🚨 Advance warning 🚨 This forum will be closing on 1st May – please see our pinned thread for more information.
Options
Help again with 17month waking early! Desparate mummy
Hi ladies
Here i am again i just dont know what else to try or maybe i should just come to terms with a very active, wide awake, full of life 17month who i adore but i am sooooooooo tired and am 34weeks pregnant with dd2.
She wakes between 4am-5.30am every morning (use to be 6am up until maybe 4wks ago) I have tried different nappies, a snack before bedtime, moving her bedtime back (she usually gets up even earlier with this one) cc (this doesnt work as she screams blue murder and gets herself into such a state and doesnt want to go back to sleep, i have used cc before when she was wakening constantly through the night at 13months and it worked but its not for this), shortening her nap during the day! im just at a lose what to do.
Can you tell me your routens?
She is in her bed between 6.30pm-7pm. Usually only has an hour nap during the day late morning. But depending on when she wakes some days she is knackered and i let her have 2hours (if she doesnt wake up herself).
I am just really starting to panic how i will cope with this and a newborn, I have been up and awake since 2.20am this morning due to my delightful cat meowing outside my bedroom door had to get up incase she woke dd.
Sorry for the waffle probably doesnt make much sense lol.
Any advice would be really appreciated and i just dont know what to do anymore.
Here i am again i just dont know what else to try or maybe i should just come to terms with a very active, wide awake, full of life 17month who i adore but i am sooooooooo tired and am 34weeks pregnant with dd2.
She wakes between 4am-5.30am every morning (use to be 6am up until maybe 4wks ago) I have tried different nappies, a snack before bedtime, moving her bedtime back (she usually gets up even earlier with this one) cc (this doesnt work as she screams blue murder and gets herself into such a state and doesnt want to go back to sleep, i have used cc before when she was wakening constantly through the night at 13months and it worked but its not for this), shortening her nap during the day! im just at a lose what to do.
Can you tell me your routens?
She is in her bed between 6.30pm-7pm. Usually only has an hour nap during the day late morning. But depending on when she wakes some days she is knackered and i let her have 2hours (if she doesnt wake up herself).
I am just really starting to panic how i will cope with this and a newborn, I have been up and awake since 2.20am this morning due to my delightful cat meowing outside my bedroom door had to get up incase she woke dd.
Sorry for the waffle probably doesnt make much sense lol.
Any advice would be really appreciated and i just dont know what to do anymore.
0
Replies
If I put my DS to bed at 6.30-7pm then there would be mornings he'd be up at 4.30-5am (10 hour sleep), so personally I'd have another go at moving bedtime back a bit. Just 10 minutes a night, every couple of nights, stick with it for a couple of weeks and reassess then.
Sorry don't have any miracle suggestions but thought I'd share my routine as requested xx
Have you tried milk? Not a great habit to get into but it settled Gabe down when he was waking at 4.30am and now he doesn't need it. We only did this for a few weeks and certainly don't do it for the early wake up. It may get you a couple more hours?
Gabe is asleep by 6.30pm and has around 11 hours sleep collectively each night as he is usually only awake for a few minutes in the early hours. He doesn't want any more than that.
Could you lo be ready for a bigger bed? We have just put ds into a normal single bed and I can see the difference in how he sleeps already. Worth a go?
I feel your pain :roll: so know you are not alone.
C.x
Currently she gets up anywhere from 7am-8.30am, has a nap usually around 12.30pm-1pm and will sleep till 3.30pm or 4pm (I dont let her go past 4pm) she is then in bed by 7pm and asleep by 7.30pm.
I'm wondering whether he's sensing something about the upcoming birth thats making him unsettled - all this talk of baby, baby clothes etc appearing, everybody getting excited and so on. Not a lot we can do if that is the cause! Just have to hope that it settles down of its own accord, I would try the slightly earlier bedtime as well, and like the idea of the 10 mins at a time thing.
Daniel is like Charlotte; if he's very tired through the day then he tends to wake up earlier (bizzare I know!) but he doesn't normally have a nap, so today when he fell asleep in the car we let him have a short nap, took the edge off and hoping it will help him sleep better tonight... wish me luck! So dont drop the nap completely, see if the slightly different bedtime works first. I know its hard when you feel you have a looming deadline to work to like a newborn... fingers crossed it works!
Thanks ladies
Well another 4.20am start today so time to change tatics. Lampchop and Garfield i think i will try and keep her awake and give her her lunch about 11.30am-12noon and put her for a sleep 12.30.
Sleep has always been an issue and i find myself getting so worked up and anxious about it constantly more so recently as i dont know how i will cope with 2 but im hoping as everyone keeps telling me no 2 are the same we dont have the same problems.
dd only started sleeping through in October and started to self settle herself at bedtime in the last few weeks.
As you said i feel as though iv got a deadline.
This mummy malarky is hard work and some days i feel as though i must be doing it all wrong.
Thanks again ladies and il let you know how we get on today/tonight.
jen xxx
Well we did the different nap time yesterday she went to sleeo at 12.45 and woke at 2.30pm. She wouldnt self settle at bedtime so she was in tears and i was in tears and still up at 4.55am this morning, im just at a loss what to do.
This is what i was so frightened off.
jen xxx
Also, rightly or wrongly, we sit next to ds at bedtime (once the light has been turned out) and just wait quietly for him to go to sleep. We don't just leave the room once the light is out. He is now able to self settle and I know he is suffering from separation anxiety at night so I think he finds our presence reassuring. Do you just leave her or do you sit and wait for her to go to sleep?
It may seem like a step backwards but our 'babies' go through so many developmental stages that maybe she needs to feel your presence at the moment.
I can't help on the early wakings as ds was awake at 4.40am today and wouldn't go back to sleep! He is now having a nap just to keep him going. My mum reckons its because he has such a lively brain that he simply wants to get going for the day and he doesn't understand that mummy is shattered.
Also, Gabe has always been a poor sleeper - 30 mins naps since he was a baby so sleep has always been our biggest issue and I constantly question what I have done and what I am now doing. CC is not for us so we just try whatever else we can including changing his bed, mattress etc.
Keep us posted.
C.x
The sleep thing is sooo tough and really common, I use to feel like mine was the only child who was not sleeping but i soon found out that I am not alone. We have got into bad habits with giving her milk but it gets her back to sleep. Have you considered starting to use a Gro Clock, your LO may be a bit young, but we have started using one and I cant say that it has helped much but I like the idea and strangely enough she hasnt woken up quite so early. She has never napped but the last few days or so I have been doing the complete bedtime (even including brushing teeth) routine and she has been sleeping anywhere from 1 to 2 hours! Although her waking through the night has not got better, she does seem to get up a bit later. Saying that I bet now I have posted this she goes back to not napping!
Not sure if any of this will help but good luck and it will get better x
Maybe she needs less sleep at night and more during the day? Have you tried putting her to bed later (say between 7 and 8pm) and trying to get her to have a couple hours sleep during the day? I know at first putting them to bed doesn't usually work, but if you try it for a week solid she may adapt to that routine.
We don't really have a routine as such with ds but he'll go to bed between 7 and 8pm and wake between 7 and 8pm and have a couple hours sleep in the day sometimes.
She could also be stuck in an overtired cycle of not having enough sleep but not too sure on how to get out of that one other than let her sleep when and for how long she wants.
I remember when ds was younger he used to stir in the mornings, crying sometimes, but we just left him for a few mins and he'd drop back off. I think this time of morning is when they come into light sleep and are woken by the slightest things so they need to learn to get through this. x
I didn't realise this was you as the site has changed you to jen24uk, i'm a bit thick at the moment. I didn't realise you was pregnant again congratulations abit late as I see your nearly due good luck with the sleep issues and new baby xx
Annette
Hello long time eh? lol.
Well things have got worse going to go and see health visitor on thursday now having a nightmare of a time putting her to bed. These toddlers sure are hard work but so worth it. How you doing? I would never have known is was you.
jen xx
Yes they certainly have their own mind don't they, hope the health visitor can offer some advice, do you know if its a blue or pink bump? xx
Hows your wee boy? Did you go back to work? I went back parttime but hated every minute.
Jen xx