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

lupav5 - Welcome to mumsnet and this thread. Sorry you have to join us!

Those hourly wakes are just devastating - we too turned to controlled crying with our DS. Unfortunately he's had such long runs of different bugs and teething disrupting his sleep, that we've not got much to show for it yet, but here's hoping it works well for you. We found he got the hang of it after 3 nights (both times ). If only it had lasted for more than a week or so afterwards .

This should help you with the acronyms. Also, tread carefully in Am I Being Unreasonable!

Best take myself off to bed now, as DS is threatening another bad night and reserves chez IsItMe are very low. Good night all!

Morning all. I'd just like to share with you that I managed to not feed DD2 at one of her wakings last night! That's a biggie for me! the rest of the night was hideous, DD1 3 was also up shouting for ages; as a result, she has no tv or ballet today . DD2 was still awake every 1 1/2 to 2hrs but that one time that I didnt resort to feeding has shown me a glimmer of hope.

oh, and my copy of NCSS is winging its way to me as we speak!

lupav - welcome, i am new to this thread, although not to MN. HOpe you get plenty of good advice, and some sleep!

Morning all. Bicnod and IsIt. I am easy with where we meet. Just to warn you R has a stinking cold, so I will completely understand if you would prefer for us to head along another day-just let me know and I truly won't be offended. Bicnod-I have just looked at your pics of Oscar. He is one gorgeous baby.

Blimey this thread is hotting up. Olivo well done on the no feeds-hopefully things will start to improve a bit now. I am imaging a sad little ballerina too-will you be able to resist?? Ooosa congrats on your pregnancy-tres exciting. Mr Oosa should come on here! Wibbly-I didn't want to hear that about your 4 yr old ! lupav-Welcome. I know the feeling of 'I have had enough'! I think it is probably no bad thing to think about your need for sleep too.

Well aforementioned cold has meant the most broken sleep we have ever had in the history of R. He has not been feeding/eating during the day at all for the past couple of days, so I have had to feed him at night! Poor thing is miserable, usually he is a pretty jolly fellow. Because he needs feeding I have been doing all the getting up. I am cream crackered as DP hadn't been around for a couple of weeks prior to the cold, so being on soul duty is killing me. I really want a night of sleep I know I can look forward to. Also we have just booked a week to NY at the end of the week so I feel like there is no point in getting all firm about the sleep, only to cock it up with jet lag!

Sorry-long post. Tiredness prohibits the ability to edit! There really should be a tired emoticon.

Oh BB! Sorry to hear you're having such a rough time. Very exciting about your trip to NY though! Hopefully he'll sleep beautifully and you'll have a fantastic time. Any way you could express and let DP bottle feed once overnight? Sometimes that's all it takes to feel a little more human.

Welcome Lupav and Wibbly. It's not good that you have to join us, but lovely having you here!

Olivo - well done on the non-feeding. Bet you can start to see light at the end of the tunnel!

Skye is still only waking once or twice for feeds between 7pm and 8am which feels good. Unfortunately it looks like I've picked up her latest virus, albeit mildly, so also feel under the weather. On the good news front, due to her prematurity she's had to have hearing and eye check-ups over the past week to check there's no lasting damage due to the prematurity. She has been discharged from both as she's fine, so that's GOOD!

olivio - well done! That is brilliant. Is your DH able to help with settling DD2 at night? That made a huge difference for me and DS in terms of being able to stretch times between feeds.

thanks for your congratulations but i think i've misled you - i meant that at one of her wakings, i didnt feed her, but i did have to at the other 4!! I'm not that good .
still, i am pleased that i managed it once, it's a start.have told DH that now he is waking up too, he can be useful and resettle a bit. he's had the last 6 months of sleeping on his own and not being woken!
galena, i dont know your story but that sounds like good news.

Welcome Lupa - sounds like you have a plan which is definitely a good start

Olivo - that's fantastic. Dropping a night feed is not to be sniffed at - definitely the start of good things. One thing EP says in NCSS is to celebrate EVERY improvement, however small. It is babysteps to success so celebrate every teeny tiny one.

BB - I'm not bothered about stinking colds. O is constantly exposed to germs at playgroups so he's probably either already had it or will get it at some point from someone else anyway.

Can't wait to see you both tomorrow!

O slept through again last night but I can't sleep I was awake at 1.30am and then pretty much from 3.30am. Don't know why - it's driving me nuts.

He's currently refusing to nap in his cot. Grrr.

Not misleading, olivo, but still, you managed to feed one less time than normal - that's progress! That's something I've found on this thread - people understand completely what it's like and celebrate the smallest steps.

Bicnod, you definitely need to look either at relaxation techniques or possibly at whether something you've eaten/drunk is stopping you sleeping.

We're off to Yorkshire this evening for a week so goodness knows what'll happen with Skye's sleep.

As a complete aside, I've seen some 'I am 1' t-shirts in supermarkets, in size 9-12 or 12-18 months (reasonable really). Skye has JUST gone into size 3-6 months clothes. Anyone know of anywhere that sells smaller ones?

hello

can i join you all please? Am a MN regular and a lurker on this thread for a while now

DD is 6 months old and waking every 3 hours at night for a feed

I am at a loss to know what to do - i am back at work in 8 weeks and am dreading it

DD is breastfed and has some solids - not a lot

she goes down at around 630/7 and then is up at 10 ish for a feed which is fine, but then she is up at 1 ish and 4 ish - she has a full feed each time

she doesn't need feeding to sleep or anything like that - she just seems to be hungry. She slept through (around 5 - 6 hours at a time from 12 - 14 weeks or so) and it has been downhill ever since the 4 month sleep regression

thank you, tis lovely that yuo'll celebrate with me. my copy of NCSS hasnt arrived yet but it's interesting to hear what ind of things it syas. i've used the preschooler one for DD, and think i'll be re-visiting that too! thouhg the novelty of no TV is wearing thin for DD1 so maybe she'll stop shouting out soon.
rubyslippers,i've seen you about, sorry to hear your dd isnt sleeping too.

am so of those of you going away. have a great time!

Arggghhhhh! Ton. Sill. Itis. That's me, rather than A, and am feeling pretty rubbish, coupled with his current patterns of waking. DH is nobly doing most of the wakes, but it still disrupts my sleep, and in the regular 1.5-2hour wake, I will always feed A (lying down!). Can you spot that I'm feeling sorry for myself?

Bellamy and Bicnod - really sorry, but I'm going to have to cry off tomorrow. Have barely made it through the basics yesterday and today, so don't think I would be good company even if A and I did make it to Jitterbugs.

On the plus-ish side, GP gave A the all clear, just a runny nose but no infection. Tbh, we were hoping he did have something easily treatable, so at least there was an explanation for his ever decreasing sleep.

Hello rubyslippers and sorry you need to join too. Is it possible that she is having a growth spurt? I think there is one around the 6month mark. Does she go to sleep after her mega-feeds? If so, my experience was to go with it while she's feeding properly at the wakes, then try to increase the gaps (with DH's help!) between feeds once she's starting to nibble rather than feed properly.

Oh poo IsIt, that sounds cruddy. Hope your throat gets better soon.

olivo - at thinking you had dropped all feeds. I hope the shouty ballerina is quiet as a mouse tonight.

Hey rubyslippers. Are you baby led weaning or spooning it. I was a bit cold turkey about stopping night feeds. He generally only wanted a feed at 2-3ish anyway. Now however he is eating sod all and feeding zilcho, so I am feeding whenever he wakes to get something into him.

Galena-R is a bottle refuser as well as a sleep refuser. He might take a sippy cup at night but I am a bit worried about my supply at the mo. Have a fab time in Yorkshire. I got a 1 t shirt for a friend's little girl from bloomin marvellous-not sure of sizing though.

Bicnod-I 'm still up for meeting if you are. I will check for a yay/nay from you on here tomorrow. I'm fairly tall with a fairish bob-old skool green buggaboo!

thanks all for the welcome

olivio - the NCSS is very gentle and i did the pantley pull off with DD to stop her feeding to sleep and it worked

isitme - i think she has been on a growth spurt since 4 months . She deffo has a full feed and then goes back to sleep

bellamy - we are doing a mixture. She loves feeding herself - today she had watermelon and kiwi (which won't fill her up). Haven't started on protein yet ...

Galena t-shirt challenge! This place seems to start at 0-6 months, although they're not cheap.

One thing I've done before is to buy a plain t-shirt and decorate with fabric paints. It was a while back, but I think I made a stencil and then painted through it. I think since then they've got special transfer printer papers that you can use. Just a thought!

How's the CBeebies card coming on?

BB and Bicnod - thanks for your understanding. Assuming you're still talking after tomorrow , I'd love to join you next time.

Congratulations olivo on the night-feeding improvement!

rubyslippers I remember the worst nights ever around 4 months on to 6 months. I had to take him into hospital overnight at one point (not because of lack of sleep!) and I remember the nurse saying (at 2am as I paced around the ward) that some babies just get so hungry for food from that age that they don't sleep. I did wait to 5 1/2 months for weaning, at which point there was a marked improvement, but he was one ravenous baby. I hope that once DD gets into the swing of eating lots in the daytime it might improve for her and you. We give ds his dinner, then a hot cross bun or some such stodge after his bath, then a bottle of 'good night' (ha) milk before he goes to bed just to get a few good hours in at the start.

bb am excited on your behalf about NY! Wow!

Went for a baby scan today just to see that things are ok, and was delighted to find the baby sucking its thumb the whole time! I have my hopes up for a self-soother, and therefore a good sleeper . My ds has never sucked his thumb, and wonder if it might have made him a better sleeper if he had. Out of interest, do any of you have dcs who suck thumbs and are good/bad sleepers? I'd love to know if there's a correlation. You can tell there's a lot riding on this I did when I was a child and I was a good sleeper, my brother didn't and he was a terrible sleeper. That's scientific in my book. Sorry for the long ramble, I am suffering from aforementioned lack of self-edit...

Oh, Mr Oosa says he can't tear himself away from Star Trek to discuss baby sleep, but thanks for the invite bb!!

Evening everyone, ty for making me feel welcome on your thread. I can't quite believe what happened after i joined you guys last night though... DD pretty much slept all nite !! I certainly don't want to jinks this AMAZING event by saying anything silly like we've cracked it and i will say that its a fluke to be on the safe side...but yea yea yea, first night in nearly 8 months where i only went into dd's room once between the hrs of 11 and 7.30!

Feels really good to have some where to share this little triumph where i KNOW that its importance is understood.
Have a great Easter

Congratulations lupav5! That is a brilliant stretch. Hope you have another like that tonight

Wowsers, this thread is suddenly moving super fast

Don't have time to catch up properly, will try tomorrow, just wanted to say:

welcome to Rubyslippers

oh no to IsIt - really hope you feel better soon - we'll have to arrange another meet up

and yes yes yes to meeting up tomorrow BB - - 2.30pm at Jitterbugs. Oooh, it's like a blind date

Actually, BB do you mind if we make it 3pm rather than 2.30pm? Would that still work?

Will check in tomorrow morning...

So am worrying ahead here but this thread has caught my attention and is slightly worrying me as my BFed DS1 is 5mnths now and over the last 2 weeks has has started waking for a feed in our bed every couple of hours. Have also just sent off for the BLW book - should I be having second thoughts about this then??

BB would it be ok if we postpone the meet up? I've been awake since 3am and feel like a dry-mouthed zombie O slept well but I seem to have forgotten how to could we rearrange for after Easter when hopefully IsIt will be able to make it as well? Sorry for being useless - I'm struggling somewhat at the moment.

so, ooosa, do yo want the bad news? both of mine are thumb suckers, have been since their days in the womb but....well, here i am on this thread but great to hear all is well with the baby.

feel the need to report back on last night - DD2 woke 3 times but each time, took a reasonable feed and they were at least 3-4 hours apart. so now i feel i have a kind of benchmark for what she might really need and can work around the other wakings.

on the other hand, DD1 was awake at 1.30, then from 3.30 to 5.30 and again at 6.30. unfortunately, both DH and i lost our tempers with her and ended up shouting, which obviously upset her more. I am disappointed in myself, but getting up to her 8 times in a night is just ridiculous, i am so tired. and of course, today is the first day of the easter hols so i am at home with both of them, and her built up consequences of no tv, no trip to the park and no baking are going to kill me!

sorry for the essay but this thread is actually really helping me.

Bicnod no worries at all. Lets all hook up post easter. Have you tried story tapes?

ooosa glad your scan was ok. I loved, loved, loved our scans. My god daughter is a thumbsucker-slept through from 8 weeks, still sleeping through at a year. She is THE easiest baby going though.

lupav-yay. It's about time for some quick graduations.

olivo poor, poor you. I really don't blame you one jot for losing it. Why do you think DD1 is waking. How about a swimming trip today? Or is that hell on earth with two? It might tire them both out. It's always my default setting for a day that could turn out to be interminably long.

mummamango I say you should bury your head in the sand for another month .

Forgot to say. Shocking night here. But I am going to stop commenting on them until they get better. I am boring myself!

bella, good idea,might try that, or a loooooooooooooooong walk! she's sitting there like butter wouldnt melt, playing with her peppa pig stuff at the moment and being quite sweet.

lupa- well done, tell us how you did it!

interesting the possible link with BLW - both of mine are/were.