Mothers of terrible sleepers, join me here!

[Toomanytoomany]

I need some moral support. All the lovely babies on my baby buddy group are doing lovely things like sleeping more than two hours in a row for their mummies, and I'm feeling a wee bit exasperated. I know it's normal, but I need to hear from other mums who have dealt with the same thing so I don't feel like such a freak!

Thomas' typical sleeping pattern: 8.30pm-12.00pm, a solid sleep, reliably. Then he'll be up again at 2, maybe again at 3, then 5, then he'll grumble from 6-7, and then we're up. He'll have an hour's sleep between about 8-9, then nap til the afternoon, then he'll have a good long sleep, two or three hours in the afternoon (mostly with me lying there sleeping next to him - often with a little dream feed or two while we're at it). Then he naps on and off with varying awake periods until about 6.30pm when we have our evening routine.

He is demand fed, and probably feeds 12-15 times a day. He snacks a *lot* during the day although I'm trying to space those out with a dummy and some judicious use of his sisters to wheel him up and down the hallway in his pram! (He's nearly five weeks old, by the way.)

Now, I'm very lucky in that at night, I don't have to settle him at all. He has his bath, his boosie, and goes to bed, and goes to sleep. I also don't have to settle him after his night feeds, he just goes nigh nighs without any fuss. And the afternoon sleep is delicious. But my brain is frying from not getting any good sleep at night. I try to go to sleep at about 9.30pm but I can't really go earlier than that as I have other kids who need me too!

I've never really had good sleepers and I'm so tired I could cry. My dh is going away on a conference for three days next week and I'm panicking about how I'm going to cope with four kids to get to school, the house to care for, dinner to get, and a baby attached to my boob 24/7.

[Toomanytoomany]

Oh, and we sort of co-sleep - I put him to bed after his midnight feed, but when he wakes up at 2, he pretty much stays in bed with me because I'm too tired to stay awake for his feeds!!

[kelebek]

but when he wakes up at 2, he pretty much stays in bed with me because I'm too tired to stay awake for his feeds!!

Yep I still do this. This is definitely my club to join. Your DS sounds just like mine was. In the end I would sleep with him through the day to make sure he had 2 decent sleeps. I know how frustrating it can be when other people bubs sleep through the night too. I am pleased to say it does improve - kinda DS will wake at least once, sometimes twice but at least once a week he will revert back to 2 hrly wakings. I have to say that I can't wait for him to sleep through but when he only wakes once or twice I do a little cheer lol

Hope he starts to sleep longer stretches soon and co-sleeping is the only thing that keeps me sane.

[feeb]

My nearly 11 month old is still crap sleeper!!!

He does not settle till late anywhere from 2200 till 0100 and then will generally wake around 0200 if he goes down at 2200 and take 1 hr to feed and settle and then he will sleep till 0700 or 0800 on a good day.

Day sleep wise he feeds and naps on my knee while on boob!!!!!!

I hear you hang in there!! I am also sick of people talking about babies who go down at 1800 or 2000 and sleep 12 hrs!!!!!!!!! I WANT ONE

[MrsFabuloso]

My 9 1/2 month old still sleeps pretty badly too. Though does go to bed early, about 7pm, wakes at 12 ish, the 2, 4 and 6 (sometimes 7 if I'm REALLY lucky!) when we are up for the day. In between that I still get up for my 26mth old once or twice at least.
I tell people my kids are allergic to sleep. They are....nothing else explains it! I try to remember that it really is only a short time that they will be like this in the grand scheme of things. Though it can be hard when I've had 4hrs broken sleep....

[Lolli]

Ok, I'm joining the gang too. My ds is 18 months old and has still never slept through the night. I could smack the smugly contented mums who's babies have slept for 12 hours from when they were 4 weeks old. I am TIRED here people.

*sigh* so no advice from me hun, I don't have any. Just wanted to join you in solidarity. As you know, it gets easier as they get older. Hang on in there.

[Je$$_84]

I have been there also... My 1st didnt sleep a full night til 15 months. it was wake up every 2 hours every night... very draining...

But i also have a good sleeper this time round... (well better then DS was... She wakes 2-3 times a night and has just turned 12 months.

We try to have a routine we use every night... same thing.

i was one of those people in my BB group who has a good sleeper compared to others and i felt aweful... BUT saying that... those times were DD went backwards and didnt sleep were aweful cos ur not used to the wake ups.

I really hope that u can work out a solution that works for you...

[BhoysGirl]

I can join this club - DS is nearly 2, and we'd have been lucky to have more than 15 nights that he's slept through. He was also a dedicated BF'er, maybe not quite as snacky as your DS, probably about 8-10 a day in the early months. So I really really feel for you, cos I'm exhausted with just one, so holding it even remotely together when you've got others who need you too is an enormous job. I was 8 when my youngest sister was born, and I know that my mum utilised my maternal tendencies quite a lot, as she was difficult to get to sleep, so I gave lots of cuddles when mum needed to be elsewhere.

[2CheekyMonkeys]

yep i am joining too.. i agree it can be very depressing reading and hearing about all the kiddies that are having nice 2 (or more) hourly sleeps in their cots and sleeping though the night. my first DD never slept in her cot, she was either sleeping on me, on my bed, on a mattress on the floor or did i mention ON ME!??! :-) i used to have to eat dinner one handed (get DH to cut it up into bite size bits) so that i could hold her while she slept and still eat. had to go t bed with her cause she would just wake up instantly.

DD2 is a bit better, at least she goes in her cot most of the time. she co-sleeps over night. she tends to do the cat napping thing and wakes instandlty when i put her down. she is much better than DD1 though.

[mustangsachy]

Hi 2many.... so sorry to hear DS crap sleeper.

Lachlan isn't much better. except the last few weeks he wno't sleep AT ALL during day unless on me and only catnapping. as soon as i put him down *bling* we're wide awake and crying.

he won't got to sleep til late either, screams and fusses from 6 til 11pm. DP has to cut my tea up also and i sit BF him on couch til he ready to sleep. depending on when he goes to sleep he will wake 2-3 hourly. I have a GF who has a bub 3 weeks older than lachlan and he sleeps 12 hours through the night. I was seriously Pi$$ed when i heard that. but each baby is diff.

the only thing that has saved my sanity (today at least anyway) is the HAB i made DP buy. i can strap him to me and he been sleeping for hours - i can at least do some things (like go on BB and catch up )

good luck hun, fingers crossed it gets better x

[Mak]

Ohh can we join too???? My almost 3 year old still wakes at least once a night and my baby is now joining the all night party girls club.... I used to feel awful as it seems everyone elses kids slept. I have tried pretty much everything with DD1 and it just did not work. So I resigned myself to waiting it out. We survive on cosleeping and the odd afternoon nap....goodness knows how we'll be when I go back to work.

Thanks for making me feel more normal girls!!!!!!

Do you all get lots of 'helpful' suggestions too????

[Maruschke]

TMTM I am sorry you have a crappy sleeper! I know it feels terrible when others in the thread speak about waking up once during the night to feed their bubs who then go straight back to sleep . X is usually awake for most of the period from 9pm - 3am. She slept OK last night, but I still have not yet managed to do what the others seem to do, top her up with food and then settle her straight back down again, it usually takes 1.5-2 hours! There may have been only one or two times she has done this since birth, yikes!

Have you tried using a sling while bf so that you can pop your boob out while he is snacking and still get stuff done? It *might* work.

[Ginger]

count me in too.
i'm too tired to elaborate anymore than that at the moment. bbl

[Mumma2three]

Me too.
DD1 was a non sleeper until 8 months. DD2 until about 5 months. DS still hasn't slept longer than 6 hours at any one period and has only done that once. (mind you DD1 didn't sleep more than 1.5 hours day or night for 6 months).
DS will go down at 7pm and wake between 10pm-midnight. That is our longest sleep. I then bring him into bed and we feed about five times until 7am. We nap in between this but are both so tired I can't do a proper feed! Days he sleeps for 40 mins MAX about 3 times a day..... oh it's a joy!!
but I will say the girls were the exact same (sort of) and both became alot better. I am sooo hoping DS does too. Soon if possible...
At least there's a few of us in this together! ox

[Deejoy17]

My 2nd was a terrible sleeper and would wake every 20 minutes to 2 hours every night, I was in tears so many times with this child waking every 20 minutes, looking back I don`t know how I coped but I obviously got by somehow. Adrian didn`t sleep through the night till he was 2 years old and even know he`ll often wake me up a couple of times a night for silly little things like "I can`t find my bed Mummy"

I feel sorry for you and wish I could give you some advice but I don`t have any at all.

[Jaycee]

I'm joining the terrible sleeper club too!
DS is 17 months and doesn't sleep thru, funny thing is from 3 to 6 months he slept like a dream all night long and then something changed and he's never done it since!
Talk about a false sense of security lol!
He'll go down around 8-8:30 every night and will wake between 12:30 and 1:30. He then comes in to my bed and will wake up crying anywhere up to 4 more times during the night and all I can do to get him back to sleep is give him his beloved boobie, I swear he's addicted! We're then up for the day between 6:30 and 7 and so it continues, every night.
Very very occasionally he'll sleep til 3:30-4am and those nights (maybe once a month) I think all my christmases have come at once!!

[MamaPan]

me too.... DS is 20 months... and a good night still involves about 3 settles...

[Toomanytoomany]

Well i must say, whilst I'm sorry you're all sleepless, I'm glad I'm not alone!

Gracious Goddess, your ds does exactly what Major Tom does - I hope he isn't still doing it at 17mos too though!

Oscaroscar, yikes, that would drive me mad being up at those hours. At least all I have to do is lie in bed and doze while the baby feeds.

Thomas has slept much better during the day today than he normally does - here's hoping it is true what they say, that sleep begets sleep, and maybe I won't have such a bad night tonight. I have used a double swaddle to keep him wrapped up and it is doing much better than just using one blanket.

We'll all have to do a sleep dance!!