Help!!!!
Okay, before I start, let me declare that I truly love Danny, that he is my miracle, that I do not regret anything, that every moment with him is worth a million$ but…
I do need to SLEEP!!!! When was the last time I slept through the night? Okay, forget sleeping through the night. When was the last time I slept for more than four hours at a stretch? Danny has slept 8 hours a stretch THREE times. I count my blessings when he sleeps for more than 3 hours at a time. He naps once a day. I NEED TO SLEEP! Opps, am I repeating myself? You can’t really blame me girls. I am sleep deprived. I wake up every day, tired, grumpy, looking haggard, and more often than not, with a splitting headache.
I actually HATE it when I read other momma bloggers telling the world that their 18 week old is sleeping through the night. I am filled with a deep sense of envy. What am I doing wrong? Danny will be 18 months old this 16th. I need him to start sleeping MORE. Is he waking up out of habit? Is he hungry? I do feel he wakes up hungry. Two reasons: Danny is a fussy eater he doesn’t really eat, he grazes. That maybe the reason? Once I feed him (yes he still takes his bottle at night.) he goes right back to sleep. Or is it a comfort thing? Danny doesn’t have his own room (the other bedroom is taken up by A and M’s granny). Danny does have his own bed. But he refuses to sleep there. I know, I know I have created a monster. Here is our daily schedule:
7am-wake up
7am-11am-eating, playing, bathing
11am-nap time (he generally naps for 2 hours)
1pm till 7.30pm-eating, playing (driving me crazy)
7.30 pm-bathing, reading, drinking his banana smoothie
8pm-go to sleep (I sleep at 11pm as M comes back from work at 10.30)
11pm-1st drink
2am-second waking
5-6am-third feed
A little help please? Suggestions?
7 comments:
Oh hun...I wish I had some advice for ya, but Sherbert is the same boat...except he's still breastfeeding. He just rolls over when he wants a little and refuses to go back to sleep until he gets what he wants. As a result my hubby no longer sleeps with us...he's the only one in this place that gets any sleep!!
Hang in there.
I'm so sorry. That must be exhausting. We did CIO with the twins at 5 months, I know some people don't approve of it, but it worked: after 2 nights they slept 12 hours at night for about 2 years. Now I'm dealing with other sleep issues: mainly that I can't get them to fall asleep.
Hugs. Hang in there!!
Yep CIO worked for us. DD (now 20 months) started sleeping through the night at 9 months after we let her cry it out for 2 nights. She would just want to nurse and I knew that she wasn't hungry. She still wakes up in the middle of the night ocassionally but they are far and few in between. A kiss and a cuddle usually send her back to noddy land.
I totally understand what sleep deprived means as I'm going through the exact same rigmarole with DD 2 who is two and half months!
Hope you find a solution soon. Good luck!
Yikers...Sleep depervation is the worst...I've heard many times (haven't tried it myself however) to try giving water instead of milk, and they decide its not worth waking up for...I guess it could be worth a try for a few nights, doesn't sound like you'll be any worse off...Good luck, these kinds of things are always tricky!
You're going to hate this - but you need to go to bed earlier than 11pm. Also, try taking Danny to an outside activity or class that might really tire him out in the afternoon. Or bathing, reading, drinking 30 min earlier. Or cereal in his milk at 11pm.
Good luck. I know the feeling - we've tried every trick in the book.
I tend to believe that sleeping through the night is a milestone that, like all others, each kiddo reaches at their own time. That being said, our pediatrician strongly suggested that we start nudging Z that way when he was about 10 mos old. He explained that he was old enough by that point where he didn't physically need to be eating during the night, but if you continue to feed them at night, they get into that cycle and require feedings in the middle of the night rather than eating enough throughout the day to get them through the night.
So, I finally embarked on night weaning. I tried CIO for about three minutes one night, but it just wasn't right for us. But I did start to delay how quickly I reacted to him. Initially, I would get up and get him as soon as I heard him. I gradually increased the amount of urgency he was displaying before I would go to get him. And I found that most of the time, he (and I) would fall back to sleep before any urgency was ever reached.
This may be more difficult for you, since it looks like you're co-sleeping, but it might be worth trying.
That sounds really rough- at 18 months to boot. My son's doctor said once they've doubled their birth weight they are capable of sleeping through the night, but they get accustomed to waking up more from habit than from hunger- at 9ish months their brain begins regulating sleep as opposed to hunger which is how they operate as newborns. I know you've been reading my own sleep struggles- and maybe you want to see what a few days of cry it out might do? If your'e 100% opposed to it, I understand- but it seems to have done the trick for us- its still a few times a night for me, but he's still on breastmilk- I heard as long as they're breastfeeding they wake up- once they're off the breast- they should bes leeping all night. Hang in there!
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