How do you cope if DC isn't STTN?

murphyec · December 2008

DS was sleeping 5 - 6 hours in one stretch at night and then another 4 hour stretch...it was wonderful, but then last month we went to on vacation and nothing has been the same since. He is waking up every 3 hours to eat at night. I keep wanting to blame it on a growth spurt, but I thought those were supposed to last a week at the most and we are on week three of this (though only my second week back at work). I asked DH to take a feeding last night and now he is all up in arms that DS isn't sleeping and wants to resort to sleep training, but I am not ready for that. I would really like to do something more gentle and I am trying to get him in a bedtime routine, but no two nights are the same; like last night he fell asleep on his way home from daycare and slept until 9pm, so there wasn't really a good time to bath him, feed him, rock him and put him to bed, I just did my regular night feeding (I keep the room dark, only feed him and then straight back in bed).

skittles_123 · December 2008

Sleep training isn't ideal for children under 6 months old. So I wouldn't do that. Sounds like he is going through a sleep regression. My dd did that. It lasted about a month. She still wakes up several times in the night, but she puts her self back to sleep. Does your ds take a pacifier? That worked really well for getting my ds to sleep through the night.

Otherwise I would give it a few more weeks, as it appears he is still trying to adjust to daycare. Hopefully he will also start to sleep more at daycare and not be prone to falling asleep on the way home.

Solutions for a sleepy working mom. . .I try to have a little caffeine in the morning, usually a coke, I'm not much of a coffee drinker.

It gets better. There is an end to waking in the night. . .and you will start to get rest again. All part of being a mom.

tiff16 · December 2008

Dc still doesn't sttn! But she does have a pretty regular nap and bedtime schedule. Your dc is pretty young. I would give it time. Around 4 months dc had somewhat of a schedule. I'm sure he's exhausted from all the excitement at daycare.

bksp1 · December 2008

If by sleep training you mean CIO that doesn't happen in my house! Once I weaned and she was still getting up in the middle of the night I have inlisted more help from DH. Some nights for us are better and other nights she is up alot. I just have to go with the flow because I refuse to let her CIO for hours like I have heard some people do. There are some nights that if she goes down at 8 that I go to bed really early so that I at least get some sleep.

Bella427 · December 2008

Well, I'm a big softie. DD is 12 months and still not STTN. I haven't done sleep training. We cosleep with the mattress on the floor so she won't crawl out of bed and hurt herself. I highly recommend caffeine.

Angela814 · December 2008

Your son is way too young for sleep training. There is a sleep regression at 4 months, so the waking may be part of it. DD actually sttn (9pm-7am) from 10wks up to 4 months. Then we hit that 4 month wakeful period combined with her falling into a routine at daycare, and she started nursing every 3 hours around the clock. That actually lasted until I night weaned her at 26 months.

She still wakes at least once a night now. I resorted to drinking lots and lots of coffee to wake up in the morning and stay awake.

shouldbeworkin · December 2008

I used to go to bed early, have my DH handle the late feeding and then I would handle the early morning feeding. It worked pretty well. I could function if I got one good solid stretch of sleep.

AlisaS · December 2008

Your baby is only 3 months old. He is not supposed to STTN yet. Getting up several times a night is part of parenthood. Your husband needs to embrace it and contribute 50%.

mrsnewlywed2005 · December 2008

we've all been there. this is the hardest part. they'll sttn when they're ready. my dd didn't sttn until she was 8 mos. dh and i would take turns sleeping in the guest room so we can function at work. just hang in there.
btw, we considered sleep training, but a half hour of cio made me realize it's not for my family. besides, i have friends who used cio and their kids still wake up in the middle of the night so it's not all it's cracked up to be.

hiltyn78 · December 2008

Did you honestly expect your baby to be STTN by 3.5 months of age? What books have you read?!

There are always those rare babies who do STTN early on but most of us are just stuck sucking down loads of caffeine and falling asleep on the couch at 8 pm some nights out of exhaustion from not STTN ourselves for months. I don't mean to sound so harsh. It's a rite of passage. It's parenthood at its toughest. My DD finally STTN at ~11 months of age but it got decent (ie, down at 8:30 and up at 3:30 and then at 7:30 for good) around 9 months of age.

Good luck.

murphyec · December 2008

hiltyn78:
Did you honestly expect your baby to be STTN by 3.5 months of age? What books have you read?!

There are always those rare babies who do STTN early on but most of us are just stuck sucking down loads of caffeine and falling asleep on the couch at 8 pm some nights out of exhaustion from not STTN ourselves for months. I don't mean to sound so harsh. It's a rite of passage. It's parenthood at its toughest. My DD finally STTN at ~11 months of age but it got decent (ie, down at 8:30 and up at 3:30 and then at 7:30 for good) around 9 months of age.

Good luck.

Did I say that I expected him to STTN? DH does, but I don't. I am trying to find a way to cope at work when I am getting little to no sleep.

Mrs_JR · December 2008

Sleep regression is really normal at that age (and will likely happen more over the first year). DD still does not STTN at 15 months so I've been sleep deprived for that long. The best solution we've found to get us all the most sleep is co-sleeping but that isn't for everyone. I also try to nap with DD on the weekends if we don't have a lot going on. Your DS is too young for sleep training. Sounds like you and DH need to get on the same page and come up with a plan you both feel comfortable with. Good luck!

SLH1014 · December 2008

You could also try a co-sleeper. It was a life saver for me. I breastfed, and being able to reach over and put the baby in our bed to nurse and then back into the co-sleeper without getting up was great. I'm not sure, though. You may have to get up anyway to make the bottle if you're formula feeding...not sure how that works. But my son was in the co-sleeper until about 6 months or so, then he moved to the crib. At that point we started working on getting him to sleep through the night.

Good Luck!

senecamom · December 2008

DD sttn from 5 weeks-4 months. We've hit regressions, sickness, and teething ever since and she's 16 months now. She'll go back to sttn for 1-2 months and something else will come up. She hasn't been sttn for 6 weeks now. CIO doesn't really work for us (and your DS is too young), so I'm just dealing with it for the time being. I work two evening (the rest are days), that helps with my sleep. It really sucks! Hope it gets better for you soon...

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