Thanks Kym....yes, I am very proud of him, he just amazes me more every day. Yeah I do BF at the early (9:30) wakeup, I BF most wake ups...so he is getting plenty of milk.
Last night was no better, but, I am feeling better about the wakeups. I'm trying to take it in my stride and not stress so much.
Marlene hun ... my DS1 was like this - it was like he would miss out on something if he went to sleep ... I spent about the first 6 or so months of his life surviving on 2 hours of sleep per night (I was also at uni, so essays and the such had to be done!!) He hated being wrapped, and was so alert all the time.
Nothing worked for me, I just had to persevere until he got over it ... mind you, he didn't sleep through the night til he was nearly 4! All I can do is sympathise with you, I really understand how tiring it can be (especially when you've got 3 other kids to look after!)
As for not taking the bottle, DS3 won't (and he's such a mummy's boy!) And "useless" partners - well, mine is gone all week for work! hun, and I hope Jack settles back down for you!
Well things have not gotten any better Jack is still waking every 2 hours....I am handling it a bit better now, no more tears, but I am sooo tired. We have been co-sleeping from the first wake up and I have been BFing every wakeup. I think I need to stop feeding every wakeup but I am just too tired and it is so easy to just put him on the boob and then he falls straight back to sleep.
I am wondering if I should try and move him from his hammock to his cot (cot is in our room as well). He is still refusing to sleep without a wrap but I dont really care about that too much at the moment, just wish he would sleep!!
You poor thing, I went through a period like this with my DS2 too. Sleep deprivation is a terrible thing.
I'm sure they must hit a developmental stage at that age and it throws everything out the window.
I don't really have much advice, the lovely ladies here have given some great tips. The only one I can suggest is if you are co-sleeping - do you wake up when you hear him stir (before he starts crying)? If so, could you try patting him on the tummy (or something else that he likes) as soon as he stirs to help him get through to the next sleep cycle? I did this with DS2 during the day - although I didn't co-sleep, I just snuck in his room a few minutes before his sleep cycle would end - and he eventually worked out how to settle himself back to sleep without any help from me.
When you BF in the night, is he just sucking for a little while to go back to sleep or is he really drinking? It might be worth an experiment where you actually do a "day" feed in the middle of the night - both get up, wake him up as much as is needed to get him really eating, change his nappy, give him the other boob, do whatever you can to stuff him as full of milk as possible - and hope that he lasts for longer. And maybe try a sleeping bag rather than the wrap if you want to put him in his cot - they make it harder for wriggly babes to get to the end to bang heads.
hugs and hoping that something makes an improvement
Kate
Trish.....yes, I do wake when he starts to stir. I try to resettle him by patting but then he ust starts thrashing around and gets upset, so I end up feeding him.
Kmn....he seems to have pretty good feeds, although it is hard to tell how much they are having when you BF, especially when you fall asleep half way through.
Thanks for the sleeping bag suggestion, I am going to try and find a summer one for him. Any suggestions where I could find a light weight one that is not too expensive?
Dh and I went out last night for his footy presentation and ended up being called home by the babysitter because he absolutely refused to take the bottle of EBM!! I have been trying to teach him to drink from a cup (sippee and straw) but he doesn't want a bar of it. Its just all getting so difficult! Jack used to be such an easy baby. My next challenge is getting him to self-settle in his cot...fun, fun, fun.
I hope things get better for you both really soon Marlene. Re: a sleeping bag, I'm not sure which state you are in, but I bought a lightweight sleeveless sleeping bag for my DS last weekend at Baby Bunting for $25. You can also buy them from Target and Big W, but they didn't have the size I needed when I went and I think they may have been polar fleece, I can't remember...HTH
Sorry to jump in Marlene but I just wanted to say I am so with you on this one!!
When Freyja hit 4 1/2 months she turned into a nightmare baby! I find myself in tears most days wondering what I'm doing wrong and why I can't just get some sleep. No daytime naps unless exhausted, waking continually through the night, always overtired and suffering from every teething sign possible, not even smiling and laughing like she used to. I've had to go back to giving her a nighttime feed to help her settle and give her her dummy back... we'd unfortunately decided to do away with it just before this stage hit - I was so desperate for some sleep on Sunday I gave her it back!
She has now just turned 5 months and is still the same. Monday was hell, yesterday was better and today better still. Nights were still bad with several wakenings, and it's just taken an hour to get her to go down for a nap, but I'm hoping now she's asleep she'll have a good one!
I'm with the other girls that it's just a stage and am praying that it will be over after this week.
Oh, one thing to try I think hasn't been suggested... bub needs about 15 hours sleep right now - 10 at night and 5 during the day. Freyja is in bed at 8pm and normally we try to get her to sleep as long as poss so I can get a rest in the morning after hubby goes to work at 6.15. Obviously, as far as she's concerned, 6am is time to get up as she's done almost 10 hours! Today I got her up at that point and was as bouncy and chirpy as a sleep-deprived mum can be and so far today (until the 1hr to nap issue!) she has been gorgeous - almost herself again.
Can't help but think I've been oversleeping her or something, so might be worth considering if it could help you to change
Of course, if you start putting Jack to sleep at 6pm, that means morning is 4am, so you might want to reconsider those hours first!!!
Last edited by MummyPig; October 29th, 2008 at 01:23 PM.
: can't tell the time!
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Yeah I do BF at the early (9:30) wakeup, I BF most wake ups...so he is getting plenty of milk.
hun ... my DS1 was like this - it was like he would miss out on something if he went to sleep ... I spent about the first 6 or so months of his life surviving on 2 hours of sleep per night (I was also at uni, so essays and the such had to be done!!) He hated being wrapped, and was so alert all the time.
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