Sleep is for the Weak! we got too big?!!??!?!!??

[cruisemum1]

can you believe that?! we got too big?
we should surely get an award from Mumsnet?

need someone to tell me who slim is? can't find the namechange post.

bags my ds is 16 months old and has only slept through the night once (last week!) so we all sympathise. at 12 weeks he was exactly as you describe hardly napped at all and woke every 2 hours. it's a killer. I bought NCSS a few months ago and it is a very gentle guide to helping your baby sleep but tbh most of it is common sense. other than that we've just taken each day/week/month at a time and he has slowly gotten better. Very slooooooooowwwwwwwly

Slim = Swizzler

Amber I no exactly what you mean about reluctance to hand over the lo. I am exactly the same despite moaning I don't get and respite. Are we our own worst enemies?

thanks ginger. how's things? totally understand the mil thing. mine is fabulous and she still manages to wind me up and lives 5 mins away!

bags - i think my LO was about the same at 12 weeks. and unfortunately i found that no books or routine would help at that stage. but in a way i think it was important in the scheme of things to at least keep encouraging the naps so when the time was right the stage would be set....

anyway, hold on in there, our LO has just started to sleep in a manageable fashion in the last week.

the first way that i got naps to happen was to observe tired signs and put him to bed immediately. maybe he would only sleep for 1/2 an hour, but i tried not to worry about it. eventually they became 45 mins, and then recently we often get 1.5 hours. though occassionally reverts to 30 mins again!

i think its just baby steps and gentle encouragement in the right direction.

well said amber.
In hindsight we def missed some tired 'signs' when he was very young . Eventually at about 4 months we got into a habit of '3 yawns and it's nap time'. This usually yielded results and like amber he would sleep for 30-40 mins pregressing to 2 hours the older he got. Now he's a toddler it's so obvious/predicatble when he's tired but when they're very young i didn't realise his hyper/manic behaviour was tiredness. stupid i know now!

amber iirc did you take a course to become a bf counsellor? bursting bug in the bar tonight was asking for bf advice. she has started a thread so if you're about can you help. Ta x

tamdin, yeah i wish someone stressed the importance of tired signs to me earlier. also i didn't really realise that he could only stay up an hour and that he wouldn't just fall asleep when tired! you learn with them i guess.

willhave a look what bursting bug is asking. am halfway to become BF peer supporter.

Morning all,

Thanks for the advice everyone . I am trying hard to focus on the tired signs, as the LO does get overtired dead quickly. I am trying to make sure that we are doing relaxing, "cuddly" things one hour after she wakes, so that if I miss the signs she is more able to drift anyway (worked at lunchtime yesterday).

My main bugbear is the evening though. She bathes 5.30-6ish, then top-up feed, then cuddle, then bed. Falls for 30-mins, then wakes still grumpy and tired. I try to soothe (in cot initially, then in arms), but often fail and end up enduring proper, purple faced, ear-splitting, roaring fit! This happened last night til 9pm. I usually intervene quite quickly, as the times I have tried to let her resettle, it has been more likely to end in roaring. I would love any tips on how this can be avoided (without letting her sleep in my arms all night!).

Average night last night - 3 x wakings, but bonus was she resettled from 5-8am! So we've slept in. Immunisations today though . She was a total horror all day last time, so wish me luck! Thanks everyone

hello everyone! i hope you don't mind...

i do not normally come on this thread but thought you may all probably be able to give me a little reassurance if thats ok -

dd (17wks) is, for the most part, an okish sleeper - asleep between 7-8 wakes up every 3-4hours for a little feed before waking up for the day at 7.30am.

however, this last week she has woken up every hour and a half to two hours throughout the whole night.
she has had a cold, teething a bit too, and i'm sure i heard some people say somethng about a growth spurt at 4/5 months -
does this sound about right to you?

Morning Cathcart,

Am new to the thread, and to being a mum, so I'm afraid I can't offer any advice, but would like to send good, sleep-filled vibes your way .

bagsundereyes - 3 wakings sounds rather good! well done. the waking after going to sleep thing is tough. the only thing i can think is that she might be overtired by the time she goes to bed? and then when she wakes up and can't go back to sleep she is cranky and frustrated ...
i would see if you can get her to have a late afternoon nap and play around with the timing of that and see if it would help. other than that, i don't know ! i'm sure she'll grow out of it at some point ...

morning bags glad you got a lie in this morning. we did too ds came in with us about 4 and we slept until 9!! dh managed to have a shower and leave for work and ds didn't move a muscle. Now if only he would sleep like that at night. think our 'throughthe night' last week may have been a one off (as predicted!)
hope there were some good nights out there x

hey cathcart, all those things sound about right! could be a growth spurt, people say they happen at particular times, but i've found them all over the place. also, i'm sure if your LO has a cold or is teething she might need more drinks and more comfort in the night.
i hope she gets back to her 3-4 hour routine for you soon though.
xx

Cath and Bags, I really feel for you both. It is so hard when they're that young but it does get better honest. I still find it tough but it's a different hard and there are more rewards the older they get.

Cath, you are right it is perfectly normal. A few of us started the original thread back at Christmas time when our Lo's were that age and they had gone from being reasonably good sleepers to waking for feeds every couple of hours. It was a nightmare but it does get better. There are also those pesky teeth that start to play up so although it's very hard at the moment, it won't be this hard forever. For me I think it took a couple of months to feel like I was gettig somewhere (then the teeth popped up!) and even tho we're still up here it's nothing like it was at the 4 month stage.

BTW, don't believe hat people say about weaning. It makes no difference!!

A tiny miracle seems to be occuring in the ginger household. For the last 3 nights DD has gone into her cot awake and put herself to sleep with no touching. Last night i plonked her in the cot and left the room and not a peep until 11 then into bed with me. Unfortunately after 4 ish she thought it was time to get up on account of the birds singing and light coming through the blinds so we're completely out of sorts but I'm gobsmacked at the progress.

DH has been instructed (yelled at) to put up a curtain pole tonight so I can black out the room!

ps Where is Tibsy?

actually, we had an excellent night. 2 wakings for feeds at 1 and 5, awake at 7.15. didn't hear anything else other than a bit of chattering when i put him to bed after the 5.00 feed.

thankyou amberjee! thought so, just needed to hear it

x posted cathcart. yes totally normal ime. growth spurts always send ds back to frequent wakings and come to think of it so does teething!
cruisemum and ginger ninja started this thread a long time ago becaus ethey lo's at 4 months just randomly stopped sleeping. cruise did cc in the end and has now left us but ginger is still here. Hopefully she can enlighten you.

yeah, where is tibs? still dreaming of johnny depp??

and thankyou to ginger! i will hold fast until it passes!

blimey ginger, what a treat! Hope your dh is properly trained to do as instructed.

x post - thanks too tamdin!

have lurked on here sometimes, i haven't worried too much about dd's sleep so far, let her kind of lead the way for the first couple of months. I am now strict about putting her down at 7pm which is sometimes a struggle but i think i'm winning. Hopefully this will pass - or you will be seeing a lot more of me

thanks again!

aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

uh oh tibs! tell all...

morning ladies, welcome to new posters and welcome back tam
wish i could say that i've been off having 12 glorious hours of sleep a night or that i've eloped with johnny depp........but alas, neither is true
for those of you who had good nights, i salute you, for those of you with crappola ones, i empathise.
ginger, dd decided that 4ish was a good time to wake up to this a.m too
for the love of all that is holy, when will the sleep thing become consistent?