Night time sleep « Back to Group Discussions

[LiLStar]

I'm wondering if I got really lucky with my first 2, or am just unlucky with this 1. The only time he'll regularly wake to nurse and then actually nurse back to sleep tends to be between 7am to 1pmish.. not fair eh? Starts getting his best sleep about when I need to wake up. Every other time of day, if he wakes up, he is *up* and even if its 3am and I get a boob in his mouth at the first sign of stirring, he is *up* and I can count on being up at least an hour. I'm either a zombie because I'm running on about 4 hours of sleep, or dh  goes in to his office late (he telecommutes, so he can get away with it, but its more difficult for him) while I sleep until 11-12. This has gotta change.. but I have no idea how! Last night I went to bed at 9:30, pretty much as soon as all 3 were out. With 3 long  wakings in there, it was a struggle to wake at 11! Gettin ridiculous here.

[jbk21]

Is he awake and upset in the middle of the night?  I don't know what you've tried but here's what I'd do:  nurse, change diaper if needed, and then swaddle (or if he does not like to be swaddled just put him down however you usually do) and act like he's sleeping.  No stimulation- no lights on- nothing.  Dylan cosleeps with us so what that would look like for us is to just nurse him then swaddle and put him next to me, and I'd go back to sleep hoping he'd doze off eventually since he's just laying there in the dark.  Dylan doesn't nurse to sleep though.... But if he isn't upset and doesn't need anything, is there any reason why you can't just sleep next to him and hope he falls asleep on his own?

[LiLStar]

Yeah, thats my general night time rules.. no lights, no talking, no stimulation. He IS upset, but its clear its not anything like gas or upset tummy or anything like that.. because if I DID provide stimulation, it would definitely calm him. But I'd much rather snuggle him while he burns energy screaming than set up the expectation that night time wakings will be "rewarded" The most I'll do is sit up, hold him swaddled while bouncing and giving him a finger to suck. A couple weeks ago I thought he was improving when that trick after nursing would get him to sleep in a few minutes. Doesn't seem to work anymore. So I pretty much spend the awake time alternating between that, nursing, changing positions, and if he's calm, laying there trying to sleep/dozing a little like you said. And he has fallen asleep basically on his own like that before, but it tends to be after a good period of awake. Sometimes after a minute or 2 he cries. Maybe a couple more visits to the chiro will help. way over due for another visit. oh that would be such an easy fix! Maybe too easy.. because you'd think if that was all he needed, he wouldnt nap like a dream? Maybe i should start journaling his sleep patterns.

[TalkToMeNow]

What J said. I do the same thing if Jasper wakes up. He doesn't really cry or fuss if he's not wet or hungry. So I just lie next to him and wait for him to sleep. Sometimes he needs to poop but it takes a while. Sometimes he wants to suck but not eat, so I give him a pacifier. But I don't get up with him.

[TalkToMeNow]

Cross posted. Could you try walking and bouncing him in the dark/ near-dark? It might get him to sleep faster but isn't really a "reward."

[jbk21]

That totally sucks.  I'm out of ideas, lol!  

[seraf]

That stinks.  S usually sleeps but if he is up and not nursing I will lay him across my stomach and drum on his rump.  Usually he just wiggles and fusses if he needs to potty.  He is really insistent tho.

[Jaimee]

Really I would vote "other" as Avery wakes to nurse and keeps his eyes closed usually, but is hardly asleep.  He's grunting, squirming, restless.  We do what you all do, though... dark, no stim, swaddle, thump on back, snuggle, lay there waiting for sleep, pinky binky, etc.  Often one of us ends up with him on our chest or sitting upright with him. He's generally out by 10pm-ish and up around 7-8am.  He'll take a nice morning nap, though!

[CDsMom1031]

My DS sleeps awesome, but I think it's to make up for the fact that he's a devil during the day. O_o He's asleep by 930, sleeps until anytime between 4-6 where he wakes up to nurse, then sleeps again until 8... Parties for an hour, then sleeps until noonish.

But from noon-930... *Pulls hair out*. It's a good compromise.

[augustmom]

Typically my little man wakes up once to nurse, burp, diaper change and will go right back down. (knock on wood). Some nights, if he goes to bed early, he's up twice, following the same pattern as above. 

[birdhappy85]

I guess I'm pretty fortunate with how well Sora sleeps overnight. I've only had one night with her where she got up at 4am and wouldn't fall back asleep until 6am. But otherwise she sleeps straight through the night from about 10pm - 6am. If I'm really in tune with her needs and just change her and feed her when she gets squirmy and is still passed out, she doesn't even wake up fully for anything all night. I joke that she "sleep eats." Haha. That's how last night went.

[LiLStar]

Last night I thought I might have figured out the issue. his first waking he was nursing and his eyes were closed and he didn't seem like he was waking, but he was working real hard to get his arms free. So I unwrapped him and he settled back to sleep without waking. I'll never know if staying unwrapped will work all night because around 5 I had to fully wake up, lights on (this was so beyond a night light!) to clean up a massive blowout. Double stuffed pockets..great for pee, but the extra bulk really compromises the snugness of the leg openings! Poop at night is unusual. I wonder if he's shifting his habits a little because the last 2 mornings he's been up  at 8. 

[seraf]

Yay for figuring it out for one night at least!  S will poop at 3 or 4 if he goes to bed really early a couple nights in a row.

[LiLStar]

Crazy.. a switch just flipped. Last night he slept from 8-6:30 (waking to nurse, course) then another half hour or so of restless/half awake sleep. I'm normally one to be very much NOT a morning person, and consider it "the middle of the night" if its a minute before 8:00am. But if I can get it all in one uninterrupted (well, minimally) stretch I'll take what I can get. Now, I'm totally fascinated.. night time sleep is VERY different from day time sleep. There's been other changes that make me confident this "sleeping at night" thing will become habit. Now, I'm not complaining about these things (it was a fair trade!) I'm just pointing it out because its fascinating. You know the evening fussies most babies have right before bed the first 3 months or so? Evan never had it. Perfectly happy, content baby. Today he had it! I never would have guessed that it was so directly connected to sleep  cycles. Isn't that so weird that before he got his days and nights sorted he didn't have fussy time? Another thing is the "rules" surrounding nap time have changed. All of a sudden, I'm not allowed to lay him down if he's napping or he wakes right up. Tonight his fussy period was..earlier than I would have preferred. He was asleep around 6. Scary early for someone who hates waking before 8. I figured I'd just wake him after an hour, keep him up till 8 or 8:30 or so and it'd be fine. HAHA! When he slips into "night sleep" suddenly its perfectly fine to set him down. And nothing will wake him. I spent a good 15-20 min trying to keep him up, then watching his eyes start closing and changing his position, yeah, he wasn't having it. Finally gave in and let him sleep. But wow.. get sucked into a nighttime sleep cycle and there's no getting out of it! Incredible to watch this instantaneous change happen, quite literally, overnight. 

[Abraisme]

Yup, I've totally noticed a difference between day-time and night-time sleep.  Coralie's naps are usually short and she's restless, stirs easily and wakes up quickly if I set her down.  Once she's sleeping for the night (so far it's been around 11:30pm), she's OUT.  Last night she woke up at 4:00am, 7:00am and then was up for the day at 10:00am.  Basically she sleeps in 3-5 hour stretches, which is great.  I hope it stays this way!.  My other babies woke every 1-3 hours until they weaned.