll give it a go then. We've brought the cot into our room for now because she's much too big for her next2me so will have to see how that goes tonight!

I wanted to bring DS cot into our room as a first step as I thought it would be good to get him used to it before being in his room on his own. But it wouldn't fit. So it could be good for your progress! Good luck! And def put your DH being off for a week to good use. Perfect time to try moving her.