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Babies: 3 - 6 Months
Chrissy1019
member
Crappy sleeping (super long)
Chrissy1019
member
I'm not really sure what to do. J sleeps horribly. He has since day 1 and he's going to be 6 months old soon. It's been a long time and I do everything on my own, as H works from around 4:30am and gets home around 7:30pm every day. Frankly, I'm exhausted.
I put him to bed around 8pm every night. I bathe him every other night, I sing to him while I get him in his pjs, we read a few books and then we either nurse to sleep or he nurses and then falls asleep while I'm rocking him. Sometimes I can put him down right away in his crib, other times he wakes up and we start over with rocking and/or nursing. He's gotten much better with letting me put him down, but we're not quite perfect yet. I can forsee in the future this is going to be an issue because he doesn't put himself to sleep ever. He did it once, a total fluke.
He then wakes up about an hour later, and I have to go in to rock to sleep again, sometimes nursing as well. He will do this almost hourly until I give up and bring him into bed with me, usually after I've fallen asleep and he's woken me up. Once he's in bed with me, he will go around 2 hours. Then I wake up move him to the other side of me and nurse laying down til he's asleep until around 5 or 6 am when he won't let me put him back down. Then I was putting him in his swing until around 8am when we wake up for the day. Lately he's not letting me put him in the swing and it's a struggle to get him to stay asleep, even though he's still tired, because he doesn't get comfortable.
I swore I wasn't going to let him CIO. Tonight I decided to try and see if he would fall asleep on his own. I put him down after nursing with his seahorse and after going in every 3 mins and trying to get him to calm down, I couldn't take it after about 12 mins and gave up. I am so upset I let him do that. Poor thing was screaming, sweating and shaking.
I just don't know what to do. Everyone is pushing me to sleep train, let him CIO and that's why I did it. But I just can't do it. There's no way I can do that to my baby again. I've read the NCSS. I've already been doing most of her methods individually but I'm going to try and do it her way with the writing it down and what not.
I guess this is more of a (long) vent than anything. If you made it this far, thank you. I'm just so frustrated that he sleeps so poorly (naps are also a crapshoot) and I feel like it's my fault. I know in my head it's not, but when everyone gives me grief about it, it makes me feel bad.
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Re: Crappy sleeping (super long)
Thank you. Like I said, I know in my head it's not my fault, I'm just feeling pretty guilty tonight because I let him cry. He's gotten so much better since the beginning I know he will eventually get better. He's changed so much so quickly already.
I know I need to do that! Every night I have intentions of keeping him in his crib and I give in. One night I even slept on his floor but he woke up so many times (our house is super creaky) I just brought him back to my bed. Thank you for your advice. I appreciate it!
Eva, born on 1/2/11
Celia and Lily, born on 5/17/13
I am having a tough time with my LO as well. He started out so great, but has been getting worse. He is three months now. I get so stressed and frustrated when he doesn't sleep. I am really a little nuts about it because he is pretty happy baby when he isn't asleep, but it makes me anxious when he doesn't nap. He is fairly stable at night. He doesn't sleep through the night, but he is pretty quick to soothe when he does wake up. We recently switched his formula which helped with the night wakenings a lot. Anway, I don't have any good advice for you, because I am an advocate of CIO which I know isn't something you want to do. I guess I am just reaching out to commiserate. If you are ready to try CIO, you may want to check out "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child". This book took away a lot of my guilt with CIO. However, I dont' want to seem like I am pushing you. I know that this is a personal decision. I wish you the best. I was happy to read your vent. The last post I read about sleeping was filled with Moms who's babies were sleeping through the night effortlessly. It DID NOT HELP to read that!!! Take Care.
I could've written this post myself. We went to bed at 6:45 as she was showing all signs of tired. It's now 3 hours later...and she is in her crib asleep. I desperately hope she stays there for a few hours.
What is even more frustrating to me is knowing that she did not even finish her bottle so I KNOW she'll be awake within 2 hours looking for food. And quite possibly we will start the process all over again. Tonight I have to be strong and not let her in my bed as easy as that is to do. The reality is that neither of us end up getting good sleep.
I work full time, my first pp period started today, I feel myself getting sick (due to lack of sleep) and H is at the basketball game, so I'm really not loving life right now.
So, I'll make a bottle for the fridge and go to bed - to get an hour when I can.
2 hrs sounds good; does that include everything from eyes OPEN to eyes SHUT? Like, the time it takes to eat and the time it takes him to fall back asleep?
Make sure it includes those (anything awake), and every try 15-20 minutes less than that.
I don't know if you have tried this or if this helps but this is was what we did when LO was waking every hour to two hours. We would sooth him while he was in his crib at the first waking after putting to bed and every waking after that. I would just keep giving him his paci, touching his face, singing anything to keep him calm and to relax without picking him up.
It took a couple of LONG nights just sitting by his side but he finally got the idea that mommy was not going anywhere and it was okay to fall asleep. The paci definitely helped him because he could than self sooth and we were swaddling.
I do still feed him around 4:30 when he wakes up because I still feel like he needs a night feeding and it gets him to sleep until 7:00. I hope this helps a little and that you get some sleep soon.
Also do what you feel is best for you and your LO, you are the mommy and just remember he will grow out of it an learn how to fall asleep he won't be 17 and still waking every hour and sleeping in your bed!