Tricks and remedies for overtired baby

We are in overtired grizzle land.

We have a bedtime routine. She wears a wrap me up. Sometimes she does a 4-hr stretch in the cot before coming to bed with me and waking 2-hourly (or more). The past few nights 2 hours is the longest she's managed. She doesn't always feed back to sleep, but most of the time.

During the day she will not sleep more than 40 minutes (often I'lm lucky to get 20).
I've tried going in at 35 minutes to resettle. WRapped, unwrapped. Carrying her all day. I got a hammock - hasn't helped.

Nothing seems to help - any other suggestions to get her to sleep a bit longer? She won't even sleep in my arms. I'd do it if it meant she was better rested.

wow :hug: that sounds utterly exhausting.
Do you ever do baby massage?
How long is her bath? Sometimes if I ran a deep bath and got in they would settle better. It's hard when you have 2 though because the older always wants attention.

Ummm Gin? For you.

Oh MadB :hug: you must be exhausted!!! DD was exactly like that at around that age, its just awful. I cant offer you enough :hug: I dont have any answers cause I never found any myself but I was advised of a cd/ techniques of 'Happiest Baby on the Block', honestly I dont think it helped a lot, if at all but something like that is worth a go. Just remember that it will pass, you poor darlin :comfort:

:hug: It's soo hard. DS was the same. I have NO idea what we did to change it but it did end.

Hi, I feel for you, my son was the same, but I had only one so it was okay for me. I used to lay in our bed with him and pretend to be asleep when he woke and he slowly started just latching onto the breast and going back to sleep, but not always. Up until about 8 months (or possibly older, he's 3.5 now so it's been a long time!) he would only sleep for 40 minutes in the day and he stirred for a breastfeed every two hours or so. I would sometimes get him off to sleep 5 times in a day...my friends thought I was crazy I think:D

No practical suggestions really, just wanted to say I know how you feel and this too shall pass.

xx c

Well we've done this before as DS was even worse. BUT at this age we put him the HAB all day and once he was better rested things improved (well for a few weeks till the next 'thing'). I just can't find anything that actually works with DD.... I don't care what it is. If she'd sleep well in teh car I'd drive around all day. I'd carry her all day. I'd feed her all day. Whatever...

lol at gin. I'm not sure that would help....

What about the pram? Any luck with that?

I found a deep warm bath always helped....

You must be exhausted. The first few months are so hard. :hug:

She was really good in the first month or so. She now hates the pram.

I'm going to go run a nice deep bath :)

Does she like the bath - or shower? That sometimes helped settle my little one.

Walk in the sunshine with bub in the carrier or pram?

Not really sure cos i'm still excited if i get a 3 or 4 hour stint to myself.

Brandy?? (Kidding)
Is bub still sleeping wrapped? Both my DD's had to sleep on their sides and out of the wrap to sleep for any length of time after the very newborn stage and I also introduced one of those best and less sleepy time Teddys at around 3 months that when I put then down on their side with I put in their arms as a comforter for all their sleeps(after wearing it down my shirt for a few hours), I don't know if it will help, you sound exhausted, but if bub still sleeping on back it might make a difference - though both still had a tendency to catnap through the day until about 8 monthish when the long daysleeps started happening of their own accord.

Patting on the bum? DD3's just worked out how to fight sleep & its wearing me down!
Sometimes she'll feed, sometimes just rocking, other times I lay her on her belly in her cot & pat her bottom. Almost every time is different!

She's in a "wrap me up". I've tried with no wrap. And also with arms out (I cut the flippers off one of mine as she'd punched a hole in it). I was thinking about trying to wrap her again...? Bit of a hassle as I'd have to do it for a while for her to get used to again.
Tried her on her tummy a couple of times. She slept, but only very briefly - not sure if it's worth trying that again.
I know I"m overthinking it and should just go with it, but I"d really like to get a few hours sleep

She's in her cot now adn I keep thinking I hear her crying.... I'm going mad :rofl:

DD was a ratbag with day sleeps until about your DD's age when suddenly, one day, I popped her in the cot and she slept for 2.5 hours straight :o She had most of her day sleeps in my sling, a Bubba Moe, which was in a cradle/heart position - so not upright like a lot of slings. The other times shes napped in a hammock. I gave up on wrapping her at 10 weeks and moved her into sleeping bags (GroBags / Living Textile bags, etc) and she slept beautifully all night in her cot from 10 weeks. Day sleeps worked in the bags and cot from about 6 months. We did two day stays at Ngala so I learnt a few things from them but TBH, I think DD just found her groove - and I kept persisting although I didn't push it IYKWIM. I BF DD to sleep at that age too.

I saw some awesome new wraps the other day (well, they were new to me) which I think were Ergo wraps and can be worn in several different ways - swaddled, one arm out, both arms out, sleeping bag, etc. They looked great, I'll be trying them next time round.

Not sure if any of that will help!!

Hun, big hugs to you lovely and I think you should have that drink ;)

DS was and still is to some degree a ratbag of a sleeper during the day. I have tried EVERYTHING. The only thing I drew a line at was to drive him to sleep in the car! lol. At your DD's age, I was lucky to get a 20 -40 minute nap usually once a day. So extremely over tired bub in the afternoons. I pretty much fed him to sleep till about 8 months or so and then I somehow managed (I still don't know how) to switch him to feed/play/sleep. He now sleeps anywhere from 1-2 hours still once a day but I'm guessing it's because he's more mobile now.

Hope it gets better for you soon hun xx

Oh MadB, I've just seen this - it does sound like we're both living a pretty miserable experience right now.

:hug: :hug:

Let's hope it improves for both of us soon.

When you wrap her and put her to bed do you have any music playing in the room? When my DS was about the same age as your DD the only time I could get him to sleep for longer periods during the day was to put on a cd of a beating heart. I tried everything you are trying and seriously it was the only thing that worked. He didnt need it at night, but thats because he wasnt overtired. the cd manly worked for his afternoon nap.

She has a COLD!
Ok, that explains the last couple of days at least

Ah no, poor DD. :( Do you have a steam vaporiser? I find it works well in conjunction with lots of bfing to help recovery. How are you feeling?

Blimey, you must be tired.
Do you get a chance when your DH is home for a nap? (for yourself that is!)
When Natty was about 4mo we switched from rocking to patting to sleep. Quite firm pats too. Even at 3yo sometimes she'd wake at night and call me in, saying, "pat my botton, Mummy" LOL. I found that she settled for longer if she went to sleep not in my arms. She was like that though - Phoebe happily transferred (and still does transfer from the car) and slept/sleeps... for as long as she slept. Natty would definitely sleep for longer if she fell asleep in the cot though. Patting was her 'thing'.
Maybe you are still yet to discover your DD's 'thing'... Hope you find it soon. :hug:

Yep, I don't know what her "thing" is.
I'm done though, have given up. I'll sleep in a few years. I'm sick of spending aaaaalll day trying to get her to sleep or stay asleep. Today she didn't last longer than 20 minutes. :wall:

My DD only ever cat-napped for 20 mins too. I remember going to Mothers Group and all the other babies were sleeping 2 hours or more and I felt like killing all the smug bi-atches! But DD grew out of it eventually. Still doesn't do enormous sleeps, 1.5 hours during the day is generally her limit.

Have you tried white noise? I'm just throwing out anything that you could try as you seem to be doing everything you can. DD loves having her radio on even now (on a fuzzy non-station) and it seems to block out other household noises too so she's not disturbed, but still soothing hum to it.

Other than that, perhaps try the gin for you? :)

Want to come over for a play during the school holidays and maybe I could have a cuddle just to give your arms a rest?

Live close to the beach? Salt is meant to have calming properties... A friend of mine used to take her little guy for a walk on the beach and swore he'd sleep like a log afterwards.

Hey that's a really good point about the beach...my DD sleeps like a log after swimming. Any chance you could take M to the pool or beach for a swim and see if that helps. Not a permanent solution but even an longer sleep is worth a shot.

Mad.B, I am on the same page as you!! DD will not sleep from 5pm till at least 11pm... SOOO ANNOYING and nothing will change it.

What's her head/neck control like?
I would try her on her tummy. Unwrapped obviously, on a flat surface, like in the cot of bassinet, no the bed.
Has worked with both of mine.

:hug: Have you tried using the Brauers Calm stuff too when she is really bad?

Mt DD was terrible at that age!! I think her teething necklace helped, but mabey it was a coincidence that she calmed around the time i got it. Also I took my DD to the chiro, and she gave me this natural powder called sleep eazy for kids, that was amazing :) if u want more detaisl PM me :) Hope she settles soon :hug:

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I'm done though, have given up. I'll sleep in a few years. I'm sick of spending aaaaalll day trying to get her to sleep or stay asleep.

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Ooooh, that sounds like the perfect solution! Hopefully that triggers the longer sleeps, LOL!
Sorry to make light of what's a frustrating situation. I totally understand. Keep plugging, babe. xxx

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Yep, I don't know what her "thing" is.
I'm done though, have given up. I'll sleep in a few years. I'm sick of spending aaaaalll day trying to get her to sleep or stay asleep. Today she didn't last longer than 20 minutes. :wall:

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You gave me this advice when i was struggling last year, and it helped me to let go and just accept it. Try it for a couple of days and see how you go. YOu can always try something else next week. :hug:

:hug: Madsies.... and that is not a "I have nothing else to offer you" hug, it is a "thank HEAVENS someone else is going through this right now" hug.

I at least get 35 minutes every time. If I go in at 30, and then pick her up when she stirs, and rock her for 20-30 minutes, then sometimes I get another 20. In fact, I persist until I DO get another 20, because otherwise she will. not. feed. And then life is hell for both of us.

Night sleeps were almost identical, until we stopped co-sleeping. Once she was in a cot, we were having a single waking a night, and then Wonder Week 18/19 hit, and we're back to three wake-ups, which still isn't too bad.

We're still wrapping. I gave the sleeping bag a go, and it was an epic fail.

Stuff that has kinda helped (at least in getting us from 25 minutes up to 40 or 45) was:
- ipod and speakers in her room, playing sleep cue music. It's a cue (I'm a big fan of NCSS) and it also helps to block out household and street noises that were waking her up.
- having a sleep routine - nappy change, cuddle, get wrapped, turn on the sleep music, bounce on the fitball singing the same frigging lullaby over and over and over, into hammock when asleep (or when she's drowsy if I'm feeling ambitious)
- staying home for a week and sticking to ^^that, and also having a little bit of a daily "routine" I know your DD used to do Feed-Play-Sleep, if she still does, it has kinda helped us out a little bit. First sleep is always an hour and fifteen after she wakes in the morning, and then we take it from there. Until it gets to 3pm, and then we just play it by ear and I pretty much let her do what she wants.

Just accepting it is not an option for me, because I did that, and then she would. not. feed. in the day. She didn't day feed for 3 weeks, and caught up by night, so neither of us were getting any decent sleep, and she was crank-o-rama. And, being sleep-deprived, I didn't have the resources to help her through that.

For now, I'm persevering with the "How to get your baby to take longer naps" suggestion from the NCSS. Hasn't worked like the book says so far, but I have nothing else, and I am so determined to get this working, because when it does, the sun shines from every angle.

Aaaaaaand... some babies grow out of the catnapping thing.

Someone's awake ;) (got 45 minutes after a re-settle! Yeeeeeeee-frickety-HA!)

What goes around comes around, hey? :)
Thanks all

She won't resettle. Tried her tummy but that was a fail. But... I think she's still a bit off so proably can't expect much from her at the moment anyway.
Giving up was the best thing to do with my DS - but he really didnt' want to sleep. DD is different. She whinges about being tired all day... oh well.

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What goes around comes around, hey? :)
Thanks all

She won't resettle. Tried her tummy but that was a fail. But... I think she's still a bit off so proably can't expect much from her at the moment anyway.
Giving up was the best thing to do with my DS - but he really didnt' want to sleep. DD is different. She whinges about being tired all day... oh well.

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Hug!!! Try that stuff Jennie suggested. It is natural and safe for babies.. Its got chamomile n some other stuff in it that will help relax her.

I am in the same position right now. It sucks and ypu get to the point where you dont care anymore hey?


Sent from my iPhone so sorry for the spelling and punctuation!!

Overtired his hard!! I just wanted to second the white noise thing! We use a cheap pedestal fan turned up high, its relaxing (well I get sleepy when I'm in there) and drowns out DS1 yelling which will always make DS2s eyes pop open! And I do give him a lot of showers, they're like magic (and its something that DS1 can do with us).

I haven't found DS2s thing yet either but we have the most success with lying him on the bed and cuddling up to him, kissing his cheek, letting him play with my face - he's just a cuddly one.

I too am looking forward to that sleep in a few years, its going to be awesome xo

She resettled this morning, did a full 40 minutes extra. With a dummy. Oh I hate dummies, but I might have to transform that into a love-hate relationship. Might just have been a one-off, we'll see....

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She resettled this morning, did a full 40 minutes extra. With a dummy. Oh I hate dummies, but I might have to transform that into a love-hate relationship. Might just have been a one-off, we'll see....

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Yay! I got 1hr 20 today. She was on the boob the whole time, but if that's what it takes...

Just do it (dummy) You've established BFing, you can make it disappear later. I'm actually a bit jealous, and I hate them too.

posted too soon. no afternoon nap. boo.