Not enough sleep

[Rainbowbrite]

Just wondering how to get MJ to go to sleep. She shows tired signs so I put her to bed & she wont go off. She plays in the cot then starts getting upset & wants to get back up. IF she does eventually go off, she only sleeps for 40mins before waking up crying & cant be re-settled. She used to sleep 2hrs at a time but not anymore. I'm lucky if I can get her to have 2 40min cat naps between 8am & 8pm. Is that enough?

Of a night she will usually sleep from 8pm to 4am but is having 1-2 bf at night. Usually though she wont fully awaken, just wakes, feeds & passes out again. Her first feed of a morning she wakes, gets changed, feeds & then used to go straight back off, not anymore. She wants to play for atleast an hour in her cot & then starts to whinge cause she's so tired & cant/wont go to sleep.

Any ideas?

RB

[JanetF]

How about feeding her to sleep in the big bed? (Once her attachment issues are sorted out ;) ) She might be starting to lose the need for 2 day sleeps and weaning you down to only needing 1. Remember there is no big book with rules for how much sleep babies need. There's only individual babies and how much *they* need. Perhaps she needs you to lie down and have a lovely cosleeping nanna nap with her? They change their habits all the time, it's nothing to worry about. She's growing and changing and isn't that great?! I've seen plenty babies sleep like her and be quite fine. People talk a lot of crap about babies and sleep when it's pretty much all normal and all healthy.
:)

[Crazy Monkey]

Hi RB,

Our bubs have the same birthday and Jack has never been a great day sleeper... He has a 30-40 minute nap in the morning, usually an hour after the start of his first breastfeed and cereal... and then a nap in the afternoon for about 40-60 minutes, if I'm lucky...

Jack really fights his sleep, no matter how tired he is he will always fight it and then get way over tired.. Sometimes I have to hold him for his entire nap, just so he can have a sleep...

All the best

[Baby Girl]

My little one went through a similar stage not so long ago and I found that if I lay with her until she was almost asleep and then put her in her cot to go right off on her own she would sleep fairly well. We don't co-cleep so she was a bit confused at first as to why we were laying down together but she got the hang of it and I think she kind of enjoyed it - as did I :D

She is back to her normal sleep routine now, I put her in her cot, turn on the mobile and she is out to it within minutes.

The short sleeps and sometimes no sleep days seemed to last for about 3-4 weeks. I thought maybe teeth or growing or the beginnings of separation anxiety (at about 6 months they start to remember mum and dad when they disappear from sight but don't necessarily realise that you will come back if they call for you) or the topsy-turvy weather of late may have all contributed.

Hang in there, and if you can, as JanetF said, sneak in a nanna nap with her - no better reason for you to have a sleep.....

[Tea Lady]

Have you tried singing and/or patting? My bub quite likes that (and at that age they'll think your voice is lovely, no matter what the truth may be.....:) ).