Sleep problems....slowly losing my mind :(

Annie_the_nanny

Hello,

 

This is a bit of a longer Story, so I apologize. I'm also not specifically looking for answers, rather Support & I'm not interested in Hearing about how it's not supposed to be easy etc. I get that.

Anyhow, our son will be 5 months April 2 and has always been a good sleeper. I had him sleep in his own bedroom for most of the night at 3 months. Just after we established some sort of a sleep pattern he got a really bad cold and I put him in the collapsible bassinet beside our bed again because I was scared he might choke in his sleep (he had a bad cough with lots of phlegm). He slept in our bedroom until his cold went away, which was about a week or so. Shortly after he got better him and I went to visit my Family in Germany. We are still there as I'm typing this. The first night at my parents was rough for both of us. Different room, different bed, strange People to him (me not so much). We didnt get much sleep to say the least. Riley ended up sleeping in bed with me, which gave us at least a few zz's.

Now it has been over 4 weeks since we arrived in Germany, but he still won't sleep in his own bed. I literally have to force him, which usually Ends in him screaming his fool head off and me crying in the Corner lol

I'm just afraid that he will act like this when we go back home. I've read a bunch of stuff on the four month sleep Regression and babies dealing with time Change, so I'm hoping that this is really just him reacting to his new surroundings.

 

Thanks for listening

 

 

cagoldi

I'm guessing he's reacting to the new environment but since you've been there a month I would think that would have subsided to some degree by this point.

I've heard that travel throws off their sleep and things are rough for awhile once you get back home. So far, we've only taken a 4-day trip and sleep wasn't impacted all that much.

DS will be 5 months next Monday and sleep has been disastrous pretty much since he turned about 13 weeks. Most nights we're back to one wake-up but earlier this week we had a couple nights where he was up 4 times. There was a period of time when he was waking up every 40 minutes to an hour after 1 am.

So I guess you really won't know until you get him back home. But TBH since you've been gone for so long and he's been used to sleeping with you this whole month while you've been away you are probably starting over as far as transitioning him back into his own bed.

Annie_the_nanny

I hope that it's just the environment as well. He hasn't been sleeping with me at night (sorry if it came across that way) he sleeps in my bed for about 2 hours 4am to 6am) then he's up for the day anyways. I just keep getting up and sooth him back to sleep. I don't expect him to be any different when we get back, considering he's getting his shots 3 days after we get back. But I'm still hopeful he goes back to his normal sleep schedule.
Thanks for your input!

mobilejen

I feel your pain.  I had the same problem after traveling to Ireland to see my in laws.  I ended up letting my lo sleep with me while we were there, because I was exhausted, didn't want the crying to keep my in-laws up all night and because it was so much colder than we are used to.  I was there 10 days and there was an 8 hour time difference.  This was all around when she turned 4 mos.  

I got home, was up for 24 hours by the time I got home & of course was too tired to fight it, so she kept bed sharing with me.  She sleeps so much better that way, but I can't continue to do it, because I'm back to work on night shift next weekend & my husband will be alone with her at night.  He's definitely too heavy of a sleeper to sleep with her alone.  

I've gradually been putting her back in her crib, but now she wakes as much as every 45 mins- 1 hr.  She was STTN about 4 nights/week prior to our trip.  I think I'll gradually get her back to normal.  Now she'll sleep about 3 hrs in the evening wake, then sleep 1-2 hrs at a time.  I just keep putting her back in the crib, if she wakes, I try patting her back.  If she continues to fuss I pick her up & rock her.  I'm not sure if I'm doing the right thing, but she does seem to gradually be sleeping in the crib more.

Your situation sounds similar.  It's probably a combo of the age, the time change and the change of environment.  I'd try to keep soothing him and hope for the best.  I also had to do shots about 4 days after I got home.  It was pretty ugly.  Expect it to get rough for a few days when you get home & just try to get him back to his normal routine.  The time change is hell.  Good luck!

Annie_the_nanny

Thank you so much!
I'm honestly expecting it to get real ugly once we get back. It just seems like a 'waste of time' to force a routine on him when we'll be leaving in a week anyways. So I've come to the conclusion to just give in, I'll have to start from scratch anyways.

luvmygirlss

Hang in there Momma, sending hugs.