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

OMFG think we just had one of our worst nights. DS was awake from 11pm-2.30am with no sign of anything actually wrong ffs. He still has an annoyingly persistent runny nose, so not sure we can start Operation TL on him yet, but we are fairly rapidly losing our minds. DH is on leave today (in anticipation of Op TL), was going to go into work as of last night, but after the sleep shenanigans we are both fit for nothing much.

Night Nannies and their sleep training service beckons about now...

The only worry about dropping BF is that at least that was something I could do (twice, lol!) sitting down in the 31/2 hours we had him up last night. And it stops him crying (still grumbly whimpers sometimes while he's feeding mind).

IsItMeOr Have you tried tieing a cloth with karvol on it to the cot. It has been a lifesaver whilst N has had a constant cold these past few weeks. Obviously it may not be the runny nose bothering him but just in case...

Oh poor you isitme, what bad luck.... I am amazed at how utterly miserable a cold can make them. You never know he may have a terrible sore throat or headache or something like that.

row78, that is interesting! It hadn't occured to me that I could give more than 7oz - am a bit square obviously and just follow the labels. Ds def would drink more so I will try that tonight! Good thinking. Have you done anything else to assist the nights? So basically stopping bfeeding and upping the formula? SO MANY people have told me that he will sleep through once I no longer bfeed - is it comfort or the thin, absorbable milk?

DS slept 6 hours last night on only 3oz of milk and 24 hours of diarrhoea - so clearly he wasn't hungry. He's now asleep and I must get off Mumsnet and get on with stuff.

Hope there are some other happy stories out there today....

Thanks row and dycey. Yes, we have a Karvol soaked hanky tied to the end of his cot. Have tried the nasal aspirator, but DS absolutely hates it. He does seem to be feeding okay...

Am thinking of trying the formula thing after we've done the controlled crying to try to let DS learn to self-settle.

DS is really struggling today, so think I may try dosing him up with calpol at bedtime. I think you might be right about a sore throat/headache/something else ache.

Sorry to hear everyone's still struggling, well, nearly everyone!
DD was up at 0430 this morning with a full nappy and didn't go back to sleep for aaaaages so I'm struggling today. I also found out last week that I'm pg which is lovely except we've not slept well since DD's been born so I'm not looking forward to being pg and having a small one to keep up with. [sigh] don't know if I'm tired because I'm growing a bablet or because DD still doesn't sleep through (and she's on formula now btw, doesn't solve everyone's lack of sleep!)
Haven't been on for weeks and just come on to whinge...sorry all!

Congratulations Chulita - that is very exciting. Wow. Hope sleep gets better v quickly so you can grow the babbit. Being pgers is knackering, I do remember that much! And thank you for the formula not being magic message - worth weighing up with it all.

Congraulations Chulita! Hope that DD will start to sleep better for you very soon, as I also remember being quite tired while pg (oh, how little we knew then).

Now suspect that last night's problem may have been a further bout of teething rather than the cold - I did think it a bit odd that he seemed to be suffering more with it when he was actually less snuffly than he had been, d'oh. Has been chewing on my buttons all day.

So Calpol and teething powders (and karvol - can't hurt lol) at bedtime it is.

More congrats Chulita - I was absolutely finished the first four months. I also wanted to reiterate that formula may not be the answer - my dd dropped night feeding completely at 5 months but I'm afraid she was waking up anyway. I had thought that once she stopped needing a night feed she would sleep through, but nope, turns out the night wakings are not related to hunger!

We had "isitme's* night last night - almost exactly. She was awake from 9.30 to 1am, and I couldn't settle her and have no idea what was wrong. Gave her some calpol but seemed to make no difference, and then she was up again at 4. Sigh. Hopefully tonight will be better, its never too late to have a better day!

Morning! We had a slightly better night last night, in that the longest wake was just over an hour (DH tells me we had 7 wakes though). The Calpol and teething powders at bedtime seemed to help. If he's still teethy today, we're going to Calprofen into the mix tonight.

Hope you get a better night tonight Rycie. I'm told (by anaethetist sp? friend) that the trick is to give the Calpol before they actually need it, as it takes time to kick in, hence the bedtime dose-up.

When DD was teething badly about 6 weeks ago we kept dosing her up all day alternating Calpol and Nurofen even if she wasn't whinging. It did mean that at night she'd been pain-free all day and she slept a bit better. If you let the pain return it takes longer for them to settle after you've dosed them up. It's only for a week few days but it's so draining. I found Nelson's Teetha worked quite well...still waiting for the molars although DD will be 1 on Thursday and she still only has 4 teeth!

I've just been to the doc with DS who has been ill for a month (vomiting, stinking cold, ear infection in both ears and NOW a diarrhoea bug with temp of 39 degrees and vomiting again). Now tell me if I am wrong but I think that warrents a visit?

So instead he looks at me and says "how are things at home?" and out come all the PND questions...... he then told me that I have taken DS to the doctor 12 times this year - the implication being that I want attention? a cry for help? I am neurotic?

Was so floored by this I didn't tell him where to get off. I am FUMING. The little chap is bloody ill and has slept all day or lain with his head on my shoulder whimpering. He hasn't eaten much in the last month and must have lost a lot of weight now.

What shall I do? A letter of complaint? Move doctors? Or just put up with it as the NHS is so appalling stupid and rude?

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

And I must add - all my visits to the doctor were valid in my opinion!

Change doctors. I've been twice in the last month with DD who seems fine but went through a patch of vomiting - I was spending the day following her around mopping up sick and she's had the squits for about 5 weeks. I got fobbed off but I wasn't too worried because it's only the runs, she hasn't thrown up for a week or so now. I'm just very tired of leaky nappies and handwashing clothes
So you've been to the doctor's 12 times...it's his job to allay your fears. Better to take him than ignore his illnesses surely?! I'd write and complain, your DS has valid reasons for seeing a doctor. I'm sure most mums go to the doc's relatively often in the first year. for you

Thanks Chulita - yes I think I will do that. Thing is this baby has been ill a lot - got chicken pox when he was 7 weeks old etc... But I shouldn't need to justify it all. Think the doc is just trying to put people off bothering him.

More vomiting here. 6th change of clothes today - so boring.....

Chulita Huge congrats!! Very exciting (you nutter )

Oh and four teeth sound good to me - DD over 11 months now and still just has one. Has had one for about three months now that I think about it..

Had a truly terrible night last night. DD has a cold and a cough but I think there was something else going on last night - teething I assume - her hand was in her mouth constantly and she wailed and wailed and wailed about NINE times. Sob. I'm off to bed now in the hope that at least somewhere in between the wailing I'll get a decent amount of sleep...

Thanks kiwi
I hope you get a better night, calpol and Nelson's I reckon... I tend to Calpol if DD even threatens a 'teething' night!
Peaceful sleeping wishes coming your way!
Fingers crossed for no more voms dycey!

Our poor poorly babies! DS is still not quite right. I'm no longer sure whether it's teething or a bug, as his runny nose is back, and he's not eating very much.

DH has been signed off work with exhaustion by the GP, and now seems to have a stomach bug.

But on the plus side, whatever DS has, after an unsettled hour or so, some calpol and a feed around 11-12 last night, he slept for six hours. So not all bad .

Chulita - congratulations! What fantastic news! And how nice to read something positive on this thread How are you feeling?

Dycey - grr to your doctor. Change or make a complaint (if you have the energy that is!)

Well done to baby IsItMe - seems to be getting better? Poor Mr IsIt though, and hope it doesn't put too much pressure on you.

We've been struck but the plague here too. DS is off work with man flu. DS has just got over his conjunctivitis but now Hacking Cough II - The Revenge is back. Combined with the fact that DS now has 4 - maybe even 5 teeth (he had none 2 weeks ago) - and you can imagine how much fun we've been having. Still, we seem to be down to one waking a night (lasts for at least an hour though).

Thanks sospan, unlike with DD I haven't felt sick yet Early days though so plenty of time for it to kick in!

It's that time of year for getting struck down with illness isn't it? We had lingering colds for weeks and my throat still isn't back to normal...popping vitamins and shovelling veggies down in an effort to fend the nasties off. Doesn't help that my friend's little boy came down with swine flu the day after he'd been at our house...eek!

Get well soon wishes to everyone who's feeling rough!

Thanks Sospan - not better unfortunately, I think it was just the cold making DS sleep more, but now the teething seems to be back in the lead, which seems to mean more night wakings.

DH is desperate to be able to start Operation Tough Love so that we might all get some better sleep, but after us squabbling over precisely how well DS needed to be before we could start, DS resolved matters by hardly napping this morning and presenting us with two very red cheeks indeed. We're hoping it won't be too much longer now...

Can I just ask if teething makes your babies wake every hour (or similar) even with pain relief?

His first two teeth were not so bad on the nights but now waking every hour or more even dosed up - the tummy bug seems to have gone so I suspect it must be teeth - but it is so much worse than last time! Maybe we were just lucky with the others - or maybe it is more than one tooth this time?

One positive thing to say - he has adorable pjamas - only 7 puunds from Marks and Sparks - flannel tartan. Some how cheers me up!

Not sure dycey. DS tends to wake every 1-2 hours anyway, so a little hard to tell. We had wondered if longer wakes may be a sign of teething. However, Dr Ferber tells me that a lot of poor sleep is - in his opinion - inappropriately attributed to teething. I know I read this yesterday, but can't find it today (sorry!). With our DS, I'm inclined to agree with him at the mo. The key, again, according to Ferber, seems to be about how quickly you're able to resettle them back to sleep. If they go off again pretty quickly after you reintroduce the factors that are normally there when they go to sleep (so cuddling/rocking for our DS), then this is just a sleep association, not a pain-related waking. Don't know it that helps you, but made some sense to me when I read it.

I desperately need to check in. I'll fill you in later when DD1+2 in bed. But suffice it to say that 1-2 hours sleep in one go is not enough

Okay, so DS is better today - no obvious signs of teething or cold. So DH and I have agreed that tonight is the night we start Operation Tough Love. Not looking forward to it at all.

Hello Swaliswan. I know what you mean about 1-2 hours sleep at a time - it is definitely not enough.

Good luck isitme!
DD's new thing is throwing her beddy bear over the side of cot and then sobbing uncontrollably until someone goes in and retrieves it. Trouble is once she's seen me she wails when I leave so I always give her a cuddle cos I love her snuggly, snuffly cuddles (also the only time of day I actually get cuddles at the mo!). So bed/nap time at the mo consists of zip up in sleeping bag, sleep tight cuddle, little song, close door...2 mins later, cue screaming, leave it, gets more frantic, go in, rescue beddy bear from carpet's clutches, give another cuddle, pop back in bed aaaaand sleep why?