Trouble Staying Asleep - Help Needed

[Savannahsmummy]

Hello,

Our trouble isn't getting our baby to sleep it is keeping her asleep.

We have an eight month old DD. For the past month her sleeps at night have gotten progressively worse with waking up to 5 times a night! I follow a bed time routine everynight of play, feed of vegetables, bath, stories, breastfeed and bed by 6:30. I talk to her about going to bed whilst giving her bath that she loves and reading stories.

Some nights she will go down with no fuss and other times it takes a little longer with cuddles and patting. I give her a night light, a teddy and play some soothing music.

She will sleep then for a couple of hours till 10:00 at most, wake and won't settle without a feed, then can wake again at 1:00, 2:30, 4:00 and 6:00 (sleep, wake, feed sleep etc). This goes on all night, sometimes waking every 1-2 hrs. I can't remember the last night I have had more than 5 hours sleep total. This problem got worse and she was waking up screaming in pain in her tummy - having trouble with her bowel motions. We went to the doctor and were given colexal drops. The pain seems to be less but the waking hasn't stopped.

She wakes up extremely happy in the morning and isn't grumpy at all. Everyone tells us that she is such a happy and contented baby. She has no problem going for sleeps during the day in her own cot. About an 1.5hrs in morning, 2 hours at lunch and maybe 30 mins in afternoon.

We have her in our room in a porta cot at night with the heater on so she is not cold.

We have tried to not feed her at night but we have then had constant crying for 3 hours if I don't feed her. That was really hard and just can't do it to her. We don't pick her up instantly either but she doesn't settle by herself. Even rocking or cuddling doesn't do the trick most times. We have tried water in a cup - are going to try and top her up at night with some formula. She has never taken to a bottle or dummy so getting her to suck from anything other than me has been a challenge.

Sorry to ramble just wanted to give a clear picture of what is going on. IF anyone has any ideas that might help keep our baby asleep we would be very grateful and are open to try anything at this point.

[Cyndi35]

Hi there,
I have had some trouble like this but not for so long. I would suggest to seek help with a professional sleep/settling outlet. Here in Sydney we have what they call Tresillian and it's a place that we can spend from 5 days and 4 nights where there is a series of midwives/nurses who are trained in this area and they help you to work on getting your little precious out of this routine/pattern. Ths can be organised through your GP/hospital and you will need to get a referral for it. It will take this long to break the cycle, generally the both parents may be able to stay, but you eill need to check on this.
Goodluck and I hope this helps. :fingerscrossed:
Cydi

Hello,

Our trouble isn't getting our baby to sleep it is keeping her asleep.

We have an eight month old DD. For the past month her sleeps at night have gotten progressively worse with waking up to 5 times a night! I follow a bed time routine everynight of play, feed of vegetables, bath, stories, breastfeed and bed by 6:30. I talk to her about going to bed whilst giving her bath that she loves and reading stories.

Some nights she will go down with no fuss and other times it takes a little longer with cuddles and patting. I give her a night light, a teddy and play some soothing music.

She will sleep then for a couple of hours till 10:00 at most, wake and won't settle without a feed, then can wake again at 1:00, 2:30, 4:00 and 6:00 (sleep, wake, feed sleep etc). This goes on all night, sometimes waking every 1-2 hrs. I can't remember the last night I have had more than 5 hours sleep total.

She wakes up extremely happy in the morning and isn't grumpy at all. Everyone tells us that she is such a happy and contented baby. She has no problem going for sleeps during the day in her own cot. About an 1.5hrs in morning, 2 hours at lunch and maybe 30 mins in afternoon.

We have her in our room in a porta cot at night with the heater on so she is not cold.

We have tried to not feed her at night but we have then had constent crying for 3 hours if I don't feed her. That was really hard and just can't do it to her. We don't pick her up instanly either but she doesn't settle by herself. Even rocking or cuddling doesn't do the trick most times. We have tried water in a cup - are going to try and top her up at night with some formula. She has never taken to a bottle or dummy so getting her to suck from anything other than me has been a challenge.

Sorry to ramble just wanted to give a clear picture of what is going on. IF anyone has any ideas that might help keep our baby asleep we would be very grateful and are open to try anything at this point.

[MummyAnon]

Sorry I can't help, but our 8 month old has started doing exactly the same, and two of my friends babies did the same at 7 months so I would be interested in any advice from anyone out there. We have tried controlled crying but after an hour and a half of screaming we gave in and fed him. We live in an apartment and it's too stressful thinking about what the neighbours must be thinking!

['Rene'sMumma']

HI ladies, we are experiencing something similar. My son is 8mths too and has started stirring in the night again. We have been through many fases of unsettled sleep and for varying reasons. At worst I went through a couple of months of him waking up every hour
!!!! Hell!!!

He has recently started sleeping beautifully when he miraculously(sp) settled himself one night (previously we had always patted him to sleep) It was that night that he slept through??? And as I said he kept both these habbits up and I asumed one was linked to the other.

But suddenly his sleep has become disturbed again. He had started screaming out throughout the night many times and has stopped settling himself to sleep as well and is not sleep as well or as much in the day time....

Sorry I have no answers... I am asking the same questions as you ladies aswell. But perhaps its something to do with this age as they're all around the same age..... some sort of stage perhaps...

[lovebeingamum!]

Just gotta say, i've been there and know how hard it is! so BIIIG :hugs:

I'm not going to try and tell you what to do, just share my experience and let you take what you will :yes:

DS is 1.5 now and sleeping like a trooper after doing one night of 'control crying' about a month ago. (I did the 'super nanny trick' stayed in the room, didnt go in and out - too confusing imo - and let him know that i was there, but i wasnt going to do anything, he had to go to sleep by himself).i didnt want to 'cc' before then and honestly wasnt ready to do it, but then he became 'too clever' and knew damn well i was doing anythign and everything he wanted, so i had to let him know how it was going to be. BTW he has a little 'bottle station' in his cot, so he gets his bottles himself during the night and since then, on average, he is waking less AND i dont have to get outta bed!

I know that doesnt help you now, but DS has always had bottles during the night, so I suggest not feeling suilty about feeding. it may turn from a 'food' thing to a comfort thing, and you may need to address that??

i too have found alot of babies at this age sleep bad... maybe its a developmental thing, a growing thing, a change??
you sound like you're doing all the right things, trying all the right things, so i would suggest to just try and ride it out.

Also DS 'outgrew' his prota cot on trip away - would not sleep in it at all and has not again since then, so maybe try putting her in the cot in her room? DS has an oil heater on all night and i keep an eye on his room thermom to make sure its the right temp.

Maybe she's confused having two places to sleep?? not sure as DS sleeps on our bed during the day and in his cot at night. Maybe its too dark? DS needed a little night light.

I guess the next q is, would you want to do the "super Nanny" cc?? And when she wakes up, is she standing up, fully awake or just writhing around winging? DS also had night terrors (pretty scary) so it may be somethign like that?
Maybe you're doing too much to get her to sleep?? (Not that i think thats bad!! You sound like a loving mummy!!) DS just needs 3minutes of 'bedtime cues' - anything longer just 'revs' him up again!!

Wow - i know this is such a long post, but i hope i've thrown a couple of ideas out there. I just know how desperate i was for about 8 months and wanted to hear what everyone had to say! im sorry if i've gone on too much :o

[tru]

... Here in Sydney we have what they call Tresillian and it's a place that we can spend from 5 days and 4 nights where there is a series of midwives/nurses who are trained in this area and they help you to work on getting your little precious out of this routine/pattern. Ths can be organised through your GP/hospital and you will need to get a referral for it. ...

In QLD the (free) sleep clinic is now called the Ellen Barron Centre, at the Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane. There is a loooooong waiting list but you can call them 24/7 on 1800 177 279 for free advice from the very same nurses who would be helping you resettle bubs if you were staying there.

They have helped me with resettling DS many times late at night and early in the morning when I was so sleep deprived and didn't know what else to do. I highly recommend giving them a call anytime for any questions you have. They explain their techniques and reasons for them really well.

Hope this helps :)

[DIANNEKB]

My son now 1.5 slept very bad for the 1st year of his life, if he wasnt up every hour he stayed up for hours on end at night and still didnt recover that lost sleep in the day... My advice is ( as this is the only thing that worked and I tried everything) No rocking or patting to sleep, no feeding (as they dont really need it) If they have a dummy they must put it in there mouth themselves ( do not do it for them) all these are sleep aids and they find themselves waking up looking for there aid... Secondly Sleep in the same place night and day and if and when they wake up go in and sit by the bed dont give eye contact and have your back turned to them, and as each night goes on you move further out the door... and after 2 or 3 nights you will find she will sleep through the night ... My son did and now he goes to bed at 7.30 and wakes at 6.30 and sleeps for about a 3 hour stretch in the day... Sticking to it is the key to success
I hope it makes sense if not pm me and I will explain better. ( i am tryign to be quick cos my 7wk old is waking up).

Good Luck

[Savannahsmummy]

Thank you all so much for taking the time and responding to my thread. It is very comforting to know that I'm not the only one out there who is having the same difficulties. For all you other mums going through the same thing - BIG HUGS TO YOU and never doubt your abilities as a parent.

To all of you who offered advice, thank you so much as we will definately be trying your suggesstions and praying that something works for our Savannah. I think you are all right in saying that consistency is the best key. We moved her back into her room a few nights ago as the heater wasn't making her sleep any better. We weren't able to buy one anywhere and wanted to rule out cold as a factor.

Since moving her back she is waking a couple of times a night - a big improvement on every 1.5 hrs :) My husband has been going in to settle her - after letting her try and settle herself. We finally got her to take some milk out of a sipper cup and he offered that to her and the first night wasn't interested and went back to sleep,last night drank the whole lot - so might have been hungry. She has been sick too with a cold for about 2 weeks which hasn't helped the situation.

Definately don't want to get in a habit of feeding through the night so I will let you know how we progress and hopefully having a sleeping baby before too long.

Thank you once again

[MummyAnon]

After reading everyone's replies we decided to give controlled crying another go, but this time just stick it out and stuff the neighbours! We had one hideous night where DS screamed as if being tortured from 11.10pm to 2am and then 4am to 6am which was just horrendous (especially as in the 2 hours where he was actually asleep our car alarm went off and woke us up). BUT the next night he slept from 7pm to 5am, and last night woke twice, cried for less than a minute and went back to sleep before waking at 5.30am so looks like it is working. We are keeping our fingers crossed, but thanks for the advice and support . It's good to know we're not alone!

[Savannahsmummy]

That is wonderful news on getting your little one to settle. The first night sounded awful (we have had those nights) but what an improvement after such a short amount of time. If it takes a week of unsettledness for a long term solution that it is well worth it.

After hearing your good news and success, I am going to try the super nanny cc method again - for more than one night - knowing that I am helping my daugher in the long run to get a decent nights sleep. :)

I will keep you posted.