My baby daughter will not sleep. I have been trying to get her to sleep for 10 months now. We have tried everything. She wakes my other kids up several times/night. They are exhausted too. My husband is exhausted. Our house is in complete chaos. I cannot take it anymore. My marriage is in jeopreody, I am having problems taking good care of my other 3 children very well. I forget to pay bills. I'm too tired to clean the house. I have blown off all my friends b/c they all tell me that their kids slept through the night at ...fill in blank. I hardly speak w/my family. We don't go out. We don't make love. My other children are tired and cranky. We all bicker. I am having major hip problems from walking her 22 pound body for hours every night. I find myself often putting videos on so that I don't have to engage with my other kids. I feel old, ugly and fat. I cannot exercise and I eat all day/night. I can never nap or catchup on sleep. My hair is starting to fall out. I cry all the time. I'm basically a wreck.
I have 3 other young children and I know that the sleep issue can be challenging. None of my other kids slept well during the first year, but I've never seen or heard of a child that doesn't sleep like this. Neither my husband or I have gotten more than 4 hours sleep/night for 10 months. We have been trying to get this child to sleep since 7:00pm this evening (5 hours now). Last night, she was up from 11:15 until 4:00 in the morning. The night before from 10:30pm until 5:00 am. And so on. She is now refusing naps during the day. She is hell at night time. Frankly, I do not know how she is managing on so little sleep. I worry about her brain development/growth because she HAS to be sleep deprived.
We have co-slept w/her which resulted in LESS sleep because all she did was cry in the bed when we tried to sleep. She does better in the crib, but still wakes up. Tonight she tried to play the "where's mommy's nose game for 2 hours." I have resorted to swaddling her tightly so she cannot play/move her arms legs, which seem to keep her from going to sleep. Yes, I am swaddling a 10 months old. I walk, rock, nurse, sing, bounce. I have talked relentlessly to her pediatrician who says we should let her CIO. There is nothing physically wrong with her that she just wants to hang out with us. I have taken her to the chiro, massage therapist and cranial sacral therapist. I have treated her homeopathically. I have given her advil, despite my beliefs about these kind of pain killers, thinking that her teeth my be causing her pain. It's getting worse every night. NOTHING works.
I am really losing it and am at the end of my rope. My son's 5th birthday party at school is tomorrow and I am dreading having to go and smile and be friendly. The baby ruins all of our family events for me.
I am really starting to resent this baby. I constantly think about how great our lives would be if we hadn't had her. I think that maybe we were too greedy wanting a fourth child and this is payback. I feel so bad for my other children because they are getting such a bad mother. I feel guilty for wishing my dd's "babyhood" away. I have always loved the infant stage but now I just cannot wait until this is over. I am afraid that this is ruining my future relationship with her. My husband and I barely utter a kind word to each other. We were too tied up with the baby to even acknowledge our 11 year anniversary. Last week I forgot whether my toothbrush was the green one or if it was my husbands. Today I fell asleep at a redlight while driving my kids to school. I cannot tell you how many meals I've burned. My day-to-day responsibilities are suffering. I feel like I can just barely make it through the day.
I'm not sure why I'm writing this. I guess I just feel so very alone and I cannot handle this anymore and I see no light at the end of the tunnel.
If anyone has any advice, I would love to hear it.
I have 3 other young children and I know that the sleep issue can be challenging. None of my other kids slept well during the first year, but I've never seen or heard of a child that doesn't sleep like this. Neither my husband or I have gotten more than 4 hours sleep/night for 10 months. We have been trying to get this child to sleep since 7:00pm this evening (5 hours now). Last night, she was up from 11:15 until 4:00 in the morning. The night before from 10:30pm until 5:00 am. And so on. She is now refusing naps during the day. She is hell at night time. Frankly, I do not know how she is managing on so little sleep. I worry about her brain development/growth because she HAS to be sleep deprived.
We have co-slept w/her which resulted in LESS sleep because all she did was cry in the bed when we tried to sleep. She does better in the crib, but still wakes up. Tonight she tried to play the "where's mommy's nose game for 2 hours." I have resorted to swaddling her tightly so she cannot play/move her arms legs, which seem to keep her from going to sleep. Yes, I am swaddling a 10 months old. I walk, rock, nurse, sing, bounce. I have talked relentlessly to her pediatrician who says we should let her CIO. There is nothing physically wrong with her that she just wants to hang out with us. I have taken her to the chiro, massage therapist and cranial sacral therapist. I have treated her homeopathically. I have given her advil, despite my beliefs about these kind of pain killers, thinking that her teeth my be causing her pain. It's getting worse every night. NOTHING works.
I am really losing it and am at the end of my rope. My son's 5th birthday party at school is tomorrow and I am dreading having to go and smile and be friendly. The baby ruins all of our family events for me.
I am really starting to resent this baby. I constantly think about how great our lives would be if we hadn't had her. I think that maybe we were too greedy wanting a fourth child and this is payback. I feel so bad for my other children because they are getting such a bad mother. I feel guilty for wishing my dd's "babyhood" away. I have always loved the infant stage but now I just cannot wait until this is over. I am afraid that this is ruining my future relationship with her. My husband and I barely utter a kind word to each other. We were too tied up with the baby to even acknowledge our 11 year anniversary. Last week I forgot whether my toothbrush was the green one or if it was my husbands. Today I fell asleep at a redlight while driving my kids to school. I cannot tell you how many meals I've burned. My day-to-day responsibilities are suffering. I feel like I can just barely make it through the day.
I'm not sure why I'm writing this. I guess I just feel so very alone and I cannot handle this anymore and I see no light at the end of the tunnel.
If anyone has any advice, I would love to hear it.
). My ped (who is also a friend) tells me that she thinks my lo is fine and is just not a good sleeper. Some are/some aren't and I've been lucky in the past (remember none of my other kids slept well the first year and then became crazy good sleepers). She thinks I'm having adjustment issues to having 4 kids...
