Post by creepyeyeball on Feb 21, 2017 19:48:09 GMT -5
Anyone else still only sleeping in 45 minute - two hour increments between nursing sessions and feeling like a zombie all day?
I do this to myself every.single.time. and with each baby I say I will not do it again, but what can I say? I am a creature of habit and this is apparently my mothering style.
So we're bedsharing. Baby boy has a strong nurse-to-sleep association and wakes between most sleep cycles needing to suck in order to go back to sleep. Sometimes I can pop a paci in and trick him, but this still requires my wakefulness.
I hit a wall two weeks ago (and in reading all my other babies' baby books 9-10 months in when I always hit the wall) and told DH I can't do it anymore. I planned to sleep train and then baby got sick. Felt too bad to do it. Now his front teeth are trying to poke through, so I feel too bad to do it.
So this guilty mom will most likely do the same thing I always do and wait to night wean until the first birthday. Only bonus is at least my period will stay away until then.
Post by creepyeyeball on Feb 21, 2017 19:50:02 GMT -5
I should add - all napping happens in the Ergo on my back. Too busy to attempt to get him down elsewhere. He is currently asleep in my lap and will stay there til I go to bed. Basically we're a sleep nightmare around here....
I am right there with you. I try not to mention it too much because I feel like I've created this terrible situation, but I'm so damn tired all of the time. M goes to bed around 7:30 and wakes up every 2-3 hours to nurse after his first wakeup. He cosleeps with us from 4-6:30am. I don't go to bed until his first wakeup around 11. M usually has 3-4 wakeups and will not go down for DH no matter how hard he tries. M is so completely different from H, who night weaned at just a few months old.
Between PPD, major life events, and sleep deprivation I'm losing my mind. Everything I read says CIO or some variation on that, but I don't see that working with the boys sharing a room and my need to comfort M for every little thing (part of the PPD I think). I've been trying to hold on until he's 1 year old, but something might have to happen sooner.
Post by creepyeyeball on Feb 21, 2017 20:18:19 GMT -5
scotty138 CIO is the only thing that has ever worked for me, but I've never done it til closer to a year. It's always so hard on me, but takes like three days tops and then I kick myself every time for not doing it months before. (Yet still I sit here on the fifth go knowing all this and not being able to pull the trigger. Ugh this baby has me wrapped around his little finger that desperately needs its nail trimmed).
I've never done CIO with another kid in the room, but I have temporarily moved an older child out of a room to do it. That's what we did with the girls. Like I said, it only took a few days and then we moved DD1 back in.
ETA - I just remembered that DD1 slept better once DD2 was in the room with her. They actually shared a bed because DD1 insisted on sleeping with her sister and being together I think made them both sleep well. They still share a bed at nearly 4 and nearly 6. You may be surprised to find M sleeping better after it's all over.
The older kids were never really bothered by the crying. For some reason, once my kids fall asleep a freight train could roll through the room and they wouldn't wake. I've birthed babies in the room next to them multiple times and they didn't even wake. So, here's to hoping your older child handles it the same.
It's just so hard to pull the trigger on CIO. It hurts my heart to do. Truly hurts, which is why I've denied myself a full night of sleep for nearly a year now. I just need to rip off the bandaid and get it over with...
It's just so hard to pull the trigger on CIO. It hurts my heart to do. Truly hurts, which is why I've denied myself a full night of sleep for nearly a year now. I just need to rip off the bandaid and get it over with...
Luckily LO has been doing better lately but I'm not ready for CIO yet either. She was doing really well and only getting up at 130 am and then 6 for the day but she has been up 2-3 times a night lately. I think she's getting more teeth which only makes me more sympathetic to her desire to nurse.
Good luck with whatever you end up trying. It hasn't been as hard with LO but I literally thought I was going to die of sleep exhaustion with DD1. At ~9.5 months we did Ferber style training with her but she was in her own room so it's definitely different than in the same room.
Post by creepyeyeball on Feb 23, 2017 15:11:41 GMT -5
We're making progress with some gentle night weaning. This baby is my first since DS1 to take a paci, so I'm able to try other options I couldn't with #s 2-4. For the last few nights he has woken (next to me - still bedsharing) and accepted a paci instead of nursing. I think I've only nursed 1-2 times a night for a few days. While I still have to wake to insert tye paci for him, it's less disruptive than him latching on.
Also, twice last night I heard him whimper and I pretended to be asleep. I watched him lift his head, look over to make sure I'm there and then collapse back to his tummy and start snoring. If we can get to a point where he is cool with me simply being there, but not NEEDING to nurse, I'll bedshare as long as he STTN.
It's something.
(But I'm typing this while he naps on my back in the Ergo, so there is still a lot of work to be done)
I posted on the private board like a day before this thread. It has been bad, we would get an OK first stretch, maybe 3 hours, then every hour or 1.5 hours he would be up nursing. We were bed sharing,which I was fine with, but the constant wake ups were killing me. Then last week I had to go out of town for work, and DS would fall asleep before DH could even get a bottle heated up. Then Saturday night we had a babysitter, she got him down in his crib and he fully slept till 7am with no wakeups. While I was not fully ready, or planning to quit bed sharing, I went with it. I sat in his room with him while he fell asleep in his crib this past week. He has slept so, so well. Another full night with no wakeups, 2 nights with 1 wakeup. Wednesday I was lazy and had him in my bed again, and it was an awful night of poor sleep for both of us. We will see how things go from here. But it is nice to not be in desperate need of sleep for the first time in a long time. I feel ridiculous because I miss him so much, since I work all day, but I am a better mom when I sleep, and a happier person.
I hear you. I hit my wall this week and decided we would do some sleep training. S was waking up only once or twice a night until he got RSV and then it was 4-5 times a night. If he didn't nurse and sleep next to me after his first wake up, he would be up for at least an hour each time. Parents as Teachers brought in a pediatric sleep specialist for a class, so I went. I got a really good, detailed plan on what to do to get S to fall asleep on his own, stop the night wakings, and plan for our trip coming up in march. We are on night 2. Night one, he almost met the max amount of crying allowed before calling off the plan. Tonight he fussed for 5 minutes and was completely asleep. His naps were so short, but he fell asleep within 10 minutes. I was so worried about his crying that I tossed and turned and barely slept, but I know he's okay. We all just need to sleep better.
He is pretty much back to his regular habits, but in the crib. First wakeup around 3 hours, then every 1.5 or so hours after that. He is back in the bed with me after the first wakeup, because at least I just give him a boob, rather than having to get up and get him. Ugh, guess the awesome sleep was a fluke
I'm terrified because a week from today DH is leaving on a business trip for a week. I might just have to sleep train while he is gone, because I can't imagine solo parenting on no sleep.
Post by creepyeyeball on Mar 11, 2017 10:44:32 GMT -5
I've started officially night weaning. We can't drink cow's milk in our house due to DS1's allergy, so I worry about cutting out night nursing too abruptly. I want LO getting the nutrition from the milk and don't want my supply to tank suddenly. We're doing a gentle non-CIO method. Decided to keep bedsharing. I only offer the boobs once through the night now. Other times I'm just cuddling him and shushing him back to sleep. He seems OK with that. We're also upping solids.
I'm hoping to be completely night weaned by his first birthday and Lord willing, STTN. I also have serious baby fever, so I would love for this weaning to bring back my cycles;)
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