Baby won't sleep for more than 45 mins...

[absolutehush]

DAY OR NIGHT!!!

At one point she was going 4-5 hours but now she is waking at the 45-60 min mark. In the day I don't mind so much but it's killing me overnight!

I have a good bedtime routine and she goes down at 7-7.15ish. I feed to sleep (yes I know) and I can put her down just fine. It's just the staying down. How can I get her to sleep for longer??

Will try everything, although a bit afraid of CIO

@Junebug55 fingers crossed for you tonight. I hope you get at least one long stretch

@absolutehush I hear you, I've never eaten so many biscuits before in my life and have used an unnerving amount of concealer!

I think we may have made some progress... I don't want to jinx it but the last two nights we have had 3 or 4 wake ups rather than 8-10 wake ups. This is a huge difference and my body is very confused by the extra sleep! I am really hoping this isnt a one off and is a sign things are improving. He's been asleep for 2.5hours so far tonight so fingers crossed. Last night he managed 4 hours in one go, the first time in 8 weeks!!

Hope everyone else has had some progress!

@absolutehush@Junebug55 how’s the sleep? Have things improved?

Life has been so busy for us at the so have had no time to work on the sleep situation. It’s pretty bad at the mo which I think is partly to do with teething! 😭

@SonicMum86 I get the nighttime dread. About 5pm I start feeling so anxious.

Some days she does so well by her standards (3-4 hour chunks) and I wake up and feel epic. Then normal service resumes and she does 2 hour chunks. There's no rhyme or reason to it and I can never predict. Getting the odd good night is almost more stressful as I have hope!

@Junebug55 how are you getting on?

Oh and yes the bloody teeth! They're a nightmare!

I'm pale, dumpy and tired. And my hair is falling out. Wow is me!

Snap

My 7.5 month old wakes every 90 mins-2hrs for a feed. On a bad night like last night it's every hour.

I've had the occasional night where he's only woken 3 times but he has NEVER SLEPT THROUGH. My dd was sleeping through at 17 weeks so this is unfamiliar territory.

Oh and he is a milk monster, wants the boob every time. And he's feeding, not just using me for comfort. Won't take a bottle, or a sippy cup for milk. But loves his cup for water with food!!

He's on 3 meals a day and snacks and he still has the boob before every nap. This child should sleep through at least 12 hours the amount he eats!!!

On the plus side he is an excellent napper.

Just. So. Very. Tiredddddddd 😴😴😴

@absolutehush @sonicmum86 Thats the thing isnt it, there is no consistency to anything, and no logical reason for any changes!!

I really thought we were coming out of it a few weeks back but since then there hasn't been any big consistent improvement. We went through a few nights where he only woke up 3 or 4 times in a night, I celebrated too early (i.e. in my last post!!), and he reverted back to 6+ wake ups in a night. So I only have myself to blame really! 🙃 .

The last few nights hes also been really hard to resettle, hes awake for 1.5-2hrs from around 3/4am and I'm not sure why. Maybe the clocks going back has messed things up a bit? Maybe teething now that he's 6.5months old?! Who knows.

Now, I really don't want to jinx it again but last night he only woke up 3 times, and was awake from 4am - 5:15am, which is pretty good for him.... so time will tell whether that was a one off.

I suppose things have improved in that its not every hour or 45 mins.. but I was really hoping I'd be sleeping a bit more by now!

@moleeye it sounds like we have the same baby! My LO also eats 3 meals a day plus snacks and still wants full blown feeds before each nap and throughout the night!

@absolutehush it sounds like you’re seeing some improvement hopefully things just get better and better!

@Junebug55 I am also glad that things have improved from every 45min wake ups. 3 times last night is good, hope it continues 🤞🏽

I hope you guys are all able to share some good news soon as I just can’t see an end to our sleep situation - need some hope! xx

Hi @absolutehush, I know this is an old thread but I was just wondering how things ended up and if you did anything that you feel helped DD sleep longer stretches??
I've been in a similar position for 8 weeks now and I know it sounds silly but I'm having suicidal thoughts and definitely experiencing some pnd which I know would be so much easier to handle if I could just SLEEP!😢
Thanks xx

@lemon789 now it’s my turn to ask you! I’m a few weeks behind you. It’s been hourly wake ups for 10 weeks and now bub will only sleep on me. How are you getting on?

Hello!

Sorry! So she did become an excellent sleeper but we did end up doing more 'robust' sleep training...

We started by putting her into the cot after a bottle and encouraging her to lie down. Sitting by the cot patting her and soothing words. Night two was the same, no patting. Night three we were in a chair by the door. Night four just outside. Rules were no picking her up, if she cried once we were outside the room, wait 5 mins, soothe... and then out. No picking up!!

It took about 5 night but it worked. She slept 7-7 for about 12-18 months, but we've gone through a rough patch as we've taken the side off her bed. She is nearly 3 though!!

Good luck. It does get better!

Just to add - my pnd got HUGELY BETTER with sleep.

@absolutehush thank you so so much for replying, how old was she when you did the ST intervention?

@absolutehush I totally get that about PND. I’ve been referred for MH support, but honestly think a few hours to myself and to sleep would be more beneficial.

I think we did ST at about 9? Months but I regret not doing it sooner.

I think what we did wasn't full cry it out and I was never comfortable leaving her cry for long periods BUT this gave her the opportunity she needed to learn to sleep.

She's still excellent at going to sleep, it's staying asleep (and in bed) we struggle with now.

PND is a struggle. There's lots of factors but I think the sleep thing means that you can't handle any of it. I honestly improved each day once I was sleeping 5-6 hours straight.

I hope things improve for you. It is totally totally normal to struggle and find motherhood hard.

Thank you. Did you find you had to repeat the ST intervention at different points?

I’m trying to weigh up the costs benefits if it all!

We have had to re-do little bits at times but more when schedules/routines have slipped because of holidays or illness, not because the training was ineffective.

It is more about us being strict than the baby! I'd also say that we stuck to the rules like glue for about 8-10 months and never had to re-do. Then she got chickenpox, it all went to shit (which is correct and inevitable). Post pox we needed to revisit but it only took 1-2 nights.

We paid £120 for a sleep trainer and honestly was the best money we spent.

At one point she was going 4-5 hours but now she is waking at the 45-60 min mark.

I feed to sleep (yes I know) and I can put her down just fine. It's just the staying down.

In the exact same situation with my 4 month old. It's so hard and relentless, I really dread the nights.

Thanks for your update, its gives me hope that maybe I can try this in a few months. My biggest fear is not sleeping when I go back to work at 8.5 months.

@notpsychic, I ended up doing similar to @absolutehush a couple of weeks ago when she turned 5 months old! We started trying to stick to the pick up put down method but picking her up made her angry that I wasn't feeding her to sleep so we patted and shushed too - she did cry but we were there with her and after about a week her sleep got sooo much better!
She now puts herself to sleep at night and if she wakes up it'll usually be for a couple of feeds after midnight or ocassionally she'll wake up between sleep cycles but fall back asleep after a few minutes!:)
I'm on antidepressants now but honestly it's the sleep that's made me feel a but more human😂