Breaking Point Mamas Unite - Page 5

[Louisep]

Originally Posted by SactoMommy

We're doing....awful. DS has been waking all night long, needing naps again during the day. DD is not taking any naps longer than 30 min. She is needing me to hold her while she sleeps until almost 10:30 when she is finally in a deep enough sleep.

The last two nights were terrible. I lost count of how many times she was up. At least she slept until 7:10 this morning. I have a horrible stomach ache, probably from drinking too much coffee, and from DS having a really bad day.

DD is crawling more every day, I was hoping that the burned off energy would help her sleep better, but so far it's gotten worse! I think she might be teething. Who knows, I'm just exhausted.

Ugh, so sorry to hear it. Hugs.

Are you breastfeeding? If so, have you ever tried eliminating caffeine? I know, so not a helpful suggestion to a tired Mama. I decided to eliminate it and I can't say it's done much good, but I was only drinking one cup a day anyway. Just a thought.

I think teething is the root of all evils!

[LeoneLover13]

Originally Posted by Louisep

OMG my little baby is walking!!!! I know some LOs start sleeping better when they walk- please please please!!!

Last night he was awake every 1.5 hours but back down quickly. I kicked DH out to the spare room and with no snoring and more space I slept much better.

How's everyone doing?

CONGRATS!! That's wonderful!

And yes, they usually do start sleeping better. At least DD did and it was wonderful, I thought that was it, we'd gotten past the sleepless nights, but then she hit molars. Sorry if I just burst your bubble, LOL, enjoy every minute of sleep you get if things get better because it might not last...here's hoping that is does for you for a looong time though!!

[Louisep]

Originally Posted by LeoneLover13

And yes, they usually do start sleeping better. At least DD did and it was wonderful, I thought that was it, we'd gotten past the sleepless nights, but then she hit molars. Sorry if I just burst your bubble, LOL, enjoy every minute of sleep you get if things get better because it might not last...here's hoping that is does for you for a looong time though!!

No miracle yet and as expected, he woke at 5am with the time change! He's still putting himself to sleep though - which every single book says is the key to STTN. What RUBBISH!!!

[smlame]

There is a light at the end of the tunnel...

Hi sleep deprived mamas! I've just read a few posts on this thread b/c it reminds me of exactly where we were at a year ago. In my opinion, sleep actually gets harder before it gets easier in many kiddos. Starting around 9 months and through most of her 2nd year, our dd was all over the board with sleep. (If you think of all the new developments they go through during this time, is it any wonder their sleep is erratic?) I questioned myself all the time about whether this was our fault-that we had created this b/c we on demand nursed, co-slept and attachment parented. I feel like many peds, etc would have you believe that if you set up your child to expect nursing to sleep all night, then they will always expect that. Well, I just want to put in my own anecdotal experience that this is NOT true! My daughter is now 27 months and sleeps most nights 8-9 hours, no nursing, right next to me. And this happened on her own. So, I guess my bottom line is HANG IN THERE because things do get better, even if you don't "do" anything about it. It certainly is not easy-and I'd love to find some resources that help parents who have decided to attachment parent with how to handle it in the older years-toddler hood and beyond.

[LeoneLover13]

Originally Posted by smlame

Hi sleep deprived mamas! I've just read a few posts on this thread b/c it reminds me of exactly where we were at a year ago. In my opinion, sleep actually gets harder before it gets easier in many kiddos. Starting around 9 months and through most of her 2nd year, our dd was all over the board with sleep. (If you think of all the new developments they go through during this time, is it any wonder their sleep is erratic?) I questioned myself all the time about whether this was our fault-that we had created this b/c we on demand nursed, co-slept and attachment parented. I feel like many peds, etc would have you believe that if you set up your child to expect nursing to sleep all night, then they will always expect that. Well, I just want to put in my own anecdotal experience that this is NOT true! My daughter is now 27 months and sleeps most nights 8-9 hours, no nursing, right next to me. And this happened on her own. So, I guess my bottom line is HANG IN THERE because things do get better, even if you don't "do" anything about it. It certainly is not easy-and I'd love to find some resources that help parents who have decided to attachment parent with how to handle it in the older years-toddler hood and beyond.

Thank you!
It's great to hear stories like this, in that Mama's feel the year or two of ridiculous sleep disturbances was worth it and they now have a wonderfully sleeping LO, and not once did they CIO
Good to hear, thank you for commenting!

[tigermiep]

It's nice to know there are other moms awake at this hour. I feel like I'm going to lose it any minute. This being awake in the night business, for upwards of an hour, has been going on for weeks. We transfered DS to his own room at 7 months because we thought he would sleep better there -- DP and I aren't great candidates for cosleeping due to overweight, and our restlessness and snoring were keeping him up. He continued his usual sleep patterns at first, so everything is fine. For a while, I would bring him to bed with us when he woke up at 5 or 6 and let him nurse back to sleep. For other wakeups, I would bring him downstairs to our usual nursing spot on the couch, and take him back to his bed when he fell asleep.

DS started teething around 3 or 4 months and got his first tooth two days after he turned 5 months. He had 7 teeth by 7 months, and now has 8. He's 10 1/2 months now. I know that teething may be a part of this, but his habit is going from being up once or twice before DP and I go to bed, to waking every 45 minutes between 7:30 or 8 when I put him down and when we go to sleep, and then being nursed back to sleep once or twice around 11:30, and then being up for an hour or 2 or 3 during the night.

I don't want to let him CIO. I can't bring him back to bed with me any more, because he won't lie down, just keeps writhing and trying to nurse while standing over me with his butt in the air (sounds funny when I type it, but hurts and makes me crazy and angry when I'm trying to sleep). I teach, and DP is at home with him during the day, so I can't go back to bed for long, some times at all, when he pulls one of his "Hey, look! we're awake! Let's play!" routines.

Last night, he let me sleep from 11:45 to 4:45, and then was up for the day. I know he needs more sleep. He napped for over two hours in the afternoon, on my lap at brunch, and then in his car seat, and I got him to go to sleep around 8:00. He was up again at 8:30. And then at 10:30. The first time, he nursed back to sleep pretty fast -- I don't think he was really awake. The second time, it took 45 minutes of sitting on the couch and nursing him for him to go back to sleep. He woke up again at 1:30.

I had him nearly asleep, but he kept squirming and repositioning. When he would settle, and I'd try to pop him off to carry him upstairs, he would wake. He kept trying to get comfortable, crawling on and off me on the couch, but couldn't settle.


Now he's playing on the other side of the room and starting to fuss, so maybe he'll nurse now? and go to sleep?
ooh. crying. Mama to the rescue.

I don't know how much more of this I can take. I am so tired and crazy and angry from sleep deprivation.

thanks for listening, commiserating, whatever. I haven't had a chance to read all the thread, just the first page, but I'm here.

ETA: I think i'm all caught up now, and now i know it could be worse. kudos to all you mamas who are non-violently soldiering on. DS is nursing now, and heading for sleep, so maybe I'll get another decent stretch before I have to get up at 6 for work...

I hadn't thought about allergies. DS loves solids and is eating 2 big meals plus snacks and BF on demand when I'm home, plus 8 or so oz. of EBM while I'm at school. I'll talk with DP about cutting back on gluten again (he didn't have any until 9 1/2 months) and maybe cutting out the yogurt he's been having every few days... do you think the 1 cup of caffeinated coffee I'm having in the morning at 7 could be affecting him at night?

feeling more serene and less volatile for reading this thread. I'll definitely be back!

[heavensearth]

I dont know where DS gets all of this energy!!! We started putting him to bed earlier (start at 7.. he's down by 7:45) but then he wakes up again at 9:30-10 and is all reved up!!!! we dont CIO, around 10:30-11:30 DH comes home and rocks him back to sleep, sometimes for hours.. 6 weeks and im back to work, I don't know what im going to do.

Maybe tomorrow will be better...

[Louisep]

Time change has us messed up

smlame - thank you for dropping by with your words of hope! Honestly, though, another year of this? UGH!

We're a mess. Worse than ever. DS won't nap (he has ALWAYS napped). He's waking up at 5am and going to bed at 6pm. Wakings weren't TOO bad last night - I think we even had a couple of 2 hour stretches in there. But that's probably because it was crash sleep after having a bedtime meltdown because he had only one nap all day in the morning. ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

I lost it yesterday. DH had to come home from work. I'm also getting sick and just hope it's not the flu.

[LeoneLover13]

So sorry you are having a hard time, I'm right there with you though...again.

How old is your DS now? I forget, but was wondering if maybe it's the beginning of transitioning to one nap/day? DD started the 'transition' (which seemed to last a month) around 9/10 months.

I think I've lost it too...but it's now being taken out on DH, I"m not sure if it's warranted or not though. I'm so confused, angry, tired, annoyed..

DD has started the "I"m gona take a nap at 8/9pm at night, for an hour, and then be up til past midnight." again. It's infuriating because she finally falls asleep at a decent time and wakes an hour later as usual, I go in, nurse, rock, shh, everything and she will have none of it, she's up, wide awake ready to play. I have tried just staying in the room, continually rocking, shh, pat, nurse etc. and not giving in until she falls asleep, and it takes 2-3 hours, which is just pointless in my book. I don't know how we got back on this schedule. But now we don't wake up til 10/11am and she takes her usual nap anywhere from noon to 2, for 2 hours.

I think she slept better last night, I managed to sweeten the camomile tea I gave her, enough that she liked it and drank a lot. So i'm wondering if that helped. She had more tonight, so we'll see.

It's 11:15pm here and she just went down, I kept her up til 1030 before going to sleep in the hopes she will stay asleep.

As far as DH goes, he needs to be at my whim and helping me whenever I ask or he can SEE that I need it. Or he needs to keep the heck outta my way, because this.............is about where I am.

Originally Posted by Louisep

smlame - thank you for dropping by with your words of hope! Honestly, though, another year of this? UGH!

We're a mess. Worse than ever. DS won't nap (he has ALWAYS napped). He's waking up at 5am and going to bed at 6pm. Wakings weren't TOO bad last night - I think we even had a couple of 2 hour stretches in there. But that's probably because it was crash sleep after having a bedtime meltdown because he had only one nap all day in the morning. ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

I lost it yesterday. DH had to come home from work. I'm also getting sick and just hope it's not the flu.

[crabbyowl]

The time change is messing with us here too - Eleanor wakes up at 6 AM instead of 7-ish, but does everything else (nap, bedtime) on the new time schedule.

Last night was a NIGHTMARE. I knew it would be bad when her first stretch of sleep, which usually lasts about 3 hours, was not even 2 hours. She woke up 3 times before midnight (after going down at about 7:45, which is typical), and after that slept for no longer than 45 minutes, with a few 30-minute stretches thrown in for good measure. All in all she woke up ELEVEN TIMES in as many hours! I just hope she naps for at least 1.5 hours today, because I REALLY need it, and DH is no help at all when it comes to sleep. ()

It's days like this when I wish she'd just grow up already - not all the way, just enough so she'll actually sleep for a decent amount of time!

[InMediasRes]

Well ladies, it looks like I might be ducking out for a while. We're still having nap troubles, but DH and I had 30 WHOLE MINUTES to ourselves last night while DD slept ALONE in the bed. I am feeling like an absolutely new person. She's been going longer stretches during the night but I couldn't say how long because we don't have a clock in our room.

I'm so sorry you all are still having troubles. I'm sure I'll be back in a few months.

[Louisep]

Originally Posted by SactoMommy

Well ladies, it looks like I might be ducking out for a while. We're still having nap troubles, but DH and I had 30 WHOLE MINUTES to ourselves last night while DD slept ALONE in the bed. I am feeling like an absolutely new person. She's been going longer stretches during the night but I couldn't say how long because we don't have a clock in our room.

I'm so sorry you all are still having troubles. I'm sure I'll be back in a few months.

So glad things are better, even if just for now. I wish we could catch a break, it would give me hope. I guess we were doing better until the time change threw us into chaos.

I've just got down for a nap after thirty mins of crying - how is that not CIO? I had to hold him tight. It reminded me of when he was a newborn and needed swaddling and would cry himself to sleep in my arms. Can't believe in ten months we're back to that and all my efforts have achieved nothing, nada, zero.

LL13, he's just about ten months. He's always needed a lot of naps because he catnaps. He was taking 3 until recently when I started messing with them to see if I could get him to take 2 long ones. Failure. And now he's on map 2 of the day and it's not even midday. We were up at 5 though. I don't know how to get him back on track.

As for DHs. Hmpf. He tries but gets mad at me when I get upset. He's been trying to put DS down at night and it worked for awhile but not lately. So I'm back to feeling like my entire existence revolves around getting my child to sleep.

I should try and sleep too now.

[tigermiep]

Louisep -- our DS is 10, almost 11 months. maybe it's a phase? God, please let it be a phase -- my mom says I didn't STTN until I was 6 or 7. Sometimes, she says it was 12!

Too bad we don't all live near one another -- we could take turns napping during the the all night party.

As for us, we got 2 good stretches in between 9 and 11 and midnight at 3:30, which was AWESOME -- I felt great. And then he was up for 2 hours at 3:30. : This would be okay if I didn't have to get up for work at 6. :P

[Louisep]

Originally Posted by tigermiep

Louisep -- our DS is 10, almost 11 months. maybe it's a phase? God, please let it be a phase -- my mom says I didn't STTN until I was 6 or 7. Sometimes, she says it was 12!

Too bad we don't all live near one another -- we could take turns napping during the the all night party.

As for us, we got 2 good stretches in between 9 and 11 and midnight at 3:30, which was AWESOME -- I felt great. And then he was up for 2 hours at 3:30. : This would be okay if I didn't have to get up for work at 6. :P

I so wish I knew ladies like you IRL! Where is everyone located? It doesn't say on everyone's tags. I'm in DC right now but will be back "home" in Atlanta in January.

I didn't STTN until I went to school but I was never as bad as my DS - just once or twice a night. I would kill to have that right now!

I know it must SUCK so bad for you to have to go to work, but some days I long to go to work to have a break from the sleep battle (which continues in the day with naps). In fact, I think I'm going to look for work in the new year. But man, up 2 hours at 3:30 is ROUGH!

[tigermiep]

at least I have a job where I have to be active -- I'm a waldorf class teacher, so there's no sitting still in my chair falling asleep. I'm in minnesota, where it's now getting dark at 5 pm, so we actually got our very, very tired boy into bed at 6:30 this evening. we'll see how long it lasts.

[LeoneLover13]

Well it's great to hear SactoMommy is doing well!

Sorry for the rest of you, we are all in the same boat. I also wish you were all local and we could have sleepovers

I am not near any of you, I'm in Guam and the time doesn't change here so I can't blame the recent spike in late nights on that.

It's 530pm Wednesday here, so it's about 1230 am in the States, meaning you are all probably either still up or rolling around in bed trying to get your LO's back to sleep! Mine is currently STILL napping, she went down finally at 230pm, so It's most certainly going to be a late night again....

I hope you all get some sleep!

[Mamato3wild ponnie]

I NEED HELP...ASAP...As you can see it's...2:20am...our 1 y/o is wide awake for the 3rd night in a row. I CANT TAKE IT ANYMORE! We co-sleep with our almost 5y/o and the 1 y/o....some nights are ok....here lately...it's getting worse as far as me getting sleep....the baby wants to nurse both breasts and then wants a 3rd breast....there is no milk left at this point...no patience on my end...i am fully awake when he nurses...and I feel like losing it! I roll over and he cries...pulls my hair...kicks covers...sits up. I finally just got up out of bed. He's not walking yet....i read that when he starts walking he will sleep? I never had this issue with any of the other children! I've tried to get my DP to set up a big boy room for our 5 yo and he doesnt see how that will help...i've tried to talk him into putting the twin mattress on the floor beside our bed...and well he doesnt like that he has to "step" over it all the "time". Yet who is up right now with the baby...MEMEME! Ughhhh.
I feal like giving the baby a bottle of formula...he's never taken a bottle...but something has to give...I need him to be comforted by some one other than me! Like take a passy or something! Just something!

[Louisep]

Sorry, nak...

Big virtual hug. More space in the bed has helped me. Have you thought of night weaning? I'm going to as soon as DS turns one. Sorry if that offends any one. How about offering water? Have you tried the Pantley Pull Off as described in The No Cry Sleep Solution?

Maybe post a new thread. We're all in the same boat here looking for help. At least we are able to give each other support. You are not alone.

[Louisep]

Originally Posted by LeoneLover13

Well it's great to hear SactoMommy is doing well!

Sorry for the rest of you, we are all in the same boat. I also wish you were all local and we could have sleepovers

I am not near any of you, I'm in Guam and the time doesn't change here so I can't blame the recent spike in late nights on that.

It's 530pm Wednesday here, so it's about 1230 am in the States, meaning you are all probably either still up or rolling around in bed trying to get your LO's back to sleep! Mine is currently STILL napping, she went down finally at 230pm, so It's most certainly going to be a late night again....

I hope you all get some sleep!

At least your LO takes long naps! Yay for that!

[Honey693]

Last night was awful. DD was up screaming every hour. She doesn't have any teeth coming in, I don't think it's a growth spurt, and I'm pretty sure she just hates me. That being said DH and I have decided to night wean starting Friday. I'm exhausted and cranky so much of the time and DD needs a happy mom more than she needs 3am boobs. We're using eh Jay Gordon plan, but there's a few things I don't get. It says not to let her fall asleep nursing in the plan for the first three nights. Well at 3am in the dark how do I know she's asleep? What do I do if she won't go back to sleep? And would it be better for DH to comfort her back to sleep or me?