If you have (or had) a crappy sleeper...come in

pinkpinot

Because misery loves company!  For some reason my ticker and sig WILL NOT CHANGE.  I am no longer pregnant, LOL and I have a 4 month old.

W has just recently rebounded from the 4MW (omg, hell) and he's back to giving me a solid 4.5-5 hour stretch at night which is good except he goes to bed so early and then he's up every 2 hours after that and I nurse him (not to sleep, I'm working on feeding him and laying him in the crib still awake, this is working so far).  He probably nurses 3-4 times during the night, the last time being around 5AM and he wakes up for the day.  It sucks.  I'm so tired.  How are you tired mamas coping?  Not feeling rested just ruins every aspect of life.  I can't stay up and hang out with my husband since I try to get to bed by 8 so I can get 3 hours (IF I'M LUCKY) in.  I never feel refreshed.  I can't really nap when he naps (I do try) because he takes such short 30-45 minute cat naps that I usually just start nodding off and he's awake...again.  So tell me about your crappy sleeper and if you have any tips or moral support to help me feel energized during the day.  It has to get better, right?  I know I made it through 4 months of this but sometimes I wonder how much longer it will last since I have friends with babies much younger and these babies sleep 12+ hours and have no need to eat at night.  Pretty much everyone I complain to tells me I'll have to sleep train at some point.  I'm actually reading Ferber's book now, just to get an idea of CIO.  I've also read The No Cry Sleep Solution.  I haven't implemented anything yet except I did stop giving W a pacifier for bedtime and naps because he was waking up every 45 minutes when it would fall out of his mouth.  So actually since I weaned him from that is when I started getting 4.5-5 hour stretches out of him. 

Tell me about your bad sleeper and if you had a bad sleeper at some point...did it magically get better?  Or did you have to work at it?

pinkpinot

Pinkie78 said:

Our son was a terrible sleeper until 4.5 months. Before that he would give us a 4 hr stretch and then was up every 2 or 3 hours. Then magically one day he started only getting up once and then slept straight through. Around 5 months we got him into the crib finally. He learned he can roll into his belly, we did a little sleep training and now sleeps 7 to 7 or 7:30 straight most nights (he is 5.5 months). He takes a bottle during the night once or twice a week. It feels like a miracle and we tell him every morning how proud we are of him .

I'm jealous!  I hope this happens to me!  Congrats on getting solid sleep

mrs.mastro

That sounds a lot like my first son.  He never slept even 4 hours straight until he was about 6 months old, and he would wake 4 times a night quite often.  I even remember having a breakdown when he was about 7 months because I was so tired and I didn't know how I had been living like that for so long!  My second one now is completely opposite.  He sleeps 7-6:30 and only wakes once to nurse.  He will sleep as long as 8 hours straight at night sometimes.

The main difference I see in what I have done with them is that I tried to keep DS#1 on a feeding schedule during the day, but I nurse DS#2 totally on demand.  Of course all babies are totally different and it may just be that DS#2 was born a better night sleeper, but I think maybe he is just eating more and getting more filled up during the day than DS#1 was.

As for surviving the sleep deprivation, I could never nap during the day, but I tried to run every day because that always recharged me for a little while anyway.  At least I hope I have given you hope that your next one will be a lot better

pinkpinot

Nicb13 said:

I wouldn't call your baby a "crappy sleeper", I'd call him a normal baby!

Sleep sucked until about 7-8 months in my opinion. I literally felt crazy because I was so exhausted and I had to go back to work when DS was 7 weeks old. I just got used to it after a while but it's a tough adjustment for sure. All of this will be a thing of the past when he's sleeping better and you will have your life back but it will take time. Hang in there!

Oh, I just felt like a weight has been lifted...so my baby is normal?  As a FTM I have no idea what the sleep expectation is and every single person I know who has a baby right now has a magic sleeping one!  I thought something was wrong...but I'm happy to know it's normal.  Thank you so much...I just needed to hear that things will change on their own, when W is ready. 

NDarya

My LO is 15 weeks old and still wakes up 3-4 times at night for feedings. And I can tell he is hungry. He falls back asleep after feeding but it's anyway exhausting. He takes pretty good naps during the day (knock-knock). Sometimes I take a nap with him but rather rare cause it takes me awhile to fall asleep and by the time I doze off he starts waking up. I hear all these stories about babies STTN and I'm so jealous. I EBF and LO eats just fine during the day so he is definitely not starving lol I tried t increase the number of day feedings and tried cluster feeding in the evening but it doesn't make any diference sigh. Hopefully it will get better  

strawny0807

I totally feel you.  No advice.  Tried the magic sleepsuit, it isn't magical.  The swaddle is still our best bet at this point but she's quickly outgrowing it and hops all over the crib in it.  We're doomed when she figures out how to roll over in it.  We get a 4-5 hour stretch (sometimes) but she goes to bed at 8 and I can't fall asleep until 10-11ish.  Then she's up every 2-3 hours.  

No real advice.  I have found that taking a B12 vitamin daily helps with my energy.  I'm so envious of those moms that have babies that STTN already.  Oh, DD is formula fed so the theory that FF babies sleep better/longer does not hold true for us.  Good luck to you.  I hope it gets better soon!

DanandVan

My first baby was like this and worse! I survived by bed-sharing. He would wake up, I'd shove a boob in his mouth and we'd both go back to sleep. It sure beat getting up to nurse him, getting him to sleep in the crib, getting myself back to sleep, only to have him wake up 5 min later!
Also, now that I'm on my 3rd baby, I've discovered it all depends on the baby. I did the exaxt same things with all 3. 1st baby didn't sleep theough the night till he was 4 years old (ha!). My newest baby slept through the night at 8 weeks.

pinkpinot

Thanks everyone! I'm so glad I'm not the only one going through this **yawns**

jllmb79

I put my LO to bed at 8pm and she sometimes needs help getting past her first sleep cycle. She wakes to feed around 1am.  She nurses probably about every 2-3 hours after that. If I didn't co-sleep after her first waking I would be a zombie. Co-sleeping is not for everyone but for us it works and I am well rested.  I had the same scenario with DD#1 and did progressive waiting around 9 months and it worked. When I feel DD#2 is ready I will also do progressive waiting with her.

daniella2727

My LO is 5.5 months.

She goes to bed at 7 pm and wakes typically at 1 am and then again at 3:30/4am.

Then there are random nights like last night where she went to bed at 7 pm and slept until 4:30 am, only waking that once!  But too bad my 2 year old was up crying for an hour last night and just as I helped my body to go back to bed, whoam it was 4:30 am.