Oh Saffy that is tough. Good luck with it. NCSS is a lovely approach and hopefully DD will pick up the cues and draw out her waking times for you all to get some better sleep. I used her gentle nipple removal approach with DD with some success which made us all a lot happier.
good luck!! I read the book but found I basically did the stuff anyway, just not as strict with it. too often I would take the easy way (just lay down and bf and sleep etc) when it warms up here I am going to move her to her own room and plan to revisit ncss and use the methods in it
let us know how you go.
I used the nipple removal (Pantley Pull-Off) method too, with success. Didn't get any big changes from any other techniques though, time was a bigger factor here. Oh, the tip on trying to bank some sleep any way you can before trying to make changes is a good one too. good luck
Pretty good! Got a few 2 hour stretches in the early evening so had gotton 4 hours sleep by 2pm which is a lot more than the night before, she probably woke 1.5hrly after that but came into my bed at 4.30, fed once then slept til getting up at 6.30 so that was good. We had a big storm overnight that was very loud and woke me up so not sure if that was waking her too.
I feel like it went well with me doing a consistent approach- with a BF/ pull off and put in cot straight away. I had already been practising the Pantley Pulloff, so she went well with that, most times stayed off the first time, and going straight into the cot worked sooo well I was shocked, she went straight to sleep just about every time! I had built a nest on the nuirsery floor out of pillows and doonas thinking i would have to sleep on there at some point ( our spare room is being done up and the bed is in pieces) but I went straight back to bed each time.
Also, Dh and I got to watch an episode of Breaking Bad with only a 2 minute interruption to settle her- thats a miracle!
So feeling positive about it all, still had 7 wake ups but the settling was quicker. I gave her 'full' feeds at 10 and 2 when she woke cos I was nervous about going cold turkey for my boobs, not sre if that was the right thing too or not- I'm expecting to still feed her overnight anyway - just hopefully 1 or 2 times not 7 or 8
I just put her in her cot, I thought she was nearly asleep, but she woke up giggling, flipped over onto her stomach, fossicked around a bit and eventually fell asleep after 10mins- I'm amazed!
Yep, DS is a wriggler in bed. I find there is nothing more frustrating than being giggled at during settling.
When we first started settling DS was taking an hour to fall asleep. He now settles between 10-25 minutes. I'm hoping that eventually he will settle on his own, or at least sleep all night.
one of my problems was interfering too much, eg if she did wiggleand half sit up etc I would lay her back down, ive stopped now as I worked out she was getting comfy, like a dog walking in circles she does the same.
in saying that we have only gone from 1-2hr wake ups to 2-3 msybe 4 hour wake ups over night....
Sorry for my rude silence- our internet at home has been broken for a week, such a saga to get fixed
Anyway, we are going great! It is time for my 10 day assessment lol, and I can report we now have 3-4 wakeups instead of the 8+ we were having when we started. I am under no illusion it is anything I have done, but because I put her in the cot when she was awake the second night and she rolled onto her stomach she has decided she is now a tummy sleeper ( she slept for 4 hrs straight that night ) and sleeps soooo much better. I also think there was an element of time as a factor too, ie she might have been settling into a better sleep pattern anyway.
We have had a challenging week, so it makes it even more amazing. DD got sick about 4 days after I started with a virus/fevers, then just as she was recovering i gave her some tinned salmon which she had a reaction to ( projectile vomiting) and then as soon as that settled I got sick ( all this with no internet - yay ) but we are all on the mend now. There was afew nights when by 4am she was on the boob contiunually for about 2-3 hrs but I guess she wasn't well so she was allowed to do whatever she wanted.
So basically I have had to abandon most of the techniques- the last few days she would NOT come off the boob at all even if she was practically asleep- and naps are not complying with the NCCS at all, but I am still putting her to bed at night slightly awake and she goes to sleep by herself. I think I will restart after the weekend but to be honest I can easily manage the way it is now- she goes to bed around 6.30, then wakes at 10.30ish, 2ish, 4ish ( comes into bed then) and probably has another feed around 6/6.30. i still go to bed early so by 4 I can log about 6 hrs sleep and if I get any more thats a bonus ( DH gets up for work at 5 so I often don't sleep much around that time).
I feel like a new woman!
thanks for asking, hope anyone else is going well too- its a great book to reread constantly to get reassurance and reinforce what you are doing
Ah tummy sleepers. I have one of those. Good news is once they are in a better pattern it becomes an instant sleep cue. As soon as I roll DD2 onto her tummy in bed, she goes still, preparing to drop off.
Hope it continues to go well once everyone is healthy!
Great to hear. And your goal shouldn't be to 'sleep solidly by herself for 8 hours' the goal is to be something that you and her are comfortable and happy with, which soy do like you have =)
yeah I'm happy with the way it is at the moment, would be good if the 2am feed could stretch out to 3 or 4 which it did one night ( I woke up after 4 hrs asleep and panicked!!!!) but its definately better and that can happen later anyway- she is only 6 mths after all, well 7 months next week.
Hmmm yes, tummy sleeping is a god send at the moment, I realised one night she wasn't settling in my arms for ages that I should try putting her down and guess what, zonked within a minute, i was a revelation, she definately sees it as a sleep cue. Mum said I was a tummy sleeper but that was the 70s so I just thought all babies were then.
hey, saffy - how'd you go with this? I borrowed the book last week & plan on reading this w/end. my little guy is 9 months now & his sleep has been all over the place since around 7/7.5 months. now it's getting a bit redonk, the longest stretch last night was 2.5 hours. I'm wrecked. he settles fine at night, dinner, bath, boob, book & popped in to cot awake - goes to sleep quite happily. sometimes I can settle when he wakes, just a quick 'it's ok, shh, time for sleep', pull his blanket up & walk out. Other times he will not settle without a boob... the time in between boobs is getting shorter & shorter... :-/
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NCSS-wish me luck
) and sleeps soooo much better. I also think there was an element of time as a factor too, ie she might have been settling into a better sleep pattern anyway.
) but we are all on the mend now. There was afew nights when by 4am she was on the boob contiunually for about 2-3 hrs but I guess she wasn't well so she was allowed to do whatever she wanted.
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