Had a bad night?

[mamafelix]

Well I thought I'd create a space for people to rant about sleepless nights, because sometimes, all I need is to get it off my chest and I feel better. Plus it's good to know you're not the only one awake at 3am- I reckon on any given night there must be a LEGION of mama's awake with their little darlings.

Please- only post here if you DON'T want advice/help with a problem, and those who reply- please only support, not solutions. There are plenty of places on this forum for asking for and giving advice/help, I just thought'd be nice to have a place where anyone can vent sleep deprivation!

[mamafelix]

Well I feel a little bad posting because I'm sure this is not a bad night compared to those that people with younger babies have- certainly when Felix was 9 months old I would have killed for the nights sleep I had last night. But once you get used to more sleep- it gets harder when that stretch gets broken.

So Felix finally goes to bed at about 9pm, after being wound up by dh when he got home (grr..). Absolutely point blank refuses to sit on the potty, goes into hysterics when we try and make him. Okay, I know he's going to wet the bed. Won't do a nappy either.

At 2.30, you guessed it, tells me he's wet himself. Get up, change his sheets, try to change him. Hysterics. Full on tantrum, refuses to let me take off wet suit. I persist (I'm not going to let him lie in his own wee, am I?) and he gets into a completely irrational two year old state where NOTHING is going to make him happy. 'Want drink' okay, get drink. "CUP drink' okay, find sippy cup. Throws cup. ARRGHH.
Eventually calms- after about 45 minutes. I am shattered.
Wakes at about 5.30 and although happy to lie in bed with me for an hour, does not sleep again.

Vent over- yep, it's good to get it out!

[willsmum]

I hear you Zoe,

My 7 1/2 m.o was up every 2 hours last night. No reason - just wanted the company I think cos she wasn't hungry. I'm blaming the teeth that she still hasn't got.

Vicky

[Elfin]

Sympathies to everyone. We had a shocker last night as well. My almost 3 dd was like a yo yo last night. In our bed, in her bed and back again. Had her coughing in my ear, then an elbow in my ribs. She is over the cold but has a night cough.

It also doesn't help that we decided she has to give up the dummy. I love dummies but getting rid of them can be a problem and we are paying the price for it now. Last night I was willing to let her have it till she was 18 :o Hoping for a restful night.

[Brenda]

What a great idea, a good rant always helps. My 6 month old DS Jack had another shocking night last night, about 3 weeks ago now he decided that sleeping for longer than 3 hours at night time was a silly idea :D , last night he woke at 9, 10.30, 1.30, 4.30 and then we were up at 6.00. Who needs sleep anyway, being awake half the night just gave me plenty of time to stew over the argument I'd had with my dear partner earlier in the day :mad:

Zoe - I had a good giggle at the description of your night last night. It definitely does make you feel better knowing that Mums everywhere are up at all hours doing fun stuff like trying to rationalise with 2 year olds - guess I've got all that to look forward to :)

[Emily's Mum]

Hi everyone.

Thank you so much for your posts - had a good night last night but love the thread and I am sure I will be back to post a real experience soon.

Emily's mum

[willsmum]

Every hour on the hour last night! Result - I am shattred today andthe kids are acting like they had the best nights sleep ever. All smiles and cuddles and being adorable and I can't even be bothered cleaning my teeth. Bleuchh.

[mamafelix]

Hugs to you all...
It gets better as they get older I promise.
Though then you're silly like me and get pregnant again... come september-october I'm sure I'll be a regular on this thread!
Ah you know I'm sure when I'm an old granny I won't remember any of the pain, just the joy that my children brought me.

[lilizzysmommy]

I feel so much better after reading all of your posts to know that I'm not doing the wrogn thing by sleeping with my bub. She is 11 months old and although I was against it at first i found that you can't plan things. She used to sleep in a basinet next to my bed but she used to wake up every 2-3 hours to feed and I found that draining so i started putting her to bed with us and I found that everytime she moved I'll feel it and find that I was in exctly the same position i was in when I fell asleep, so I realized that evn in my sleep I was aware of her. My partner sometimes works night shifts so I bring her to bed with me and sometimes she wakes up at about 4am for a bottle and I just leave her in bed with us.
The thing about putting babies to sleep in their backs didn't work for me. once I noticed that her face was covered with the sheet while she was on her back and then realised that if she was on her belly the chances of suffocation are less because the sheets wont cover their noses sice its sideway. Do I make any sence???but I guess all babies are different and mine was always a belly sleeper.

[sasholi]

Argh... I have to rant here too...
I have been trying sooo hard to organise my 5 1/2 week olds little eat and sleep patterns and it just won't work...

I have been trying to NOT get into bad habits of him constantly falling asleep during the day in the sling but after 1 1/2 hours of trying to get him to sleep so i can FINALLY eat breakfast at 11:30 I decide that it is just better to let him sleep in the sling and at least we get some peace...

Sometimes it just makes you feel like you can't do anything right and you'll never get this mothering thing right and no matter what you do you can't win and you'll end up destroying your child's chances of ever falling asleep independently and i'll be up cuddling him to sleep until he's 18 years old!!!

Anyone else ever feel like that???

But then there are good days... :)

Oh, and I understand about the teeth brushing thing.
However, my problem today is, I just havent been separated from my LO long enough to get that tooth brush near me... yay!

Sometimes motherhood is SOOO glamorous... :p

[Nickster]

It's so good to have a whine!!! My darling Elizabubby (4months) has been waking almost every hour on the hour (going to sleep at 5pm) searching for her dropped dummy. I've got to get rid of the damn thing, but I don't want the few even more sleepless nights that will go with it until she's used to not having it!! Then she woke for a feed at 11am, and wouldn't go back to sleep. I had to leave the room at about 12.30am, exhausted and in tears, and my darling hubby continued trying to settle her (it took until 2am). It's like some nights she wakes up at midnight and thinks "okay, it must be playtime now". I wasn't going to do cc until she's 6 months old, but some days......

[lilizzysmommy]

Alek's mom
I've been through that too, but believe me it will all get better.It's really hard to do anything when your bub needs to eat every 2-3 hours and then it takes you forever to get them to sleep and it seems like in no time you have to feed them again. Don't worry with all this bad habits thing, i also said "I'm not going to do this or that" but it's hard not to because or instincts tells us otherwise. I still cuddle my daugter to sleep at night and she wont go without a bottle but I don't care cos I love her so much and they grow up so quickly and then they won't need us anymore.So enjoy your time with bub, sleep all day long and get your partner(if you have one) to do everything hehehe and your baby doesnt care if you look glamorous or not so don't worry about that!

[Nickster]

oops! I meant to say my baby woke for a feed at 11pm, not 11am. Gee, if that was the case, and I stayed to settle her until 12.30am, I would be a zombie!!!

[maxyboy]

Wow, what an inventive forum, I'm definately impressed! Zoe, what a fabulous idea, but apparently shouldn't you be writiing a thesis?

Well, what a complete shambles these past few days have been! My delightful 5 month old, Max, has gone completely off the rails! :confused: One minute he is sleeping for two hours, twice a day with a 40 minute nap in the arvo and sleeping through the night....I know, what did I do to deserve such a wonder....all I genes I've heard. :cool: Then, out of the blue, he has decided he doesn't want to sleep, he wants to sing to his imaginary friends, he wants to blow raspberries at his imaginary friends, but he won't sleep with his imaginary friends!!!! When he gets tired, he gets cranky, and when he gets cranky, all hell breaks loose and he sounds like a cross between and a banshee and an angry cat!!! When I go in to settle him, he gets all excited and starts smiling at me....go figure. But as soon as I step one foot away from his cot.........BAM!!!! Off he goes and it isn't until he's worn himself out that it is all quite on the western, (actually I'm in the east,) front! He used to settle himself so well before and to top if off, he likes to wake at night again. Not once, not twice, but copeous times. Now I know I hear some of you saying, that's not half as bad as mine, and maybe not, but when you've seen the light, when you've had such a good innings.......it sucks to no end to know you've been struck out once again by a 5 month old..........and what's worse is that he's bloody cute at doing it too!! :o

[WeThree]

girls i can sympathise with you all...
Matilda is nearing 6mths and almost ready to go on solids and as you can imagine her appetite is increasing, so she is waking up every couple of hrs at night for a feed, at least she doesnt usually cry, she lies there make all these cute gooing and squealing noises, but it can still be pretty annoying at 2.00am, especially when cooper is also waking up because he has wet right through his nappy or because he wants a bottle and then you get him all nice and comfortable and he lies there crying and calling out to me for no reason! he never used to do this, was always a good sleeper, but lately he is driving me batty! he has always gone down really well also, but not anymore he cries and carries on for ages, we have traced it back to a few wks ago when i snuck out of the house to attend a dawn service,(my husband was home of course!) ever since then i think he is worried that i will leave while he is asleep. im so tired! :o (i probably should be in bed now getting some sleep :p )

[AM]

Ds is 14 months old, and lately he has been wanting to feed and stay latched on ALL Night.
I tried doing a little ignoring him if he started whimpering, but no cigar, he would just escalate into a scream.
I was at wits end because I was getting that whole sucked dry like a dried up husk feeling, but just let him keep nursing and kept telling myself - this too will pass!
I posted a vent on another forum, and one woman wrote that in her experience her baby does that with teething or illness.
Well - how crap did I feel when I woke up this morning, and ds had a blocked nose and was pretty miserable :(
I just wanted to cuddle him all day, and felt so guilty about the uncharitable thoughts I had been having, and even my mutterings about nightweaning, which I have sworn I don't want to do until he can converse with me.

He He - it is all 'fun and games' aint it? :)

Angie