Naps/sleep hell

[agm04]

You guys. My baby (15 weeks) has lost her mind. I've been obsessive about catching her early sleep cues for weeks and the result is a ton of napping, nothing I think is abnormal. It's just exhausting, because she will only nap lying on the my brest friend or sometimes with me in bed (no complaints about the extra naps for me, but I get zero time to myself to shower/eat/clean, and taking her anywhere is impossible). Anyway we've been managing.

She decided at her 3 am nursing that she didn't want to sleep. We were up from 3-5 (in the dark with sound machine, I didn't make eye contact, etc). I'll spare you the details but by bedtime tonight, she'd only gotten 8 hours of sleep since midnight. Typically she's had around 10-12 hours by then, and goes to be between 6:30-8. Bedtime was a major struggle and she's already woken up once.

I'm not ready to let her cry it out and I'm really not even looking for advice. But did anyone's older baby do this and then grow out of it? Her nighttime sleep is typically good - wakes up once or twice between bedtime and 5:30 am to eat. But naps are often a nightmare. do they get better at napping, or do we just have to make something work until I'm ready to let her cry a little? Ugh. Pass me all the wine.

[mommadozer]

Sounds like 4 month sleep regression to me.

[osumegs]

Yep, definitely agree that it's probably 4 month regression. Ours lasted around a week with some nights being worse than others. Our worst night we were up from 12-5. We passed her off so we could take turns sleeping. She wanted to play and was so angry if we tried to feed her or put her to sleep. It was week 15 for us.

[seamonster]

We bumped LO's bedtime up by an hour and it made a huge difference. It's hard on us to put him to bed an hour earlier because it's less time to play after work. He naps terribly during the day and always has. Unless we're driving in the car or he's in the stroller it's 20-30 minutes Max. If only they could let him nap in a swing at daycare.

[taberbtb]

4 month sleep regression hit us around week 15 also. We are through it now and night sleep has gone back to normal, but naps are still a struggle. Trying to catch her sleepy around that magical 1.5-2hr mark that they aren't supposed to go past is great but she's still awake enough to fight it hard. I have given up and wait (probably too long) until I notice her getting cranky and then she only fight for 5-10min tops before giving in, instead of the 30-45 minutes it takes if I start earlier.

Last week I got screamed at, scratched, everything for 50 minutes. Once she finally passed out she slept for a whole 18 minutes. I almost slit my wrists.

[agm04]

Thanks for all the responses. Just knowing I'm not alone helps.

[WittyLittle]

Bumping up bedtime by an hour helped here as well. We also went from 5 feeds to 6 but I'm not sure if that had any impact. It just worked out better timing wise. We had it around week 14-16, it was hard but all the sudden it was over and LO even started sleeping from 9-7:30 some nights (and otherwise back to his 5:30 pitstop). Good luck, hope it's over soon!

[PikoPiko]

4mo sleep regression is the devil. DS emerged out of it after a week of extreme fussiness, however, we're not as lucky as massybaby, DS now NEEDS to eat every 3 hours instead of 4, day and night. Which means he's waking up every 3 hours to eat.

I'm actually not convinced we're done with the regression, as he still is still very clingy and fussy during the day. Here's to hoping DS suddenly learns to STTN after 19 weeks!

[WittyLittle]

Jun 11, 2015 2:07:41 GMT -5 PikoPiko said:

4mo sleep regression is the devil. DS emerged out of it after a week of extreme fussiness, however, we're not as lucky as massybaby, DS now NEEDS to eat every 3 hours instead of 4, day and night. Which means he's waking up every 3 hours to eat.

I'm actually not convinced we're done with the regression, as he still is still very clingy and fussy during the day. Here's to hoping DS suddenly learns to STTN after 19 weeks!

UGH that sounds really rough!!! I think you're still in the middle of it to be honest :/ Or has he maybe formed a habit? Our pedi told us to change his bottles routine during the day to snap him out of his routine when he suddenly wanted a 00:30 and a 5:30 feed (instead of just the 5:30 one) and it really worked. Could that be an option? We needed to go up an oz per bottle anyway because he was in a new weight category so the timing happened to be really good... 

[junebugjam]

After a week of awesome sleep from sleep training, I feel like we're regressing here big time. Not sure if it's 4 month regression or just rebelling against sleep training, but he was up every 3 hours like clockwork last night and has decided that 5:30 is a great time to be awake. This is like 4 days after sleeping 12.5 hours straight, mind you. Ugh.

[agm04]

Jun 11, 2015 5:08:24 GMT -5 junebugjam said:

After a week of awesome sleep from sleep training, I feel like we're regressing here big time. Not sure if it's 4 month regression or just rebelling against sleep training, but he was up every 3 hours like clockwork last night and has decided that 5:30 is a great time to be awake. This is like 4 days after sleeping 12.5 hours straight, mind you. Ugh.

Oh how frustrating. I'm sorry! Hope it passes quickly.

[michelle142]

My DS (now 3.5) was never a big napper. He always slept great at night, but naps were always 30-45 minute cat naps.
Around 18 months, he finally started taking 3+ hour naps in the afternoon.

[agm04]

Jun 11, 2015 7:33:11 GMT -5 michelle142 said:

My DS (now 3.5) was never a big napper. He always slept great at night, but naps were always 30-45 minute cat naps.
Around 18 months, he finally started taking 3+ hour naps in the afternoon.

But was he happy/pleasant? I don't mind her not taking naps, except that she's tired and miserable when she doesn't!

[michelle142]

Jun 11, 2015 8:09:23 GMT -5 agm04 said:

Jun 11, 2015 7:33:11 GMT -5 michelle142 said:

My DS (now 3.5) was never a big napper. He always slept great at night, but naps were always 30-45 minute cat naps.
Around 18 months, he finally started taking 3+ hour naps in the afternoon.

But was he happy/pleasant? I don't mind her not taking naps, except that she's tired and miserable when she doesn't!

It was split about 50/50 between happy and complete crab ass lol

We started compensating for the crumby naps with an earlier bedtime, since he slept well at night.

[PikoPiko]

WittyLittle, what do you mean by changing bottle routine? Offering a bottle later/earlier or more milk?

DS is EBF, he cried so much and loud when I tried to delay feeding him, gave up after 5 mins of stalling. I tried offering him milk early, he took it down and wanted milk 3 hrs later from that feed...

I wonder if milk doesn't satiate him now that he's grown so much. So far DS is the biggest boy in that 4mo stat thread, he is as big as the average 6mo old.

[hollydfromtn]

The 45 minute intruder is kicking our asses the past 2 weeks. I've started making him nap in his pnp instead of with me and we have yet to make it past an hour. He used to take 2 2+ hour naps a day plus a few smaller ones mixed in there. I can't wait for him to be able to soothe himself back to sleep.

[lilyelayne]

Jun 11, 2015 10:51:50 GMT -5 hollydfromtn said:

The 45 minute intruder is kicking our asses the past 2 weeks. I've started making him nap in his pnp instead of with me and we have yet to make it past an hour. He used to take 2 2+ hour naps a day plus a few smaller ones mixed in there. I can't wait for him to be able to soothe himself back to sleep.

Love tit for support & commiseration. DS has never napper well with me, though.

[mels823]

the 4 month sleep regression is still a nightmare and she will be 5 months on the 15th. I'm just prepared to never sleep again.

[PikoPiko]

Jun 11, 2015 12:05:52 GMT -5 mels823 said:

the 4 month sleep regression is still a nightmare and she will be 5 months on the 15th. I'm just prepared to never sleep again.

Light is at the end of the tunnel. You're almost there! Be sure to update us how you're daughter does after reaching 5mos. I hear it's like an instant on off switch that babies will quit all that sh!t.

[WittyLittle]

Jun 11, 2015 9:48:58 GMT -5 PikoPiko said:

WittyLittle, what do you mean by changing bottle routine? Offering a bottle later/earlier or more milk?

DS is EBF, he cried so much and loud when I tried to delay feeding him, gave up after 5 mins of stalling. I tried offering him milk early, he took it down and wanted milk 3 hrs later from that feed...

I wonder if milk doesn't satiate him now that he's grown so much. So far DS is the biggest boy in that 4mo stat thread, he is as big as the average 6mo old.

Yeeeeh sorry I really could have been more informative ;-) (It was early!!!)
In our case it was suggested to go back up a feed. Instead of 5 feeds we went for 6 during the day (every 3 hours). Also he told us to offer a bottle about 15 minutes before he would usually ask for it. I did notice that since then he stopped going loopy every time he was hungry. I'm not sure if it made him feel more satisfied or if it was just the change in routine that snapped him out of his MOTN wake up feeds but it was over within a few days. But I think what you're saying makes sense. He's grown so fast that maybe it's time to start the solids? I have no idea and zero experience, but intuitively that makes perfect sense! Good luck! Keep me posted how it goes?

[seamonster]

Jun 11, 2015 9:48:58 GMT -5 PikoPiko said:

WittyLittle, what do you mean by changing bottle routine? Offering a bottle later/earlier or more milk?

DS is EBF, he cried so much and loud when I tried to delay feeding him, gave up after 5 mins of stalling. I tried offering him milk early, he took it down and wanted milk 3 hrs later from that feed...

I wonder if milk doesn't satiate him now that he's grown so much. So far DS is the biggest boy in that 4mo stat thread, he is as big as the average 6mo old.

I haven't read the stats thread yet. How big is your LO now? DS is probably around 19lbs now and is still a 2-3 hour feeder during the day. He gives me a long 6 hour stretch and then starts up the demands. Of course that 6 hours starts at 7 so doesn't do me much good. He does seem satisfied with what he's getting, except at daycare where he randomly wants more milk some days.

I feel like there must be a secret 4 month growth spurt to correspond to the sleep regression. Or they just need more suddenly.

[junebugjam]

So either my baby will sleep great tonight or this will come back to bite me in the ass. But it's 5:45 pm and he's asleep, bedtime routine and all.

After sleeping poorly the last few nights, I decided to move bedtime up. He slept really well when he was going to bed around 6:30 but stupid me wanted it closer to 7:30. That didn't work and seems to have backfired on me. So today I tried to go back to early bedtime.

I left him with my mother in law for a couple hours. He was napping when I left and she said he woke at 2:15. When I got home around 4 I fed him and tried to get him to nap, but I think he was so happy I was home that he had no interest in sleeping. So then I figured if he wasn't going to nap, he would stay up till bedtime. I was hoping to start bedtime routing around 5:45, but pushed it up to 5:30 because he was grumpy. He loves bath time, but wouldn't tolerate a story, so it was feeding and crib and he literally fell asleep in seconds when I laid him down. I guess I should've stretched out bath time or something.

But he was up for the day at 5:30 this morning so maybe it's not too terrible. Who knows. I can't figure him out sometimes.

[lilyelayne]

I don't know how I'll know to move bedtime earlier. I tried a few weeks ago starting our routine at 845 instead of 9, and he still didn't fall asleep until 945 like usual, just spend the extra time after he finished nursing staring at me like wtf mom.
Of course last night he was furious so I said we'll go ahead and do bedtime at 830. He made spent the extra 30 minutes nursing. Growth spurt? I need a baby manual.

[PikoPiko]

DS aps day and night, bedtime routine or not, doesn't matter to him. When he gets sleepy at 6.30, I put him down to sleep and he falls asleep instantly, without fail, he would always wake a couple hours later wanting a feed.

seamonster, DS is over 17.5lbs at 90%. I do think there was a growth spurt that started after the sleep regression. DS ate so much more frequently. Last night he was OK with going back to sleep without a feed at 2am. Who know, maybe we're getting over that hump soon. I've resigned to the fact that DS might not be a STTN type. That's for DH to figure out when it's his turn to go on leave in a few weeks.

[seamonster]

PikoPiko,hopefully he gets over the hump. Going back to sleep at 2am is progress. You'll figure it out and he'll eventually STTN. There's no going back down for mine without some food, even if it's just a 5 minute top-off. I was thinking about you today when I was talking with the DCP. I've got DS on 3 5oz bottles of milk and he's still hungry every two hours. I probably need to go back to 4 bottles, but make sure they're not less than 4oz and just let him eat sooner. Even with his 6oz bottle of formula he's still hungry so I don't know. Can't tell if I need more milk or if it's the foremilk/hindmilk pumping imbalance or what. With all his tummy issues since starting creche, I really don't want to throw any solids into the mix. It was so much easier when I was combo feeding to top him off for supply and transfer issues.

Babies are so hard. Someone should've figured them out by now.

I put him down for the night 30 minutes ago and now he's awake again. I think he heard me crack open the booze.

[PikoPiko]

seamonster, yeah well, last night DS was feeding every 2 hours, go figure!! Some of the feeds were real, a couple were BS comfort sucking. But as soon as I put him back into the crib after those BS ones, he woke and cried until the boobs are out again. Man, I feel like a slut dragging the girls out all night long. Sounds like your LO is ready to go beyond 3.5oz! We tried a bottle last weekend, started at 3.5oz, my fattie cried when the bottle was done, I put in a bit more until he seemed satisfied... took down 5oz. Greedy much?

I'm pretty certain this regression isn't over yet. He is so clingy and fussy still. Just hoping this is not the resultant model of DS from here on out!

[mels823]

Jun 11, 2015 12:23:39 GMT -5 PikoPiko said:

Jun 11, 2015 12:05:52 GMT -5 mels823 said:

the 4 month sleep regression is still a nightmare and she will be 5 months on the 15th. I'm just prepared to never sleep again.

Light is at the end of the tunnel. You're almost there! Be sure to update us how you're daughter does after reaching 5mos. I hear it's like an instant on off switch that babies will quit all that sh!t.

I reeeeaally hope so!! Today at work I tried to call a customer... and called the line of the girl who was working next to me instead.  I was so confused when she answered the phone. Sleep deprivation is killing me.

[seamonster]

PikoPiko, I hope things get better soon. MOTN comfort sucking is so hard. Human pacifier is an exhausting life.

[seamonster]

Ugh. He's made such a liar out of me tonight. He did sleep for 6 hours. Then it was eat for 30 minutes, sleep for 40 minutes. Repeat. Chunky is so hungry and the gas pains aren't helping. I'm so tired. Stayed up to pump engorged boob after the first wake up. I need to just go to bed when he does. If MH wants adult conversation, he can get up with me.

[agm04]

Sorry for reviving my own thread but WHAT THE HELL GUYS. I just need to know how you guys are keeping your kid sane with no sleep. No matter what I do she's not napping, and it's making the nights horrible. I know about trying to catch her early and all that, but I'm telling you it's not working.

So
1. Are your babies sleeping more at some point to make up for this insanity? (Mine isn't, send help.)
2. If not are they miserable humans? Are you fighting them for hours on end to sleep?
3. What can I do to keep my miserable human from getting further into this cycle of overtired and miserable?

Thanks yall. Day 2 back at work and I've gotten 6 hours of sleep TOTAL over the last 2 nights, and my baby is very unhappy.