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Sleep

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Original poster

knackered, fed up & a bad mother! what would you do?

18 replies

littleweed · 15/11/2004 12:36

The last 2 nights my normally 12 hour a nighter DS has woken in teh middle ofteh night. Satrday night it took an hour of going in adn out to get him back to sleep. last nigh ti took from 3.30am until 6am. I tried controlled crying til 4.15. whenthatdidn't seem to be working I gave him a bottel (which he took although not that enthusiastically - he'd has 8 oz at bedtime) . by 6am when he still hadn't fallen backto sleep despite al my best efforts i gave him some calpol. which of course worked within 10 minutes! now I'm wondering should i just have done thatin teh first place? (thoughI don't think he's ill) & i feel really bad about using it to get him back to sleep but I was desperate. Am trying despertaly to think how to play it tonight if it happens again. has anyone got any ideas? would be very grateful. LW

OP posts:

crunchie · 15/11/2004 12:40

He probably won';t do it again, however he may not have been 'ill' but was in pain hence Calpol working. Personally I don't know a mother who hasn't tried Calpol - just in case. It certainly doesn't mean you are a bad mother.

Gobbledigook · 15/11/2004 12:41

You are not a bad mother and can I just say in advance that if any sickly self righteous idiots come on here and slag your decision to try controlled crying or giving a bottle - ignore them!!!

How old is ds?

Gotta go as v busy with work but will look back later!

Try and get a nap today if you can you poor thing

Frizbe · 15/11/2004 12:53

Hi is it his teeth? the usual reason my dd wakes up in the middle of the night screaming is teeth....can't beat the calpol and if that doesn't do the trick, bung in the Nurofen as well (they can be safely crossed in case you didn't know, solves teeth and earache) and your certainly not a bad mum, in fact very good, for dealing with it for all that time without going insane!

Angeliz · 15/11/2004 12:57

Don't beat yourself up, since the calpol worked then as crunchie says, he may have been feeling a bit poorly!

Hope you all have a better night tonight+

MistressMary · 15/11/2004 12:58

Hey, from a mum who has trouble with my 1 yr old teething terror who takes forever to settle to sleep, do whatever it takes.
Calpol, bottle, pushing around in pram etc.
If it is a quick way and obviously helps your child out of pain or whatever, then it will be beneficial to you all. Nothing worse than being up all night and facing more of the same the next day, no good for anyone. Grumpy child even grumpier parents due to lack of sleep.
I don't see it as making a rod for your own back . I see it as dealing with it and with the least stress that you can.

nailpolish · 15/11/2004 13:03

if im honest i would give him a dose of calpol at beditme. i agree that it may be his teeth. how old is your wee one?

Original poster

littleweed · 15/11/2004 13:24

thanks everyone. he's 13 months so guess teethig is a possibilty though haven't seen any other signs. he also has his MMR last week so am wondering if its anyhting to do with that. I just hope it's not going to be a permanent thing or i shall be knocking back teh calpol myself!

OP posts:

Gobbledigook · 15/11/2004 13:28

Littleweed - could easily be his teeth or it could be a mild reaction to MMR as it takes around a week for one of them to kick in - can't remember which way it is but either the measles or mumps kicks in after about a week and I think it does say in the leaflet they can feel a bit out of sorts a week after the jab.

Don't worry, I'm sure he'll be fine and like others, I'd use the calpol if you know he's not hungry, wet, in need of cuddles or whatever - he could just feel a bit grotty.

Hope you get some sleep tonight!
x

Petesmum · 15/11/2004 13:30

Can sympathise with how tired you must be feeling today. With any luck your DS will have a decent nap during the day so you can get your head down too.

I agree with the others in saying that you are not a bad mum. Holding out till 6am before trying calpol deserves a medal. My DS is 21 months and just recently we've had a few terrible nights - teething & nightmares I think. I'm sure we all have tales about disturbed nights but here are a few of mine to cheer you up:
A couple of weeks ago DS was not going back to sleep and I eventually asked him if he wanted calpol, DS actually sat up in bed and started bouncing up & down with excitment. Poor thing must have been trying to tell my he had toothache for a good 2 hours
One night I ended up sleeping on the floor of his nursery because he was waking every 20 minutes.
Other times I've given in and brought him into bed with us (he slept fine after that which is more than can be said for us!)
And last night, DS & I de-camped into the spare room. I stayed with him till he fell asleep and then crept back into my own bed.

beansmum · 15/11/2004 13:32

there's obviously something bothering him so I wouldn't worry about giving him calpol. As long as you don't give him more than the max dose it's not going to do any harm and he probably just had a bit of pain somewhere which the calpol really helped. Hope you have a better sleep tonight.

MistressMary · 16/11/2004 14:23

How did last night go Littleweed?
A better night?

RudyDudy · 16/11/2004 14:47

just a quick note on the calpol - i have been told that it is not a sedative so if you give it to your little one and they sleep it's because there was something wrong, a pain, or something. I know from my own experience one time DS was screaming in the night and I had no idea what was wrong so I gave him some calpol incase he was ill and it had absolutely zero effect!

Hope you had a better night littleweed.

Original poster

littleweed · 20/11/2004 10:59

oh blimey where do I begin??!!
last night ds woke at2 adn didn't go back to slepp till 4am. i gave him some calpol first this time but it had no effect at all. he woke again at 5 then went back to sleep till7. I tried CC for an hour adn a half before giving in picking him up adn cuddling him. that is what seemed to smed him back to sleep. now bless him he's so tired and its nowhere near lunchtime. he's only sleeping 2 hours in the day so don't thnk its a case of too much sleep. he's waking at 5.30 every mornuing as well and not going back to sleep then. i'm just at my wits end and so tired i just want to cry. i also just want my happy cheerful ds back. i'm so scared that its a reacto to the mmr and this is how its going to be. cananyone offer any reasurance?! Dh is away so its just me.

OP posts:

TracyK · 20/11/2004 11:40

I wonder if its the weather or something. My usually sunny little boy (8mo) has turned into a nap hating/early waker whinging monster. Its just been the last couple of days that he doesn't want a morning nap till nearer lunchtime and then either has a catnap later in the day and wakes in a foul mood or struggles to get to bath time in a foul mood.
We all know the mantra - all together now -
it's just a phase, it's just a phase.......

agy · 20/11/2004 12:01

If cuddling gets him back to sleep, I would do that straight away. I think controlled crying when they're upset in the night can make things worse. Hope things are better tonight.

Original poster

littleweed · 20/11/2004 12:11

cheers girls. he's been asleep for an hour now (wihtout lunch) so am hoping we can get things back on track soon.

OP posts:

youngfifemum · 27/11/2004 22:55

hi ter i kno how u feel my 10 month old wakes up every night if she does not have calpol as she teething a lot the now and she sleeps all night with calpol though im worried about giving her calpol every night as mu hv said it does damage to babys stomach if u give them calpol ever night

aloha · 27/11/2004 22:58

That's crap! Of course it doesn't. Otherwise you couldn't buy it over the counter. Silly moo. (that's her, not you!)

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