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MNHQ

Tell Fairy Non Bio about your experience of sleep with a new baby - £300 voucher to be won NOW CLOSED

208 replies

JustineBMumsnet · 01/12/2016 13:19

As part of our new partnership with Fairy Non Bio, we’ve produced our first ever Mumsnet Babies Podcast. There are ten episodes in the series and so far we’ve released five. Episode two is about sleep, and you can listen to it here . Fairy Non Bio would like you to listen to the podcast whenever you can, and then discuss your experiences of sleep with a baby.

An unbroken night of slumber is the holy grail of parenthood - but it’s often difficult to actually achieve. Fairy Non Bio would like to hear about your experience of sleep with a new baby. Did your baby miraculously sleep through from 3 months? Or was your experience much more of a struggle? Do you have expert tips on getting your child to sleep for that precious extra half an hour, or perhaps on how to cope through bleary-eyed days when you feel like you didn’t sleep at all?

Whatever your experience, share it with Fairy Non Bio by posting on the thread below.

Everyone who posts on the thread will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 Love2Shop voucher.

If you want to rate the Mumsnet Babies Podcast, please go to the iTunes store and add a review!

Thanks, and good luck with the prize draw!

MNHQ

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Tell Fairy Non Bio about your experience of sleep with a new baby - £300 voucher to be won NOW CLOSED
OP posts:
squeezed · 15/12/2016 05:07

16 week sleep regression. After two weeks of sleeping through it hit me like a train. It hasn't got better since.

juju3 · 15/12/2016 10:47

What's sleep ?

MiddleClassProblem · 15/12/2016 11:16

DD would only sleep on me which I managed to reduce to just in contact with me, holding her feet whilst she slept in the co sleeper crib and gradually introducing self settle at 4 months. 6 months she went in her own room and was a gem unit DH got too clinging a few bedtimes in a row and wouldn't let her self settle. The only thing that worked to reset it was controlled crying. I did it for 2 nights and cried a lot myself but it warmed and she slept through! It has now given me the resilience to not go running to get if she wakes up calling me or crying as quite often she will just go back to sleep after a couple of minute but if I had gone in it would have been a whole thing that could go on for an hour (done this once or twice). I now now when she really needs me and when she doesn't but wants me which I may not have learnt without it. DH was in the dog house for a few days!

polkydot · 15/12/2016 11:17

My baby is 23 months now and I can count the number of times he has slept through on one hand! New baby is due in two months, and we'll be into survival mode. I found the newborn phase manageable by cospeeping.

ReadySteadyNo · 15/12/2016 12:28

I've been pretty lucky but I had low expectations second time around which was key to coping with the first crazy weeks of very little sleep. This time around we are much more relaxed and have been led by dd2 rather than trying to impose routines etc. It's working well so far and she's just now stopping the evening cluster feeding and slept 7:30- 7:30 last night in her own bed with two lovely night feeds along the way. I'm actually loving the night feeds this time too as my toddler is in bed and me and baby can just have a lovely chilled time in the dark. I look at her and just feel incredibly lucky.

Cambam2010 · 15/12/2016 13:41

Sleep and a new baby do not go together! I breast fed my DS and it was exhausting. People say 'sleep when baby sleeps' but when you are trying to run a household and look after a baby that is impossible. I do not know how I managed. There was one time when I stood at the top of my stairs and thought that if I fell down (jumped) and broke bones I would have to go to hospital to be fixed and whilst there I would get some rest. Unfortunately I was in an unsupportive marriage - thought that I had to do everything and be the perfect wife and mummy. My marriage didn't survive and I have a new DP. Fortunately he had a vasectomy before we got together and I am grateful for that because I know that I would not be able to cope with a newborn ans the associated sleep deprivation.

deadon · 15/12/2016 22:07

First 6 weeks were tough for
Me I remember sitting up right with her sleeping on my chest me not obviously, every time we put her in her Moses basket she wouldn't settle, so I got some swaddling cloths, a Ewan the dream sheep and put the top i wore each day in her basket with her and she slept! I'm not sure which thing worked best I think it was the sheep to be honest! We still use it when she's a bit unsettled and she's just turned one Smile

OodleDoodleBug · 16/12/2016 10:13

My first slept through from about 8 weeks but then hit the 16 week sleep regression and didn't sleep through again until he was two. It was awful.
His brother has thankfully slept through from 5 months and is still a good sleeper now.
I found warming beds before putting a baby down to sleep helped enormously, as did the white noise app we used.

timeforabrewnow · 16/12/2016 10:41

Sleep was not easy with first 2 babies, as both had colic. Bad. For baby 3 we got some magical enzyme thing that is kept in the fridge and you add a drop to the milk - made a massive positive difference.

Candyperfumegirl · 16/12/2016 10:48

We had a Snuzpod co sleeper and it was the best buy for my newborn son, I was able to sleep right next to him and easily bf him in the night. Loved it and it really helped with sleeping :)

Rosehips · 16/12/2016 16:58

look at all the teenagers you know, take comfort that they all eventually sleep through

Yummum19 · 16/12/2016 17:36

I was really lucky with DD when first born. She was a fantastic sleeper and when she did wake up was very quickly settled back to sleep.

However, starting from about age 2 to now (4 and a half) she's a nightmare and very rarely sleeps through without waking in the night.

malvinandhobbes · 16/12/2016 20:15

My baby slept beautifully from birth. She slept 5 hour stretches as a newborn and then 8-12 hours around 2/3 months.

Now at 4 months I am lucky to get 2 hours in a row. Apparently this is a sleep regression. I don't see an end to it, as she cries very loudly until I nurse her and I don't want to wake the older children.

The myth is the first three months are the hardest, but that hasn't been my experience.

rocketriffs · 17/12/2016 18:57

Me and my partner took turns for feeds and nappy changes through the night. We were shattered for a long period of time, but I think natural instinct comes into play and you get into the routine very quickly and as baby gets older, he or she will eventually sleep for longer periods giving Mum and Dad a better nights rest.

daisyduke66 · 17/12/2016 20:52

No amount of planning can help with this one! I think go with the flow! -the more relaxed you are,the less stressful it will all be! Sleepless nights were often helped with a good audiobook!-relaxes everyone if you pick the right one.

Purplehonesty · 17/12/2016 21:33

My babies slept really well. All night from a few weeks old, four hour naps during the day.
I was smug.
Then they turned two and I don't think since then I have had a full nights sleep without one of the little horrors waking me up. So five years of that...

Blaze6 · 17/12/2016 22:23

My babies don't sleep I think I gave birth to the two worst sleepers!!! Neither of them slept til they were nearly 6 months old and now if one of them sleeps through the night the other doesn't I'm sure they tag team!! It's hard work but not matter how hard it gets seeing their beautifully little faces makes me happy.....though I often needed to be reminded of that at the time after only having 45 minutes sleep a night for go knows how long!

SaladDressing · 17/12/2016 22:31

We had our 'smug pants' on when DC was 3 months old - he pretty much slept 11pm to 7am. We patted each other on the back, assumed that it was down to a good routine and couldn't understand what all the fuss was about.

At 6 months...

DC clearly decided that we were far too smug and started waking up, and staying up, for two hours every night. Generally it was 2am - 4am. I was just thinking about going back to work and suddenly we were up every night and I was shattered, emotional and wondering what on earth we'd done.

And then 3 months later we were back to sleeping through. And fingers crossed has slept pretty well ever since.

ShutTheFridgeUp · 18/12/2016 10:03

Sleep was very hard to come by in the first year! An hour here, 40 minutes there....
at almost 3 years old she has only slept through the night about 4 times...
some people say that they wouldn't change a thing. I am not one of those people. Going to bed at 9 o clock is my new favourite thing.

Jade5093 · 18/12/2016 15:44

You get used to it and don't mind to start with getting up every few hours to feed. I found this the hardest when mine started sleeping better and for longer..... because I got use different to it..... because then came teething and physical attachment..... then it hit me hard!!

Kariana · 18/12/2016 16:11

We're going through this with our 10 week old right now. There seems to be no consistency to any of his sleep patterns which is driving me crazy. He was sleeping through till 4am for awhile, but now it's 2.30. He also wakes regularly and needs resttling. We ended up using a dummy as he had such as sore tummy with wind but I never wanted to use one, especially not for sleeping and I would still say don't to knew parents. He wakes up constantly looking for us to put it back in when it falls out so we end up with even less sleep!

NauticalDisaster · 18/12/2016 20:25

Sleep? With a new baby? I don't remember such a thing!

I was very bad at the whole sleep when the baby sleeps thing, especially when they were newborns as I couldn't stop looking at them, so they was probably my own worst enemy.

I found the 16 week sleep regression really hard but things improved greatly at about 5 months.

marshgirl · 18/12/2016 20:58

Sleep depravity is a hard thing to get past, as you never know when it will stop. No 2 babies are the same and no book can predict what your baby will be like so don't put added pressure on your self.
We struggled for years as she wouldn't sleep through the night on her own. It's hard to juggle and baby and work so it ends up being easier to give in to them just for some sleep.
Something changed in us that we decided to be firm and persevere with her sleeping on her own. We didn't think we would get there but never gave up and eventually she settled on her own. My advise is to start them off sleeping on their own so they understand that is normality.

Bechoole · 18/12/2016 21:01

Sleep, sleep, what sleep? :-)

We always took turns when awoken in the night which was frequently! Didn't sleep through until he was 3, sleeps like a log now though!

Bellroyd · 18/12/2016 21:52

I remember being so tired that even if disturbed I could easily nod back off and both mother and baby got the sleep they needed.