Please help - I'm a zombie...

[LaDeeDa]

DS and I co-sleep ...

He has been snotty for the last 3 weeks or so as his dad keeps bringing home the flu.

For the last 3 weeks he goes down about 9-10pm and normally wakes about 12ish then EVERY HOUR after that.....

He has a feed at each wake up - sometimes a really good feed - sometimes just a snack.

He feeds every 1.5 - 2.5 hours during the day and has about 3 day sleeps for about 45 mins each.

He is really happy all day and is pretty happy at night - unless I take him off the boob before he's ready eg: last night I tried to take him off and lie down and give him the boob and he screamed inconsolably.....

Last night when I put him into bed (he feeds to sleep) he woke up and held onto me with his hands so I wouldn't go anywhere....

He is also waking up and kicking the doona off and wriggling around .... even though he seems dead tired instead of going into his new sleep cycle he seems to do this instead.

I don't know what to do - I am so tired I feel like I have been hit by a truck and then it's reversed over me a few times and there is no-one around who can pop over and let me have a nap. DF is sick so he's not much good to me either.

I don't know if that makes any sense - hope it does.

[Jakabella]

Hugs babe! I dont have much help to give but I just wanted you to know Im thinking of you.

Bella sometimes does the holding on to me thing when I put her into her cot but I just stroke her head and say its time for sleep and when she lets go I gove her her dummy and turn her mobile on and go, how ever Bella slef settles nearly evey night unless she falls asleep while drinking her last bottle.

As for the kicking off the doona thing Bella used to do that - so now she sleeps in a long sleeve fleecy sleeping bag on top of her PJ's and I have a blanket tucked around the cot matress so I can tuck her in tightly and she cant kick it off - she can still get her arm out, and now if the blanket comes loose or DH doesnt do it tight enough she wakes up = I think the tighness makes her feel snugg and safe,

Sorry no real help!!

Kate xox

[Peach*]

Hi LaDeeDa,
I know exactly how you feel!! Its awful... I dont have any amazing advice as different things work for different people. For us I decided to stop co-sleeping with DD. It was hard too, but she was much the same in our bed, restless and CONSTANTLY suckling on me, when I would try to detatch and roll over she would cry untill I let her latch back on. I got no rest and my back was killing me, so we booted her out into her cot. That was hard work too, but it has worked for us. I mean I still got up 4 times last night but I find she is alot less restless when she sleeps. And for me too I get much more rest which is important!
We fed to sleep too but I found stopping that has worked for us too, as when she wakes up in the night now she dosnt need boobie to get back to sleep.
Sorry I know this isnt much help probably but just wanted to let you know our experience.

[Lulu]

have you got the cot next to the bed yet?

I found that even though we co-slept, DD slept better by herself - she was always kicking crap out of me. In the cot she could throw herself around happily.

[LaDeeDa]

nah he's still in with us - asked DF to try putting the cot there this weekend - I'll miss him though

[Heaven]

I hear ya! I have just bought 'the no cry sleep solution', God I hope it works.

[Peach*]

nah he's still in with us - asked DF to try putting the cot there this weekend - I'll miss him though

You can still have sneaky cuddles in the night when you feed, I know we do And you can always roll over and have a peek.

Best of luck

[Lulu]

Girl - catch your sleep up in the day. Doze on the couch, bare minimum housework, easy meals. The whole house is sick and you need to do a go-slow until this passes.

xoxoxoxo

[Arcadia]

Hugs Dee! Could you stretch out the day feeds a little bit to more like 3 hourly? I used to feed DD 1.5-2 hourly in the day but I found she wasn't having full feeds and was having a bit of reflux from having a feed on a full tummy, which made her restless at night.

I also moved her to a cot next to our bed, and that seemed to help. The first night she went in there she slept for 5 hours straight. She is still right there for cuddles and night feeds etc, but I sleep so much better in between awakenings.

GL hun. You may need to rewind your life back to those early days and sleep, sleep, sleep...whenever and however you can.