The Big Snooze (Sleep Thread)

hbird0723

@comicsans‌ I totally understand! I feel like she never goes to bed at the same time any more and holidays are not going to help especially our 10 hour drive! I think all we can do is be as consistent as possible and hope for the best. Naps pretty much suck all together around here though so I'm going to try the 2 3 4 schedule as some have mentioned and see if that helps in the overtired hard to get to sleep area.

Edit for spelling

hbird0723

Cook251 said:

DD has started waking up around 5:30/5:45 in the morning amd then I wind up driving around for an extra 20-30 minutes on the way to daycare so she can take a catnap and not be super tired starting out her day there. She already is asleep between 6:15-6:45 at night so I can't really push her bedtime earlier but moving it later didn't help either & she just wound up getting less sleep. Any other suggestions for encouraging a slightly later wake up? Or am I just stuck waiting for another phase to begin?

I feel like H goes through weeks like this where she will wake earlier but then all the sudden it goes back to 6:30 7 again. One thing I did was leave her in there for 15 or so minutes until at least 6 before I would go get her. Unless she was really upset but if she was playing or fussing on and off just a little and it was 10 minutes to 15 minutes from 6 then I waited to get her. After a couple days she slept til 6:30ish. Also if it was way before 6 like 5 then I would just rick her back to sleep. I think she just got used to sleeping past that time again and eventually didn't need me to help any more. Not sure if that helped or not but I read it some where and tried it. She still has days where she'll wake earlier and honestly any where from 5 on they say is normal but I still try to get her to sleep at least until 6 if she's having a rough time.

Katzalia

After night two of crib transition, naps were craptastic today. Less than two hours total, no matter what I tried. Tonight is going to be fun with overtired girl fighting the crib.

kendy20

DD just slept from 7:30-3!!!! Big accomplishment over here ;-)

Sam0905

So I don't usually post in here but I'm at a complete loss. Naps have become such a battle lately. As soon as I see he's tired I take him into his room with a bottle, dim lights, fan on. He used to fall asleep on the bottle an we'd rock him a bit before putting him in his crib. We used to get 2 good 1-3 hr naps/day. Now he starts fussing/crying right after his bottle and won't settle down. It seems like the more I try to rock or calm him, the madder he gets. So I put him in his crib to settle down and the crying just gets worse. Then if I go back in, he sometimes will fall asleep on me but only for about 20 mins. So he's overtired and the cycle begins all over again. He's currently screaming in his crib and I want to cry too. Help!

kendy20

@Sam0905‌ , I don't know if this will help but when DD does that, I hold her tight and don't let her flail around while cries and screams but after about five minutes she wears herself out and goes to sleep. Not sure if she just needs to be held closely and firmly to be "comfy" when she's overly tired but it works sometimes.

Sam0905

@kendy20 I have tried that and it seems to make him more mad. But maybe I don't do it for long enough?

@comicsans I used to follow wonder weeks when he was younger but it never seemed to match up with him but maybe that does have something to do with his fussiness lately. We are also in the process of switching from BM to formula so I think that might have something to so with it too. Just gave him some gas drops so I hope that helps. You're totally right about going for quantity over quality- I just feel like I spend all of my days off with him just trying to get him to sleep lately.

Edited for clarity and to say Thanks for the advice!

QOTR

LO slept 8 hours on Friday night.  Last night, no longer than an hour and twenty at a time.  I can't figure him out.   I am so sad over it all.  I don't know how to help him. 

ns1

After horrible sleep (and a trip to the dr
to check for nonexistent ear infection too) DS slept 8.5 hours last night!!! I got 5 straight hours of sleep for the first time in 6+ months!! I think it was the 6 month growth spurt mmessing him up.

Now to screw him up again with an 8 hr. road trip and 5 days away from home.

MerryLove

@Lissiehoya‌ we are in the same exact boat. He used to let me put him in the co-sleeper for at least a few hours and I could enjoy some adult time in the evenings, but now he wakes up the minute I set him down in the co-sleeper. If I set him in the bed, though, he stays sound asleep. We either have to get gates for the bed so I can leave him there while I do other things in the evening or sleep train for the crib, which makes me feel sad. I don't know what to do, but I'm reading The Sleepeasy Solution right now to get an idea for what sleep training would take.

hbird0723

@jenna3878 I would try Motrin if LO is old enough. I gave that to ours and she slept a long time I think until the next dose which told me that she must be in pain even though she doesn't have teeth yet. She kept waking up screaming so I thought it was that and gave it to her. Tylenol just doesn't seem to help as much. The doctor Motrin is great for teething. Plus you can get it dye free which I like since red dye 40 tends to wire her.

lrmrtn

We were getting 12 hour nights in the crib but DS was sick so he was swaddled in his swing and still didn't sleep through the night. Now we need to start from scratch again. Ugh...

bridetobe9132013

Omg I hate that DD doesnt sleep as much! She was up at 5:30 am and she usually sleeps until 7-8. I feel bad giving her motrin everyday but she is crabby alot of the day now and I feel like its probably her teeth hurting her.

Emmagk

After a bad sleep week I tried putting DS down earlier last night and he slept 6.30pm to 6am! Probably just a fluke but I'll keep trying the early bed time

QOTR

@lissiehoya & @merrylove.  You're not alone.  Sleep is just getting to be a bigger problem for us as time goes by.  He was sleeping 6 hours prior to the 3 month growth spurt.   Now, I consider it a good night if I get a few 3 hour stretches. 

spinsoffresonance

2 yo and 6m old sleeping in the same room is a complete nightmare. 3 hour bed time last night and I ended up with one kid on each side in my bed. Been trying for a nap for over an hour and so far all I have to show for it are two screaming babies. Don't know how I can take 3 more weeks of this crap!

lrmrtn

Last night started out promising and then went to hell. DS passed out around 7 and was dead to the world until 10 when he started screaming. He rolled over, had his arm through a crib slat and couldn't get it out. Even after we moved him, he continued to scream. We tried soothing him for awhile but finally gave up because he was so worked up and put him in his swing, where he slept soundly until 7am. I hate that we are regressing back to the swing but I desperately needed sleep. I know they are controversial but I'm seriously considering crib bumpers.

gutsysneakers

Does anyone's LO sleep a good chunk, wake up and have a hard time going back to sleep? 

DD goes to sleep around 7:30pm and sleeps until 3-5am. She gets her diaper changed and then I nurse her. She typically stays awake and I put her in her crib where she puts herself back to sleep after 10 minutes or so. 

Last night she woke up at 3:30 am and I put her back in her crib around 3:50. She started talking and then whining and then crying. She never cries. She didn't want to nurse. I gave her Tylenol thinking it was her two bottom teeth that have broken through, but still are coming in - I had to walk/bounce her to sleep which I have NEVER done. She finally fell back to sleep around 5:15 am. Anyone else? Do you think it's just teething? Or is there some 6 month sleep regression? 

spinsoffresonance

@becole42‌ thanks for the idea, we did A LOT of stroller naps right after DD2 was born. My issue here is really getting the toddler to sleep without freaking out and waking DD2. Stroller would work but it takes DD1 a good hour of walking to fall asleep in the stroller and she doesn't stay asleep if we stop moving. I'm not up for it in the winter rain!

I feel really bad for DD1 all she wanted was to come nap in my bed but I kept insisting she slept in her PnP, meanwhile she could see DD2 in my bed because DD2 nurses to sleep. It's really not fair to DD1. Being a mom is hard, I always feel like I'm doing it wrong!

hbird0723

@Jcrewgirl85‌ mine is starting to do that same thing. I thought we were over the 4 am thing but last night she was up for an hour and same the night before. I sure hope it's not another regression!

Edit to say maybe they're learning a new skill? She seems really interested in trying to crawl but gets really frustrated with it.

gutsysneakers

@Hbird05 - learning a new skill would make sense. She gets on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth - she's so close! Thanks & as always, happy to hear I'm not alone in this. 

Katzalia

@Hbird05‌ and @Jcrewgirl85‌ , sleep has never been awesome for us, but last week was the worst. DD was up and ready to party between 2-5 at least 5 nights last week.

Not only is she taller now (I had to raise the exersaucer height) but she is much better with her sitting balance and is working really hard on trying to crawl, rocking on her hands and knees.

hbird0723

Katzalia said:

@Hbird05‌ and @Jcrewgirl85‌ , sleep has never been awesome for us, but last week was the worst. DD was up and ready to party between 2-5 at least 5 nights last week.

Not only is she taller now (I had to raise the exersaucer height) but she is much better with her sitting balance and is working really hard on trying to crawl, rocking on her hands and knees.

I was just thinking this morning that she felt longer and her legs have to wrap around more to rock in the chair. I didn't think it was a growth spurt because she would barely suck and would fall asleep quickly when I went to get her in the middle of the night but then she woke up taller so who knows.

She is also crying harder too when put in her crib if she's not asleep enough so I was thinking maybe some separation anxiety as well.

hbird0723

athn64 said:

Ditto everyone on the awful sleep. DD went from solid 10 hours to about 3. We moved bedtime up a few days ago because I could see she was getting tired, and it's helped us get a 6 hour stretch. But after that it's anyone's guess.

@Jcrewgirl85 @Hbird05 @Katzalia

We have been doing an earlier bedtime too because she refuses a third nap and it does give us a large stretch but around 3 or 4 it's rough!

hbird0723

@kittyriot‌ same here! I feel like all the work we did before Thanksgiving is being flushed down the drain. She's fighting sleep again because she doesn't want me to put her down and she will not put herself back to sleep in the middle of the night. I don't know if I should wait it out or what .

Edit to say after more fighting I decided I needed to do a little re training and she cried less than 5 minutes so hopefully we will have a better night. I just hope if it is some separation anxiety thing that I'm not making it worse!

gutsysneakers

At what point do we quit the MOTN feeding? I still do it sometime between 3-6am. She goes to bed at 7 and is asleep at 7:30. Just curious if I should let her whines turn to a cry before going in? And maybe let her cry for a few minutes?

kendy20

@Jcrewgirl85‌, I was thinking the same thing with the motn feedings. Right now she has two and I'm dreading cutting them out because I stopped using my pump and that means I would need to start pumping again in the motn :-/

spinsoffresonance

DD1 had 3 MOTN feedings until 8months old. At 8m we moved her to her own room. Over the next 3 weeks she dropped all 3 feedings on her own and started sleeping 12 hours. If you look on the BF board, it's quite common for breastfed babies to keep a MOTN feeding into the first year. No clue about FF babies.

gutsysneakers

DD has been in her own room since 10 weeks. She is BF and we supplement with 1-2 bottles (max 10 oz) at DC, but I nurse her in the morning, evening, and MOTN. Once every 6-7 days she'll sleep from 7:30pm - 6am. Maybe I'll talk to the pedi about this later this month. We go in for the second half of her flu shot in two weeks. 

lrmrtn

This week, DS has been waking up at least once, never at the same time, screaming because he's on his stomach. I go in, turn him back and he just does it again. He gets so worked up that we've given up and put him in his swing. He used to sleep 12 hours in his crib. Wtf?

Emmagk

DH is unwilling to do any sleep training but also won't get up with him in the night. I can't take the lack of sleep anymore. DS used to be a great sleeper but the last few months have been awful. Last night he was up every 1.5 hours for 6.30 to 1am then crashed for 3 hours and was up again at 4.

hbird0723

Emmagk said:

DH is unwilling to do any sleep training but also won't get up with him in the night. I can't take the lack of sleep anymore. DS used to be a great sleeper but the last few months have been awful. Last night he was up every 1.5 hours for 6.30 to 1am then crashed for 3 hours and was up again at 4.

I would tell him that if he isn't willing to try sleep training then he will be getting up with LO otherwise you are going to try it your way and yes it will be hard but you need your sleep. I will say that there will still be rough nights but not as many. At least that's how it is with us. Also can you say just give me 3 nights and if it doesn't work then we can go back? For us after the 3rd night she either doesn't cry or cries out a couple times and fusses a few minutes then goes to sleep. My mom is the one who said just try it for 3 nights because I was hesitant. I'm glad we did. Or ask him to leave the house while you do it? My husband was against it as well until we both started loosing a lot of sleep then he said whatever we need to do. Does he sleep through you waking up? I got so tired that I would say things in frustration or just cry and it would wake him so he was waking every time I was and loosing sleep as well. I didn't so it on purpose it just happened but maybe you should also waking up and actually getting up to go fix the problem is a lot different so again maybe be needs to spend a night or two experiencing that.

lrmrtn

@comicsans‌ this sounds just like DS. I think we found part of the problem. The bulb in DS's nightlight burned out so we put another small light in his room in the meantime but this made the room brighter than before. DH suggested turning that off because maybe the room was too bright so when DS woke up, it kept him up so then he started playing and would roll over and get mad. So we turned off that light and he slept 12 hours. It could just be a fluke but I'll take it.

Emmagk

It is a complete cop-out, and even worse when I bought it up last night he justified it by saying it's important that he sleeps because he has to go to work and I don't. I started nap training this week and DS is doing great at going to sleep with only 5 mins of crying but DH isn't there during the day to interfere.

Emmagk

Thanks everyone, I finally managed to get DH to agree to a 3 day trial. Last night DS woke up at 1 fussed for a few minutes then cried for about 3 minutes then went back to fussing and fell asleep. Whole wake up time was about 10 minutes. He then slept through to 5.30 when I got up and nursed him. The crying feels do much longer and louder at night!

spinsoffresonance

I just want to vent! I think I'm officially in sleep hell. Bedtime with 2 kids in the same room takes 2-3hours until I give up and just sleep with both kids in bed with me. Last night I even gave up after 30min but DD1 was still jumping all over me until midnight. And, really, sleeping with one baby snuggled on each side means I barely get any sleep at all. And I miss my blanket.

stina76

I hate night time!! Since my little guy learned to stand up in his crib, life is more awful at night! Not that he was a great sleeper before, but it had been getting better. Now every time he stirs, he crawls to the side of the crib and stands. Then screams....and screams.....We tried letting him cry, but it goes on forever. Then he falls and hits his head. Then cries and screams even more. A friend said to just keep going in and laying him down every time and that it will just take time. We are on night 3 and we haven't slept much. We are going crazy! Luckily my husband is helping since we both work full time, but it's wearing on us. All I can think about is how many times I will be up before my alarm goes off at 5:30! Last night at 1:00 even when my husband had him I was up from the screaming and couldn't go back to sleep so was googling standing in crib! Parenting is hard!!!

spinsoffresonance

Lissiehoya said:

@spinsoffresonance‌, you're in Europe now, right? Do you think the time difference is part of it?

@Lissiehoya that is certainly part of it. But the kids are waking up at 9am now, so they should go to bed around 9pm. We also haven't been going to the park in the afternoon, because it's dark, so I think DD1 isn't tired enough at bedtime. She is still jumping around until midnight. the bigger problem is DD1 has been having toddler panic attacks since DH left. So she won't/can't be left alone to sleep. As soon as I walk away from her bed, she starts screaming, which wakes up the baby, who screams, which makes DD1 scream even more and there goes the start of the 2 hour bedtime cycle. I tried lying down next to her bed but then she just wants to play!

spinsoffresonance

Thanks @kittyriot‌ , the good vibes helped, it's 10pm and miraculously both kids are asleep (only 1 is in my bed!!) and DD1 only screamed for 10min tonight. I get 2 more hours of sleep tonight (of course I'm now catching up on TB instead of sleeping).

ns1

@spinsoffresonance‌ - not sure if I've given you my sympathy in writing yet or only in my head - so here it is (maybe again?) -my sympathy.

We had 5 nights of four of us in one room and I thought I was going to loose it with the roundabout chorus of screaming. Good luck and I hope it gets better soon!