Can we discuss SLEEP and our LO's?

[mama.rye]

I am desperate! We get one "long" stretch for 2.5-3 hours at the start of the night, and then it's all downhill from there... he doesn't have a problem going to sleep - it's STAYING asleep that's the issue!

Where does your LO sleep?
Starts in co-sleeper, then comes in bed, my arms, my chest, and ends up in the swing.

What is the longest stretch of sleep your LO gets?
3 hours, usually before midnight when I am not ready to sleep myself.

Do you swaddle?
Yes and no. Depends on his mood. We have a love/hate relationship with the swaddle and hearing him literally GRUNT and groan as he works his arms out of it for an HOUR is sometimes not worth the extra half hour of sleep it buys us..

Do you have a bedtime routine?
We play the same lullabuy CD, noise machine, and run the humidifier and air purifier. Most nights he gets a warm bath and massage.

Do you cluster feed at night before bed?
Miles eats almost every hour from 5-9, hence our one "long" stretch at 9pm. After that, he is back up again every 45 minutes to hour and a half wanting boob...

Is there anything you do at night that you attribute to your LO getting good stretches of sleep?
NO! HELP ME!!! PLEASE!!

[mamanurse]

I'm sorry you're having a rough time. I'd be going insane with that sleep pattern. I think some babies are good sleepers and others aren't. My first was a great sleeper and I'm thinking this one is on the same road :

My babe is 6 weeks old. These answers are from her pattern over the last week.

Where does your LO sleep?
Until she goes to sleep "for the night" she is either in arms or in the swing until sometime between 10-11. Then she is in her pre-warmed co-sleeper with hot water bottle next to her.

What is the longest stretch of sleep your LO gets?
Her first stretch of sleep is the longest and has been between 4-5 hours. Then she's about ever 3-4 hours after that.

Do you swaddle?
Heck yes. Religiously. Her arms keep her awake or wake her up.

Do you have a bedtime routine?
Not yet.

Do you cluster feed at night before bed?
She naturally feeds every 1-2 hours in the time before bed.

Is there anything you do at night that you attribute to your LO getting good stretches of sleep?
She feeds well and is almost double her birthweight. I think reaching above the 10 pound mark and/or doubling their birthweight has a lot to do with the ability to sleep well. I also don't respond to every noise/cry she makes. Her grunts and other noises at night are ignored. If she cries out after only an hour or two, I'll pop the paci in her mouth and she'll almost always go back to sleep for awhile. I'll often wait to respond to her crying by going pee, getting a glass of water, and turning the TV to the right channel in the middle of the night just to be sure she really is going to be awake and ready to feed.

I'm also a firm believer in the more they sleep during the day, the better they sleep at night. She sleeps A LOT during the day. At least 2 three hour naps and sometimes a third if we haven't been out and about a lot.

[Baby_Cakes]

Where does your LO sleep?
Either on me, on the floor in our living room with me or DH on the couch, or in her swing with me or DH on the couch.

What is the longest stretch of sleep your LO gets?
Typically from 2 am until 7 or 8 am. Sometimes she will sleep from 1-5 though, nurse, and then go back to sleep until 9.

Do you swaddle?
No. This stopped working after the first week. She needs her arms free.

Do you have a bedtime routine?
No, though we tried to implement one and it did not work.

Do you cluster feed at night before bed?
Yes, from about 8 or 9 on, she wants to eat every hour.

Is there anything you do at night that you attribute to your LO getting good stretches of sleep?
No. It's still a crapshoot. Like, last night she wanted to be up talking until 2 am. Not cool, even if it is a Saturday. We keep trying to move her bedtime up, and for some freakish reason tonight she did fall asleep just before 11 and she is still asleep at quarter to 12. I just feel like she's going to wake any minute and be up til 3.

[crosscat]

Where does your LO sleep?
In bed with us.

What is the longest stretch of sleep your LO gets?
4-5 hours

Do you swaddle?
We haven't swaddled since she was about 3 or 4 weeks old.

Do you have a bedtime routine?
We're trying to establish one that involves a warm bath with me in the big tub (we don't soap her up every night, just let her play in the water a bit basically), nursing in bed, putting on her PJs, and nursing some more for a LONG time (up to an hour). I usually fall asleep during this nursing session, then wake up when she's ready to eat again.

I should point out that I consider this routine more for US than for her at this point. One day she'll benefit from the routine, and we're not really used to having a set bedtime, etc.

Do you cluster feed at night before bed?
She does tend to eat more frequently at night. She eats a lot in general, though.

Is there anything you do at night that you attribute to your LO getting good stretches of sleep?
Maybe having her in bed with us helps because I can respond quickly when she's ready to eat. I think the warm water from the bath, although it makes her a bit alert initially, helps settle gas in her tummy and helps her rest better when she goes to sleep.

Otherwise, I think there are some things I do during the day that may help. If a nap lasts longer than three hours, I gently encourage her to wake up - "never wake a sleeping baby" be damned. She sleeps a lot during the day, just not all at once. Also, I wear and/or hold her for at least three hours during the day when possible.

I've noticed that when we stray from all of these night and daytime routines, we tend to get a baby who doesn't let us sleep too well that night. If we skip one or two, then we may or may not have a bad night.

Of course there are no guarantees...

Calla has nearly doubled her birthweight, too, by the way.

I hope your cute little guy let's you get more sleep soon.

[lifeguard]

Where does your LO sleep?
In a bassinnet next to my side of the bed

What is the longest stretch of sleep your LO gets?
3 hours - if I'm really lucky

Do you swaddle?
No - never seemed to make a difference & he hated having his arms confined.

Do you have a bedtime routine?
I want to but have no idea what time to start it at as he doesn't go down for "the night" at a consistent time yet.

Do you cluster feed at night before bed?
Yes - generally in the evening he wants to eat every 30-60 minutes for several hours.

Is there anything you do at night that you attribute to your LO getting good stretches of sleep?
Not that I have figured out.

And he is well over 10lbs - doesn't seem to help.

[Amber Lion]

Where does your LO sleep?
During the day she sleeps in arms or the wrap, occasionally the swing. At night, mostly the co-sleeper although sometimes I end up with her in bed with me from the wee hours of the morning on.

What is the longest stretch of sleep your LO gets?
We've had a couple 5 hr stretches, but that's not the norm. Usually 3-4 hrs is the longest she sleeps at night and that's usually the first stretch after being put in her co-sleeper for the night.

Do you swaddle?
No, and we never have.

Do you have a bedtime routine?
Kind of. She has a little bit of a routine that tells me it's time for her to go to bed for the night, but I haven't imposed a routine. Usually she'll start acting tired, yawning a bunch, and wanting to nurse a lot. She'll get progressively fussier and squirmier at the breast until she finally ends up asleep. I will usually "shush" at her while either bouncing on the birth ball, rocking in the rocking chair, or swaying holding her in between nursings and one of those times she'll end up conked out.

Do you cluster feed at night before bed?
She eats anywhere from every hour to every 20 minutes before she goes down for her first stretch of sleep, getting closer together the closer she gets to falling asleep.

Is there anything you do at night that you attribute to your LO getting good stretches of sleep?
I don't know! We do pre-warm her co-sleeper with a hot water bottle and then leave it in there for her to sleep next to (thank you mamanurse for that inspiration!!) and we're too afraid to not do it in case that is the secret ingredient, but I suspect she's also just a good sleeper. She will grunt and groan and otherwise make lots of noise starting at about 1-2 hrs into her sleep... and I used to wake up then to nurse her, until I realized she wasn't really even awake and if I ignored her she'd sleep for another 2-3 hrs. She has a specific sound that means, "I'm hungry" and only then do I respond to her.

[Mamja]

Uh-oh, I feel guilty answering this! But I do have one of the oldest babies in our DDC.

Where does your LO sleep?
In her crib in her room. As much as I wish we could co-sleep, this allows for the best sleep for everyone.

What is the longest stretch of sleep your LO gets?
8 hours. Well, sometimes more like 5-6, then I give her a pacifier and she goes a couple more hours. Her sleep also doesn't always align with ours so I usually have to wake up to get her.

Do you swaddle?
Yes.

Do you have a bedtime routine?
We just swaddle her, then hold her for a while until she falls asleep. Oh, and since her naps aren't in her crib, I think she associates the crib with night time sleep.

Do you cluster feed at night before bed?
Not really. I also don't always feed her right before bed, which we need to get in the habit of doing. Because then she just wakes up earlier.

Is there anything you do at night that you attribute to your LO getting good stretches of sleep?
No, just lucky. And she is getting older. We had plenty of rough nights near the beginning.

[Dahlea]

Ours is the same way-if we catch him at his first night time sleep (usually around 9 or 9:30) we can get a few hours there, but after that, it's anyone's guess!


Where does your LO sleep?
In our bed

What is the longest stretch of sleep your LO gets?
The record so far is 6 hours. Average is 3.

Do you swaddle?
No, he hates it.

ETA-I don't think the 10 lb thing works for us-he is 15 lbs so he's really close to doubling his birthweight (7 lb 12 oz)
Do you have a bedtime routine?
No I figured he was too little for a routine. Does it help?

Do you cluster feed at night before bed?
I just feed him when he wants. So sometimes yes, sometimes no.

Is there anything you do at night that you attribute to your LO getting good stretches of sleep?
No, he doesn't sleep too well!

[farmerjess]

Mine is about as bad as yours 9 nights out of 10, Mamarye.

Where does your LO sleep?
In our bed, we have a queen. We are playing around with getting ourselves more space because the LO does squirmy dolphin kicks in his sleep all night making me get a lot less than him. Our current plan is to sidecar a twin onto our queen. During the day he sleeps in the Moby or occasionally he will let me put him down on our futon.

What is the longest stretch of sleep your LO gets?
About half the nights it will be 3 hrs, sometimes 2. The problem is that sometimes it's 7:30-10:30, and I really can't seem to get into bed before 9, so I only get 1.5 hrs that stretch. Then he's up every1.5-2.5 hours. After 4 he seems to have gas troubles, so he sleeps but he's super squirmy and won't sleep away from us.

Do you swaddle?
Yes, and it does seem to help somewhat.


Do you have a bedtime routine?
We change him into PJ's, swaddle, turn on white noise, turn the lights down low, and nurse to sleep in bed. He usually falls asleep very easily.

Do you cluster feed at night before bed?
Yes, generally he eats every 30 min to an hour in the few hours before bed.

Is there anything you do at night that you attribute to your LO getting good stretches of sleep?
I don't know, it might be a total coincidence, but last night we went to a potluck, and our routine got totally thrown off and he slept better than he has in about 2 weeks. He was super awake and getting passed around at the potluck when he would normally be drowsy, nursy at home. We got home around 8:30, got him in bed at 9 and he woke at 11:30 and 4!!! He woke up every hour after that as usual, but usually wants to get up for the day at 7, today he easily fell back asleep till 9:30. I feel like a new person! So, I dunno, for us, maybe it's important to keep him up and active in the evening? We are going to try it out more.

[Qestia]

Where does your LO sleep?
In bed with us.

What is the longest stretch of sleep your LO gets?
Probably 5-6 hours, I stopped looking at the clock a long time ago though.

Do you swaddle?
no.

Do you have a bedtime routine?
No, but she naturally falls asleep between 9:30 - 10:30 every night so far. But, she used to cluster feed to sleep and now she has decided she wants to be walked to sleep.

Do you cluster feed at night before bed?
She used to do this for the first 6 weeks, could be as bad as nonstop from 6-10 pm (ouch!) but now she doesn't.

Is there anything you do at night that you attribute to your LO getting good stretches of sleep?
Cosleeping works for me... I'm not sure how well it works for her but I get plenty of sleep since I just have to roll over to feed her, I don't change her diaper at night so I don't have to get out of bed.

[Bee21]

Where does your LO sleep?
In bed with us at night, in her swing or pouch during the day.

What is the longest stretch of sleep your LO gets?
6-7 hours, usually from 10/11pm to 5/6am. After that, she'll sleep until about 7:30am when she seems to be gassy. It just makes her squirmy/uncomfortable, she doesn't really wake up, but there's no way I can sleep more so I just lay there and cuddle her.

Do you swaddle?
Yes, until she wakes up at 5 or 6. Then she's done with the swaddle and just fights it.

Do you have a bedtime routine?
I change her, swaddle her, nurse her, and then go get in bed.

Do you cluster feed at night before bed?
We hadn't been, b/c she'd been getting really bad gas at night and couldn't handle it, but now she seems to be past her gassy/fussy problems. She will usually cluster feed from 7pm until we go to bed.

Is there anything you do at night that you attribute to your LO getting good stretches of sleep? Swaddling and cosleeping. Any time she starts to rouse a bit, she nestles into me and falls right back asleep without ever even nursing.

[trimestersdoula]

Where does your LO sleep?
In her swing or my arms during the day. In her craddle next to my side of the bed for the first part of the night and then in bed with us for the rest of the night.


What is the longest stretch of sleep your LO gets?
The longest stretch we have got was 5 hours.....twice. Normally it is anywhere from 1-3 hours.

Do you swaddle?
We try once in a while but like another poster said, she grunts and groans and fusses until she gets her hands free....and then she uncovers herself the rest of the way LOL.


Do you have a bedtime routine?
No routine yet. Usually a drive after she has eaten and then home and up to bed. I usually get 2 hours of sleep before she wakes up again.

Do you cluster feed at night before bed?
She never has wanted to cluster feed before bed. Normally when she does it is late afternoon or very early evening and then she up for the rest of the evening.

Is there anything you do at night that you attribute to your LO getting good stretches of sleep? The two times she has slept 5 hour stretches she was in her craddle.

[Honey693]

Where does your LO sleep?
In our bed when she goes down for the night, for naps in my arms, on my chest or in her swing

What is the longest stretch of sleep your LO gets?
4.5 hours! Usually it's between 3-4.

Do you swaddle?
We used to, but she busts out of them and we realised she hated having her arms pinned down so we stopped.

Do you have a bedtime routine?
We tried, but failed. I'm not in any type of routine or schedule so it was impossible to get Ella into one.

Do you cluster feed at night before bed?
Most nights yes

Is there anything you do at night that you attribute to your LO getting good stretches of sleep?
Nope. I wish I knew why/how she was sleeping those 4 hour stretches so I could do it with kid number two eventually.

[audsma]

Where does your LO sleep?
In the sidecar twin with me for some naps and all night. In the day, he sleeps in the bassinet in the LR, the carseat in the kitchen (getting less frquent), and in the Moby.

What is the longest stretch of sleep your LO gets?
Our longest stretch has been 8 hours. I think we average 5 hours on a consistent basis, however. He usually goes down around 7 PM, and we get up between 4 and 5 b/c he poops in the 5:00 hour and that makes him fussy.

Do you swaddle?
No, it has never worked with our kids.

Do you have a bedtime routine?
Yes. Dinner, then cluster feeding the baby, DD's bath while DS and I lay down (I read during this time while he dozes and nurses), then DD jumps on bed and shouts, then I settle DS down again, then we finally go to sleep, sometimes after an hour of trying. Oh to have a larger than 1 bedroom house!

Do you cluster feed before bed?
Yes

Is there anything you do at night that you attribute to your LO getting good stretches of sleep?
He's a much better sleeper than DD. My MIL told my mom that she attributes his easy going attitude to his gentle birth. Honestly, I think his tummy has a lot to do with it, and his ability to know when he doesn't need to eat any more. My DD spit up all the time and would be on the boob for hours. This little guy has a stronger tummy and a better sense of when to stop.

[JMarie930]

Where does your LO sleep?
Either in the Amby hammock next to our bed, or in bed with DH and me (and sometimes DS too).

What is the longest stretch of sleep your LO gets?
8-10 hours, usually closer to 8. She started out sleeping about 6 hours at night, but it has since stretched. I have tried waking her for a feeding, but all that gets me is one very ticked-off baby who won't eat AND won't go back to sleep.

Do you swaddle?
Yes, if her arms move, she wakes up. She is not happy if she wakes herself up like that.

Do you have a bedtime routine?
We rock in the glider for a bit and then lie down in the bed or on the couch until she falls asleep. She likes to be cuddled to sleep.

Do you cluster feed at night before bed?
Oh, yes! She eats for about 1-1 1/2 hours, practically straight through, right before she goes down for her long stretch.

Is there anything you do at night that you attribute to your LO getting good stretches of sleep?
Good luck, and possibly good genes. DS was the same way from about 2 months old, sleeping 6-8 hours at a stretch. I remember my mom telling me that we were all good sleepers too.

[claddaghmom]

Where does your LO sleep?
In between us on the bed.

What is the longest stretch of sleep your LO gets?
Unless it's a bad night, she will sleep from midnight to 7 or 8am.

Do you swaddle?
No. She absolutely hates to be swaddled. It's hard enough to get her to wear socks. Forget hats! LOL.

Do you have a bedtime routine?
Well, we have a routine, but it's not a bedtime theme, if that makes sense. I mean, we are generally at home, in bed around her bedtime.

Do you cluster feed at night before bed?
Yes. Actually, I think the clusterfeeding is what causes our "bad nights." By the time she is dead tired, she has nursed so much that her tummy hurts.

Is there anything you do at night that you attribute to your LO getting good stretches of sleep?
If I can get her to delay nursing a couple hours before bedtime, or if I can pump consistently (hard to do b/c she cluster feeds) she will usually comfort nurse for about 10 minutes, then fall fast asleep. Also, making sure she has a dry diaper before getting into the loop of nursing is required. I've found that if I sit up and hold her she will fall asleep faster as opposed to side lying.


On bad nights, when she drinks too much and starts crying, the only thing that works is DH pacing around the house with her. He has to do that for about 30minutes to an hour. Then she basically nibbles for a couple minutes and falls asleep. But due to nibbling/snacking, she will wake up around 4am to feed.

We're averaging about 2 bad nights out of the week.

[Cindy-Lou]

Where does your LO sleep?
In between us on the bed, right next to me.

What is the longest stretch of sleep your LO gets?
5-6 hours, starting around 10pm.

Do you swaddle?
No, she likes to be able to move her arms.

Do you have a bedtime routine?
Not really. She's fussy at night so DH or I usually walk around with her in a sling or in our arms.

Do you cluster feed at night before bed?
Yes, she does nurse more often.

Is there anything you do at night that you attribute to your LO getting good stretches of sleep?
I think it's having her in bed with me. I don't think she would sleep long stretches like that if she were in a crib or bassinet. Also, she sometimes grunts or cries out a little in the middle of the night (from gas I think). I don't do anything when she does this because she doesn't even wake up. Sometimes I'll put the paci in her mouth and she'll suck on it for a few minutes then she'll spit it out and continue to sleep.

[trimestersdoula]

Just wanted to say that I tried a bedtime routine. Nice warm bath with mommy at 11:30 PM...dried off....fed....dressed....fed.....cuddle til sleeping....craddle. And then she woke up 5 minutes later and never went back to sleep until 4:30 AM. I won't be giving her a bath at night anymore LOL.

[HeddyBee]

Where does your LO sleep?
Because of reflux, she has to sleep either in her bouncy seat or in the Sleepywrap (with me in a semi-reclined position).

What is the longest stretch of sleep your LO gets?
5 hours from 6 am to 11 am

Do you swaddle?
No, she wriggles out and likes to have her fists by her chin.

Do you have a bedtime routine?
I wish we did. At 7 weeks, we still have very little understanding of
what her sleep needs will be on any given day.

Do you cluster feed at night before bed?
Yes, she does tend to eat every hour or so in the evening.

Is there anything you do at night that you attribute to your LO getting good stretches of sleep?
So far, nursing her until she is completely satisfied -- which often takes several 10-15 minute rounds of nurse, fall asleep, wake up, nurse, fall asleep, wake up. Also, she seems to be a really light sleeper at night, so noise and other disturbances have a much greater tendency to wake her up than during the day. She also has reflux, so getting her to stay asleep can be challenging when she's so uncomfortable (I think part of it is gas, too).

Last night I tried moving her bouncy seat into the bedroom (from the living room, where I've been sleeping with her in the seat and me on the couch) so that I could lie on the bed while she slept, but she kept waking up and being fussy; she wouldn't sleep more than 15-20 minutes in the seat. After several hours of this cycle (wake up, cry, I pat her & calm her back to sleep and put her in the chair) she was so sleep deprived that she really lost it.

So here's the bizarre part of the story -- my partner decided to take her for a drive at 4 a.m. When she drove back into our condo development, she saw a car parked behind our neighbor's Infiniti. There was a man trying to break into the neighbor's car! DP startled him, he got back into his car and sped off. DP was completely freaked out and didn't want to get out of the car, esp. with baby in the back seat! So Helena's temper tantrum saved our neighbor from being a victim of a crime last night!!

[crosscat]

^Wow! Helena's a crime fighter already!