sleep deprivation

[unhappy]

WARNING EXTREMELY LONG
JUST HAD TO VENT:banghead:

Ok i have come to the conclusion that i have sleep deprivation - Dont we all?! But i mean really bad sleep deprivation.

From about 18 weeks into my pregnancy i started having trouble sleeping. My ds was putting pressure on my sciatic (sp?) nerve for around ten weeks thats caused me immense pain and i could not sleep. i was up all night sometimes sitting on the couch with a heat pack. I remember thinking at the time things could not possible get any worse than this. at that stage i was getting around 6 hours sleep a night... In my past life i would happily sleep 10 hours straight! Oh how wrong i was.
I remember the night before i was going in to hospital to be induced i was thinking to myself 'i am prepared for a crying baby, i havent had unbroken sleep for months now'. Well at least i was getting 6 hours of broken sleep! These days i am lucky to get that.

When ds was born and we were in hospital i kept thinking gees he is a really good baby he doesnt cry at all! Thats because he was born by C/S and took a few days to work out where he was. because by day 3 he had found his lungs and voice box and since that day has not stopped using them at night.
The first few months i was ok. i actually surprised myself. i just kind of went into this deluded state and the days just went by in a blur. My ds is now 7 months old and i am still getting up to him around 3-4 times a night. :sleeping: :sleeping: :sleeping:

Its not that he is hungry because he has been going without a midnight bottle for months now. its not that he is cold, he wears a grobag and i always make sure he is dressed according to the temperature. And its not that he is lonely because he co slept until 2 months ago and still does co sleep some nights and it doesnt stop the waking and crying.
To make things worse we moved to brissi 5 months ago from the gold coast and it is so noisy where we live. we live basically in the city and the traffic noise is horrible all night long and then there are the trains that go all night. We have 2 mini poodles who are painfull enough as it is since we brought ds home but we have had new neighbours move in next door and their dog barks at night which then sets off the poodles which then wakes up the baby.... AARRRGGGGHHHH i am pulling my hair out.

Does anyone else get extremely angry, emotional, uptight etc with little sleep? or am i just overreacting? i feel so tired lately that i cant be bothered doing things during the day and i have started to get this strange tingly sensation over my body and the last time i had that was years ago when i used to go out clubbing and not sleep for days... so i am assuming that its related to my little sleep.

Sorry for the long post but i really neede to vent as i am just over it today.

[Jeffy]

Oh my goodness! You are NOT overreacting. :kiss:

My DH had to take the day off yesterday so that I could sleep. I know how you feel to a lesser degree. I get emotional, very stressed and cranky, teary and I generally can't cope with normal baby behaviour when I am overtired:banghead: . I think you should seriously considering seeing a doctor for referal to one of those sleep centre places. You need help! Stop battling on and beating yourself up. I am positive that you will see results if you can get into one of those places.

[Milk_Monkey]

Yes, definately go to a sleep clinic if you havent already. More than anything its just reassuring to know that other people are having similar problems to you.
Although, im sorry to say, i know a girl whose son just would not sleep. He actually got kicked out of sleep school :)

Each weekend, i spend one or two nights sleeping on my own in a seperate room and DP looks after DS. It i so good to get a full night, and i think i handle the week better just knowing that its comming.

[belinda1976]

You poor thing love :hugs:

Sounds like your little one might be waking out of habit perhaps. Have you tired just leaving him for a bit to see if he will self settle himself back to sleep. Is it an emotional cry or tired cry?

It could be he is afraid of the dark - sounds silly for a baby but it's true. You could try leaving a night light on for him.

Another thing is to play some White Noise tunes which sometimes helps settles babies. My DD settles quite well with these and a number of my friends have had success with them too. DD use to scream the house down when I put her to bed but these tunes have been great - just make sure the volumne is up loud. I downloaded them from Ebay and burnt to a disc:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/WHITE-NOISE-MP3-Baby-Sleep-Calm-Colic-Crying-burn-to-CD_W0QQitemZ300067649076QQihZ020QQcategoryZ88462QQ rdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Lastly have you tried to talk to your neighbours about their dog, explain to them that you've got a newborn etc etc. They might be sympathetic and do something about it. You could alway report the barking dog to your local council if it doesn't stop.

Good luck love, it will get better, but seriously try the White Noise.