It’s getting worse not better!

[birdybirdbird]

My LO is 20 weeks old. He was a really great sleeper - up until start of January would go to bed with us around 10, sleep for a 5-6 hour chunk, feed and then back to sleep for another 3-4 hours. His sleep however is gradually getting worse and worse. It started with an extra wake up, then every 3 hours, then 2 and he’s now waking every 90mins, with lots of sleep grumbling before that which wakes me up. Sushing and patting no longer works and picking him up for a cuddle isn’t always reliable either. Breast feeding works but a lot if the time he’s not actually eating anything, it’s just for comfort. Also I’m wary of of making that be his only ‘back to sleep’ association.
His naps in the day are ok - he has very clear sleep cues which I pounce on. We always do them in the light/noise, either in the pram or in his bouncy chair in lounge. He has 4-5 which vary between 30-90 mins, probably totals around 4 hours between 8am and 8pm. He’s understood day and night really well from the off and does go down/back to sleep quickly at night.
I know this is a normal regression and I know it’s not as bad as some. Everywhere says it will get better, but we’re 6 weeks in and it’s still getting worse! It’s just slowly killing me and I’m starting to get so anxious about ‘when will he wake up’, that I’m not sleeping well in between.
I’m not comfortable with proper co-sleeping (though he is in a snuzpod), as he’s not exclusively breastfed and I have some weird sleep habits. Do you think introducing a dummy would help as he’s mainly sucking for comfort? Any other words of advice?

I’ve actually just added up some naps and it’s more like 3-3.5 hours over the day.

This is really normal- baby sleep isn’t linear it goes up and down for the first year or two. Try to relax a little about it and rest when you can, I know it’s tough. But I do think the more you learn to relax and go with your baby the less you will feel anxious. Try to nap when he does x

I second crazycatlady. Sleep habits will alter and go up and down.

My twins were great sleepers until 20 weeks and now DS is awake about five times a night. It will pass eventually, we just have to try and survive until then

DD2 is doing exactly the same thing as your DS. She’s 17 weeks but her sleep has gotten worse and worse since early January as well. I know it’s the sleep regression. I had her starting to settle in her crib with a dummy last week for naps. I’ve been feeding to sleep too at night. Just to get through. I know I can cut back later.

Then she got chicken pox from DD1 and we’ve entered a whole new realm of hell. She’s absolutely covered and miserable despite being EBF and me having had it. Last night I went to sleep at 8:40. DD1 woke me up with a night terror 30 minutes later, then we had roadworks (I literally mean jackhammering) down the street for emergency water mains repairs at 930pm. DD2 woke up as I finally was falling asleep, then up for 2 hours. DP got her back to sleep at 1230. The. Up again for another 2 hours at 230am. Up for the day at 6. She’s never been one for being up beyond feeding at night time and it’s these wake ups that wreck me.

I know this is just a perfect storm and will pass but god I’m exhausted. To shine a bit of light on all the clouds. I distinctly remember DD1 getting worse and worse, then it was like a switch flicked and she got better really quickly. She was always a crap sleeper too.

I’m of the opinion you just try what you can. DD2 was using a dummy for naps last week but the chicken pox seem to have put her off that. White noise is a big winner for her. At the moment I’m just doing what I can to get her to sleep. Once the chicken pox are done, I’ll go back to focusing on good naps. Hopefully that will help her sleep better at night!

Good luck and sorry to hijack with my sleep woes!

Ugh. We are in jury the same situation op, DD2 is 19wks and was sleeping similarly to yours and for 2/3 weeks is now up every couple of hrs. It’s confusing me as she does pretty well at getting herself off to sleep, she often doesn’t fall asleep bf ing and I thought that was the miracle cure for night waking?! Last month I thought she was having the sleep regression but then two teeth appeared and sleep improved but this spell seems much worse, just the frequency of the waking. Then when she goes on the boob she falls asleep really quickly and doesn’t get filled up, which I feel is a vicious cycle, although who knows if she needs milk anyway and just wants boob to get to sleep. She refuses a dummy. It’s defo worth trying, anything and everything. It’s so depressing. My first was a dreadful sleeper and this time it was looking like it would be different. I don’t think I can survive another year of this this time

I'm in the same boat, my Dd is waking every 1-2 hours. It's awful. I'm getting married on Saturday too!

Oh @Dandelion89! Congratulations. Lots of under eye make up?!!