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 fg, i had naturally assumed that it was always like this on the cornish riviera. it's amazing weather, but unfortunately dh suffers quite badly from hayfever, so less fun for him. st ives is gorgeous. loads of steps though, they weren't thinking about buggies when they built it!

Staines it is always like this here! for your DH tho, my hayfever is on fire today too but I really want to hold off on the anti-histamines as long as poss coz of the BFing. Haven't attempted St Ives with a buggy yet, only slinging!

I am full of happiness today because DS managed a six hour stretch last night. He went to bed at 7.30 and didn't stir until 1.45 And he only woke at 4.30 because I went to the loo, otherwise I wonder whether he'd have managed another hour or so...

DH was very nonchalant about it all this morning but I was swinging from the rafters!

Oh Bluebunny - where are you? Sounds gorgeous. I live in a land locked city...er unless canals count? I miss living by the coast...

Been out with DD in the sling today. Its amazingly hot but I went to meet a colleague for coffee. I was dreading DD getting hungry but bf was actually fine. I used a muslin to cover up a bit - I do have to work with this guy! She napped brilliantly in the sling though but I guess it could have been heat exhaustion!

Anyway, BB, 2 1/2 hours is only half an hour less than my longest stretch last night. I don't feel too tired today though and think its because I fed her lying down and sort of dozed while I did.

Feralbaby sounds like he is doing brilliantly! What was he doing before his 6 hour stretches? Have I got to wait another 8 weeks before DD does the same?

I don't blame you for being thrilled about it. If it were me it would be my facebook status, I'd have called my mum and probably started a thread in "sleep" about it!! .

Bluebunny DD was born 19/12 so one whole day older than your DS! Though a lot smaller by the sound of it, she's a shrimp of a thing (was only 6lbs at birth and still clinging just about to the underside of the 9th centile line!) All the women in my family have little babies - my niece, who is nearly 18 months, can still fit into the Bumbo we inherited from her, bless her!! They'll thank us for it when they are tall skinny teenagers, mind...

Hullabalulu We definitely got the sunshine on cue. Well, actually she had a stinking cough and cold, poor mite, around week 19/20 so was pretty grumpy then, understandably, but as soon as that shifted she was an absolute sweety, and has been ever since. She's been a tiny tiny bit more tetchy this week but really nothing to complain of. I still shudder when I remember week 13 - where she refused to sleep unless I was carrying her AND walking fast in the Baby Bjorn. If I even stopped at a traffic light she went mental... I walked about 12 miles a day that week. Wore out a pair of shoes!! Thank god she's light...

Hulla, the recent reasonable stretches have come out of the blue really. He's only ever gone longer than 4 hours on very rare occasions, it's always been 2-3 hourly waking and snacking. I'm assuming it's down to the fact that he's getting more calories during the day now that he's on solids. He's taken to BLWing brilliantly, the little stunna.

Today is officially my last day on this thread. Weird to think that exactly six months ago my body was just gearing up to give birth, I feel like I've been a mum for an awful lot longer than that.

Hullabalulu I'm in Brighton...I love living by the sea too..we can see it from our balcony..although I'm a tired and grumpy git all a lot of the time I def feel better on sunny days..!

Kiwi ah bless your little girl!my ds is a real buddah baby..10lbs at birth (ouch!) and still massive..

Goodnight.. hoping everyone gets a bit of sleep!

fg we'll miss you! Hope feralbaby keeps up the good work!

Well, my last post here! . Wouldn't it have been lovely if I could say that DS slept through last night?! Sadly I can't claim that but he did only wake twice for cuddles and didn't request milk until 5.30 this morning. I got a 5 hour stretch from 11.30 - 4.30 too which was just divine.

I am very cautiously optimistic but am also totally prepared for a full on regression.

I'll miss you all, and hopefully won't see you on the 6 month thread because all our DCs will be sleeping angelically Here's to us all (eventually) coming out the other side and being able to dispense wisdom, support and advice to other new parents!

Raises optimistic glass of champagne mug of triple espresso.

hello! Well my divine Night Of Only Two Wakings was a one-off as expected and the past 2 nights have reverted to their usual form..but hey ho.I think with this heat I can make allowances - she must be thirsty and hot so can have as much BF as she wants...If the weather cools down I'll have to think of another excuse for her! DD1 has woken up for the past 3 nights too - for water! Come on weather - cooler nights please! I've got a quiet day ahead so dd2 and I can chill out and be lazy!
FG - bye bye - hope your LO realises that he has left the thread and starts to sleep for big long 12 hours stetches to show you how grown up he is

feralgirl goodbye (for now) and good luck!

Well we had a terrible night - but poor DD woke with temp of 38.5 and turns out she's got tonsilitis, poor mite, so was obviously in pain. She's being ever so brave though, I'd cry more if I had tonsilitis!

Now I haveto give her antibiotics which she just spots out again... agh! Any top tips!?

bye FG, see you around MN (hope your good stretches continue!

Well, our night wasn't great. DD woke 4 times before 2am so I just put her in with us after that. Couldn't say how the night went after that so I must have got some sleep but I don't feel like it today.

DD is being very clingy and crying a lot at the moment. My house looks like a bomb site - I have managed to tidy-ish but not clean. I am sleep deprived, living in chaos.

Oh kiwi thats awful, your poor dd. My dd spits calpol out, i think its a reflex. I've used a syringe that I had left over from hospital when she could latch on so I had to syringe hand expressed milk (oh happy days!), had a bit more success with that. I think you can buy them... I'll goggle it...

so,eone bought us this

It has a medicine dispenser in it and I'm sure Tesco sell it. Its about £15.

someone sorry!

Hullabalulu I had days if hand expressing/syringing too! DD was in SCBU for her first week with kidney failure and wouldn't feed from me for the first 5 days. amazing to think how far they've come isn't it? Wouldn't feed from me and now she won't take a bottle!

Anyway she seems knocked out today - slept for 3 1/2 hours at lunchtime!! I kept going in to check on her despite having monitor in my hand cos I couldn't believe she'd nap that long. Could antibiotics make her sleepy?

I've got syringes and she actually doesn't seem to mind the calpol, she gets a look on her little face like "ok! What's this weird non-milk taste?!" clearly the antibiotics just taste worse! Not surprised, it's a lurid red colour...

She's just gone back to sleep - god knows what the night will be like!

Hi kiwi, hi hulla, hello everyone...
Sorry to hear about babykiwi... We had ear infection hell recently, so I know how awful it is. We also used a syringe to give him his medicine, and he tended to be ok with it...
Things here are still a bit rubbish... In addition to 2-3 feeds, I also have to wake up at least 4 times when he rolls onto his tummy, gets stranded like a beached whale, and starts to panic . The only thing that has saved me from completely collapsing with fatigue is the fact that I get a couple of hours sleep in the morning when either DH or my mother take him. Without them, I don't think I would have coped. I just hope that this awful phase ends so that I can get back to enjoying motherhood again... I'm ashamed to admit it, but I feel quite disappointed with the experience at the moment, and can't quite shake the feeling that I'm doing something wrong . I guess sleep deprivation does that to you. Anyway... things can only get better right??
Hope everyone has a good night!

Oh we had a terrible night - dd didn't settle until 9.30pm and didn't do anything longer than a 2 hour stretch. Gah! Co-slept from 2am and then DH got up for work at 6am, waking me in the process. DD was sprawled like a starfish in our kingsize bed snoozing away at 6.30am.

I completely know what you mean superd. DH is pestering about dc #2 and I just keep thinking, I never want to go through this again. I love dd, adore her but I can barely function. I love seeing her progress (she sat up for the first time today! I took a picture! May put it on my profile...) but I can't say I enjoy it much. I feel like I am just surviving.

I saw a friend today who told me I am going to have to teach dd to sleep with cio. I said I won't ever leave her to cry so she accused me of being too soft and offered to do it for me when dh and I go out for our anniversary!

She reckons if she doesn't sleep independently by the time she starts nursery they'll just leave her to cry anyway. Oh I feel sick at the thought!

How's babykiwi's throat?

How old is your ds superd, reading this thread 23-26 weeks seems to be a good phase (just under 5 weeks away for me...I will have expired by then)

Hey guys. BabyKiwi is better thank you - temperature is right down again thank god. Oddly she's actually MUCH more grumpy today which is strange, but I suppose yesterday she was just too knocked out to be grumpy and today she's got more get-up-and-grump...

I absolutely share your feelings, Superd and Hullabalulu. It's only really the last few weeks (not including last few days) where I've felt like i was enjoying it rather than just surviving it. DH also claims he wants two more DCs (agh!) and wants to know when we can have the next - to which my current reply is "When scientists work out how YOU can have it.."

Hullabalulu your DD really sounds like mine at that stage and she has become a LOT easier in the last few weeks so have hope! God knows she's still rubbish at night but nothing like as rubbish as she was, and has to some extent discovered a bit of self-settling (mainly by rolling onto her front
And do you mean BabyHullabalulu sat up by herself? That's amazing!! Or even if it was supported, it's still great. DD is, blimey, 24 weeks tomorrow and still doesn't appreciate my sitting-up-training!

Oh god no, she was lying on a bf cushion so she was half way there - it wasn't from completely flat! But she sat up and wobbled around a bit, spotted her toes and then leaned forward completely to suck them.

Well I think that's still v impressive! DD has never tried anything like that (and is also utterly unimpressed by my attempts to get her interested in her feet, gives me a "yes mother they are my feet, now get a grip" look)

She is only interested in rolling over as many times as humanly possible. Throat better today but had terrible night, she kept waking then feeding for about 2 mind then sleeping... Virtually every hour.maybe it helped soothe her throat? God I hope it's only temporary...

That sounds like something for comfort, a sore throat is horrible. I hope the antibiotics are kicking in now.

We had a shocker of a night too. DD fell asleep on our bed at 7.30pm, she looked absolutely zonked then out of nowhere - eyes wide open, smiles, raspberry blowing, singing away, grabbing her feet/my face/boobs. I didn't manage to get her into her Amby until 9pm but she woke crying at 10pm (bounced back to sleep) and again at 11pm so I just put her in with us.

She carried on crying on and off through the night but wouldn't always suckle so it wasn't all hunger. I don't feel too bad today considering...

I am picking up "The Wonder Weeks" today from the library. I hope it gives me some answers.

Thank god it's Friday. I live for the weekends when DH is around and I can have a break/soak in the bath.

HullabaLuLu Lucky you - DH works weekends (well, one of the two days, usually) which is rubbish because no one else is ever around!

How's everyone doing?? Silence for a while on the thread, does that mean blissful sleep or so tired you can't type??

Leaning towards the latter myself - DD has been a bit of a madam the last few nights. She's really grouchy the last few days too. Hullabalulu did you get the wonder weeks book? I think DD is in a thundery bit right now!

Blimey she'll be 6 months in 10 days or so, I'll have to head to that other thread...

Hey Kiwi, I couldn't face talking about her sleep! DD is in a terrible mood. I bought the Wonder Weeks because it had been stolen from is lost in the library. We are supposed to be heading to sunshine in a few weeks and she is improving (early stretches getting longer - 4 hours last night) but she wakes often after that and just wants to be latched on. Its not a proper latch though, just the nipple and they are so sore.

Oh no, I'll be posting here alone! I have another 7 weeks before I graduate from this thread!

Is Babykiwi better?

Hello! Well my silence certainly doesn't mean blissful sleep! DD2 had a very wakeful night, but unusually for her she didn't want feeding every time, she just wanted cuddles and would only settle when I brought her into our bed. Not her normal behaviour at all but I just went with it...anyway today she is covered in a rash and has had an eczema flare up and has only had 1 feed today Poor petal is poorly so she's let off for wanting her night time cuddles Hope everyone's babes are being kind to them. DD2 will be 6 months on Thursday - I think I thought we'd have made some progress by now...

Traceface That's rotten, hope she's better soon. Have you found anything good for the eczema? DD has it too and I've found slathering on Aveeno (sp?) cream helps prevent it, though I can't seem to shift the patch on her back at the moment.

Hullabalulu That's also rotten! It's bad enough when they wake loads to feed, but waking and then not feeding is even worse.. requires more energy! BabyKiwi is much better healthwise but also in a right grump today. Actually she was really odd - mostly super grumpy and refusing to be put down, and then having the occasional random giggle (and she doesn't laugh much so that's quite rare) at me. Very strange! But if it's any consolation, the sunny phase that she's just, apparently, exited, did last a long time and was really wonderful. She would happily play by herself for ages and give me some feet-up-with=cuppa time. Oh how I miss that now...