Our sleep has been horrible lately. 
last night LO was up 9 times, always sleeping less than an hour and once taking a full 30 minutes if bouncing to get back down.
I have moved bedtime from 8- 730 as of two nights ago. Should I go earlier? Naps during the day aren't always great but I WOH so I can't control that. He is 20 weeks olds and EBF eating twice at night still.
I'm painfully exhausted and I know he is too because he is always rubbing his eyes.
I believe he sleeps better swaddled but he is busting out of his swaddle me blanket several times a night now.
We are trying to put him in his crib full time (which is at the foot of our bed). We used to rely heavily on his swing but he's way too big for it! I do not want to CIO. I tried once and I do not believe it is right for him or me.
We never put him down awake, big mistake I know! How do we go about starting this though? I'm afraid he will just scream!!
We do use pacifier and white noise.
LO is a major sleep fighter! Has been his whole life. Please help me come up with a PLAN! I'm dying from exhaustion!!
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Ugh.
No advice b/c we co-sleep/co-bed with a sidecar set up so I can just roll over nurse & then roll back over, but before we did that I could totally relate. I would nap all I could on the weekends that's for sure!
Hope it passes & you guys can get some sleep soon!
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@runsyellowlites: we have done some co-sleeping! Sometimes it works and he sleeps amazing. Sometimes it doesn't work at all and he just thrashes around (even swaddled). I love it when we do it for naps on weekends and I did it on my maternity leave. But I usually don't sleep we'll when we co sleep so it doesn't work as well now that I'm working. And sometimes I work all 7 days a week, not just 5, so there's not always catch up time.
I just get paranoid and hyper aware when we co sleep.
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I'm so sorry. We are dealing with the same thing, although I don't WOH, so while keeping up with him during the day is exhausting I don't have to use my brain as much. My husband has been dealing with the non-feeding night wakings (although I still wake up of course), but he is headed out of town again so honestly I plan to just nurse every time he wakes up. I don't know any other way to help him get more sleep at this point. He has bags under his eyes
Teething, sleep regression, growth spurt, who knows?!
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@aprk: so sorry you are dealing with this too. I know that staying home all day with the baby is definitely exhausting! Somedays I just don't feel capable of getting dressed, operating a vehicle etc. I'm so tired I'm starting to forget words and people look at me like I'm crazy/dumb. I think if I nursed every time LO woke up my boobs would fall off! Plus when he is sleeping poorly like this he nurses for an extra long time and that just adds to my awareness
LO desperately needs a nap right now and has been yawning and rubbing his eyes. I have decided to switch from swaddle to sleep sack, and to limit my bouncing to 10 minutes max.
So I bounced for 10 minutes and now that his hands are free he was shoving them in my mouth the whole time even though he's clearly exhausted. I put him down in his crib with white noise and paci and I'm leaving him alone for five minutes even if he cries ...... Wish me luck ... -
@5 minutes he rolled over to his side and was just staring at the white noise machine
@8 minutes he was rolled to his back playing with his hands and sleeves. Then kicking his legs about and rolling to the side again.
No crying yet, but he's starting to grumble and he coughed his pacifier out so I'm sure the crying is soon to come. What do I do??? Take him out and bounce again? Take him out of the crib and try again later?
Why won't this kid sleep? -
Hugs!! We went through a month of that. I have no clue how I worked and kept my eyes open while driving. During the month, we moved to a Halo Swaddle. She still got the tightness on her chest but her arms free, since she was busting out every night, multiple times. Then after a while we kept doing three swaddle loser and moved to a sleep sack. Do you have a bedtime routine? I think that helps R. We now do bath, take a walk to the mailbox, sleep sack on, white noise, nurse, put her in the crib, turn on mobile, and turn off light.
We had to CIO to get her to go to sleep on her own. Do you think he would like to sleep in his belly? Have you tried putting him down and patting his back? You can turn him on his side to do it.
Hang in there!!We are back to multiple wake ups due to teething so I am back to being exhausted with you. Last night was rough in our house too.
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@Smurfette: yeah we have had a consistent bedtime routine for many months now. Bath, lotion, jammies, swaddle, nurse (and white noise).
I can't even get him to nap right now! I know he needs it badly but he's fighting me tooth and nail. He's in a sleep sack for the first time right now and I let him cry for five minutes (after 12 minutes of rolling around and playing with the sleep sack). I know he's soooo tired. This is breaking my heart, and my sanity! -
Is it possible to move him out of your room? At this age LO was sleeping terribly because we were all waking each other up with our sleep noises. She slept much better in the nursery.
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Bounced for 10 minutes. Was happy in the crib for 12 ish, then cried for 5. Took him out, only bounced for 7 because then his eyes were mostly closed. Set him down and he's wide awake and screaming instantly
waiting another five minutes and then going back in. What a, I doing wrong ladies? Will he ever sleep again -
@cmomma17: GO TO SLEEP, BABY!!! A does this too. Drives me freakin crazy. My husband bounces him *really* hard which seems to help
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@aprk: my husband is playing Xbox right now and doesn't seem to understand why what I'm doing is important. He's off work tomorrow so he probably won't continue my efforts of today and no progress will be made
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@cmomma17: so frustrating. Does LO sleep on back or side? We found that A goes to sleep best on his side, so we physically hold him there so he doesn't roll on to his tummy and wake himself up b
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After 45 minutes of trying. LO is finally asleep. Don't know ifi really helped though, because he may have been fully asleep the last time I set him down.
He has always been a back sleeper, but he's always been swaddled so he never really had a choice. -
@cmomma17: I hope things get better soon!! I am solo for the next month and looking into buying a bigger mattress so I can sleep in A's room. He currently has a crib mattress on the floor that's too hard for me to squeeze onto.
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@cmomma17: Doh, I thought I sent this way earlier.....
Having P in her crib as a sidecar REALLY helps (I can post a pic if you want)... she's usually in her space & only occasionally actually in our bed so I don't have to always be so "aware" of her. Even on nights where she sleeps restlessly (or like last night where I had to pat her almost all night for her to settle) I'm still alot more rested than before. Something about not having to get up just helped. lol Formal sleep training & CIO just aren't things we're comfortable with so adapting how we could was the route we took.
I do hope you can find a solution soon!!!!
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I'd move him out of your room if possible as around that time they become much more aware of what's going on. Also at night I'd try to let him cry for 5 mins before going to him. He may fall back asleep and 5 mins of crying won't hurt him.
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my ds was just like this and kinda still is ( 8 months) ! If he wasn't held, he wasn't sleeping. Swaddling didn't work, he was the great hoodini baby. As soon as he would fall asleep, and we put him down in his crib, it was like a light switch and he'd wake up...
We successfully have him sleeping in his crib for naps and he will sleep for the first half of the night in his crib, with no complaints.....the last half I cave and let him stay in bed...Im not a CIO follower either .....What I found to start working was... we stopped swaddling him and placed him on his side, like PP had mentioned. We would hold him on his side until he was calm and asleep and he would stay asleep. This actually seemed like the biggest factor in him sleeping better.
When we can't get him to "relax" , I put on Nick Lachey's new lullaby cd and as soon as he hears it he instantly gets quite and calm.
Also we started to realize that he would wake up multiple times at night that he felt cold. We were always worried about over dressing him, but I think we were under dressing him.
ALso, it might be a growth spurt. My DS had a span of time for like 2 weeks where he would not SLEEP even during the day and would wake up literally 6/7 times at night hungry around that age......
I've been told it gets better .... I never thought my LO would ever sleep in the crib for more than 20 minutes....
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Try moving him out of your room. We found that my LO will totally fight sleep if she can see us because she is afraid of missing anything. She sleeps like a dream in her own room though.
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We are going through this. I'm having a hard time getting him to nap on his own and end up usually holding him.
Last night we put him in his crib in his room for the first time. He only woke up twice to nurse. It has been a long while since this has happened. DS is 24 weeks. A few weeks ago we went through a stretch of waking up e every hour.
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@cmomma17: I just wanted to say again that you'll get through this. When F goes through bad sleep patches I become obsessed with sleep and timing and I feel like my life is in shambles. It *will* pass, I promise! I don't have any great advice, because F is nearly a year and wakes an average of 3 times in a 12 hour period. But we're coping; it's manageable (we both WOH).
I try not to focus on it too much and remember you're not alone. Babies all go through rough patches - they're biologically wired to be wakeful sleepers.
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@aprk: best of luck to you for your solo month! I think the mattress is a great idea. In your case I would be all about "whatever it takes to survive"
@runsyellowlites: I'd love to see a pic just for fun, but I have a feeling we don't have room to do that. The windows in our bedroom make things weird. I always wanted LO in our room for at least the first six months.
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@cmomma17: We just put the crib against the wall, took off the side (toddler/day bed) and shoved our mattress up against it.
The crib mattress is on the lowest setting (since P is standing) and our mattress/box spring is directly on the floor. If you had a bed frame you could just put the crib mattress where it works best, push the mattress flush against yours & use a noodle or rolled quilt between the other side of the crib/crib mattress)... we use a roller quilt to make sure there isn't space P could get stuck (even though she moves very little in her sleep)
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@winniebee: it's not possible yet. I am going to try your advice tonight of letting him cry for a few minutes when he wakes up to see if he will go back to sleep. Thanks!
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@heartsnsunshine: nick lachey lullabies, who knew!
hehe. Actually LO does calm down always when I sing, and I'm no nick lachey!
The side lying thing is interesting, I will have to give it a try.
I don't think he's cold, especially in his cozy sleep sack. And I don't think he's waking up hungry because when he's hungry he will NOT stop until he's eating!
I really hope it does get better. He's awake now after only sleeping for 30 ish minutes this first stretch. I'm probably in for another long night. -
@LemonLong: can't move him out of our room tonight unfortunately. That would require a lot of rearranging, furniture being broken down and moved to storage, etc. I really wanted him in room until at least 6 months.
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@ALV91711: I'm sorry you're struggling too. I don't mind holding him occasionally, and of course enjoy some baby snuggles. But I'm painfully sleep deprived and really need some consistent rest so I can function at work!
That's great he only woke up twice last night! Wow! And your LO is just a month older than mine. With LO in his own room, where are you nursing him? I usually nurse LO in bed. I hate the thought of walking to a different room to get him to nurse.
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@JoyfulKiwi: thanks for the encouragement. I totally feel obsessed and shambley.
Update on tonight so far ... Started bedtime at 715. LO nursed to sleep, I held him a few minutes and then transferred to the crib. Slept 30 minutes, woke up crying. Let him cry 5 minutes, then he stopped and coo'd a little. Starting crying again, I only let him go 2 minutes. Went in and patted and shushed him, gave a paci and rubbed his head. Calmed him down for a minute but then started crying again because I hadn't picked him up. Picked him up, bounced (only took 4 minutes) and then he was out so I laid him in the crib again ..... Any guesses how long til he wakes up?!
I also tried to make our room much darker. In the past we have left lamps on until we both have gone to bed. LO has slept fine that way in the past, but maybe it's not fine anymore.
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@cmomma17: I'm not quite sure what to do about night nursing. Last night I just brought him to our bed then took him back. I do have a glider in his room but I don't know if it roomy enough to nurse in.
He had crappy naps today. Got him ready for bed early and now he is nursing and I hope will go to bed. It is 7pm.
I hope tonight goes better for you.
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I hope tonight goes well and everyone is sleeping!
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Thinking of you mama! Sleep baby, sleep! You're doing great!!
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@runsyellowlites: thanks for sharing, that's so neat to see! I think we actually could pull that off if we needed too. I think we have the same crib as you, and we also don't have a bed frame! Lol
@alv91711: I hope you're having a good night!
@joyfulkiwi: @keiki_mama: LO woke up once after his first 30 minute stretch of sleep. He cried a little then I bounced him only 4 minutes before he was out again. He just woke up to eat after sleeping five straight hours! Whoooo hoooo!! Could totally be a fluke because he's so exhausted from last night, but I'll take it!
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@cmomma17: I reeeeeaaallllllly like it... we didn't set it up like this till 11 months & man I was like "and why didn't we do this sooner?!" lol.
5 hours is a good stretch! Hope he gives you more good stretches tonight!
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@runsyellowlites: thanks!! Little man is in a milk coma and I'm putting him back in the crib now!
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If it's possible, I would move him out of your room. I don't know why, but DD will not sleep anywhere if we're around. She has to be in her room, door closed so she doesn't have any distractions. She'll stay awake as long as I'm in there. But once I leave, she falls right asleep. She won't sleep in my bed or in my arms. I wonder if your LO is doing something similar.
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@cmomma17: 5 hours is awesome!!!! I hope he keeps it up.
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Great idea from runsyellowlites! I found this very helpful: http://www.alternative-mama.com/creating-a-respectful-sleep-solution/.
I did baby-wearing when my guy went through rough sleep patches. This allowed him to get more sleep during the day so he wasn't overtired at bedtime.
You also expressed that your husband is not on board. It is vital you talk to him about it. Sleep will affect your family life more than anything else. -
@cmomma17: glad your Lo was able to let you get some sleep. We co sleep with Lo and it has worked for us, she has high seperation anxiety and it works for us. I find when she is tired but cannot nap and I'm home (WOH mom too) I use our ergo. The bouncing and the closeness helps her nap. When she is asleep I carefully take her out and deposit her on the bed.
Also my Lo is a very warm child. She refuses to sleep with anything covering her. She has to sleep with a onesie andrhe fan on her. Crazy I know. Maybe your Lo might be hot. It took us a little while to figure it out and when we did she would sleep for longer stretches.
Good luck I know it's super hard but you're doing a wonderful job!!!
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@cmomma17: 5 hours is great!!! How was the rest of the night?
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How's the sleep going?
Ours was going good, but now he's been awake almost 2 hours. Just nursing him back to sleep.
hehe. Actually LO does calm down always when I sing, and I'm no nick lachey!
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