Well some of you may know that we had a hell of a time with DD1 and sleep. All is pretty good now, she sleeps quite well and as long we stick to the routine she is not too bad. I realised with her that I was way too stressed with getting her to sleep and that it created some problems. So this time around with DD2 I have been a lot more laid back and generally it has gone quite well. We have had our rough patches, but we tend to get through them.
We co-sleep at night and she tends to go down quite well being fed to sleep. She really does need her routine and the room to be very dark and quiet. Day naps have been very hit and miss. They went well went she was not rolling or crawling as I could just leave her on our bed and she would put herself to sleep most of the time. Since she is mobile naps have either been me lying down with her (which I can only do for a short while due have DD1 to look after), putting her in the highchair and pushing her back and forth, the odd feeding to sleep (this is on her terms only) or relying on out trips in the car.
Well it has all come crashing down, she has 4 molars coming through for a few weeks now, but I think something else is going on. Our diet is quite good, very few additives. Part of it could be over stimulation with the TV, but at the moment I just do not have the energy to deal with both her and the tanties from both the TV addicts in the house (DD1 and DH) The car is not working in getting her to sleep, it takes ages no matter how tired she is. The other day it took over 1/2 hour, when it normally takes about 10 min when she is very tired. She is just hysterical with tiredness and fighting everything. She is falling over and hurting herself which just makes it all worse. She is getting so many bangs to the forehead I am getting very concerned.
So today she has broken me. I had no sympathy when she hit her head, it was due to her being tired, clingy and fighting sleep. Everything is upsetting her, for some reason toys are sending her into angry hysterics. I can't even try the car today, as I cannot get dressed. Moving quickly from room to room to get ready will just cause her to follow me hysterically and then most likely have another fall.
Oh Astrid, you poor thing. I am really feeling for you. Ds went through this same kind of thing at about the same age and it was just horrible.
I probably don't have any advice that you haven't tried. I just wanted to give you some sympathy and reassure you that this can't go on forever. Big Hang on in there.
Oh sweetie
I really hope things improve soon. My DD is a similar age and I feel almost more sleep deprived than when she was a newborn! We are cosleeping, too. I just wanted to offer some empathy and say you are not alone. Things will get better and you are doing an awesome job
I remember when the "over it" bit happened to me - just after a year here too. DS fell over and I just looked at him and said "your own daft fault, you can walk well now and you're just tired; you should sleep at night." (He didn't nap in a half-hour walk either.) He was wailing at me! A friend looked at me, and told me she was taking DS for a half hour so I could sit down with a drink.
So I had a drink and a chat to friends and was refreshed enough to cope with DS.
Could you do that? Even just a half-hour of no children can make such a difference.
Thanks for the replies ladies. I have been much more relaxed with this one and overall found it to be much better than with my first. It does still get to me though. Most phases we seem to get through, this one really seems to be hanging around too long. Atleast she finally went to sleep today and gave me enough of a break to have a shower.
Bit out of left field, but could you give her Rescue Remedy? Hopefully she is going through an "everything $hits me to tears" stage with the teeth, and RR could help her through it.
Other than that, can you shift her routine to include sleeps 30 mins earlier than usual? Get her down before she gets too gnarly.
She has got me to breaking point!
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Hang on in there.
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