anyone started work b4 baby started sleeping thru night?

[rita2007]

anyone started work b4 baby started sleeping thru night? advice for me? I want to return to work but don;t know how smart that decision is considering my 6 mth old wakes twice at night. help?

I did with DS. I think it depends on the job you are doing and how often they are waking. He was usually only waking about once a night for a breast feed and I didn't find it too much of a problem. Although he 'slept through' at about 8 months, he can still wake in the night sometimes at 4 - I suppose you just get used to not getting a full night's sleep. I think the killer is if you aren't getting enough sleep. Having a broken night and only getting 4 hour's sleep in total is very different to sleeping for 8 hours and having a ten minute interruption.

Anyway, my advice would be plan to be in bed every night by 9.00 for the first couple of weeks whilst you get used to the new routine.

Yes, I did with DD. She was 5 months went I went back to work and didn't sleep through until 20 months. Was very tiring but needs must and all that.

I went back to work when my dd was 7 months and she didn't sleep throught the night - she is now 15 months and still doesn't sleep throught the night! We semi co-sleep (as in she starts in her cot and then comes into our bed when she wakes and won't go back to sleep). It is getting better as we have found a way to manage it but I don't sleep the whole night as dd wakes me most nights. It is possible but it isn't great. I think I have just got used to it. I am off sick more that I was before but a lot of that is just that dd gets a lot of the usual early life colds. I have had to take the odd day off sick when I have just been too tired to function. I think it depends on the support you have and other factors. For instance I have a very short commute and that makes a huge difference and my dd goes to my MIL so it is very relaxed about picking her up. On the whole though I think it has been a question of just adjusting to it

rita, I went back to work at a time when dd and now ds were no where near sleeping through the night. I would have thought waking twice a night is not horrendous. Are you tired during the day?

Both my dcs are bf-ed co-sleeping babies. I loved the extra cuddle time at night to make up for the time I did not see them during the day. As a result, I have no WOHM guilt.

Also, being bf, co-sleeping allowed me to reverse-cycle ie they took most of their breastmilk from me at night. At nursery, they just eat solids/drink.

Agree with madameplatypus that working just means you wake up earlier but go to sleep earlier. Ideally, your baby should wake up at or around the same time as you so that baby also has an early bedtime.

genuine thanks to all of you for your responses )

I went back to work when DD was 10 months - she now (generally) sleeps through at 2.5. I think I have just got used to it.

Dd2 is 2 and a half and I can count on both hands the nights she's slept through! I work 3 days a week but dh and I take it in turns to get up to her. We're just used to it now. Chances are though, your dc will settle down. MOst people tell me that

I went back to work when DD was 8 months, she is now 14 months and still wakes several times a night. We co-slept and I would breastfeed her back to sleep until she was just over 12 months. Now she is in her cot in her own room and we rock her back to sleep when she wakes which is more tiring but am hoping in the long-run she will self-settle more quickly than if I continued to feed her back to sleep every time. It is knackering but also think I'm just used to it it now...and this is coming from someone who was a total sleep monster pre-DD...

Just want to echo others - even with a dc that wakes sometimes every hour, often many times an hour, it is possible to get used to it and still get up for work everyday and function at 100% - for me anyway. Ok, the getting up bit is the worst.

Paradoxically, once dd started sleeping through reliably (at 1.5 years), I became much more exhausted if she started waking even once a night. So being woken many times actually helped - I think it meant that I rarely went into deep sleep and so was less tired from the disruptions.

well I've been back at work for nearly a year now and DS is STILL waking twice a night. I went back when he was a year.

I function fine - ok, I'm tired but I haven't made any major bloopers. You get used to it I think - in fact I reckon my body would go into shock if I had a full night's sleep now.

I think what I am saying is that 1) you will be ok and 2) if you wait until your little one is sleeping through you may be in for a long wait.

that is just what i am telling my hubby but he seems to think i shud just stay home until he sleeps thru night and to be honest i think baby is getting bored of me.....he is so hyper and active that i think he'd be happier at a nursery with other babies and different faces around him

Yes. With all 3 of mine. But then my DCs took a looong time to understand the concept of sleeping through the night.

Rita, both my dcs LOVED nursery.

I think the inability to 'get' the concept of sleeping through (as OrmIrian puts it) is somehow linked to their personality, at least in my dcs' case. Both terribly sociable and extroverted, not wanting to miss out on any action, will keep going and going until tantrumming from exhaustion. Never known them to slow down when tired, just get worked up and overstimmed.

Nursery was their making (phew, says exhausted mummy).

Yep, started back before they slept through the night with both of mine.

I suspect you dh is worried that if you're working too he might be asked to take a turn at night feeds (unless you're breast feeding).

You will need to catch up on sleep sometime though. Can you have a lie-in at the weekend ?

dd was sleeping through the night when I went back but stopped almost immediately and didn't sleep through again for 6 months. It was godawful but we coped. I don't think you can make a decision like that solely based on whether they sleep through the night as that can so easily change especially if they get ill.

blueshoes we have the same child, , yup it knackering..... but as an old mumsnet adage rears its head..it will get better

amen, hotbot

I've been back at work for over a year - DS still not sleeping through the night and he's very nearly 2 now. It's OK - certainly possible. I do 3 days a week with some travel and work-related exams to do. We co-sleep, which helps, and try to wear him out as much as possible. If you want to go back, the night wakings shouldn't stop you. If you want to wait till lo is sleeping through it is possible you will be waiting a very long time (though I hope not)

DD(5) slept through from 8 weeks so I returned to work no probs at 6ths. Got preggers again within 3 months of that and DS (3.5) a nightmare!. he still doesnt put a full night in although generally he wakes for a moan at 11pm ish and thats it then so you get fit in a 7 hour stretch. However, I returned to FT work when he was 6 months and DD 22mths. He was still being bf'd 3 times a night for an hour at a time. I collapsed 4 times at work and was so thin. I handed my notice in and retreated into the house for 3 years!. Things are much better now and now that my brain insnt fried I am returning to FT work!. Yes- it does get better! Good Luck.

I went back ft when DS was 4.5 months. He was waking up maybe 4 times a night then, and didn't sleep through till he was 17 months or so. I also co-slept part time to maximise my sleep, and it was totally manageable.

DS adores nursery, and as a very, very active child he really gets loads out of it.

Yep! Co - sleeping from 3am onwards when he was tiny worked for me. My ds is now 10 months and sleeps from 7-4.30/5ish so I have to get up and feed then. It's fine, you get used to it.