Hi Emma. Isabella's night routine is as follows:
Around 5pm-5.30pm - Bathtime
Between 7.00-8.00pm (it varies) - Put into sleeping bag and give the bottle (breasfeeding went out the window at around 3 weeks as I couldn't take the pain any longer).
She either falls asleep while drinking, or waits until after her feed and we've walked around with her for around half an hour before starting to nod off. If she's happy to be in bed, she goes off to sleep witout a sound, otherwise we have to pick her up and give her a top-up before she'll go to sleep.
She then sleeps through until 6-6.30am, so we're very lucky in that regard. IF I'm able to settle her and get her to have a sleep during the day, it's around 11am for a couple of hours (on my arm!). Otherwise, she's awake for pretty much the entire day, give or take a few minutes whenever we're going somewhere in the car. VERY frustrating!!!
The other night she woke up at 3.46am for some reason and was sooo happy to see me and was all smiles! She wouldn't go back to bed until over an hour later! She was fine last night though, so must have just had a bad night.
I'm really glad you get a dead arm too - I thought it was just me!! While it's a pain and I can't get anything done, I kind of enjoy it too as it's nice snuggle-time for us!
I do hope they'll grow out of this phase though??!!
holy cr@p! you really are lucky she sleeps such a long stretch!!!! i am considering giving hollie a bottle for her last feed from now on, and putting her to bed at 8.30pm... i am going to give it a go tonight and see how long she sleeps.
last night we gave her a bottle at around 8.30pm and then a bath, and she was asleep by 10pm, and she managed to stay down until 4.50am which i thought was amazing. i then had to take her on the couch with me from about 6am to 8.30am as she wouldnt settle on her own.
i am hoping that eventually they just sleep longer and longer and then miss there middle of the night feed, and that is how they end up sleeping thru the night, is this right? (in theory!?)
amazingly she is now asleep in her hammock (we hired one) and has been down for about an hour!!!!!!!!!!! i am fighting the urge not to go in and check that she is still breathing!
Hi Emma. DD #1 gradually slept longer and longer until she was sleeping through. I'm just lucky Bella did it from only 4 weeks.
She's just had a 40 minute sleep in her rocker, which is better than she's been doing so I suppose I should be grateful! If only she'd do that in her cot!
Glad to hear the hammock is working! When did she eventually wake up? How did she sleep last night?
I've just been to have Bella weighed and the MCHN said her grandson was the same, not sleeping through the day. He's now 3 and sleeps during the day, but not without a fight! We have interesting times ahead I think!
well i tried to get her down earlier but no such luck, bathed her early and gave her a bottle at about 8.30pm, but she just wouldn't settle, i am beginning to think maybe she 'needs' to breast feed in order to settle at night, the bottle just didnt seem to do it. so anyways out of desperation i breast fed her at about 10.30pm and she seemed to be dozing but fitfully, like squirming and waking up, so i took her into bed with me which was such a bad mistake, i barely slept all night as i had to hold her and she kept squirming.... next time i will persevere with getting her down in her own bed as last night was a nightmare, am so tired today so plan on laying on the couch with her and having a nap. the house is a pig sty but i just cannot be bothered to fix it.
oh and she woke at about 3am last night so it wasn't a great sleep as if she is fed at 10.30pm she usually sleeps until at least 4.30am. i keep telling myself it wont be like this forever..... i hope not anyway!
today she slept for about 45 minutes in her hammock, then woke and i had to resettle her in my arms (lots of squirming) then i put her down in her hammock again, she just woke up but i stuck a dummy in and fingers crossed she has gone back to sleep which would be a miracle!
she seems to wake between sleep cycles and i have to resettle her each time, i wonder if she will learn just to go back to sleep if she wakes.
Emma - Nicholas is the same. He sleeps well at night, we give him a bath/shower at 6pm, then a bottle and story and is in bed by 7pm at the latest. We then wake him at about 10.30pm for a "dream feed" and he will usually sleep for about 5 hours. I always start his day with a feed at 7.30am and he feeds every 4 hours from then on until the 6.30pm bed time bottle. I try to get him to sleep during the day, as he is usually tired after being awake for a couple of hours, but he will only sleep for about 20 minutes and then wakes again. I am trying to get him to stay asleep longer by catching him early and putting the dummy back in ASAP. This means that every 20 mins or so, I am running up and sticking the dummy in though. I am hoping that he will eventually be able to settle himself during the day. If all else fails, I put him in the HAB and get on with things around the house, he will usually fall asleep in this.
Good luck, I know it is tough, Nicholas also has reflux and colic, so I try to do what I can and it seems to be different every day. I just try to take it as it comes and try not to stress about the housework (this is hard for me as I am a control freak!!)
DS only settles in my arms unless he's dead tired, then he'll open his eyes as I put him down, let out a short cry (usually just waa, waa) then that's too much so back to sleep again. He usually has a nap between 9 and 10 (in the pram/my arms), a 2-hour nap at lunchtime (in his chair) and another hour-long nap at some point in the afternoon (arms only), depending on how he feels. I have to force him to have the third nap though. He screams if I try to get him to nap in his crib or cotbed. His bedtime routine is 7pm naked time and massage, 7.15 bath, 7.25-7.40 into sleeping outfit and bag, say goodnight to daddy, story, prayers, feed, then lullaby. Oh gosh, we can be at that until 8.30 at night! That's up to an hour of lullaby! Aaagh! I lose my voice some nights.
Most nights he'll do a six hour stretch (he's fully breastfed, pretty much the only February bub who doesn't do a 10-12 hour stretch overnight!) but some only 2-3 hours before being fed to sleep again - he stays in my bed in my arms as I just can't cope with trying to get him to settle in his own bed again. He kept me awake with kicking until I put him in a sleeping bag, that contains him nicely so I can sleep. We're now at the stage where I can sleep on my back with my arm under him and him on his back (relief!); I'm hoping to get my arm back at night soon.
Every baby is different, but at least you know you're not alone with having a sleep-hating baby!
hello again...
its great to hear that i am not alone!!
i just wanted to share an update with you... on monday hollie and i, plus daddy went to a day stay program. i was 100% sure that nothing they could teach me would work, i knew everything (tired signs, sleep cycles etc etc).... anyways, they taught us a method for getting hollie to sleep in her cot, and so far it seems to be working for us. they said they hadnt quite seen a baby so defiant and so determined not to sleep, but after a while she gave in.
basically we do the same thing each time before nap time, we put her in her cot and let her cry for a few minutes, then go in and comfort etc (which for her is just putting the dummy in and shhhh shhhhing, anything else makes her angry), we do this a couple of times and she seems to go to sleep. unbelievable. i had tried this sort of thing before but i was just making her mad as patting her or touching her just made it worse.
i am going to persevere with it as we do seem to be making progress. after her middle of the night feed last night i put her in her cot and didnt hear a peep from her, she just went to sleep. i never would have thought it possible.
Oh yay Emma! Did they say to do the same thing with day sleeps too? I've tried that a few times too, but no luck (with the odd exception here and there), and Isabella's been the baby from hell the last two days, crying all the time and carrying on like a pork chop!
At least she's sleeping through the night, but the day sleeps really need to happen before my sanity disappears!
yes, we are doing it for all sleeps. the first day she slept over 3 hours and i had to go wake her up as it was getting too late in the evening and we wanted to bath her etc. yesterday she only slept two sleeps of 40 minutes, so not so great. but i am going to persevere with it for two weeks, as i have to give it a really good shot - i keep expecting it to work instantly. i think being consistent is important too. it is really hard though, as she screams and screams, but the screams are out of anger, you can really tell she is furious at being put to bed and not being nursed in my arms.
it is really hard but my partner is a tower of strength and keeps me going. he says, well what are u going to do when she cries for lollies, you cant just give in, you have to be strong. it is hard though as she is so young, but i know she isnt hungry, she isnt wet, she isnt too hot or too cold, she is tired, and she has to learn that when she gets put in her cot its for sleeping.
anyways hopefully over the next two weeks it gets easier.
I really hope it works out for you too! I've got a crying baby in her cot at the moment, so I'll see how many times I have to go in and comfort her. Hopefully not too many....!
Ok, I tried letting her cry for a few minutes (she wasn't too upset) before going in and popping the dummy back in. It took three times and she finally went to sleep. It seemed too easy so I checked on her just in case! lol She was fine and slept for 40 minutes. Yay! I hope we can keep it up now with the weekend looming...!
I think I have you to thank Emma, seeing as you posted your experience here, so THANK YOU!!
Reply With Quote
WTG Emma! So happy to hear Hollie is sleeping for you!
Bookmarks