Breaking Point Mamas Unite - Page 6

[Louisep]

CrystalR I think you should open a new thread with your weaning questions so they don't get missed in this thread which many mamas might not look at.

Good luck and I shall be taking notes!

[tigermiep]

worst night in a while. he wouldn't go to sleep for so long. finally got him to sleep at 8:45, and he woke up when i tried to put him in bed. back to sleep at 10, up at 10:30. sleeping at 11, up at 12, and again at 2:45. he keeps falling asleep and then waking up when i try to put him down -- and this is from a dead sleep, floppy and all, as well as when he's just lightly asleep. on top of that, he was coughing this weird throat-clearing, grating cough all evening. so he's dozing at the breast, my back aches from trying to walk the floor with him, and i'm hoping against hope that i'll get to go to sleep at some point, but right now, i'm not sure. i have to be up in 2 1/2 hours anyway...

[LeoneLover13]

Just stopping by to say I'm still here and still in the same boat....sigh...

I have figured out that she has at least 4 molars coming through, maybe 5 or 6, and she has started running this week, expanded her vocabulary and signing language A LOT and understands a lot more now. Obviously she is going through a huge growth spurt accompanied by some serious teething.

She is still trying to take a second nap anywhere from 8-9pm at night for an hour or so, which is killing me because then she's up til past midnight... I'm keeping her up again tonight until 930/10pm and will HOPE AND PRAY that she will stay asleep after an hour.

tigermiep- sorry to hear about your night I would definitely get LO checked out for the cough, that's bound to be a reason he keeps waking up.

[vegancat]

Originally Posted by Mama_Gaia

... now the longest seems to be 1-2 hours.. and most days, no naps except in arms while in motion and attached to my breast...,

i have today committed to reverse the bad habit i have created, where i stay up and waste time and let him sleep at the breast for hours on end simply because i so psychologically dread trying to set him down alone, or transfer both him and i into lying in our bed, and thus waking him and starting all over again.. but i have to do it.. which is why i am off to give it a go, cross your fingers, may be back in .4 seconds or less, this is attempt number two so far tonight but he did not nap today so i figure he is definitely tired and if i start early maybe will work before he gets too overtired??

Mama_Gaia, I'm in exactly the same situation except my little girl is nearly a year old. I'm going out of my mind with lack of sleep, lack of time to get anything done, and cranky no-napping baby. Nothing I have tried yet has worked, so I'll be watching this thread eagerly for ideas. I especially identified with your post when you said you sit up for hours dreading trying to set him down, because I do the same thing. There's got to be an answer!

Hugs to you,
cat.

[tigermiep]

yup. baby is sick. he has a fever. poor little guy. we're headed for the ped. in a little bit. here's hoping he gets some more rest tonight.

[Louisep]

Originally Posted by tigermiep

yup. baby is sick. he has a fever. poor little guy. we're headed for the ped. in a little bit. here's hoping he gets some more rest tonight.

Ugh, I hope he feels better soon and you can get some rest.

[tigermiep]

well, it's H1N1. He's on Tamiflu and I'm keeping him dosed up on ibuprofen, which really seemed to help a lot and took care of his fever. we were up and down a lot for the first 2 hours of the night, but when he woke up again just as I was leaving the room, having been up for over an hour and having JUST tucked him in, I picked him up, felt him go right back to sleep in my arms, and took him in to sleep on me. we slept for four hours! granted, I'm going to be in a lot of neck and back pain in the morning, but it's saturday, and FOUR HOURS!!!!

[Louisep]

Originally Posted by tigermiep

well, it's H1N1. He's on Tamiflu and I'm keeping him dosed up on ibuprofen, which really seemed to help a lot and took care of his fever. we were up and down a lot for the first 2 hours of the night, but when he woke up again just as I was leaving the room, having been up for over an hour and having JUST tucked him in, I picked him up, felt him go right back to sleep in my arms, and took him in to sleep on me. we slept for four hours! granted, I'm going to be in a lot of neck and back pain in the morning, but it's saturday, and FOUR HOURS!!!!

Oh no! The poor mite. I'm glad you were able to get it diagnosed quickly and get the tamiflu. I've read that if you gargle with salt water and drink warm fluids, you can prevent yourself from getting the flu because it resides in the throat for several days before developing. Just thought I'd mention it in case you can prevent yourself from getting it. I wonder how your LO got it?

Glad you got some sleep!

[Honey693]

We started nightweaning last night. 2.5 hours of screaming b/c I wouldn't give her back the boob to fall asleep. Someone tell me this gets easier b/c I had less sleep than normal last night.

[Louisep]

Originally Posted by Crystal_R

We started nightweaning last night. 2.5 hours of screaming b/c I wouldn't give her back the boob to fall asleep. Someone tell me this gets easier b/c I had less sleep than normal last night.

I'm sorry I don't have any experience with night weaning yet, but I'm positive it will get better. Ugh, I wish you had more responses to your other post. Have you done a search for old night weaning threads? I'm seem to remember there was one not long ago. OR maybe you should post in the breastfeeding forum??

GOOD LUCK tonight.

[crabbyowl]

Grrrrr! Her being up almost every hour all night for nearly a week has taken its toll, and I'm now sick. There's no worse feeling than knowing you're getting worse and worse every time you get up, having the pain in your head and throat getting ever stronger. Plus she was up every hour again last night - so much for this thing called "rest" we're supposed to get when we're sick.

[hibiscus mum]

Could there ne ANYTHING more infuriating than spending an hour nursing and rocking a baby to sleep, only to have him pop his head up like a damn prairie dog whenever I put him down!? Repeat four to five times. This child is KILLING me.

DD was a stellar sleeper and I thought it was thanks to my wonderful parenting. This kid is proving me wrong. Thanks for this thread as I am totally at the end of my rope. It has to get better, right?

[Honey693]

Originally Posted by hibiscus mum

Could there ne ANYTHING more infuriating than spending an hour nursing and rocking a baby to sleep, only to have him pop his head up like a damn prairie dog whenever I put him down!? Repeat four to five times. This child is KILLING me.

I hate that! It's like they're tricking you. Haha you thought I was asleep, GOTCHA!

[LeoneLover13]

Originally Posted by Crystal_R

I hate that! It's like they're tricking you. Haha you thought I was asleep, GOTCHA!

Oh my gosh, it drives me berserk! I get the obvious signs of being tired, so go ahead and spend 45 mins trying to get her to sleep all the while she is laying in my arms staring at the ceiling, talking and singing. Or at night when I am rocking to sleep in the dark I can barely see her face if she is on my shoulder, I spend 30 mins walking, humming, rocking, she is limp, I go to lay down in the bed with her and in the pitch dark I see two huge glistening eyes staring silently back at me...AAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!

[Louisep]

Originally Posted by crabbyowl

Grrrrr! Her being up almost every hour all night for nearly a week has taken its toll, and I'm now sick. There's no worse feeling than knowing you're getting worse and worse every time you get up, having the pain in your head and throat getting ever stronger. Plus she was up every hour again last night - so much for this thing called "rest" we're supposed to get when we're sick.

I'm sick too. Hoping it's just a head cold.

[crabbyowl]

I've been sick for 3 days now and am feeling awful. 2 nights ago Eleanor actually only got up 3 times, which is what she used to do before she started getting up every hour about a week ago, but last night was the worst I think we've ever had. She woke up 14 times in a 12-hour period for no discernible reason - I offered her milk every time, I tried changing her diaper, I tried everything I could think of but nothing worked. Plus I have that awful sickness-energy that made it hard to fall asleep, so I would only actually sleep for half an hour or so before she'd be up again. So not only has she turned from a not-great-but-acceptable sleeper into an absolute NIGHTMARE, I and am essentially unable to rest and recover during the day either because she now only naps for about 45 minutes. Plus, she doesn't seem at all bothered by the fact that she's also getting quite a bit less sleep. At least she's fairly self-sufficient in terms of play - she'll play with her toys and flip through her books on her own for the most part as long as I'm nearby, which is good because I don't know what I'd do if she needed more constant guidance to stay occupied.

I just need to SLEEP for more than an hour at a time, and for her to get over whatever is going on that's turned her into a devil-child during the night.

[Louisep]

Back to breaking point

I haven't been feeling bad lately. DS has, for about a week, been staying asleep when I put him to bed for 2-3 sleep cycles and then "only" waking up ever 2 hours throughout the night, going back to sleep easily.

Sigh, last night was horrendous. WHY? I just want to know WHY? I have a stinking cold so went to bed with DS at 7pm to make the most of the 3 hour stint. I was on a separate mattress from him so as not to wake him. Sure enough, after 45 minutes he's awake. He didn't sleep longer than a ONE HOUR stretch the entire night and was awake from 2-3:30am.

Like PPs, I dread getting sick, and now I'm sick, I'm worried about how to get better. I long to be able to give him to DH for the night, but he just can't soothe him.

I need all your positive thoughts mama that this was just a blip because the thought of going back to long middle of the night wakings and hourly wakings is pushing me over the edge.

PS DS had this cold first, so he's not sick and in fact only suffered with it for a day

[go_blue]

Some Progress with NCSS

Just thought I'd share my experience in hopes it gives some of you some encouragement...

My DD just turned 2, and I am starting to see some results from NCSS advice for night-weaning by using latch-offs. After about 3 weeks of frequent latch-offs when I was putting DD to bed, and occasional latch-offs in middle of night, my daughter has been falling asleep without breast in her mouth about 8 of last 10 nights. She is often latching off herself, rolling over, relaxing a little and finally falling asleep.

I am pleased with the progress, considering I have not been very consistent with the latch-offs (between 12 and 3AM I am usually too tired to remember to latch her off).

I find that DD needs more pacifying at the end of the night than at the beginning. She can fall asleep much easier at the beginning of the night. I try rubbing her back or stroking her head once I latch her off, but this often is not enough to relax her back to sleep in middle of night. I have not tried anything else yet because I don't know anything else I can do while still lying in bed (I feel too sleep deprived to try to relax her by getting out of bed myself).

I try to talk to her every 1 or 2 days about the sleeping arrangement and how we are changing our sleep habits and how I will help her sleep without having to nurse. I have not refused the breast yet; I will likely try the "milk is sleeping" approach...

For reference, DD can fall asleep on her own since she always did so for nap at daycare. Her first stretch of sleep every night is about 3 hours (ranges from 1 to 5 hours); she wakes up every 1-2 hours after the first stretch until she is awake for good in the AM (usually after a long nursing/pacifying session). I co-sleep with her in her room on her bed. Her nighttime sleep habits have not varied much during her life (except for illnesses, teething, anxiety from travel)

Not sure how much longer my patience will last. I do long for sleep...

[LeoneLover13]

Louisep- So sorry to hear you are sick that's probably the last thing you need right now. I wish I could tell you it was a blip, or a fluke night, but who knows really. It may have been just that one night, it might be the start of teething again...who knows. I felt the same way just the other day.

Out of nowhere, miraculously, DD went 2 nights in a row 5-6 hours without waking!! And then every 1-2 hours after that. This is all still on her "night schedule" of going to bed at midnight.

It was BEAUTIFUL, I was so happy the next day, so was she, we played, laughed, walked outside, went to the park, she ate a lot more...it was just like before any of this started, life was easy and so happy. And then all of a sudden it stopped and she went back to every 45 mins - hour again It was literally torture..She fell asleep at 9pm the third night after the 5 hour stints, and DH and I excitedly threw on a movie and settled on the couch for the first time in God-knows-how-long. She woke 30 mins later, it was a nap, but I refused to give in, she just had ot go back to sleep...I tried and not-tried for THREE HOURS before she fells asleep again, at midnight. DH had passed out on the couch and I was exhausted. I was SO upset , I was so hoping for that one night with DH, we haven't watched a movie together without interruption since she was born. I guess welcome to life with a baby!

We're going to try again this weekend...because I so need DH time

Good Luck, I hope you feel better!

[Louisep]

Nak

LL13- oh I feel so hopeful that your LO might be turning a corner! 5-6 hours is amazing!! And shows she CAN do it. I totally know what you mean re DH. Our relationship has really suffered and I've been reminiscing a lot about our pre baby days. Is your LO high needs? Our DS is, so daytime is just as much work as the night. He needs constant attention and entertainment and is often fussy. It makes me sad because I don't know if I can go through this again with a 2nd baby. I would like to have another but I think I would have a breakdown with another poor sleeping high needs babe. Kwim?

Sigh.

Battling with a nap right now, so better go. Last night was a bit better but he cried everytime he woke which is unusual. He's been having nightmares too. What does it all mean?????