Thread: OMG, the lack of sleep

So Lainey has always been a lousy sleeper. I really did not intend to cosleep. I tried very hard to get her to sleep in her pack n play as a newborn, but after many nights of working to put her down only to have her wake up again within 20 minutes (and I tried EVERYTHING), I gave up and just let her sleep with us. It worked ok for a while, she would wake up a lot to nurse (some nights as often as every hour), then go right back to sleep. It was annoying, but I could deal with it.

She is now 8 months old and we are trying so hard to get her to sleep in the crib. I put her down around 8-9, then she wakes up an hour and a half later (a major improvement, she used to only last 10 min in the crib), then I nurse and rock her, then back into the crib for another hour and a half. Then, at midnight I'm too tired to stay up with her, so I bring her into bed. After this nursing, she tends to wake up and kick and thrash and make her favorite loud "AAAAAA" noise. Some nights DH will take her downstairs and sleep in a chair with her on his chest until her next waking, usually some time between 2-4am. Then, if he can't get her back to sleep, he brings her up to me to nurse. Usually she goes back to sleep at this point, but wakes every hour to two hours. I pop her on the boob just to try to get her back to sleep. I almost think she is reverse cycling, since I work/have grad school and she doesn't take much EBM while I'm gone. She seems content to wait for me to get home, then make up for what she's missed.

That is pretty much every night for us and I am losing it. I can't do the interrupted sleep any more. Who has suggestions for me? I can't do CIO, and we tried the Ferber method with DD1, and found that it takes a lot of time for minimal results. Help!!

I forgot to add, we use a fan for white noise now. It did the trick for her for a while, but now it doesn't really help.

Yikes.. I would suggest CIO but if you cant do it, than Im not really sure.. Natalie sounds simliar minus the up between 2-4 part. She goes to be bed around 8:30-9pm. She will wake up sometimes around 11-12ish. Then I nurse and put her back in the PnP.. Then she is up again usualy around 2am and then she ends up in the bed with me. She does wake up at least 1-2 more times but only for a few minutes, but Im not sure if that is becasue she is really hungry or just has to have me near her. Most likely around a year I will let her CIO the entire night after I stop bfing.

The only thing I can think of is to let her fuss a little bit longer at night, and maybe she will learn to sooth herself.. ??

Since the white noise used to work maybe you just need something louder. Try http://www.pediasleep.com/. I downloaded white noise from here and Simon sleeps with it every night. And before he got sick he was sttn in his own crib.

Aside from that I dont have any suggestions, just make sure the room is really dark too.

I hope you get some sleep soon!!!!

Have you read the No Cry Sleep Solution? It's not a miracle maker, but it has some good points and makes you really think about (and write down so you stick to it!) a plan to improve sleep over time. I would think one of the first things to try is to get an earlier bed time. That right there really did help DS even though we were really comfortable with our later bedtime (we were 10pm and now it's 8pm at the latest). DS goes in his crib for the first part of the night. When he wakes up if I'm already in bed, we cosleep for the rest of the night. I do the pantley method (?) when he wants to use me as a pacifier. I've also learned to make the boob more inaccessible. Let's see also from the book, we've started a phrase ("Shhhh. It's nighty-night time.") that we use whenever we put him down for a nap, at night, and whenever he fusses in the middle of the night. We don't have to use it much but amazingly it really does help when needed. It's like he needs that reminder.

Now if only the sun would stop coming up so darn early in the morning! As the sunrise gets earlier, DS gets up earlier. Grrrrr.

Is her crib in your room or hers? Maybe moving it either into or out of your room would help.

Jackie what is the Pantley method? I feel like Natalie is using me as a pacifier at night sometimes..

We still swaddle somewhat (started by letting one arm out because of rolling, now we just swaddle snug around the torso) because the tight feeling on his body seems to make him feel like I am holding him. I also put him to sleep on his tummy which keeps him a sleep longer. He rolls there anyway so I'm not worried. I sleep with his sheets before we change them so his bed smells like me and I have a muslim blanket that we cuddle with while we nurse that goes down with him, again for the smell.

I was totally in your shoes last month and it was driving me insane and something had to change. We added some of the things I just mentioned. Also I started nursing to sleep at night and I would unlatch him if he started doesing off & had already nursed well. If he would fuss I would rock him up near my neck for comfort but try not to re-offer the boob. It took a while, and I caved a few times, but it got better. Also I would put him down in the crib 1/2 asleep and then sit next to the crib for a while letting him nuzzle my hand. After a little more than a week of doing this he realized that was going to still be there and was to relax and fall asleep. Now I just linger for a minute or 2 after putting him down and he is out. We still have our off days here and there and the first 3-4 days where terrible and frustrating. I also added a stuffed animal attached to the crib that has white noise heart beat sound & smells like lavender. I don't know if it did much but after spending the $$ on it I like to pretend that it works wonders...lol. Just throwing it all out there for you incase there is anything you can take that helps.

I have no idea because Ronin still does the same and nurses all night, I just pop him back in the portacot after he goes back to sleep (and I wake out of my doze). I am going to a meeting on Monday that is discussing babies and sleeping (run by our breastfeeding association so it won't be most peoples favourite answer to me, put them on firmula)so if I get any great ideas I will share them.

Originally Posted by BuckeyeK

Then, at midnight I'm too tired to stay up with her, so I bring her into bed.

That's when I am weak. I can battle at bedtime, but when they get up at night, I'm too tired to try all the tricks and I just bring her into bed.

Sorry to hear what you are going through. You've gotten some good tips and hopefully one of them works.

Look what pg. org actually had!

http://www.pregnancy.org/article/whe...d-pantley-pull