Misguided Illusion Part II - Baby still not sleeping through by six months? Come and join us!

[MomOrMum]

Thought I would start a fresh thread as, sadly, we have almost filled the first one.

Feral, Kiwi, Chulita, et al...shouldn't we have graduated from this thread by now?!

Now welcoming a new crop of 6 months+ babies determined to help us reach new heights/depths of sleep deprivation.

Here is the original thread:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/sleep/713951-Support-thread-for-those-who-were-under-the-misguided-illusion

Morning - glad you've had another good night, Bicnod.

Skye's sleep isn't too bad - woke twice for feeds last night - but think that may well be because she had very little in the way of carbs for tea. However, both wakes she fed then went straight back down with no crying! Woohoo!

Oh god, I have basically been awake since 2.30am! He woke then, then 3, then 3.30, then 4am. Then at 4 he just started screaming. I tried feeding him, cuddles etc. Tried to give calpol as it sounded like he was in pain. But I couldn't give it while he was screaming. Then we had to be out of house by 8am as we are having new floor fitted.

Big strong coffee for me.

Oh roslily I'm feeling your pain! Maybe it would be worth pre-empting the screams tonight by giving Calpol before bed?

Hope the coffee has kicked in. Whereabouts are you? Are you close enough for one of us to come and offer cake?!

Can I join? I'm bloody shattered as MiniChem (6mo) has taken to waking at about half 3/4 ish and refusing to go back to sleep for at least 2 hours (usually 3). This is accompanied by an orchestra of cries, shrieks, squeals and giggles.

Noisiest. Baby. Ever.

In fact, as I finally put him down at about 6 this morning, and tiptoed out of his room, he had a wry chuckle in the sleep, as if he had found the whole debacle ever so amusing.

Galena glad Skye-baby is still doing so much better than she was. That feeling of relief when they go back to sleep after a night feed is enormous, isn't it?

Alex was unsettled in the evening last night, although DH only went to him once as he gave a couple of cries the other times and had resettled himself before DH got to him. Then woke for a feed at 4.45am, very fidgety, but went back to sleep when I put him down around 5ish. Awake for the day at 6.20. Definitely a much better night than many recently.

roslily ouch! Sounds like teething or some other pain disturbing him. Are you introducing solids at the mo? DS really struggled with that transition for a fair few weeks, but it was only the odd occasion when he screamed in pain because he was constipated. If you give Calpol at bedtime, seems to help a lot with my DS. Then we got to know when it was a good idea to repeat the dose at night, as he woke out of his usual pattern.

Hope the floor is nice!

Welcome MrsC! Sorry you have to join us, but of course you may come in!

Skye has had similar wakes to MiniChem recently - after a nasty bout of bronchiolitis, requiring hospital treatment followed by chicken pox (what a fun fortnight!). We tried CC and it worked ridiculously easily. I'm not saying it works easily for everyone, or even that it's right for everyone, but I think it was the right time for her.

Here's hoping soon he'll be sleeping like... well like a baby!

Thanks. I gave some calpol tonight to settle him. We have introduced solids, but we are BLW, and he hasn't had much to actually eat yet.

He had another screaming fit this afternoon, so I am taking him to doctors tomorrow to get checked out.

I am in Leeds, and always willing to stuff my face nibble on cake

roslily fingers crossed the calpol helps for tonight. We also did BLW, and DS took a while to get started. It didn't seem to matter to his digestion how much he was eating, just the fact of eating anything seemed to challenge his digestion. It did settle after a couple of months (sorry!) for him.

Hope the GP is able to put your mind at rest tomorrow - it's always worth getting them checked out.

MrsC Welcome, and it sounds like you need a or two. Sounds like you have a bit of a comedian on your hands. How are you holding up?

MrsC, tis hard when they giggle. What I can never understand he ds always wakes up smiling, no matter how little sleep we've had!

Just popping on to say I'm sorry I've been so crap but I'm getting so little sleep even MN has taken a back seat

DT1 mostly still waking once a night at midnight, sometimes twice at 3/4 as well. She then is often up at 6, which is completely reasonably given that she's slept all night apart from a 10min feed in teh middle. Except that...

DT2 has had several nights of waking every 1 - 2 hours and even on a good night has one stretch of 4 hours (which of course is broken for me by DT2 so I still only get 2-3 hours as my longest stretch) and with 2 hour stretches on either side.

Sorry, won't moan, just please bear with me as I can't fully participate right now.

I will say that we went cold turkey on dummies and it does seem to have helped enormously.

Hope everyone else is doing all right.

1stMrsF sorry you're still having such a hard time.

Have you any idea what's causing DT2's wakes? If it's just started recently, could it be illness or teething, in which case calpol at bedtime could work wonders. If I suspected teething, I would repeat doses when ds wakes in the night, so long as it's been at least 4 hours, obviously. If not, and he still seems in pain, I would give ibuprofen.

Could your dh deal with dt2's wakes either side of dt1's wake, so that you get a better chunk of sleep?

I'm fascinated about the dummies - did anybody see the Jo Frost programme this week with the little 3yo girl pulling her hair out, that stopped when the dummies were taken away?

1stMrsF, sorry it's so bad. We found that cold turkey on dummies worked wonders too. Having said that, though, Skye now has hers in the day (it's a useful silencer...) However, never at night (except when she's ill and then we have a battle to take it away again once better).

Didn't see the Jo Frost programme but have recorded it...

Welcome MrsC how have the last couple of nights been?

Roslily did the calpol make a difference?

1stMrsF - you poor thing I would def try the calpol route as well if its a sudden change - see if it makes a difference.

I have wonderful news to report. Oscar has slept through for the last 3 nights. From 6.45pm til 6.20am. I am beyond happy. I am delirious. I honestly can't believe it. I don't expect for a second that it will last but surely this means The Plan is working and graduation from this thread is not a complete impossibility. He is also having two naps a day - around an hour in the morning at about 8.30am and 1-2 hours after lunch.

Sadly I haven't slept through. BUT if this does become consistent then presumably my body will learn to relax at night again.

Bicnod WOW that is fabulous news.

Oh well done Bicnod, that's wonderful!

We have rivers of snot again here. She was also sick this morning, but I think that's just cold-related. I'm not convinced she's not teething too.

I'm so over these colds now.

Galena I second you on the colds!

DS has been doing well in terms of sleeping at night from 7.30 and not needing us until he wakes for a feed. Problem is he's been waking for feed and then staying awake for the day. Yesterday was 5.30am and today was 5.05am. ARRGGGGHHHHHH!

Sooooo, we're thinking that we maybe need to wean DS off his last night feed, as it now seems to be more trouble than help. Poor little thing only got 9.5hours last night, which I'm sure isn't enough for him. We also think we may need to do some more CC to get him to resettle if/when he wakes at 5ish.

Galena how did you do your CC? I'm hoping for something as gentle as possible! I was thinking of gradually limiting the amount of time I let DS feed, starting at 20mins, then reducing each night, say 15mins, 12mins, 10mins etc until we get to 5mins. Then going cold turkey from there...

Anybody got any suggestions?

Okay, we tried something diffrent this morning. A woke at 5.30am, so I fed him for 20mins and put him back in his cot. He wasn't too impressed, but only whinged for about a minute then started chatting. DH went to him when he cried and tried to settle him. And repeat. And repeat, etc. Then, at 6.40am A fell back to sleep again, and we woke him about an hour later, so as not to get the day too out of whack.

So, think we will try similar again tonight and for the next few nights and see what happens.

just marking this thread, laptop battery almost dead and I have a 7 month old gorgeous DD2

Welcome HeinzSight - it looks like it's just you and me and the person trying to get us filmed in our sleep-deprived state. How is your DD2 sleeping at the mo?

I'm always secretly pleased to meet second-time parents who have children with sleep problems as I know they'll believe us first-timers when we say we did everything the same as everyone else, but just got unlucky with the sleep genes.

Ello, just popping in briefly as DH needs the laptop. O hasn't slept through since his amazing 3 nights in a row episode but he's not very well at the mo (diar... - fill in the gaps, I can never spell that damn word!) - 5 nappies in one hour today and the worst nappy rash I've ever seen on him to date poor little mite

Fingers crossed it's a 24 hour bug and he'll be right as rain tomorrow. We're off on holiday on Wed and don't fancy a 5 hour drive to Cornwall with a squitty baby.

Anyway - here's some sleepy dust for you and all your babes * hope it works

Hi all, just a quickie too. Bicnod and IsIt that date is good for me. Bicnod I hope the nappies firm up along with the sleep for cornwall. Sleepdust grateful recieved-I hope there is some in the sea air . BTW I found niplle cream worked a treat on nappy rash.

R has the squits and is still snuffly-got his first two teeth last week too. IsIt I think we are living parallel sleep lives. R is doing EXACTLY the same-I have reverted back to feeding him but it does not make a jot of difference. Arggghhh... However he did manage to sleep through when I went out for a hen do on sat, but it was just a fluke. His sleep is just so unreliable. I dream of the day when I KNOW he will sleep through! Rant over.

Havent had a chance to reas the entire thread -yet but can I join? Newbie. DS is 6 months does not and has never slept through. At the moment he averages 3 hours at best. Have older DD and did not have this problem with her, she sleeps well, feel like its all gone wrong this time and I am so so exhausted and the thought of going back to work in this state makes me feel sick. Looking for some support - or indeed a miracle solution!

Welcome cordelia - that sounds familiar from when DS was that age, and it is sooo tiring.

What are you trying at the moment to help him settle? Between us on the thread we've tried a fair few things, so if you tell us where you're at, somebody might be able to suggest something.

BB and Bicnod - sounds like we have a date!

DS has a disgustingly snotty nose at the mo and DH declared last night in the top 3 worst nights ever. He was waking about every half an hour until 1ish, then awake until about 3, then thankfully slept until 6ish. That was it for the day. Have been napping with him today, but because of the snot he can only manage 30mins or so. Early night again for us tonight!

Sorry to have been absent for a few days - the rivers of snot and single vomit on Sat morning turned into hard work breathing and blue lips Saturday afternoon, and another 3 night stay in hospital for Skye - with 9 hours in the High Dependency Unit as they couldn't get her blood oxygen levels up.

Luckily she's better now and, while still coughing, is much happier in herself.

Welcome Cordelia and HeinzSight, sorry you have to join us.

BB and Bicnod, sorry to hear about squitty little ones - hopefully things will firm up soon!

Isitme, not having read anything much on CC, I went my own way... I put Skye down, and she screamed. I bent over with my hand on her chest and kissed her forehead and said 'Mummy and daddy love you but it's time to sleep.' I then kissed her forehead again and walked out of the room - Cue even louder and crosser screams.

After 2 mins, return and repeat.

After 5 more mins (and every 5 mins thereafter), return and repeat.

Never more interaction than that, and always exactly the same words (except in the day when it becomes 'Mummy and daddy love you but it's time for your nap.')

If, during the 2/5 minute gap she starts to become intermittent, I would delay the return, only returning after a whole 2/5 minute screaming session.

Every time I visited and walked out again the screams became crosser and louder than they had been. However, with her it worked relatively quickly. Longest we had was 35 minutes one night, but that was only 3 or 4 visits as she went intermittent. (She can cry on and off for about 20 mins without a visit before dropping off).

I'm not saying it'll work for everyone, but it worked for us. Having said that, we may need it again - her sleep's been all over the place the last 3 nights. I think I've had about 4 hours sleep since Saturday morning.