sleepless nights at nearly 12 mo aaarrrggghhhh

[nox]

my ds is def teething. I get that. I am very sympathetic about that.

What I don't get is why he's now waking in the night (no alas thats nothing new) and taking 2 hours to settle again.
Where a quick bf used to do the trick now it doesn't help.

I bring him in bed and he'll constantly suckle, pulling off dozing for 5 mins then start screaming. I put him back on and the whole thing starts again. For the past few nights for 2 hours.

I am going insane as you can imagine. Have sore breasts am overtired. As is my dh. This is making me want to leave ds in cot to scream there for 2 hours as bf does little and makes me want to leave dh full stop! Tonight I gave panadol an hour into it. Still 2 hours in total.

I have posted elsewhere that his constant waking for past month is making me look at sleep schools. Now i think that'll be too long... And if its teething won't help. Ive taken him to gp -- he's fine.

What can I do? Or tell me this is normal and will soon end.

[Barb Glare]

Hi,

It can be really hard going when their routine changes so radically for no particular reason. Usually, there is a reason, just not one that it obvious to us, at the time. Tell us about what his previous sleep pattern was like? Do you generally co-sleep, or is this just in response to his frequent waking? What are daytime sleeps like now? How are his eating patterns going? Is he much of an eater?
If you have another bed in the house, for a night or so you could leave him in bed with his dad and go get some sleep so you are well rested enough to make a plan. It's not as silly as it sounds. There are some good books around like Elizabeth Pantley's "No cry Sleep Solution"
Regards
Barb

[CrystalBoo]

I agree, the No Cry Sleep Solutions was a big help for us. I just wonder if maybe your milk supply is dropping off? My DD was a huge, 8 times a night feeder towards 10m and it was driving me insane, literally! I began to introduce a bottle (before bedtime BF and one during night if she woke) and she dropped to waking only once or twice. She was quite slow to put on weight for her first 10m and I wonder now if I never really had enough for her. Maybe that is not your problem but could be worth thinking about?

[nox]

Thanks! I am going insane. It is interesting, during the day, it all seems fine, but at night I feel like this is the worst life ever!

For about 10 weeks before this happened, he started to sleep from 7-7 without a peep adn dropped his nighttime feeds himself. This lasted about 8 weeks. Then he started to wake at 4am at which point I would bring him to bed and he would have bf then quickly to sleep until 7/8am. As it turned out, he got a fever adn 4 top teeth were coming through so the wakings became more and more frequent. I would ususally do the first one and put him in cot, then the second I would bring him in bed -- but again he would quickly sleep.

Before all of that, he was regularly waking for a feed ever 4 hours and all but the last one would be back in his cot. But we would bring him into bed for the last one before wakeup time. he would awake happy between us. (Before ALL that, he was an irregular sleeper at night -- sometimes 4 hrs then 2 hrs etc. He exclusively co-slept with me from birth to 3months -- either in bed or in bassinet. Since then it is a combination of cot and co-sleeping)

In regards to naps, he has been going through a transition. He would regularly nap 2 times (morning short , longer in afternoon) but for the past few weeks this has been changing. I think that he is moving to 1 nap. Last week it was 1 nap every second day and 2 naps on the other days. This would make NO difference to the nighttime sleeping. This week it is all 1 nap. The last 2 nights have been the worst so far, with him waking around 11pm and being unsettled for 2 hours then up agian and drifting adn waking.

The problem is mostly that he wakes and he is really crying. I put him on breast and soothes, then he goes off and starts crying again. It feels endless and very strange as he usually is comforted and fine with BF.

His eating is sensational. I am very lucky there. I have never had a problem with supply. He no longer asks for BF in the day (obviously he doesn't need it with all the night feeding!!!).

He is a big healthy boy in every way and has gained weight well and steadily since birth. He is 95% for height and 85% for weight so is doing well in that regard. During the day he is fine. I know there are teeth still coming. And I have gone back to work, but it has had little effect on his phycial routine. He is looked after by my parents --which has been the same for 1-2 months before I went to work amd a nanny on the days I am working from home ...

I have had a chat with Pinky McKay about it and she says there is nothing to be done for the next few months ... I don't know if I can cope that long!

I really hope I can hear some encouraging thoughts and words ... he seems in pain but I don't know what to do.