I am soooo tired...my little man has been really trying my patience with his sleeping the last couple of weeks and I am at my wits ends as to what to do about it!
He used to self-settle quite well but now will not self settle AT ALL! It used to tak eme about 10 minutes of cuddles and bum patting to get him off to sleep, then I would put him in his hammock and he would stay asleep, maybe waking once or twice at the most during the night, sometimes i would feed him (if he was awake and whingy and other times he would settle with a bit of rocking of the hammock, which is next to our bed) he would always go to sleep immediately after feeding.
The last couple of weeks (and increasingly over the last few days) he is taking at least an hour of rocking and patting to go to sleep, I put him down in his hammock and he wakes up as straight away! He will just lay there looking around so I walk out of the room, he then talks to himself, then grizzles, then cries. When he starts to cry I go in and bounce his hammock till he calms down then walk out again. This can go on for hours if I let it, I always end up in tears, pick him up and rock him to sleep again and pray he stays asleep when I put him down.
This is how it went last night: (a typical night lately)
Start putting to sleep: 6:00........Finally asleep: 7:30
Awake: 9:30..........Finally back to sleep (in bed with me) 11:45
Awake: 1:45, feed.
Awake: 3:45, rock back to sleep.
Awake: 6:00, feed (give him to DH who slept on lounge, they play for an hour)
Back to bed with me at 7am, slept till 9.
He didn't seem to be in any pain, was not crying, just grizzy and restless. He was kicking his legs like crazy as if he wanted his wrap off, but refuses to sleep without a wrap! (I have tried many times). Even in bed with me he is restless and wriggly.
I have tried to put him in his cot (which is also in our room) He HATES that! He "back crawls" to the end of the cot (with his wrap on or wriggles out of it) and bangs his end on the end of the cot.
I just don't know what to do...I really need some sleep. DH is useless, not much help at all during the night and I can't even get him to give Jack a bottle of EBM as he refuses to take a bottle now...grrrrr.
I am so sorry that this post is so long, I really needed to get it all off my chest! I know most people go through the same thing at some stage and I'm sure I did with the other kids (just cant remember, LOL), I just really needed to have a whinge.
I am not at this stage (dont have children yet) but I just wanted to give you a big hug as it must be really tough and even worse when you are sleep deprived.
I hope that you can get through this stage. I am sure you will but it is good to let it all out.
That is the same age that we started having problems with DS1 sleeping too. I don't know what it is about that age - either teething, or starting to get more mobile and aware. But it's certainly trying, isn't it!
I don't know what is going to work for you, but there are some options of things for you to try. There is always co-sleeping all the time, although it doesn't help you during the day if you don't want to sleep too. You could also try with no wrapping. It might take a few days for that to work, but if it improves the sleeping overall it would be worth it. Or you could try changing his routine. It might be that he's ready to drop a day sleep, so you could try that. Or conversely, it might be that he is having too long between sleeps and you are missing that "window". In which case you could try putting him down earlier for each of his sleeps. You could also try music at sleep time, and/or a gentle massage at bed time.
As I say, I'm not sure which of those things, if any, would work for you, but I hope you can find something in there to make your life easier. He will settle down again - sooner or later - and I hope it's sooner for you. Hang in there hun. You really are doing a fantastic job.
Marlene, I hear your pain. My DS is about a month younger than yours, but he seems to be going through the same thing. He is up and down all night, and takes about 2 hrs to settle and needs at least two feeds, and a couple of settles in the night. I cant offer any advice, but wanted to let you know you are not alone in this, and I will be watching this thread with interest to see if you get any help.
MR - there are some good tip sin there, I am going to try out too.
Firstly . Your right in your saying under your name, this will pass, it's just a bugger not knowing when.
My DS went through something very similar and in my case it meant moving him from our room to his own in his cot (not saying you should do this). I also had to teach him how to self settle again as he was used to being rocked to sleep in my arms and he was just getting to heavy for me to rock for very long. I ended up giving him a feed and cuddle before bed. I would them put him down and let 'protest cry' for about 10 min. I would then go in and pat him to sleep without making eye contact or talking to him. I would stay with him till he fell asleep though (once took 45 min of patting). Just want to point out that his protest cry was more of the occasional yell or whinge. If he had tears or a 'real' cry I would get him up for about 15 min and try again.
Im not sure what will work for you but it can't hurt to try some new techniques. I hope you find an answer soon and can get some much needed sleep.
Oh it may help regarding EBM, my neighbors DD never took a bottle but after a week of trying she started taking a small sippy cup. It made it easier for her DH to do the odd night feed. Maybe it could help you.
marlene i really sympathise, having been through the same thing with ds (now 4) and currently having similar problems with dd (6 months).
i think around this age there is an increase in awareness and some bubs find it more difficult to get to (and stay) asleep. they may also be fighting sleep because being awake is so much more interesting - my ds certainly seemed that way! he's a brilliant sleeper now, but i endured two years of sleep deprivation to get there...
i hear you on the problem of taking AGES to get to sleep. i can get dd to sleep by feeding, but laying her down after is a different matter. after several nights of getting to bed after midnight i've given up on the cot for now (she was starting off there, then coming into bed with me later) and am taking her straight into bed where i lie with her and pat her back to sleep. she then wakes at least every two hours - often more frequently - and is fed or patted or rocked back to sleep. EXHAUSTING.
have you started ds on solids yet? there's always the hope that it might help!! best of luck getting through this difficult time. i hope things improve for you soon.
Thankyou everyone for your support and suggestions. Last night was a little better with 3 hours between waking....if he could stretch it out to 4 hours I would be even happier.
I will definently try the suggestions posted here, but I'm sure its just a matter if waiting it out.
Exhausted and in tears every night....A VENT!!
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I am not at this stage (dont have children yet) but I just wanted to give you a big hug as it must be really tough and even worse when you are sleep deprived.
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