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sleeping through

Are all your lo's seeping through now? Bubba is 22 weeks now and still only sleeps in 3 hour slots and its starting to worry me, if I have to go back to work (beginning of October) and she's still like this how the hell am I going to manage?

She's in her own room now and that hasn't made any difference, she's still bf but has 2 bottles at night makes no difference, and she's weaned on 2 meals a day, again making no difference? So I'm pretty sure that I've tried everything that people suggest for sleeping longer, my only options left are giving up breast feeding and fully bottle feeding?

It doesn't help that she has just started teething and last night was up every hour! I used to be one of those people that always wondered what the rush was for sleeping through but that was at 2/3/4 months but at nearly 6 months its getting a bit much that she still only sleeps like she did at 3 months!

Am I the only one still suffering? I've done what the HV suggested which is leave her incase she's just waking for a cuddle but to be honest that was a "I can't be bothered to talk to you" answer, I know when she's waking for a cuddle ffs and if it was that she wouldn't have a 7oz bottle would she! I did make the mistake of mentioning hungry baby formula on Baby and got flamed, but my god, should she really still feed every 2-3 hours in the night?

Help, I'm so tired I can hardly type :lol:

Replies

  • I'd try hungry baby formula if its that or stop BF its worth trying!

    But then again I'm not yet a Mum but it makes sense to me.

    Moom x
  • Hiya, i feel for you, its a nightmare when they are up in the night. All i can suggest is to watch how much sleep she has in the day, dont let her sleep near bedtime. Follow a bath calm down routine, fill her up as much as you can by either bf or ff, wake her at 10pm and fill her up some more and see how you go.

    My last baby used to have 2 boobs and a full bottle of hungry baby at bedtime by the time he was about 8 months. I gradually had to give him more and more formula or he wouldnt settle. My first baby at 5 months used to sometimes have 11 oz of formula at bedtime. I think they are doing a lot of growing and although they might have food, they are still getting most of their intake from milk.

    If she is waking up in the night and not wanting milk, that is a different story and you could maybe give her ebm or formula to see if its the comfort she wants or the food!

    I dont really believe in just leaving them to cry, i find its better to just give them a wee shush or put some music/light thing on which distracts them from crying.

    She is still small so dont worry too much, you can only do what you can!!!

    Gemm x
  • Me!! Emily is still waking usually twice night just now. Although she does have the occasional night where she wakes a few times and is really difficult to settle. Like your lo, she is definately hungry.

    She goes to bed between 7 and 8pm and will wake at around 1am and 5am then up at 7 or 8am. Although last night she went to bed at 8.30pm and woke up at 11pm, 5am then slept through until 9.30am! So i got a bit of a lie in this morning image

    I know how you feel though with the lack of sleep! I am like a zombie just now! I am also slightly worried about going back to work - plus Emily is a nightmare to settle, she really fights sleep!

    Lx
  • Me too!! George did sleep through for quite a while but in the last month he's up at least twice a night. Its totally exhausting! I have started weaning him but the extra food makes no difference. He is breastfed but from 6 months I will introduce a formula feed before bed. However my friend's baby is the same age, is formula fed and still wakes through the night fo rmore feeds. I thought my ds was waking out of habit but he is def hungry in the night. I am getting sooo tired, getting to the point where I keep making silly mistakes. The other day I left him on the bed and he rolled off onto the floor! I was mortified. And he's started crawling (well, dragging himself around the room) so I can't keep my eyes off him for a moment. Its such hard work!!

  • Sleeping through?? I thought that was just a myth, to stop us mummies from going mad! :lol:

    Adam no longer needs any night feeds but still wakes up a good few times for a bit of comfort/reassurance. I'm not sure what to do about it really. I'm definitely not going to leave him to cry, so I guess I just need to stick it out.

    One of my mummy friends employed the help of a 'sleep expert' who has got her LO sleeping much better. If things are still bad in the month or so before I go back to work (Nov) then we might resort to calling her in. if you're in London/the SE, I can always pass on her contact details! :\)

    xxx
  • I am getting sooo tired, getting to the point where I keep making silly mistakes. The other day I left him on the bed and he rolled off onto the floor! I was mortified.


    I've been like this as well! I went shopping the other day and put Emily's car seat on the pram chassis, halfway through the shopping she got tetchy so i picked her up and carried her around the shop. When i got to the till, i put her back in her seat without fastening it. I then got to the car and put her seat straight onto the base. I then drove home (about a couple of mins drive) and when i went to get her i realised she wasn't fastened in! I was so upset and couldn't stop thinking about 'what if'. I double double check now! Tiredness can make us mummies do silly things xxx
  • Me too! Sam wakes up so regularly in the night (every hour some nights, 12, 2, 4.30, 6, 7.30 at best) that i now dont bother with his cot, he sleeps with me all the time. I know i'd get crucified if i admitted to that in Baby but if he sleeps better in with me then its like my hubby says - all other creatures in nature keep their babies close to them when they're this small so it can't hurt. Lucky for me though i dont have to rush back to work - hopefully we will still survive once my maternity allowance stops in september but fingers crossed i can be full time mum for as long as possible so i can deal with the lack of sleep at the mo x Really hope things improve for you before you have to go back to work x
  • Izzy doesn't wake up during the night but instead has small crying episodes in her sleep! So i am getting up at least three times a night to comfort her and re settle her. It is exhausting and i hate hearing her cry and not knowing why! You are definatly not alone xxx
  • Oh thank god Im not the only zombie on here lol

    ds2 decided at around 4 months that he didnt want to sleep through any more and now either wakes between 11-3am and then again at 5 am..and doesnt go back to sleep. He doesnt always need a bottle and has been on hungry baby for about 4 months lol sometimes he just wakes up chatting and rolling around getting stuck side ways in his cot..funny now but not at 2 am!! little monkey!!

    I am just going with the flow and might try giving him a really realy late night so he sleeps through his normal waking time 11-3/5am to see if it breaks that habit. It worked with ds 1 and dd1.

    I also have the same trouble with my nearly 5 yr old she is waking 2-3 times a night and coming in for a chat!! and its always when ds2 has just gone back to sleep so it means I dont get to sleep till Ive put her back in bed too!!! so will be giving her a late night too...I need some sleep soon!!
  • Me too, and I have been back at work 3 weeks. I do 10 hour shifts and I am managing around 2.5 to 4 hrs sleep a night.

    The routine with Dylan is different every night, he wakes at least twice. I have resorted to, most nights, putting him in bed with me but i still don't really "sleep" when h is in with us.

    Dylan is bf too, i have tried formula at night, baby rice and it has made absolutely no difference. Sometimes, he wakes every hours for no reason other than to comfort suck on me !!!!

    I am finding work really hard, i get up at 5.30 am, start at 7 am and work for 10 hrs, i do this for 6 days in a row, i am fooked !!!

    i hope you get into a routine soon, but honestly, if you don't, don't stress !!!

    Melissa xx
  • How long have you ladies been weaning for?

    I hope im not tempting fate by typing this, but Evan has started sleeping through after 3wks of being on 2 meals a day and around 28oz/30oz of milk. He goes down at 6.30am and wakes between 7am and 8am.
    Evan is 24wks old now and is a star....i love him to bits. x
  • My baby is 5mths and was sleeping through from 10 weeks,7-7 and is now waking up in the night several times,she isnt unhappy or crying just a bit niggly,we have already started weaning and only thing i can put it down to is teeth coming through or growth spurt,anyone else going throught this? x
  • Def think sleeping through is a myth lol.....and i cant see me ever having a full night sleep ever again lol. Ethan wakes me at least 2 times in the night and sometimes more....and now on top of the waking for milk he wakes me because he's rolled around in his cot and is uncomfy with his legs squashed on the bbars!
    Ethan is totally breast fed and not weaned, but my niece who is a day older is formula fed and wakes just as many times so i wouldn't stress and think u have to give up bf just yet if u dont want to! x
  • tbh i dont know if watching how much sleep she gets during the day wil make a difference, or how close to bed time. esme sleeps through, some nights better than others. she is napping now so will probably be asleep from 8pm. last night she slept from 8pm until 9 am. she woke briefly at around 7 but after a minute of movement, no crying, she went back to sleep. over the weekend we were on hols so she was in a different environment and she slept 8/9pm until 5am for a feed, then back to sleep until 7am. if she has a late nap she just goes down for the night later, it doesnt actualy affetc the amount of hours she'll sleep for.

    have you tried giving water instead of milk?
  • ok have been reading the gina ford book to see what she say for you. here are her suggestions:

    hunger and weaning: your feeding patterns may not be right. they should be having at least 4 or 5 milk feeds between 7am and 11pm up to 6 months, from both breasts. feeding in the night at weaning stage will definitely affect the amount of solids baby takes during the day. increasing solids too rapidly during the day can also cause problems as it can result in too small a milk feed at bedtime, so he wont sleep through. excessive fruit and veg in the afternoon can casue baby to poo in the middle of the night. too much commercially prepared food often results in low intake of protein. if the baby's milk is reduced too quickly when solids are introduced, he will begin to wake in the night genuinely needing a milk feed. banana, citrus fruits, tomatoes, sweet potatoes and carrotts are associated with night time waking.

    day time naps: 3-6 months he should be napping for 3 hours.

    overstimulation: baby needs a period of quietness to wind-down

    waking himself up: sleeping bags might prevent this

    geting cold: when kicking the covers off. again sleeping bags

    wrong sleep associations: if baby is used to being rocked, nursed, given a dummy, he will need the same when he wakes during the night

    hth
  • Just thought i'd update ;\)

    Bubba is on 3 meals a day now and is sleeping much better, she has between 20-30ozs of formula (a little breast milk in there too) in 24 hours, she has a bedtime bottle at 7pm as normal (usually 7ozs), then another feed about 10.30-11pm (5-7ozs), then she is sleeping through until 3.30am when she has a breast feed, 4.30am breast feed and 6.30am she's up and raring to go!

    It's a complete change from before and I get an almost decent chunk of sleep between around 10.30pm and 3.30am, she is still cluster feeding in the mornings but tbh I should probably try just popping her dummy in to go back to sleep but i just feed out of habit i think? I'm weaning her off of the boob lol so she has formula pretty much throughout the day, unless i feel like my boobs are getting a bit "pammy" and then i let her have some but that seems to be wearing off now
    :lol:
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