Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Sleep

Join our Sleep forum for tips on creating a sleep routine for your baby or toddler. Need more advice on your childs development? Sign up to our Ages and Stages newsletter here.

When do they sleep?

7 replies

Kl1234 · 24/10/2024 10:35

DD is 7 mo and has never got over the 4 month sleep regression. Will rarely nap more than 40 minutes but she wants to have longer wake windows now and only 3 naps so she is usually pretty grumpy and overtired by bedtime. Will this ever end without COI? I've booked a sleep consultant, and seeing if I can get antidepressants from the GP for me, but it feels like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. My nipples are in pain from all the night feeds back to sleep (she just screams if we try any other technique). She feels too young for COI but this is unsustainable. Any positive stories out there from babies who just didn't learn how to sleep at first? Everyone else I know seems to only be being woken up every 3hrs or longer or is on antidepressants themselves...

OP posts:
OakleyStreetisnotinChelsea · 24/10/2024 10:44

Have you looked at BASIS online? Lots of great information about baby sleep which helps to understand how and why babies sleep the way they do and also has lots of stats which help you to feel less alpine I've you realise how few babies actually do sleep!

They do sleep eventually, that I can promise you.

Brightandbreezey · 24/10/2024 12:52

I remember these days well… they are exhausting and frustrating. My LO was very similar. It took a while for things to get better, she gradually started doing 3 hour stretches on her own but this was definitely after 12 months. She 20 months now and can do 7 hour stretches on her own but this isn’t consistent and we still get nights where she wakes 3/4 times (usually illness and teething).
I weaned at 18/19 months and my partner took over nights. That’s when things really improved. We’ve never CIO and I do believe all babies get there when they are ready. Yours will too!!
A few things to consider:
can you help stretch day naps? My DD would wake after 40 minutes so I always fed back or rocked back to get another 40 out of her. She stopped heading this around 12 months.
do you co sleep? Only way I survived. Feed lying down and sleep as much whilst baby feeds. Obviously follow safe guidelines (lullaby trust)

Kl1234 · 24/10/2024 13:39

OakleyStreetisnotinChelsea · 24/10/2024 10:44

Have you looked at BASIS online? Lots of great information about baby sleep which helps to understand how and why babies sleep the way they do and also has lots of stats which help you to feel less alpine I've you realise how few babies actually do sleep!

They do sleep eventually, that I can promise you.

Thank you! It is so difficult to find useful advice online. Everyone is either telling you to COI or want you to buy some silly expensive app!

OP posts:
Kl1234 · 24/10/2024 13:43

Brightandbreezey · 24/10/2024 12:52

I remember these days well… they are exhausting and frustrating. My LO was very similar. It took a while for things to get better, she gradually started doing 3 hour stretches on her own but this was definitely after 12 months. She 20 months now and can do 7 hour stretches on her own but this isn’t consistent and we still get nights where she wakes 3/4 times (usually illness and teething).
I weaned at 18/19 months and my partner took over nights. That’s when things really improved. We’ve never CIO and I do believe all babies get there when they are ready. Yours will too!!
A few things to consider:
can you help stretch day naps? My DD would wake after 40 minutes so I always fed back or rocked back to get another 40 out of her. She stopped heading this around 12 months.
do you co sleep? Only way I survived. Feed lying down and sleep as much whilst baby feeds. Obviously follow safe guidelines (lullaby trust)

We are usually co-sleeping from about midway through the night. I struggled to sleep lying down when she was smaller as I'm pretty flat chested. Maybe now she's a bit bigger it might work, I might try during some naps. We've just started trying to extend the naps with more feeding, maybe she will get more used to this. I mainly want her to be her usual happy self and not too tired all the time (she's a very happy baby despite all the wake ups). Thank you for the support!

OP posts:
kiraric · 24/10/2024 13:48

We sleep trained at 7 months and it worked brilliantly

Not cry it out but ferber method. Worked within 3 nights and we have happy children who sleep through years later.

I can't be doing with cosleeping though it clearly works for some. Mine found sleeping with us stimulating rather than calming and also seemed to starfish rotate all night long.

Brightandbreezey · 25/10/2024 07:19

Kl1234 · 24/10/2024 13:43

We are usually co-sleeping from about midway through the night. I struggled to sleep lying down when she was smaller as I'm pretty flat chested. Maybe now she's a bit bigger it might work, I might try during some naps. We've just started trying to extend the naps with more feeding, maybe she will get more used to this. I mainly want her to be her usual happy self and not too tired all the time (she's a very happy baby despite all the wake ups). Thank you for the support!

I have bigger boobs so sorry I can’t give you much advice. I do have friends/relatives who have much smaller boobs and I know they have found a way though! So I hope you do too!! 🤞🏼
it’s so hard isn’t it when you worry they are not sleeping and you know they’re tired. Honestly you are not alone and things will get better. I used to just lie on the bed when my DD napped and snoozed with her in the day. Then when she stirred, relatch and usually she’d fall back asleep and I was resting too which was a bonus!
Good luck, hope it improves soon x

Haaaaaaan · 27/10/2024 14:11

I did CIO at 4 months as I couldn't go on, me and baby both were changed people from getting more sleep. So I don't think there's a "too young". But you know your child best so if you think it's not right then its not. At the time, I knew my baby was hysterical with tiredness and that didn't change much if I was there so it wasn't too painful to let him cry for a bit. Later on, when he went through bad periods of sleep, I couldn't do it again as I just knew that he was distressed by our absence.

His sleep went pretty bad for a while around 7-8 months (and he had never slept through the night - we only did CIO briefly and it resulted in 1-2 brief wakes which was fine by me so we didn't let him cry when he woke up). By 9 months we were starting to wonder what we should do, and suddenly he started sleeping through the night. So things can just change rapidly if you're just looking for hope!

More recently (15 months) we have been slowly sort of doing "pick up put down". We leave him to go to sleep alone, he ends up crying and we go back in until he's soothed and sleepy then start again. We do leave it a few moments or minutes to see if he will settle back down - just using our own intuition mostly. It's pretty annoying but nobody gets distressed, and recently he has returned to falling asleep himself and is sleeping well at night (usually through the night). So that could be worth a try? It might be more painful for a baby that has never fallen asleep alone though.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread