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

Galena the link ahem .

DH has taken the day off work to look after A, so I am nursing my sore throat and temp in bed. A had a horrible night last night - just kept crying whatever DH tried. So after he'd done everything and I'd fed him in desperation, DH did controlled crying and it worked after about 45mins. A woke up around 5.30, and after giving him a drink of water, DH did the CC again, and much to our surprise he went from mega-wails to silent sleeping in around 5mins and slept until just before 7. Suspect it was just the right time to try it.

lupa - that is great news. Long may it last.

A sucked his thumb for about 6 weeks, when he slept much better, then he stopped it and sleep got worse...I didn't know babies would stop like that, so I figure maybe he bit himself, as it was when teeth were starting to come through .

BF and BLW here, although the BLW was a survival strategy as less hassle than purees for me when sleep-deprived and meant that I got a proper lunch too.

Thanks IsItMe, however, I think I draw the line at £19 for a t-shirt! I like the idea of printing onto iron on stuff though. Sorry to hear about your tonsillitis - I generally catch a dose or two every year, and it can be AWFUL. Take it easy and try to drink plenty. Glad the CC worked for you.

Great news Lupa! Isn't it a great feeling when they manage that?!

Bicnod, BB and IsItMe, sorry to hear your meet didn't happen. Hopefully it'll happen soon after Easter.

BB, Blooming Marvellous don't offer size options on their 1 t-shirts, so I guess they'll be far too big. There are some benefits to her growing so slowly (7 months use out of the Moses basket, 6 months use of her 0-3 month clothes, etc) but it does cause some problems!

Ooosa, Skye is a dummy sucker (I went cold turkey on the dummy back when I joined this thread or soon after, but it's back!) and, while she wakes overnight for feeds, if she wakes between feeds she puts her dummy back in and settles herself. I was a thumbsucker, and always struggled to get to sleep. Once asleep, however, I stayed asleep.

Olivo, sorry to hear about DD1s wakings - Did you manage to keep her occupied today and hopefully wear her out ready for tonight?

Welcome Rubyslippers - sorry you have to join us, but welcome all the same! I agree - the 10 o'clock wake isn't too bad, it's the others!

Also welcome Mumma, hopefully you'll be able to report in a few weeks that you no longer need to join us as your DS is sleeping through the night!

As for us, we drove up to Yorkshire after Skye's bath last night and she slept the whole way (3 1/2 hours). However, when we arrived she woke up completely, and was tricky to get back to sleep. We arrived at mum and dad's at around 10:30 and she didn't go back to sleep properly until just before midnight. However, she then woke at 4 and then 7:30, so it wasn't all bad. She has been an absolute charmer today, and eaten really well, although not had much milk through the day, so hopefully she'll sleep well too (only 2 short naps again during the day).

The CBeebies card was finished and sent a couple of weeks ago now, so we'll have to wait and see if it is shown. There was a thread on AIBU a week or so ago saying they shouldn't show 1st birthday cards on there so there was more time for older children who would appreciate them more. Some people had sent cards in every year for a few years and had only ever had one shown, so maybe hers won't be shown. Fingers are crossed though. If it is shown it'll be 23rd April, and I'll be recording Birthday Time all day on that day just in case! Once I've downloaded the photo, I'll post a picture of it on my profile if anyone's interested.

Anyway, after that MAMMOTH post, I'm off to find some alcohol to drink (The benefit of having tee-total parents, if there's an issue, they can drive, so I can have a beer!). Hope everyone has a good night!

Gosh, sorry - you're right BB I probably shouldn't have mentioned DD1's sleep. Not helpful . Although she's only 4 and I have had 2 more DC's since so it can't be all that bad.

Hope you're feeling better isit - also, congrats on the cc front.

Hi Ruby...think we've met on the antenatal thread.

Well done lupav5 long may it last!

Olivio You've prob already tried, but I used to use positive bribes with DD1 - so I'd get a pack of peppa pig vests for example and she could wear a new one each time she slept through. Expensive but reasonably successful

None of mine have sucked thumbs, taken dummies etc - all bf though. My friend has 2 boys with sleeping habits that shock even me...and they both suck their thumbs.

Right, off to bed now for DS's second night in his own room - he managed to stay there until 3am last night and 'only' woke 5 times before that

X-post Galena - we're staying with friends this weekend, I'm getting nervous already. Enjoy the alcohol!

moring all, yawm yawn, we are back in the sleepless club, DD was awake and screaming between 1 and 2 and 4 and 5 again last nite. We can now live in hope though as we know she can sleep through for a long stretch, so thats something!

morning all

will try to catch up with the thread later ... am off out - needless to say DD was up at 10, 1 and 4 as per usual

am sure it is habit - she also isn't very hungry in the morning ... am seriously looking at a sleep consultant

have good days and will be back later

Oh no, everybody but bb re. thumb-sucking - this is not what I was hoping to hear! I will cling onto a little hope based on your goddaughter bb, and pretend I didn't hear the rest I think IsItMeOr's experience might support my theory, so I'll add that to my evidence that future dc will be a good sleeper.

Sorry to hear you're back in the club lupav5. Miraculous night for us last night - ds went to bed at 7.30, up at 12.30 but quickly back down with bottle, and then slept through to 7.30! I'm putting it down to the magical powers of this thread. I just wish I knew how to make all the nights like that though!

Be interested to hear what a consultant says rubyslippers. Think our ds's issue is a habit and those are the same sorts of intervals as his. If you see one please do share!

Have good days all.

Well, we also had a miraculous night - Down at 7, feed at 4:40 then awake at 8:15!!

Sorry your night wasn't so good Lupav, it's somehow worse when they've done better! An interesting thing is that often with CC the third night is very much the worst as they decide to see if you really mean it!

Well done those who've had a good night. We had a less than miraculous night...DS was up from 12 until 2.30 Really, really hate it when that happens, would much rather be up every 2 hours for a quick feed - I find it very hard getting back to sleep when I've been up that long. Think I could quite happily sleep now though

On the plus side, I've just realised that DS is now going to bed earlier - he was cluster feeding from 7-9pm until about 2 weeks ago. He was in bed by 7.15 last night...so we are progressing, slowly!

Hope everyone's enjoying the bank holiday.

Wibbly I'd sleep trough for a peppa pig vest.

rubyslippers I think we are all going to suck you dry of every last tip your sleep consultant gives you .

I think R only woke once last night at about three. I fed him and consequently he didn't want any milk this am. I think I might offer him water tonight (more likely will be knackered and it will be easier just to feed him)! Do you think my baby doesn't sleep through because I am a big softy????

I have prepared prepared DD's room tonight with a ticky clock and her new night light (my mum thought she might be scared waking in the dark)and I have prepared my self and DH for more cc and the resolve we need to see it through. You may feel like a softy bellamysbride, but i feel like the biggest badest meanest mummy in the whole world doing the cc but seems to be helping a bit. wishing you all a sleep filled nite.

rubyslippers we also checked out sleep consultants in desperation, but didn't take the plunge in the end. One thing that I found really helpful was from Ferber's book, when he said that babies can learn to be hungry, and - in his opinion - it would be unkind to leave them to cry when hungry. I think he suggested that you stretch the gaps between night feeds, or reduce the amount given at each feed (that might have been somebody else!). We did the former, and it worked well for us - DH helped a lot! His job was to comfort DS in any way necessary until he was "allowed" his feed on the new schedule.

It's not a super-quick fix, but you can get from 4-3 or 3-2 feeds per night quite quickly if you increase the gaps between feeds by half an hour per night.

HTH

thanks isitme

i was thinking of offering DD one boob at a time rather than 2 at the night wakes to see if that would help

problem is DH is away a lot so am on my own really

i try to fill her up at the 10 pm feed with a good feed but it doesn't seem to delay the 1 am feed

anyway, maybe i should galvanise myself to do the less food thing first ...

I only ever feed from one boob - except on the odd occasion she's grumpy still after one at bedtime, in which case she gets a second. Never overnight though.

I used to feed from both sides, but now is only one except at bedtime. I'm a bit hazy on details, but I think this was just something DS did by himself as he started eating more solids.

ruby that's tough with it all falling on you.

I have her a two sided feed at 10.20 pm when she woke

she was up again at 1.40 am and gave a one sided feed

up at 5 am for a one sided feed and up at 8 am

she fed at 8.30 am

so, a teeny bit better getting to 5 am

she ALWAYS wakes at 1.40 am so I am going to try and get her to drop it slowly - 1 sided feed for a few days and see what happens

how is everyone doing?

Well done ruby! So, it sounds as if she went back to sleep happily after just one side? That sounds like big progress if so!

May I report 7:30pm to 7:30am!!!!!

Galena indeed! DH tells me A did 7.30pm to 6am last night, which is pretty ing too

Hi All

Am new to MN and hope you don't mind me tagging along, this is my first post. I've read through the posts from p60, don't think I can do the lot in my half awake state! Am very glad to find this thread for some moral support and advice. My LO is 6 months and 1 week old. Like Rubyslippers' LO he is up every 3 hours currently, bed at 7pm, then up at 10pm, 1am and 4am. This is a big improvement from before when it was every 1 1/2 to 2 hours. He's breastfed and we've only started weaning for a week or so, not sure if this will change things. Has anyone had any changes due to weaning?

Galena, IsItMeOr - that's a great night, congrats! Let's hope there are more to come.

Hmmm.....it said there were 67 pages, now it's only 27, how did that happen? Or is it just me in my half awake state?

Welcome NotHousekeeper - sorry you're having to join us. No idea about the pages, but impressed you've read up on so many of them!

Weaning did make a change for my ds in that initially at least, he seemed to struggle with his digestion. So I think he was a bit more unsettled for several weeks. But he also struggled with his digestion until he 3mo, so it might just be him.

We went down the Baby-led weaning route, so it was quite a while before ds started eating significant amounts. He did keep feeding in the night though, and cut right back on his breastfeeds during the day - sorry, not really angry, but wanted to use the angry bunny somewhere . I mentioned above how we ultimately reduced his night feeds. Do you have a DH who can help out, as that was so helpful for us in making progress.

Hi there, I've been lurking. I've got a gorgeous nearly 8 month old DD2 (my fourth child) and I had been extremely lucky as about a month ago she started sleeping from 9pm to about 7am! The past week or so she's been waking in the night and I'm v reluctant to feed her (she's weaned herself off the breast so it's a bit more of a faff feeding in the night. The only thing that settles her is moving her in bed with me.

My question is....

The only thing that seems to settle her is allowing her to play with my hair!!! Any experiences with this? How to I break this habit? Any good alternatives that are baby safe?

hello everyone and welcome Heinz and nothousekeeper!

wow galena, tell us how you did it!

last night was a record for us in the worst way - i was up 11 times between the two of them. fed up now.

Thanks for the welcome guys. IsItMeOr - I do have a DH who can help but we haven't actively decided to reduce LO's night feeds yet. We've been in the mindset that if he's getting up then he's hungry and I would just feed him. Now that he is 6 months and weaning we're hoping LO will further reduce his night wakenings by himself. If things don't change in a couple of weeks then we will definitely look at 'helping' him to cut his night feeds. I also think he's teething at the moment so that might hold things back a bit too. DH has taken him out for a walk now to give me some 'quiet' time, his naps are a bit haywire at the moment as well, ho hum.