Indiana is such a Bad Sleeper!

[alana555]

Indiana has never really been a great sleeper during the day or night. During the night she used to sleep 2-3 hours and wake for her feed but during the day she would only ever catnap, she would only ever have about three 20-35 minute naps. I was never able to settle her during the day after the catnaps either. And then by the end of the day she was overtired and usually screamed until I was finally able to get her to sleep for the night. She fights sleep like you would not believe.

However the last 2 months have been hell, she started waking more often during the night but was usually easy to settle. It then got worse and worse. She now wakes about 10 times a night!

I was able to get into a sleep school that helped me with a few techniques to help her sleep better and re-setlle herself. Unfortunately the sleep school didnt work and sometimes she even wakes up to 2-3 times in an hour!! She is no longer swaddled however being swaddled never really made a difference anyway. She is now in a sleeping sack. She also has a dummy that is only ever used for bed and naps. The sleep school said it was fine to continue using the dummy as she is using it efficiently.

She is a reflux baby and is on meds (losec) but the sleep school have said that the issue is not reflux it is behavioural. The bizarre thing is I never really rocked or patted her to sleep. Getting her to sleep is not the problem its staying asleep. Its so fustrating because when she is waking all these times during the night I cant feed her every time, so I just have to keep re-settling her until its time to feed.

I just want more than 1-2 hours of solid sleep. God I hope this doesnt last for much longer

Any one else out there with a baby that doesnt want to sleep???

[Arcadia]

4 months is a bad time for sleep. It will get better!!!

In the meantime, can you try sleeping with her to see if she sleeps longer? Try it in the day first, and you never know... She may just need you close when she stirs.

It's a developmental thing, and it will get better. In the meantime you have to survive, so do anything that helps!!

[~Kim~]

Yep....four months does suck and she won't be doing it forever I know it isn't a great consolation, but remember in the scheme of being her mummy, it is a short time. Believe me when I say I know how you feel and I know how hard it is.
My DS still has 3 feeds between 11pm and 5.30am and he's 13months old, so I have to say I'm not a fan of your sleep school's info....but hey.
Have you got a sling to carry her in the day time? My kids slept so well in theirs for hours at a time and sleep begets sleep.
Do you co-sleep? I find that helps immensley on the settling front without having to feed, but many find it's not their thing.
Do what you need to do to get through.
again.

[Razzberry]

Huge Hugs hun, your story could be mine word for word. I just got out of a sleep school with my dd yesterday and was told the same thing (behavioural now - her reflux is under control with meds). Sje is a little bit better but still not in any sort of routine. Wish I could help you more

[Emma1979]

my first born sounds identical... she was like that from birth and it lasted until she was about 10 months... when she was 4-5 months she started sleeping on her tummy which helped slightly.... in hindsight i wish wish wish wish wish i had of taken her to a chiropractor/osteopath, because i am convinced there was something wrong with her neck due to the traumatic birth... i could never even lay her in her pram on her back at all, she would scream... screamed through all her newborn bath times, just screamed the whole time...

my second (11 weeks) is not like that at all, which only illustrates something was definitely wrong with my first... however that said she is now a beautiful 3 year old who sleeps fabulously at night...

something to perhaps try, (or not depending on how you feel)... i noticed a few nights i gave dd panadol cos i thought 'hmmm, maybe she is teething'... in desperation i tried all sorts of things except actually sedating her.... anyways i noticed she slept a heap better after having a little panadol, only fueling my theory in hindsight she was in some sort of pain...

anyways obviously every baby is different, but if you think its something more than just an active baby, i would recommend seeing a chiro/osteopath, as i have heard of some great results and i only wish i had of done it, would have saved me months of absolute torture... i feel/have felt your pain.

[alana555]

Thanks for all your replies girls. Co-sleeping is not my thing but I have tried it for desperation purposes and she was even more unsettled - probably because I was anxious about the whole thing. I slept badly and so did she. I have tried it a couple of times and it really didnt make a difference. Im not the best sleeper either so I had the worst night sleep with her in the bed.

I have tried the panadol thing and again it didnt make a difference which confirms to me that she is not in pain or discomfort

Maybe she is like her mother and doesnt want to miss out on anything lol

God Im just waiting for this to pass, I wouldnt even care if she feed/woke every 2 hours - at least its consistent and I would get a solid sleep for a bit. Its hard cause it all over the place. Every hour, sometimes 2 hours and then sometimes 3 times in an hour. I can never sleep when she is asleep cause I know she could be up in as little as 15 minutes!

I think Im going crazy lol - I need some sleep