Help...again...

[Imogensmum]

My little girl is now 8 mths- she is doing fabulously with settling in bed both days and nights now:smiliedance: but.. I is still waking 4ish times a night for resettling?

I am giving her a bottle twice in this time as I feel maybe:confused: she is hungry- as I am lucky to get her to drink 200-300mls throughout the day!!!

Should I try to not give her these night feeds? Will it help to get her to feed in the day? How do i get her out of these feeds without leaving her to cry back off to sleep?????

Oh pulease help me... I am lost as to what to do?

[Imogensmum]

Well what a disappointment- getting up this morning to see if there was any helpful adice and none:crying: ..... come on girls- and the odd boy too!

I know there is someone out there who would have had or has a simular problem!!! Pulease help me!!!! Cause my clinic nurses don't help much!

[JodieC]

sorry but i dont know if im going to be much help either as my boy is only 4 months and i dont really remember with my other 2.

My son started sleeping through at about 8 weeks then at 3 months started waking up through the night again, the first few nights i got up and fed him but he was only having short feeds so early one morning when he started crying i got up and stuck the dummy in his mouth, knowing that if he really was hungry sticking the dummy in his gob would only make he scream more, well he went straight back to sleep, and now i refuse to feed him before 6am, although most days he sleeps through til around 7-7.30 am

[PurpleHaze]

Does she have a special teddy or blanket she goes to bed with? Sometimes its just a comfort thing she just needs to know your around maybe.

My youngest was a bit like that and I resorted to giving her a bottle which took abit to get rid of so don't make that her comfort to get back to sleep.

If you think it is hunger then increase her food/drink intake from about 4pm in the arvo, offer her a few more smaller snacks and see if that helps maybe.

Sorry I am not that much use but something is better then nothing.

Let us know how you go:fingerscrossed:
Jodi

[Imogensmum]

Thank you for replying girls- was starting to think i had posted yet another invisible thread:laughing:

She does have a special glowworm- and it is always with her but the two times i feed her- i have tried giving her the dummy first only to have major tears happen! That is why i have resorted to the bottle.

It didn't used to bother me to much- but now i am working it is getting harder... I don't have a partner to share the load with and i guess i am just wondering if there is any way to "teach" her to sleep through! I know it is going to get better- i am just so :sleeping: tired!!!

I will try the extra snacks of an evening to see how it goes....

Thanks again girls---

[PurpleHaze]

Hey Shannon

I just looked at your photos and you have a beautiful girl but i think we may have gone to the same High School.

There is the option of letting her cry for certian periods of time not sure how you would go with that but from my understanding of it you leave the room and let them cry for 2mins go in lay them down then leave the room for 4 mins and repeat until you have increased the time up to 10mins.

Thats suposed to teach them to fall asleep on there own but it can be quite upsetting for both mum & bub.

Cheers Jodi

[Manxie]

Hi Shannon

Just wondered how Imy is going on the solids? I've found that Lucy is sleeping much better now she is finally eating a decent amount. Although we still do have the ocassional 4am feed. I've got LOTS of tips on getting solids into them am thinking of writing a book:ecomcity: let me know if you want any tips

Am offline at home so this is a quick libary job but just wanted to let you know I care!:hugs:

Other than that I'm a bit **** at settling them overnight, I'm normally too tired to bother with the controlled crying and let her have milk. I tried giving her water one night but she was not impressed

Good luck

[melbryan]

There comes a time when you will say to yourself enough is enough. My doctor said children will wake out of habit if they keep getting a bottle to help them get back to sleep. It may sound cruel but getting her out of it will mean leaving her to cry. I had to work full time from Kayne being 7 months so I stopped night feeds as they were becoming habits. Babies wake up and cry because they want mum or dad or a dummy to put them back to sleep. Like you and I we wake up in the night but know how to fall asleep babies learn also how to put themselves to sleep on their own. Many nights I left my son crying for 40min not many people can handle this so continue to get up to them when ever they start crying and that's fine if your prepared to do it. I wasn't as I needed to sleep at night because of work. It was sort of control crying.
He is 21mths and in a big bed he may sometimes cry if he is sick or teething but is usually good I don't want him to fall into that habit so he gets no night feeds. I don't care if he eats heaps in the day but none at night as adults we don't need food in our sleep.
See what works for you but this is what helped me out. Mine would have eventually grown out of it but I here some babies still waking at 4 years I wouldn't last that long.
Mel

[Imogensmum]

Hey all- well we have still had no success with the sleeping- I give in way to fast i think! But i have been feeding her extra snacks before bed! I don't think it is working as yet but i will keep going with it!!!

Manxie- Imy loves her food- she prefers to eat solids as opposed to drinking bottles- bottles are a struggle!!! So i don't think it is a lack of solids- but thankd for the advice!!!

Jodi- I think I know who you are.... Are you Jodi K???????

I think I am going to give it one more week of my gentle tactics0 then it will be a hard yards week!! I know we are mums 24hrs a day- but she needs to sleep and i need to sleep or we are both going to end up ratty and exhusted!!!

Thanks again girls! You advice is definately apprieciated.

[PurpleHaze]

You are correct:thumbsup:

Hope things improve with Imogens Sleeping, it can be very draining when they don't sleep through, good luck with it all.

Hope life is treating you well,

Jodi

[Imogensmum]

Life is treating me well--- Hope the same can be said for you! I cannot believe how much your eldest girl looks like you!!

[Megansmum]

DD is nearly 12 months and yes I know she should be sleeping through well and truly by now, though she hasn't been a very good sleeper from Day one. I have only just stopped breast feeding her at night. I cut out these feeds over the course of a couple of weeks and just offer water. Once she has the drink of water I lay her back down and generally pat her back to sleep at night.

I found that the most important thing was to be consistent with what you do, whatever it is you decide to do. Through the day when she is tired and yes you do have to get tough in the beginning but it does get easier, I just put her in her cot with her blanket and teddie say good night and leave the room. Generally now I get about 10mins of tears and she is asleep.

I also found that it was important to have a routine through the day like Feed, play, sleep though this didn't always work, especially when all she really wanted was a breast feed and I was trying to feed her solids. Though this did pass and now I have now nearly got her fully weaned just has the one breast feed at night to top of the day.

If you can't listen to your bub cry, as I couldn't at first, I found if I did things like the washing up and went outside and put the washing on the line helped distract me and then I went back to assess whether she was she screaming or just about asleep.

I hope that this helps a little!!! I completely understand the lack of sleep. Eventhough DD is not being fed through the night any more she still wakes at least three times. I have still to teach her to self settle at night..... Getting there though.

Sarah-Jane

[kalsar]

Hi there, for what its worth, this is my experience: because I was bottle feeding I could see my son (at 4 mths) was only eating 60ml or so in the middle of the night. I was sooo tired and decided that it was prob a habit that needed breaking.

It took my mum to come and stay and objectively let him cry 10mins at a time, checking on him at these intervals to let him know someone was still there. It gave me courage to know he would eventually give up and that I just had to wait him out. It took up to an hour at a time each night but after a week and a half he got the idea.

Lately he has regressed (5.5 mths now) and is waking again, so I have taken to wrapping him again and setting up an anti-roll bumper arrangement so he can't roll. Not ideal but like him, I have had to change tactics to keep up :) I know some people believe that comfort crying damages infants but I can vouch that my baby is still as happy as ever. He knows I am always there even if during the night it's on my terms, and not his.

I think you have to teach them most things and this is no different.

[Imogensmum]

Thanks for all the words of advise and encouragment- Imy still doesn't sleep through and nothing i have tried is working:thumbsdown:

I think it is getting to the time where i need to control comfort her-- which is not really what i wanted to do- but we are both getting very tired and very grumpy!! Will post again in a week or so to let you all know how it is going!

Thanks again girls- muchly appriecated!!