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Cincinnati Babies
Help me figure out DD's refusal to sleep at night - I'm a zombie.
Hey Ladies,
I need some major advice/tips, please. Olivia is 15 weeks, and for the past 3 weeks, her sleep habits at night have really confused me and made DH and I zombies...Here's a recap of her day and night routines as of late: (bear with me, please!)
DAY: She is EBFing, and still eats every 3 hrs. She typically only wants to nurse on one side, even though I always offer the other. She always seems satisfied and happy after nursing, and she is having plenty of wet diapers. I don't think I'm having any supply issues, because I am feeling letdown each time, and she isn't fussing at the breast. She takes a short nap in the morning after eating, then is usually awake and wanting to play in the early afternoon. I follow her cues and let her sleep when she seems tired/fussy. Overall, she is a really happy baby, and she is into smiling, cooing, and grabbing her feet these days. Also, another major milestone is that she rolled over (back to belly) last week for the first time... um, whoa! Madelyn didn't do this until 6 months old, so this is all new territory for us. It's amazing how different siblings can be!
NIGHT: I nurse her around 10pm for the last time, and then I put her in her Sleepsack for bedtime. We read a story (earlier) with Madelyn at her bedtime, and we cuddle. She seems that she's getting enough to eat (she rarely falls asleep at the breast), and then I put her down in her crib. (We just put this up in our room b/c she seemed uncomfy in the PNP.) [We only have 2BR, and we weren't successful in selling our house, so we're stuck here until at least next spring....GRRR!] Up until 3 wks. ago, she had slept for 4-5 hr. stretches a few times, but mostly now, she's waking every 2-3 hrs. to eat, sometimes every hour. Sometimes I try to just soothe her by swaying/rocking her, but I feed her if she seems hungry and inconsolable. For instance,the other night, she woke at 1am, 315am, 445 am, 6 am.... oy.
If you've made it this far, you deserve a medal! I am so exhausted, and I'm trying to figure out if it's something I'm doing, or is it perhaps a growth spurt?? She has her 4 mo. check-up the 1st week of August, so I'll talk to her pedi then... Any ideas, ladies? Or do I just suck it up and deal with this crazy nighttime waking?? Thank you!!
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Re: Help me figure out DD's refusal to sleep at night - I'm a zombie.
Serena does this every now and again and it seemed to correspond with AF for me too. This month however because she is 6 months old and growing fine plus were starting solids I have taken to sleeping on the couch when DH is on thirds because it helps me sleep through her fussiness, which it literally is fussiness not actual crying she wakes for 5 mins and goes back to sleep and if I am in the bedroom with her I tend to wake and feed her instead of leaving her to it. At this point 6 months with DS2 we had moved him into his own room and crib but the babies are sharing the nursery for now until we get the basement finished for DS1 and I want to make sure she won't wake DS2 up before we transition her into there. I think when I co-sleep and they sleep in the room with us we get less sleep and so do they because I wake at the slightest sound so it is in our best interest to move her out asap.
HTH
missbollinger - thanks for the info. I don't see any signs of AF yet (hopefully she stays away!!) but I will keep that in mind. Unfortunately, Olivia doesn't have her own room to go to, so we have her in ours in the crib until she STTN and we can move her to DD's room. I agree that we're not getting much restful sleep b/c she is sharing our room. I called the nurse's line at pedi office to get some tips, and they said that I shouldn't be feeding her less than the 3 hr. mark at night. "She should be sleeping for longer stretches," she says. Well, duh, why do you think I'm calling?
So tonight, I am going to try some calming/soothing pats, etc. and resist picking her up if she keeps waking before the 3 hr. mark. It could be the 4mw too, I suppose?
Sounds like it might be an unfortunate collision of growth spurt and the normal 4-month wakeful. Is she sleeping too much during the day or is her last nap too late in the afternoon? We had to drop the late afternoon nap and move up the bedtime for Sam around that age. So he went down to morning nap (9ish), afternoon nap (2ish), and bedtime around 7:30.
Good luck! Getting into a rhythm and sleeping routine is no fun!
Jennie
I found pedi's and their nurses are pretty much useless when it comes to sleep problems. I don't know how many times I was told "let her cry". Well, we're now at 21 months, tried every form of sleep training imaginable, and she is still up 3+ times a night, minus the 2 months she for some random reason STTN. They don't know any more (and sometimes less) than we do when it comes to sleep it seems.
Oh my gosh, I could have written this myself (and almost did, actually). It sounds like our little ladies are a lot alike!
Avery usually only eats on one side too, which is very different from Brady when he was nursing. She started sleeping 4-6 hours stretches very early on, but the last three weeks or so, she was waking up at least three times a night. It is MISERABLE, right? I know it could be worse, but it feels so awful when it's a regression. I hadn't changed anything during her daytime routine. I read online and decided it was a growth spurt. The last few days have been better, so I'm hoping things are improving (although now that I wrote it, I'm afraid of what will happen). I didn't change anything before these good nights, so I'm really thinking it has been a growth spurt. Unfortunately you might just have to ride it out, but I hope it ends for you soon. Olivia is really adorable; I was just looking at your pictures on FB. You have the cutest little girls, I swear!
I'm going to guess growth spurt/4 month wakeful. Levi is doing the same thing right now. He was sleeping 9pm to 6am with maybe one or two wake-ups that only required putting his paci back in. Now we're back to feeding him once again overnight and more wake ups.
He's asleep in bed after his last bottle by 9pm. We usually get a good stretch of sleep at this time...usually until about 3. We'll give the paci back, and turn on his seahorse and he usually goes back to sleep, but most nights he's back up by 4. Paci doesn't work anymore and I have to feed him again. I get him back to sleep by 5, he only sleeps till 6, then I bring him in bed with me until Noah gets up about 7. So I feel your pain! I hope it ends for all of us soon!
I know some people think the 4-month wakeful period is a myth, but I swear that Leah was up more at that age than ANY other age. She was up ALL the time from about 4.5 months to 5.5 months. Does she seem hungry every time she is awake? Have you tried just offering her a paci? One thing that worked with Leah, although she was older when it happened, was we'd keep the room pitch dark and I would just go in and soothe her...I wouldn't actually pick her up, but I'd offer her a paci, pat her belly, and turn her crib aquarium soother on and sneak back out.
Wish I had better advice!