Sleep help

[tasmum]

Help. I am new to this, and I am desperate. I have a five month old son who still wakes every two to three hours. He is breastfed. I have tried many things, trying to drop feeds during the night, but he won't settle back to sleep, dummies,co-sleeping, music etc. but nothing seems to work. He only catnaps during the day, maybe two or three hour sleeps. I am exhusted. Does anyone have any ideas.

[aspensmum]

Hi Tasmum
Whilst I dont have any suggestions for you I just wanted to let you know that you're not alone. My 7 month old is still waking and I usually feed her to get her back to sleep. I know she doesnt really need feeding but Im just doing whatever works. She was waking 3 times a night at 5 months for feeds but seems to have dropped at least 1. Here's hoping she drops the others soon!!

[Mum01]

Hi Tasmum

My 16.5 month old boy challenged us greatly when it came to sleep and bedtimes...:banghead:

Look I suppose my advice would be to have a set routine..do things at the same times each day..that way things are predictable for your cherub and babies/people are much happier to cooperate when they know what is expected of them and what is happening.

A few other things to ponder are:-

*darken room ( I get 100% blockout drapes/blind for my man's room)
*During the night I would go in and reassure him that I was around, but reminded him it was still sleep time..and then I put him back down in his cot, said night, night darling and left his room.
*Many times I did breast feed him sometimes in his room for 5-10 mins and then put him back down..eventually I worked out that he was getting up out of habit rather than necessity..so after a while when I knew he really wasn't hungry, I would just go in, pick him up, then put him down and just leave.
* If he continued to cry I would continue to go in his room and do the same..until he stopped crying and went to SLEEP!!!
* I did do some controlled comforting..which was to go in after 1 min, 2 min, 3 mins up until 5 mins..I didn't feel comfortable leaving him any longer..after a few weeks he went down not a problem, and also resettled beautifully for me during the night to the point where he learnt to resettle himself if he woke during the night.
* I still breast feed by the way, so his better sleep habits have not been due to putting him onto formula.
* I also stopped bringing him into our bed at night to feed him (which I tended to do as it was easier, more comfortable and warm!) I know it's not as nice feeding in their room when you are tired and it's 2.30am, but I found that he really liked being in our bed and was waking up and expecting this. I did and still do b/f him in our bed the first feed of the day just before breakfast.. at about 6.30-7am -so we have our cuddle time in mummy & daddy's bed then- not during the night. (this worked for us anyway)

Keep at it mate..trust me it will get easier...even it you don't think so right now...

I liked the Baby Whisperer Book by Tracey Hogg...I also hear the No-cry sleep Solution is also wonderful..

Have a read..and take from this what feels right..you might think, I've tried that already- sorry- I've just tried to share some of the things that worked for me. Remember too, that whatever you do/try, you might not get the results you want straight away..I remember the first few weeks of trialling a new plan of attack nearly killed me!! But staying with it and being consistent really did pay off. By this I mean give it at least three weeks-1 month.

Hope this helps you a bit..hang in there mate.

take care

mum01.

[babytoo]

I'm probably going to put a dampner on things but my DS kept waking up thru the night until he was 18 months! Never really figured out why...

Having said that, my DD is 4 months and has been an angel sleeper aside from the last few days where she has been waking for feeding twice during the night..I'm putting it down to a growth spurt or something as I had only just posted on here that she wasnt drinking her quota...lol she must be able to read already!

Let me know if you have any miracle cures!

[tasmum]

Thank you all for you suggestions. I will just keep trying different things until we find something that works! It was nice to hear that there are others out there with the same problems, sometimes you feel quite alone, especially in the midle of the night lol!!!.