MOTN 12/18-12/25

[melody330]

I hope all the sick babies are feeling better and we all get some sleep tonight!

[katelou]

Omg. So much awakeness and screaming. I don't know wtf to do anymore .

[melody330]

Dec 18, 2016 23:32:36 GMT -5 katelou said:

Omg. So much awakeness and screaming. I don't know wtf to do anymore .

Im sorry you're still in the shitty sleeper boat. Im clinging to January 21st, when B will be 6 months. I'm hoping I'll feel like he's ready to ST because that's the earliest I feel comfortable doing it.

Is anyone sharing the burden with you? Can h rock her while she screams for a bit?

[Ray]

Sorry to hear katelou

Tonight has been pretty crappy so far. Up at 9, 10,DH got me up at 11 grrrrrr up at 12:30, now again at 3. He doesn't just want soother replaced, he wants boob. Le sigh.

[ginabini]

So sorry katelou. Hugs. Is it still too early to potentially be ear aches? My little sister had to have tubes in her ears when she was 2 and she was always up screaming at night until they diagnosed it.

We had a pretty good night. Up at 940 and 1230, but both times were for about an hour. Hoping that once our guest room is empty after my MIL leaves she miiiight start sleeping better again.

[rungirlrun]

Big hugs katelou.

We had a good night for once! Asleep at 7, up for a quick feed at 1, up at 5:15. I fed him, but he would not go back to sleep and just wanted to suck on my boob and fart. So I put him in his crib to hopefully get a few minutes before he cried, and he fell back asleep! Most nights are terrible so we will be sleep training around the New Year. I think he can handle it.

[katelou]

Last night was awful. Can I just babble/vent? if anyone wants to tell me how to solve my baby's sleep problems, feel free.

Our big problem has been that she wakes up screaming multiple times between going to bed and about 11 PM. Each time she is PISSED, and required intensive bouncing/rocking to calm down and go back to sleep, then it'd happen again in 30 minutes. I basically get zero time to myself in the evenings. After that she sleeps decently. She was still taking a 30-45 min nap at 5 PM, then going to bed at 8 PM. Sleep Lady website tells me that her evening nap is too late for her age. OK cool, maybe she just isn't tired enough and that's messing with her going to bed. So I decided to: 1) move to a more rigid 3 nap schedule, so the last nap would end up around 3-4, and bedtime around 7 PM, and 2) stop the rocking/bouncing shit when she screams because she's not a freaking newborn anymore, and just let her CIO in my arms and have to settle herself down.

So this works great for like 3 nights. Evening waking/screaming was reduced. The first CIO in my arms lasted 10 min before she fell asleep, and after that, when she was crying in her crib, she'd settle down almost immediately if I picked her up. I felt like a genius for like a day.

But the other problem is that she takes shit naps, even though I hold her for her entire nap, they only last 25-35 minutes. So even thought she's getting 3 naps a day, she's not getting enough daytime sleep. It's very clear that she can't get past the first sleep cycle into the second one when napping. If I let her nurse continuously when napping (which is obvi a horrible sleep prob that I don't want to continue) she will sleep longer. Last night the lack of day sleep caught up with her and I could tell she was exhausted by 5:30 PM, but I kept her up til bedtime because I thought that would be better. Nope. She was up screaming 4 x, the first few she calmed down in my arms quickly but the last time, at 11 PM, she wouldn't. I didn't want to resort to nursing/rocking/bouncing again so I just let her intermittently cry, settle, start to fall asleep, then cry again over and over. Finally I gave up and nursed her to sleep at 12:30, except she was up every 45 min the rest of the night.

I don't know what to do. I hate this so much. I have read a dozen baby sleep sites that all say to do different things, but basically I'm doing everything except CIO. I don't know how to make her take non-shit naps, I don't know how to get her to nap on her own, I don't know how to get her to stop waking up screaming. I feel bad complaining because she usually sleeps OK from 11 PM on, but I am going nuts because I have zero time to myself because I am aways holding a napping baby or spending my entire evening after DD1 is in bed putting her back to sleep 4x.

[ginabini]

katelou, first, big big hugs. I totally understand your sleep frustration. Just know you're not doing anything wrong. So many sleep sites make you feel that way. You're doing the best you can and that's all you can do! I know that doesn't help make things better, but {hugs}.

Have you tried elevating her head at all? Is it possible she could have some reflux and/or ear issues? If she sleeps better when you hold her, maybe its because she's more upright and it feels better? A crib wedge has been a saving grace for us since M has reflux. It made a huge difference in her being comfortable in the crib and sleeping longer.

[melody330]

katelou I'm so sorry you're having so much trouble with sleep issues over there. Big hugs.

No real advice, just saying I totally get the feeling.

What time are you trying to put her down for the night when she doesn't nap in the late evening?

FWIW, both my boys do better with a 6:45/7:15 bedtime. B has his own issues with sleep, but GOING to sleep isn't his problem. It's staying asleep.

[glaze]

katelou Hugs. I feel your pain with not having any evening time to yourself. J only took 20-30 minute naps for the last week too and I have been so cranky because of it, it's rough. Just know that you're not doing anything wrong.

Have you tried getting her to go down to sleep in her crib at all? J would scream so bad when I would try to rock her to sleep so I just started putting her in the crib and patting her butt and now she goes down much easier. No idea why, babies are weird. I still will try to rock her sometimes because she's my last baby but usually she never lets me.

I don't know what you have tried but the only thing I can think of for the evening wake-ups is if she is usually waking up after a certain amount of time go in there and watch her until she starts to stir and then pat her butt or if you can pick her up and rock her to try to keep her sleeping through it. I had to do that with DD1 for her naps and now am doing it with J. It sucks while you're doing it but eventually it pays off when I have done it.

I hope you find something that works soon, sleep issues are so hard

[ellebelle]

Hugs katelou, I hope things get better soon. I have the same problem as melody330, and also find that an earlier bedtime helps. Tonight she was super tired from hardly napping today at daycare so I put her to bed a whole hour earlier than usual.

[littlesthobo]

I hope tonight goes better for you, katelou! Sounds like your LO needs to learn how to connect her sleep cycles, but I have no miraculous advice for you unfortunately. Just understanding and sympathy. There was a point when L wasn't going to bed until midnight and I thought I was going to lose it. One point DH and I had a fight in the thick of it and I left the house and laid down in a field to cry and watch the stars. Sending peaceful, sleepy vibes your way!

[mcktymck]

Not feeling too confident about tonight. Sam's done great every day for a week going down without any fighting for naps and bedtime, but the past three days his schedule has been thrown off due to my aunt and uncle being in town and is overtired as a result of it. He's been crying for half an hour now refusing to go to sleep, he'll fall asleep on us but immediately wake himself up and go back to screaming 😞 I feel so bad, poor guy is so tired...

[ellebelle]

Tonight has sucked. I've been awake more than asleep. Work is going to be super hard today. Is there a 5 Month growth spurt?

[melody330]

Dec 20, 2016 5:48:35 GMT -5 ellebelle said:

Tonight has sucked. I've been awake more than asleep. Work is going to be super hard today. Is there a 5 Month growth spurt?

Oh no hope you got some rest before work!

[rungirlrun]

Dec 20, 2016 5:48:35 GMT -5 ellebelle said:

Tonight has sucked. I've been awake more than asleep. Work is going to be super hard today. Is there a 5 Month growth spurt?

Omg last night was a disaster for us too. I think 7 wakeups. Up every 30-45 minutes for at least half the night. I don't understand how he did so well Sunday night only to be followed by complete ridiculousness last night.

[comicSans]

Dec 20, 2016 5:48:35 GMT -5 ellebelle said:

Tonight has sucked. I've been awake more than asleep. Work is going to be super hard today. Is there a 5 Month growth spurt?

There's a long ass wonderweek. For us it looks like the baby writhing and screaming when I put him down for naps or anytime after about 1am. Good times.

[ginabini]

comicSans, total noob over here... what's a wonderweek?

[jenn83]

11:18, 1:30-2:30, 3:30, and 4:40 All. The. Coffee.

[comicSans]

Dec 20, 2016 10:37:29 GMT -5 ginabini said:

comicSans, total noob over here... what's a wonderweek?

Some Dutch researchers found that there are age-linked, predictable leaps in cognitive development. With the changes sometimes comes increased fussiness and poor sleep. After the leap, new skills start to show up. They called them wonder weeks, but sometimes they last a month.

[ellebelle]

No rest before work and a long ass day. But I survived. FX tonight is better.

Sending sleepy vibes to all the other partying babies!

[melody330]

We're up. Both boys have a cold. Just gave B Tylenol and nose Frida big time. Poor dude.

[jenn83]

Yep shit show over here which is what I expected since she isn't feeling good. So 2 nights of no sleep for me. I just gave her Tylenol bc her fever was coming back and apparently I am a horrible mother based on the epic meltdown we just had lol.

I keep forgetting that since I am no longer bf, DH could technically get up and help. But I know how that would go and it would be the end of the world. It took subtle hints/straight up telling for him to do the things I needed to get done while I struggled to get her to bed for 2 hours.

[melody330]

Ugh. If I got a totally if four hours sleep, I'd be shocked. Both boys were up coughing or needed a tissue. Now I'm getting ready for work.

[rungirlrun]

Yep another fun night. He wakes up every night at 10. It takes me 2-3 nursing sessions to get him down. If H tries to help, E is just hysterical. Then up every 2-3 hours after that. I'm losing my mind. He's almost 5 months old - clearly he should be able to sleep longer than 3 hours.

[prvc678]

Dec 21, 2016 9:59:57 GMT -5 rungirlrun said:

Yep another fun night. He wakes up every night at 10. It takes me 2-3 nursing sessions to get him down. If H tries to help, E is just hysterical. Then up every 2-3 hours after that. I'm losing my mind. He's almost 5 months old - clearly he should be able to sleep longer than 3 hours.

We're having the same issue with wakeups exactly 2.5 hours apart. E is really congested too, I'm pretty sure she has a cold.

[jenn83]

Dec 21, 2016 5:13:41 GMT -5 jenn83 said:

Yep shit show over here which is what I expected since she isn't feeling good. So 2 nights of no sleep for me. I just gave her Tylenol bc her fever was coming back and apparently I am a horrible mother based on the epic meltdown we just had lol.

I keep forgetting that since I am no longer bf, DH could technically get up and help. But I know how that would go and it would be the end of the world. It took subtle hints/straight up telling for him to do the things I needed to get done while I struggled to get her to bed for 2 hours.

Sorry for what I said when I was tired lol

Culprit - ear infection

[glaze]

Well after fighting naps all day and only taking a 30 minute one in the car J just went down for bed at 6. I'm worried for how the night is going to go.

[melody330]

Having a bad night. B and DS1 have nasty colds. I just gave B Tylenol and DS1 will get some when he inevitably wakes up again too.

Uugggh.

[melody330]

We've been up every 1.5 hours. There's not enough coffee in the world for work in a few hours.