Solidarity for a sleep deprived mum
I’m just looking for someone to tell me they’re in a similar boat and make me feel better 😭😩
My little one has pretty much always been a terrible sleeper (from 4.5 months and counting). He’s had an occasional few spells of decent sleeping, but it’s never been perfect. We’ve gone from waking up 7 to 10 times a night when he was around 10 months, to waking up multiple times in the middle of the night, to not wanting to fall asleep without being rocked. The latest shenanigan is going to sleep but then waking up around 10pm and staying awake for a solid three hours. We’ve had a few bouts of gentle sleep training, but nothing seems to have completely fixed it – which I slightly expect given all the development milestones. Before this, it was sleeping around 730/8 pm and waking up at 4 am. We’ve tried everything - shortening naps, lengthening nuts, dropping naps, earlier bedtime, later bedtime, longer bath before bed, more activity in the day etc etc.
Even though I know it’s not logical, I feel like I’m doing something wrong. Most of my friends now have kids that sleep through the night solidly. One has a 7pm-7am solidly sleeping baby from about 8 months but during her recent sleep regression when the sleep got temporarily bad, my friend told me that it’s worse to have a baby that is generally a good sleeper, but then regresses because you get used to good sleep. Meanwhile, I can count the amount of times on my left hand that I’ve managed to sleep through the night since my LO was born 🥴
Please tell me someone else can relate to this experience at this stage…
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I’m sorry I have no advice, but my 16 month old is exactly the same. He’s not as bad as he was and sleep has gotten slightly better but he still wakes up and still relies on me or a bottle to get him back to sleep. I found his sleep improved when I put him in his own room, I don’t know if your little one is in their own room? But I just wanted to let you know you’re not alone, and if you ever need someone to talk to I’m here. Hope it gets better for you soon mama ♥️
No advice either. Right here with you. My LO's sleep has never been the same since the 4 month regression. He started sleeping through for a bit and now he we are again. He was up last night for about 2-3 hours and what's most frustrating is he kicks and jabs me with his feet and climbs all over me and my head but leaves his Dad alone. He went back to sleep about 4am in our bed and then woke at 6am because I tried to move him up so I wasn't hanging off the edge of our bed and that woke him so I've been awake since about 2 when I took over from my husband. I am exhausted. We just have to believe it will get better girl.... Someday... Soon and very soon😭
Not sure how old your LO is nie but I'm just here to provide some hope.
My son was the worst sleeper ever, just non stop wakes, we'd have to pace the hallway all night, crying, kicking, big drama. He was EBF also so it was mostly my problem.
From 10 months I started something called gradual fading ... At 13 months out of nowhere something just clicked. He'd suddenly just sleep through. From 14 months he started putting himself to bed.
We didn't force anything, just let him figure it out. We stuck with the idea that sleep isn't taught, it's a developed.
Weather the storm 🩷 I don't know any 40 year olds that need their mama all night long to put them back to bed so the cycle does break at some point for every baby
The only thing that I think worked for us is consistency. Clear queues, clear expectations, clear consequences. I think it helped him to find his own rythm.
How old is baby?
What it the routine for the whole day?
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