March MOTN

[melody330]

New month, same old crappy sleep!

How's everyone doing? I think the check in went well last time so let's try that again!


How old is LO?

Do you get any decent stretches?

What time is bedtime? What time do they wake up for the day?

How many times is LO up?

Any game changers that helped everyone get some better sleep?

How often are you giving solids? Does it seem to matter regarding LO's sleep?

How are YOU holding up?

Any questions?

[melody330]

How old is LO? 7 months

Do you get any decent stretches? Usually but it's never consistent. I would say I get one 4 hour stretch of sleep myself.

What time is bedtime? What time do they wake up for the day?
Bedtime is 7pm, wake up in anywhere from 6:30-7am

How many times is LO up? USUALLY twice. Sometimes only once, sometimes a thousand.

Any game changers that helped everyone get some better sleep? Putting B down awake is key for us. I sing to him while nursing with the lights off and after about 7-8 minutes I lay him in his crib and walk out. 9x out of 10 there's no tears.

How often are you giving solids? Does it seem to matter regarding LO's sleep?
Once maybe 2x a day. It doesn't seem
To matter at all.

How are YOU holding up? I'm doing better. Starting to feel anxious again because it's been about 3 nights of up every 1.5-2 hours.

Any questions? Not right now

[prvc678]

Happy March! I hope this month brings good sleep for all babies and moms!

How old is LO?
7.5 months

Do you get any decent stretches?
We were down to one wakeup pretty consistently, but found out the hard way that certain foods seem to cause constipation and subsequent discomfort at night, so no more bananas or avocados until further notice.

What time is bedtime? What time do they wake up for the day?
We aim to get DD down by 7:00, and she's usually up for the day between 6:00 and 7:00.

How many times is LO up?
Usually 1-2x, but more like 3-4x on the bad nights.

Any game changers that helped everyone get some better sleep?
See above re: certain foods and constipation.

How often are you giving solids? Does it seem to matter regarding LO's sleep?
She usually only eats one actual meal (dinner), and I've been sending foods for her to chew on at daycare (cucumber spears, yellow or red pepper strips, apple slices, lightly steamed broccoli ). She doesn't actually ingest much during these "snacks", but they're good practice for getting food to her mouth. And she does enjoy sucking the "juice" out of the food she's chewing on. I haven't seen any real correlation between eating solids and better sleep, aside from the constipation issues mentioned above.

How are YOU holding up?
This week I'm on my own while DH is out of town for work, and I feel like I'm doing surprisingly well getting 2 kids up at the crack of dawn and ready and out the door to commute 45 min each way for work. Overall, when I look back at where I was with older DD at 7-8 mos postpartum, I would say I'm doing about the same at this point. Older DD slept better from the get-go, but I was struggling big time with PPD, and resisted meds for way too long. This baby has been a bit more high maintenance with her bottle refusal and sleep issues, but I've been on Zoloft since 2nd tri, so I feel like I'm managing much better.

Any questions?
Anyone other working moms doing BLW? How do you explain BLW to daycare? What kinds of foods do you pack? Our daycare provides breakfast and lunch, and it's usually pretty baby-friendly, but I get the impression they think I'm crazy for not just sending purees. I feel like she's at this weird, in between stage where she can't totally sit up unassisted, so I'm not comfortable giving them free reign to feed her whatever is on the menu (plus, I'm a little weary of meats and dairy at this point). Any tips??

[rungirlrun]

How old is LO?
7 months

Do you get any decent stretches?
Yeah. He wakes up at 11 like clockwork so I don't get a long stretch there. But his next stretch is usually anywhere from 4-6 hours so that's manageable.

What time is bedtime? What time do they wake up for the day?
He's in his crib at 7. Up usually around 7 give or take.

How many times is LO up?
Usually 2x. Sometimes 3, but I only feed him twice. I really really want to cut this down to 1 wake up. He did it for a week a couple weeks ago, but that ended quickly.

Any game changers that helped everyone get some better sleep?
Biggest thing was me stopping nursing him to sleep. And MOTN feeds are quick - I'm generally in and out in 10 minutes. No more of this letting him sleep on my boob or rocking for hours.

How often are you giving solids? Does it seem to matter regarding LO's sleep?
Generally 3x/day. He's loving solids. I really think it's helping with sleep, but there could be several factors. His sleep started improving around 6 months, but that's when we did more sleep training, started solids, and he just became more mobile, happier, and interactive then also improving his reflux so who knows if solids alone really helped that much.

How are YOU holding up?
I'm doing much much better than I was the first 5-6 months of his life. I was very unhappy and definitely had regrets of adding another kid to my family. It was just so hard having a baby who cried all day and never slept. And then I'd get up in the morning to a 3 year old who was acting out for attention. So it was long days and long nights. But we are all sleeping better, my H and I are arguing less often, DS1 is behaving better, and E is a much more fun baby. I'd really love to cut out these night wakings completely though. I'm definitely weaning him at a year but feel I need to cut out these MOTN nursing sessions before I can even think about weaning.

Any questions?
Nothing at the moment.

[spartyon]

How's everyone doing? I think the check in went well last time so let's try that again!


How old is LO? 7 months

Do you get any decent stretches? No -still up every 2 hours or less. There were a couple nights before she got the stomach bug last week where she slept 4 hour stretches. I miss those nights.

What time is bedtime? What time do they wake up for the day? 7 pm, up by 6 on weekdays

How many times is LO up? So many that I can't keep track.

Any game changers that helped everyone get some better sleep? Lol-nope. She's been sick with one thing or another for the past 2 months pretty consistently. The couple nights she wasn't battling something are the nights she's slept the longest.

How often are you giving solids? Does it seem to matter regarding LO's sleep?
Usually just at dinner time, though we haven't given any since Saturday bc of all the vomiting. Our dr said it was probably for the best.

How are YOU holding up? Well... I backed into dh's car because I was so tired that I just forgot it was there last week...so not that well I guess. But considering the very little sleep we've both gotten these past 2 months, it could be worse. We're just totally exhausted and stressed because we have to keep missing work because one kid is always sick, but I know it will get better.

Any questions? No-I got some good ideas from you all from my sleep post, just can't do much about it until she is healthy at this point.

[jewelsofthenile]

How old is LO? 7.5 months

Do you get any decent stretches? in the last week yes but it can vary greatly

What time is bedtime? What time do they wake up for the day? 7pmish depending on how much and when he last napped. During the week up by 6am on weekends he will sometimes sleep till 7am

How many times is LO up? usually 1 to 2 times... though it can be much more.

Any game changers that helped everyone get some better sleep? Nope he is okay with going down somewhat awake which i think has cut down on a wake up or two when he is feeling good but illiness/whatever else can really kill it.

How often are you giving solids? Does it seem to matter regarding LO's sleep? twice a day. maybe I haven't really been paying attention to that.

How are YOU holding up? okay right now since he has been sleeping well. when it gets bad I lean on my husband to help with awake ups...we are both working so I have to have some sleep to function.

Any questions?nope.

[koritto]

How's everyone doing? Seeing some improvements so we are definitely feeling better.

How old is LO? Just over 7 months

Do you get any decent stretches? Not really. Her best is first thing which is 7:30-11:30. Been thinking off adding in a dreamfeed to try to get that stretch but it takes so long to get her back down I'm scared to rock the boat.

What time is bedtime? What time do they wake up for the day? 7:30 up around 7. Sometimes later if the 5am wake up is difficult.

How many times is LO up? Solid 3 - 11:30, 2:30 and 5:30 like clockwork. Any other wake ups DH goes in. She takes atleast 30 to resettle.

Any game changers that helped everyone get some better sleep? Transitioned to her crib last week. Been 10 days now and nights are more predictable and getting better (except the two nights she cut teeth)

How often are you giving solids? Does it seem to matter regarding LO's sleep? 2-3x. She loves eating but don't think it's really making a difference.

How are YOU holding up? I recently quit my job completely. It's nice to be home with her but the lack of sleep and routine has been hard. I'm hoping the changing weather will help.

Any questions? My next goal is her going down awake. Any suggestions? Where to start?

[melody330]

koritto RE: going down drowsy, the key for us is that B isn't over tired. I'll sing to him or look at his face when he's nursing so he doesn't fall totally asleep, then I'll walk over to the crib with him still latched on and lay him down. Usually I sing one more song and then I walk away. If he cries I pick him up, nurse for a few more minutes and try again. He usually never cries.

[rungirlrun]

Last night was interesting. He woke up at 11:30 so I fed him. He then woke up at 2:30. I don't feed him this close together so I had to do 2 checks on him, but he went back to sleep until 7 without being fed. And he wasn't even that hungry initially at wake up. So he made it 7.5 hours. Clearly he doesn't need to eat as often as he thinks he needs to. Hoping this can keep up and he will eventually stop waking up at his programmed times so we can sleep the night!

[rungirlrun]

koritto I nurse w the lights on. The second he starts to doze or goof off, I pull him off. This usually wakes him up a bit so he burps and we read a couple books. I then nurse the other side just to get him nice and full, but once he stops actively eating, I pull him off. Lights go off. I sing a few songs and he's in his crib awake. Took a few days of crying, but I've been putting him down awake for 2 months now, and I rarely hear a peep. I used to dread bedtime bc I'd nurse to sleep and would be in his room for at least an hour. Now it's so easy. My H has the hard job w getting the 3 year old down! Good luck!

[melody330]

We've had a stretch of a few good nights. I jinxed myself saying he goes down without crying though. It took an extra 40 minutes to get him to bed last night, so I was anticipating a shit show last night. He did great, only one wake up around 1am. I got up at 4:45 to pump and get ready for work.

FX everyone else had some decent sleep today.

[koritto]

melody330 rungirlrun thanks for the advice! going to start tonight. She attempted to self soothe last night for the first time ever. We Did have some setbacks after our heater broke and we had to cozy by the fire and she was in her pack n play. Hope things are going well on your end!

[melody330]

Mar 4, 2017 8:03:10 GMT -5 koritto said:

melody330 rungirlrun thanks for the advice! going to start tonight. She attempted to self soothe last night for the first time ever. We Did have some setbacks after our heater broke and we had to cozy by the fire and she was in her pack n play. Hope things are going well on your end!

Good luck!

Things are up and down here. He's sick again and now he's cutting two teeth so nights have been pretty terrible.

[rungirlrun]

Mar 4, 2017 8:03:10 GMT -5 koritto said:

melody330 rungirlrun thanks for the advice! going to start tonight. She attempted to self soothe last night for the first time ever. We Did have some setbacks after our heater broke and we had to cozy by the fire and she was in her pack n play. Hope things are going well on your end!

Good luck! I don't want to jinx it, but we've had several good nights. 1 wake up around 11:30 and then sleeps until 7ish. Who is this baby??

[Susan0utLoud]

We're in a special kind of hell. It's getting better, but man!

We transitioned ds (will be 3 end of April) to a twin bed and moved dd into the crib. We have a 2 bedroom house so they are sharing a room. Bedtime is not pretty most nights but is getting better slowly. We put both kids down awake and it takes anywhere from 20 mins to 2 hours for them to go to sleep. And many trips of putting ds back in bed.

Anyway, hi.

[rungirlrun]

Mar 5, 2017 0:40:30 GMT -5 Susan0utLoud said:

We're in a special kind of hell. It's getting better, but man!

We transitioned ds (will be 3 end of April) to a twin bed and moved dd into the crib. We have a 2 bedroom house so they are sharing a room. Bedtime is not pretty most nights but is getting better slowly. We put both kids down awake and it takes anywhere from 20 mins to 2 hours for them to go to sleep. And many trips of putting ds back in bed.

Anyway, hi.

Hi! This does sound like hell. Can't relate to sharing a room, but when DS1 moved to his big boy bed, it was awful. We are a year in, and sometimes I still miss the crib where he couldn't escape. Good luck!

[melody330]

Mar 5, 2017 0:40:30 GMT -5 Susan0utLoud said:

We're in a special kind of hell. It's getting better, but man!

We transitioned ds (will be 3 end of April) to a twin bed and moved dd into the crib. We have a 2 bedroom house so they are sharing a room. Bedtime is not pretty most nights but is getting better slowly. We put both kids down awake and it takes anywhere from 20 mins to 2 hours for them to go to sleep. And many trips of putting ds back in bed.

Anyway, hi.

Oh no we moved DS1 to his big bed around that age too. We also got him the traffic light Okay to Wake clock and it has been a godsend. He knows he can get up to pee and that's it. Otherwise he has to wait until it's green to get out of bed. Maybe you can try one of those? We got ours on Amazon.

[melody330]

Since B has has the worst nights, rivaling the newborn nights, since we started him on albuterol.

[koritto]

melody330 oh no! I've heard it can keep babies awake. I hope you got alittle sleep.

We are doing so bad here we are considering a sleep consultant. Not the ideal way to spend the extra tax refund we got from having her but we are both fried. Gonna spend today researching and trying to find someone.

[spartyon]

Mar 6, 2017 11:33:04 GMT -5 koritto said:

melody330 oh no! I've heard it can keep babies awake. I hope you got alittle sleep.

We are doing so bad here we are considering a sleep consultant. Not the ideal way to spend the extra tax refund we got from having her but we are both fried. Gonna spend today researching and trying to find someone.

My dh keeps saying we should get a sleep consultant too. Last night I just gave up and brought dd to bed with me, which I never do. She slept 6 blissful hours lol. I realize I'm probably only making my sleep problems w her worse, but I needed that sleep so, so much. I'd love to know how it goes once you have a sleep consultant.

[koritto]

spartyon we had a string of good nights but we've narrowed down our selection to Wee Sleep Canada. They have a free 15 minute consultation that we plan to use before paying anything. weesleep.ca

I finally broke down and talked to our pedi too. I worked for her (it's a large office) so I've been reluctant to admit defeat plus she advised us to do CIO at her 6 month appt. She told us to stop stressing, trying to fix, and just enjoy our daughter for who she is. It wasn't the fix all advice we wanted but it's what we needed to hear. I'm in a much better place now (yet still tired 🤣)

[ellebelle]

I've been so busy it's been hard to get on here at all. Sorry I'm late to the post.

How old is LO? Just shy of 8 months

Do you get any decent stretches? If I can ever go to bed early I can get a decent stretch of sleep, but DD1 usually doesn't go to bed until at least an hour after the baby so it's hard.

What time is bedtime? What time do they wake up for the day? 7pm bedtime, up usually around 6-6:30 for the day.

How many times is LO up? 3x a night. Usually somewhere around 1, 3, 5. :/

Any game changers that helped everyone get some better sleep? Nope. Still praying.

How often are you giving solids? Does it seem to matter regarding LO's sleep? We do 3x a day solids, yogurt or cereal in the morning, fruit or veggie for lunch and then dinner. It really has not helped sleep at all.

How are YOU holding up? I should buy stock in Starbucks at this point. I survive due to caffeine. :/

Any questions? Is this normal? DD1 started to sleep better by now and by 8.5 months started STTN and I thought that was on the late side. But I feel like we are a LONG way off from STTN.

[cabbagecabbage]

This time change may break me. M was up jumping at 4:00 and played on me until he went to sleep (first nap!?) at 6:00 am. WTF, kid?

[ellebelle]

I keep hoping night sleep will get better but it's not. But I guess it is helping her keep my supply up so there's that?

[glaze]

Mar 16, 2017 21:04:55 GMT -5 ellebelle said:

I keep hoping night sleep will get better but it's not. But I guess it is helping her keep my supply up so there's that?

This is where I'm at. Ugh. With the other 2 I didn't get my period back until they stopped nursing at night too so I guess that's another plus if it hold true with this one too!

[ellebelle]

Mar 20, 2017 20:22:48 GMT -5 glaze said:

Mar 16, 2017 21:04:55 GMT -5 ellebelle said:

I keep hoping night sleep will get better but it's not. But I guess it is helping her keep my supply up so there's that?

This is where I'm at. Ugh. With the other 2 I didn't get my period back until they stopped nursing at night too so I guess that's another plus if it hold true with this one too!

That's definitely another plus.  With DD1 I got AF back at 6.5 months.  With this one I'm at 8 months and still no sign of AF (knock on wood that continues for a while!).

[melody330]

Mar 16, 2017 21:04:55 GMT -5 ellebelle said:

I keep hoping night sleep will get better but it's not. But I guess it is helping her keep my supply up so there's that?

I've tried to stop figuring out why B is so inconsistent at night, even when our routine is basically the same every day. I cling to this fact that at least my supply won't tank since I'm still having a terrible time pumping at work.

Ugh

[cavewmn]

I'm ready to be put out of my misery. Two nights in a row of crappy sleep. I swear he knows when I'm about asleep and when I hit a deep sleep. So much for getting stuff done while he's at his grandparents today. I will just nap. Sadly they don't get him until 1.

[ellebelle]

It's the last week of March and we're no closer to STTN. Sigh.

[rungirlrun]

Mar 26, 2017 21:47:49 GMT -5 ellebelle said:

It's the last week of March and we're no closer to STTN. Sigh.

We were getting so close, but then this week came, and we are regressing. Up 4x last night with lots and lots of screaming. Ugh.