4-5 month olds sleep club, - come and join..........

[SnowlightMcKenzie]

Hiya,

There have been so many threads lately about babies who were beginning to sleep better, but suddenly hitting this regression to newborn hell.

So I thought I would start a support thread for us all to compete whinge about how little sleep we are all getting, and tips on how to cope.

Baby Starlight was up just twice last night, but the previous night it was 6 times, and because of that I kept putting off going to bed at all last night, so even though it wasn't too bad, I still had hardly any sleep

Hi Nessa and all others too.

Same here Nessa; DS settles himself for naps beautifully and sleeps like an angel for the first three hours of every night. It's just from 10pm onwards that he is a little heller! I too have spent silly money on black out blinds. Devastating isn't it? You spot something that touts itself as a miracle cure (hammock, white noise, CD of relaxing music, massage, the perfect night nappy etc. etc.); you spend money on it; you wait in desperate anticipation for it to turn up - hoping that maybe just maybe this is the answer; you try it and then, when it makes no sodding difference at all, you hate yourself for being such a gullible fool...

Hulla DS and I are still co-sleeping (we talked about it before). It makes such a huge diff to my night's sleep. I tend not to really remember what goes on at night because I don't always fully wake up. I got v with my mum yesterday when she suggested that co-sleeping is a bad idea. I rather tersely suggested to her that, had she bothered breastfeeding me or my brother for longer than 2 months, then she might well have found herself co-sleeping as it's so much easier.

Sorry for baby superd's poor ear! You must really be feeling like the world is conspiring against you. I hope things improve for you soon.

Morning, well I can only report two wakings - about midnight and 3am (DD's bedtimes seem to be getting later, it was 9pm last night). DH usually gets up with DD when she wakes for the day and complained yesterday of her 5am starts so I brought her into our bed when she woke at 3am. When she started to stir at around 5am I shushed and cuddled her and she managed another 50 minutes. She then started babbling and trying to roll over so I said to DH "Sorry, only managed another 50 minutes past 5am" and he replied "better than no minutes" and rolled over and fell back asleep. DD continued to swing her feet in my face so I got up with her.

I'm in a strop with DH now. I look after DD from about 7am until DH gets home at 6.30pm, he bathes her while I cook, then I feed her whilst eating dinner and then go to bed. DH then has his evening free to watch what he likes, drink his drinks while they're still hot etc etc. I don't get any time for me!

FG, I have been backwards and forwards on the co-sleeping but remember our chat about it and its partly the reason I keep going back to it. I have struggled because we had a memory foam mattress and I just felt it was too soft but we had a firm mattress delivered yesterday so I could finally relax feeding DD in bed last night.

My mum also has a problem with co-sleeping. Her view is if DD will settle in her Amby why go backwards and make a rod for my own back? I would have thought the same thing before DD was born but I have this overwhelming feeling that she should sleep next to me (that and I get more sleep having her next to me that leaning out of bed bouncing the bloody Amby all night!!).

Hope you all had a better night!

Hello, I've not been on this thread before but the title drew me in...
My 5.5 month old wakes very 2 hours on a good night and quite frequently even more. I'm tired. She has been a 2 hourly feeder day and night since birth, about a month ago she strayed into a 3 hourly zone for about 3 nights, then reverted to the good old 2. Her days can go 3 hourly, and I've just started weaning this week (only a few mouthfuls at lunch time each day).But her nights....oh the nights...I really think she is hungry because she feeds well at night, and won't settle with anything apart from boob (did I say she's exclusively BF?). DO I fit in to your thread?!!

Well I'm a newbie here too traceface but I reckon you'd fit in nicely.

Welcome Traceface you're definitely another parallel lifed buddy! Sounds like we'll be graduating to the (epic) six month thread together soon too.

Ha Hulla, funny isn't it? There are sooo many things that I said "I'll never..." about and co-sleeping was top of the list! I think it's (a) instinctive and (b) lovely so, tbh, sod our parents, grandparents, in-laws and everyone else!

Re DHs, I swing from feeling intensely sorry for my DH to wanting to murder him. I know I'm being a cow because I'm so knackered but I too feel like I do bloody everything and it drives me nuts that I have to ask him to do stuff rather than him noticing and just doing it. The other morning we actually discussed him moving out for a week because all we do is bicker and argue...

However I'm going back to work on July 1st and DH is going part time so he is going to start doing the nights and spending two days a week at home with DS so he'll soon understand what it's like!

MiL is babysitting for us tonight while we go out. I'm terrified; it's the first time he'll have been with someone other than me or DH for longer than about 30 mins and he's going through a growth spurt. Knowing the MiL I'll probably come home to him munching on a bloody Maccy D!

[manic cackling] I cannot believe it...fed dd at half 11 and woke up at quarter to 7 with boobs about to explode and the sound of baby chulita singing to herself what on earth happened?? What did I do yesterday that I must do today??? AAAAAHHHHH!! I got 7 hours sleep and I want more, more, more!! Brace yourselves for an almighty moan tomorrow when I don't get it
Oh...and welcome to all newcomers

Chulita - congratulations! It is because you did a good deed yesterday and sent me the urinoff. If you want to send any more stuff we can do an experiment? I would also trade most of the contents of my house for 7 hours sleep.

Well done Chulita!! Maybe it's the moon or something because DS had a DF at 11pm, a feed at 4am (yes...4am!) and that's it until 8.30am . I keep thinking that maybe I forgot a feed/waking but no....I really did have 5 hours sleep in a row

Hope baby superd is better now.

I am frequently a total cow a bit terse with DP. He did his 1st night feed ever 2 nights ago and you'd have thought the world was coming to an end! He made such a big deal about it. Frustratingly, I laid awake through the whole feed anyway worrying about how much DS would take and whether DP would be able to resettle him ok and remember to switch the monitor back on!

Lol staines

Hah! spoilt again, the 7 hours was a one off, back to the old 'sleep-training' debate!!

How's baby superd doing?

DH has been fantastic this weekend, he gets up every morning to change DD and give me an extra 10 mins in bed, it all helps. (the cups of tea and biscuits are always a winner too ). He's away a lot for work at the mo so comes home ready to spoil me and I'm not going to argue!!

How low have we got that a 5 hour sleep is worth writing about?! and a 7 hour sleep feels like christmas???

Hope everyone has a lovely bank holiday

Lol Chulita, 7 hours like Christmas!!

My DD did a 5 hour stretch last night (9pm - 2am) and we haven't stopped talking about it this morning!! She then only slept another hour and a half before I just put her in with us for the rest of the night and she woke for the day at 6.30am. DD got up with her and let me lie in until 9am.

I think I must be due a stint of sleep regression soon!

Co-sleeping on our new ultra uncomfortable firm mattress is killing my hip. I would be so much more comfortable if I could lie on my back or stomach next to DD.

Lovely sunny day where we are (staying at my mums), hope everyone else is enjoying a lovely sunny bank hol too.

Happy Bank Holiday Monday Ladies!

Pleased to report that baby superd is making an excellent recovery. Still waking up every two hours through... We're thinking of moving him to his own room once he hits 5 months as I keep hearing that it can help (plus it's one of the few remaining things on the planet that we haven't tried...). Any thoughts?

at Chulita's sleep and helpful DH. Mine has sodded off with the car so that he can go for a surf after work (and skive from doing the bath tonight) which means I'm on my own in the house and it's just started to rain and all my RL friends are working or on holiday

Very glad to hear that baby Superd is feeling better and back to his old self! I'm thinking of trying the feralchild back in his room very soon. He made it until 3am in his own bed last night before screaming at me and refusing to resettle. I think this month I'm going to work on getting him to spend the whole night in his own bed and then move him.

Is anyone thinking of doing some CCing in the next month or two? I really don't want to but I don't know how desperate I'll have to be before I give it a go.

Ok, so here's the question: how do you know when they wake up that they don't need feeding? DD woke up 3 times between 6pm and 6am and I'd love her to sleep longer but she does feed...not amazing 30 min feeds but she'll have a boob and a half probably. Everyone says they should be sleeping better by 6 months...hah...but with regards to CC how do we know whether it's a good time for it? Any ideas??

hello all,

i have temporarily stopped thinking about it. i am sooooooooooooooo grumpy, i can't think about anything else, have to concentrate on my bad mood.

i know it's a self fulfilling prophecy!

On a more positive note, we had a great morning car booting this morning. ikea high chair for £1.50.

Chulita - have great plans for urineoffing the entire house tomorrow. very exciting!

Oh Chulita, how I wish I knew.

We're thinking of trying to offer baby superd water at at least one night waking once he's off his course of antibiotics and is back to 100%. I suspect that at least one of his night time feeds is borne out of habit rather than need. Obviously, if I'm wrong, he'll get milk, but it's worth a try... isn't it???
.

Deffo worth a try superd, trouble is DD is at a stage where everything is highly amusing so when she has a sip and realises it's not milk she has a good old laugh and then starts rooting around for the real thing...
Funny how we all think about CC but we still have to whisper cos we know someone's going to proper flame us for even thinking of it

Hooray for urineoff, long may it spread its cat smell hiding goodness

The whole problem is.. are they really hungry? You ignore the nighttime waking chanting to yourself "she can't be hungry.. surely not.. not after that 1 hour feed + tablespoon of baby rice 2 hours ago.." but the poor mite sounds starving, so what the heck, you whip the boob out anyway. DD then grabs it with such enthusiasm that I think I must have been right.. but she only seems to need a few minutes (never sure; I always nod off). I started first 4 months co-sleeping: gosh I long for those days because, as everyone says, you don't really have to wake up. You're dimly aware a few times a night of a gently nibbling but apart from that it seems like a blissful 8 hours! I got hysterical worrying that i would never get her to sleep by herself so now she is in her cot and the minute I finish a feed I toss her back in and fall asleep again. I did try co-sleeping again recently in the hope of some sleep but she spent most of the night wacking me with her arms and grunting in my ear; it was like sleeping with the DH.

Don't get me started on DHs. I sleep in DD's room while DH sleeps in our room (haven't seen my own delicious bed for nearly a year as he threw me out when i was pregnant complaining about my snoring). He used his paternity leave to send me off to my parents while he soundproofed our bedroom with acoustic stuff in the floorboards and walls so that he wouldn't have to hear the troublesome sounds of our two DDs, day or night. Ok so he works shifts, but really.. he has not lost one wink of sleep in the 3 years since we had children!

Lol at all of your post Nessa! Chulita, DS is the same. Whenever I've tried him with water he's just rolled the teat around in his mouth and laughed at it. Same with dummies. Grrr.

I'm leaving the CC for a while because (a) everyone says absolutely not to do it before 6 months minimum and (b) we're BLWing so he's only messing about with solids at the moment (although he's definitely eating, more on this in a min). Once I know he's eating three full on meals a day and therefore can't be hungry at night then I'll get tough I think. The BLW blog says most BLWing DCs get going properly at about 9mos.

His latest trick, now that he's having some fruit and veg, is to save up two days worth of evil poo and shoot it all out at 5am, all over him, his grobag and my sheet. A couple of days ago he did it and, while I was changing him on the bed, he peed everywhere as well; all whilst giggling like a thing possessed.

I'm expecting the worst tonight...

Nessa - I think I love you! dh thought that paternity leave was for improving his rating on football manager. fact.

Blimey this makes me really appreciate DH! If I'm really exhausted/ill/down he volunteers as night nanny - sleeps with DD in the main room while I kip in the spare room and just brings her in for feeds - he does all the resettling etc. Bless him.

BabyKiwi is showing some signs of progress and adjusting to life without the swaddle - she's even in the last week or so FINALLY stopped her habit of waking up exactly 45 minutes after we put her down. She's going 3 hours at a stretch now, sleep-wise, which is a big improvement on 10 days ago. She even managed to put herself to sleep last night after 10 minutes of babbling to herself, which was very very cute to watch [besotted emoticon] If only she'd do that in the middle of the night ...

However, the last few nights have been hell because I've had sinusitis - so while she's been sleeping I've been clutching my head and groaning gently to myself.

If there's one thing worse that sleeplessness because the baby is awake, it's sleeplessness when they are dozing. It's just such a wasted opportunity!!

Well I found a few things out last night:

-DD can fall asleep on her own (see small caveat below) and doesn't need* rocking/feeding etc (but still likes those methods)

-Co-sleeping/lying on a flat mattress seems to cause her to wake more.

-Huggies Superdry leak big time!

DD started her sleeping on and off from about 7pm but kept waking. DH tried cuddling her and I tried feeding/suckling but she wasn't interested. *In the end we lay down on our bed with DD lying between us (DH pretended to be asleep but I thought that a step too far) and she just nodded off. We then moved her to her Amby (9pm by this time) and she slept until 1.20am. She then woke at 3.30am for a feed and I put her back in her Amby and she woke at 5.15am talking to herself. I lay her next to me to feed and she suckled for a minute or so and then fell back asleep so I put her back in her hammock and she slept until 6.30am.

This is better than when she sleeps next to me, she keeps bringing her feet up and slamming them down. I can only assume it's to try and bounce the bed like the amby.

When DH picked her up at 6.30am her pjs were soaking from leaky wee. That's the 3rd time in a week and we've moved to Huggies size 3 (she's over 14lb). Not sure what to do next...

So, I will continue to feed her lying down in bed but after that its back in the hammock.

Hope you're feeling better KP. Its awful lying awake when your dc sleeps - I usually end up worrying, counting the minutes of lost sleep!

[sigh] baby Chulita is 6 months old as of today. The only consolation I'm going to take with me to the 6mth sleep thread is that there isn't a 7/8/9mth thread.
I was debating CC with a friend and she said "as long as you're happy getting up to feed her you don't have to do CC". If only it was a matter of 'being happy to get up'! I'm not happy getting up to feed umpteen times a night but I'm not happy letting her cry when I'm not sure whether she's hungry or not. Argh!
Still, when I joined this thread I was up every 1.5hrs and now I'm only up twice a night or thrice on a bad night so at least there is some progress!!
hulla - DD does the leg slamming thing too, we don't have an Amby but I think they do it to work their abs for that all important sitting up stage in a few months...very noisy though!!

bye bye Chulita - see you in two weeks on the 6 mths thread....or now i come to think of it, not on there, any where but on there!! fingers crossed for you

Oh terrible night, no long stretch. Awake every hour and a half from 8.30am. I have been pinched and kicked all night. Exhausted. Can't say anymore, need coffee.

Good luck on the 6 month thread Chulita, you'll probably be sleeping brilliantly by the time I get there so see you round MN!