Re-settling problems- help!

[Jamily]

DD is now almost 15 weeks old - she has never slept through and is always up at least 4 or 5 times in the night. A typcial night might be bed at 6.30pm, up between 10 and 11 or so for a feed and then down again until 1am or if I am lucky 2am. Then she's up again around 4.30 and starts cluster feeding until 7am!!

I am of the mindset that if she is hungry then of course she needs to be fed, but I am beginning to wonder if we have more of a resettling problem. She will only nap 45 min stretches in the day (one sleep cycle) and whatever I try to do, she won't go back down for a second stretch. I have tried camping by her cot and waiting to rock her back as she stirs, but she was having none of it!

She is in our room at the moment and by the 4.30am feed I am so tired we bring her into our bed so perhaps she is crying earlier in the night for that?

I just feel I am the only one up frequently in the night - everyone else seems to have at least 6 hour sleeps! Up until now I have been ok but its really beginning to get me down. Help :)

[JanetF]

Hi :D
sounds like perfectly normal baby behaviour to me, and it changes so fast doesn't it?! My son fed every two hours till he was 10 months old but we cosleep so I didn't get over tired. If she's already in the bed with you, she won't get stressed waiting for her feed. My son never cried he just shuffled about a bit and I stuffed the boob in and we went back to sleep. It really helps to store up a bit where you can for the long morning session :D So yes, put that baby in the bed and get her on the boob asap so you both get some sleep! She might just be having her first growth spurt too and cleverly building up your supply. Try and sleep in the day with her too and that will keep you a bit better rested. Remember, this too shall pass!
*hugs* and sleepy vibes coming your waaaaaaaay

[Caitlin's Mum]

My 10 week old son sounds very similar. He sometimes has one good sleep during the day and the rest catnaps. He will then go down around 6.30pm until around 10.30pm and then usually wakes every 2 1/2 hours through the night. So I'm also very tired all the time. I'm hoping this will pass soon. I dream of the day when I get a 6 hour sleep!! :D

[sasholi]

Hi There. I totally hear you...
My bubs is six and 1/2 months old and has just started doing his 7-8 hour stretches. We haven't co-slept with him as that just didn't suit our circumstances, but my advice is to do what you feel is best and what works for you... :)

There's not much I can offer other than every week something new will crop up. My bubs too fed every 3-4 hours overnight until he was 5 months old and then just suddenly went through from 10 till 4am...

As with the 45 minute cat-naps - my son did them from the day he turned five weeks old until about 5 months old. Now for some reason he has one really good nap per day (about 1 1/2 hours) and then another shorter nap (about an hour). If he's really tired, maybe another 45 minute nap. Some days are better than others of course and each day has its own unique flow and difference to it...

I don't know what to suggest. If you are really really struggling, I have heard "the new contentended baby book" is really good (by Gina Ford) for getting bubs into a routine as a routine can sometimes sort out sleep issues (not always though).

Sorry this isn't much help but at least you know you are not alone! I felt for AGES like my baby was the only one who:
would only sleep 45 minute stretches during the day at a time
would never sleep in his pram when out (which made going out very difficult indeed)
and never slept in the car until about 10 weeks of age (again, making going out difficult).

But it does get better and easier. For me, the six month mark was the magic marker... the last few weeks have been AWESOME. Something just seemed to click.

I also have to say that there is just WAAAAY too much pressure on mums to get bubs to sleep through the night and the focus of babies sleeping for such long stretches so early is extremely stressful and very unrealistic. I don't believe it is the norm for babies to sleep through from 8 weeks... Many don't sleep through until after 12 months even!!

Good luck all... Enjoy them in the happy beautiful peaceful moments... Enjoy the sloppy kisses...

:rolleyes:

[AM]

I read the book "Night-time Parenting" By Dr William Sears, and it really helped me out as far as learning about how infants start off with really short sleep cycles, and as they age, the cycles gradually get longer and longer, it was just so interesting to me to find out that sleeping for long stretches is actually a 'milestone' like anything else, and each baby will have their own timetable.

My 19 month old will still wake once or twice at night for a feed, and up until about 14 months was feeding 4 or 5 times a night.
We co-sleep, and it really takes the exhaustion out of night feeds.