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

Hi all

Good to hear some of you managed to catch-up on some much needed sleep. Am hoping it'll be my turn soon Turns out LO was teething, one of his top middle teeth came through yesterday! He was up at 11pm, 3am and 5.30am last night, when I saw the 3 o'clock I was all excited, 4 hours is the most he has managed ever. I was hoping he would then go through till 7am but no such luck. Let's see what tonight brings.

X

NotHousekeeper - that's good news on the 4 hours! And at least each tooth can only come through once [clutching at straws emoticon ].

Well, Skye woke at 7:40pm, was coughing lots but not crying most of the evening, woke at 12:15am for a feed, then 8:15am for the day - an odd night!

Glad the crossed fingers worked BB. NotHousekeeper, glad to hear you got a 4-hour stretch! IsItMe, glad you've had a couple of sleeps through - fingers crossed Skye'll do it again tonight! Olivo, glad you've had a couple of good nights again - sometimes I think we make our lives harder to make a point (When I was teaching, I'd sometimes have to stop a 'fun' activity because of silliness and do a more academic one - which meant I had to do marking!)

Gosh! 4 'glad's in one paragraph!

We're back home now (surrounded by bags) and so hopefully the good sleep we've had for the past few nights will continue in her own cot! Still no sign of teeth, despite it only being 17 days till her first birthday! I guess she'll wait till I've just got used to her sleeping through, then it'll all go pearshaped!

parentlove is someone posting who is making a C4 documentary about children and sleeping.she has posted on lots of threads today, looking for people to contact them. but not us

galena, glad your DD seems to be doing well. fingers crossd now you're back home.

housekeeper, i have to confess, i'd be happy with 4 hours! good luck!

hope everyone has a decent night.

Bah - woke at 11 and 4 then 7:15 for the day. Not the worst night ever, but not the best. The problem is that she has a grotty cough left over from her latest virus. That wakes her, and then she whinges until I go to her. I'm not using CC to get her to go to sleep as when she screams she coughs more.

Ho hum.

Obviously parentlove thinks we're scary!

Galena, it's so hard when they've been poorly isn't it? hopefully she'll shake it off soon and go longer.

DD2 only woke at 9, 3.30 and 7 so that was her best night in months. unfortunately, DD1 was awoken by the 3.30 noise and kept calling for me until nearly 5, so still not a good night!! she seems to wait till i'm nearly asleep and then call out again so i have to keep getting up. last night, she wanted to talk about mary blooming poppins!

oh well, only another 10 hours till bedtime

olivo 3:30 was obviously the witching hour last night. R woke then. I foolishly brought him in with me. I knew I shouldn't have as soon as he was in there. I spent the next three hours having my face scrunched and scratched at like plasticine. I lost patience at 6ish and took him to his cot-cue hysterical crying. Brought him back in with me, he slept for about half an hour. Shattered!!!

ps Bicnod I hope all is ok with you?

olivo mary poppins - that's who we need ! Have C4 got her? Although, not sure even that would be enough to incentivise me to be filmed for the entertainment of the nation. Have seen the MN threads on one born every minute...!

Horrid night for me last night

she went down at 6.45 pm, awake at just before 9 pm but settled her without a feed

she was up at 10 ish for a feed, then 1.20 am for a feed (6 mins only)

she woke at 3.20 am and i didn't feed her until 4.05 am (so a lot of bottom patting and reassuring from me). She fed and went back down until 7.30 am but DS was up at 6.30 am

I want to cry TBH

Afternoon ladies and welcome newbies

BB you prompted me to post - I've been lurking, trying to keep up but too knackered to think of anything to type.

The past week or so has been pretty hellish - O had high temp (39.6) and a bit of a rash on Friday last week so we took him to the out of hours doctor. They just said give him calpol so we took him home again (after waiting 2 hours. grrr). We had DH's dad's 60th birthday party on the sat night so had to drag a poorly baby out in the buggy (he was not happy) and deal with lots of disapproving looks/mentions of neurotic mothers when I decided to take him home to bed at 9pm rather than handing him round to all and sundry. Grrrr again. Then got woken up at 1am by everyone coming in and carrying on the party til 3am (grrrr x100). O's sleeping has gone out of the window (having slept through 6 nights in a row before he got ill ) and my sleep still hasn't sorted itself out. He has been so grizzly and grotty during the day (and night) where he's usually such a happy little boy - not his fault of course, but bloody knackering to deal with a permanently grizzly baby. Rash got worse, he had ulcers in his mouth and wasn't eating. Took him to another doc yesterday (we're staying at my mum's this week so can't see usualy doc) who said it could be hand, foot and mouth but also might not be (helpful) and gave him some antibiotics.

The good news is that we both slept much better last night so fingers crossed things are on the up.

Sorry for radio silence - just been so tired (I'm sure you can all relate to that).

Ruby - sorry about your pants night

BB - poor plasticine face

Olivo - fab night from DD2 fingers crossed she'll do it again tonight and DD1 won't wake this time...

Galena - sorry Skye-baby is poorly again - how was last night?

Nothousekeeper - yay for 4 hours

Bicnod - that does sound hellish. Even worse being out of your own environment ime. Sounds like poor O has something pretty grotty with the mouth ulcers, so hope they are clearing up with the antibiotics.

GP said A had ringworm when we took him last week. I must have looked ashen until it was explained no actual worms are involved (just a fungal infection, apparently).

DH foolishly posted on facebook about the 2nd night maybe meaning we'd cracked it. Obviously that jinxed things, so A was up in the night again last night, and for the day at 5.30am. Just took him for his jabs today, and brave little thing had his 12 and 13 month jabs at the same time. Not sure how that's going to go down later....

Bicnod that sounds cruddy on all counts. I think you did blooming well to take O out at all. Grizzly babies are no fun at all, even if they have good reason to be. I really hope everything is on the up now.

IsIt at Mary Poppins and ringworm.

rubyslippers cry! If it wasn't for sheer exhaustion I would join you. It is so dispiriting. How, how, how do you manage with two with such fractured sleep?

morning ...

well i have bitten the bullet and have called in some help

Spoke to Millpond Sleep Clinic - i have to keep a sleep diary for a week and then i will have a consultation where they will then recommend a course of action

She is definitely feeding more for comfort - she isn't gulping it down like she used too - even her 10 pm feed

Yesterday she ate like a horse plus 4 breastfeeds so am sure it is more habitual now

so, i will keep you all posted

how is everyone else doing?

Ooooh rubyslippers that is exciting. I will be waiting with bated breath. You must almost be hoping she has a bad week to give them some material to work with .

5am start today but a beautiful day so it seems much more bearable.

i can guarantee she will have a bad week

5 am starts are rubbish - but at least the sun is shining ...

Oooh, well done rubyslippers. Will be interesting to hear what the result is.

Last night Skye woke at 9:30 and then again at 12:30. I fed at 9:30 but she wasn't really interested, so I refused to feed at 12:30. It took half an hour, but she went back off to sleep, and didn't wake again till 6:30 this morning. She went down at 7:20 this evening and is grumbling as I type. This is fairly common though - she often wakes an hour or so after going to bed and cries. Sometimes she needs settling, sometimes she self-settles. This is why I feel unable to get a baby-sitter and go out. I can't guarantee she'll settle. Bah!

Sorry to hear you had such an early morning, bb.

wow, ruby, you mean business. will be really interested to see what happens.
i havve ahd a couple of good night in one way - both DDs have only woken once each for the past two nights. unfortunately, DH and I have both got stinking colds so havent slept too well ourselves, but definite progress with the children.

I only hope it lasts! am moving to mixed feeding with DD2 as i am going back to work next week, and she has started taking a bit more of her two bottles so maybe that is helping.
hope eveyone else has some better nights soon.

Hope that works well for you ruby. Let us know!

Some better-ish nights here. A has mostly slept through until 5.30/6ish for the past few days. It's just early starts, but there seem to be a few of those around!

We're going to bed around 10 to try and cope with that. What time are you guys all in bed ?

i hope so too!

am back to work in June (FT and a commute) so i need to be getting more sleep

last night was marginally better - heading towards 4 hour stretches but then she woke at 6 am for a feed and wouldn't settle again and she did a mega poo

Olivo - good luck for your return to work

My DS went through a phase of early waking when he was around 1 - we did a technique called wake to sleep which did work

Galena could you find a babysitter who you really trust? Or would Skye kick up a fuss if it wasn't you? We have a couple of babysitters who I know would just be really sweet with R if he woke and I always make it completely clear that if he kicks off big style they must feel free to call me. So far no problems. Could you try a couple of hours out close to home?

IsIt it sounds like A has got the idea of sleeping through. What gaps did you leave between going to him with cc and what did you do when you got to him? I think we need to start doing structured controlled crying. Does he get offered water?

olivo I hope work offers ample opportunity for coffee breaks

ruby I was thinking of you with envy as I sat shushing and patting DS at three this morning. I was compiling a sleep diary in my head . Thoroughly jarred off and starting to dread nights! Are you watching 'over the rainbow'?

Hi BB - if you email me at isitmeor49 @ googlemail . com I'll send you the plan we worked to. We've got two versions - one including nightfeeds, and one if you're aren't feeding at night anymore, so just let me know which one applies!

A doesn't really feed at night any more (13mo), but we do offer him a drink of water if he wakes. But it's not as an alternative to BFing iyswim.

BB I have a feeling Skye would freak if it wasn't me - although I guess we don't know until we try it. I guess a couple of hours close to home is the answer, it's just a case of me needing to be brave enough!

We had another full night last night (7:15 till 6:15) which makes the 4th ever, since Good Friday.

One thing we have noticed is that if we manage to get her to eat loads in a day she's more likely to go through! Poor thing is now given half a slice of bread at lunch and tea in addition to her normal food, and is also given extra milk (cow's milk) at breakfast and after tea. She doesn't seem to mind too much though.

Hope everyone else is still coping - and that the early mornings are getting later. (Unfortunately our 8:15 mornings after the clock change are a thing of the past now - it's generally 6:15 again. Ho hum!)

Galena That sounds like good news on Skye's sleep. Amazing how 6.15 seems quite acceptable these days .

I think you're right that Skye might not settle back to sleep for somebody else. A did that when MIL babysat for DH's birthday last year. He woke up as he usually did at that time, but wouldn't settle for her as he did for DH. So she ended up walking him around singing lullabyes and he was happy enough, just didn't sleep. DH got him to settle in about 5-10mins when we got home though. So I would second BB's suggestion of a short local outing leaving her with someone you trust - think we also need to get braver about this with A too!

IsIt I have just sent you an email...I think!

Galena I completely understand your reluctance to leave Skye. I could never bet on R staying asleep when a babysitter is here so I always say that if he kicks up a stink just get him up. I am pretty sure that he would be so thrilled just to be in company at night that he would be happy as larry. You are so lucky Skye is such a good eater, R is soooo variable.

Anyway, peaceful nights to one and all.