help re baby sleep (merged)

mutley74

Have you tried one of those baby basket toys that help kids relax?

Maybe your baby has wind? try a spoon of grip water - thats what my mum used to say when my kid was a baby.

alwaysonthego_2

You could try controlled crying method it has worked for me. You need to ring up your health visitor and ask if they run a sleep clinic locally. This really gave me confidence to try the controlled method. Good luck!

s4mmy

Poor you, I can still remember vividly how hard it is to cope with lack of sleep. It became an obsession with me and I'm sure that I bored the pants off everyone around [my eldest didn't sleep through the night until he was 3 1/2 yrs and the younger of the boys was 5 1/2 yrs =7yrs without full night sleep!!] However a friend of mine has recently used the controlled crying method successfully with her twin girls. So maybe you can give it a try.

Mrs7ones

Just a thought, but this has worked for me in the past - try a tiny spray of your purfume on a teddy for her to go to bed with...... It may just be comforting for her if she can smell you in the night......

SammyD_2

I DO know how you feel - neither of my two were great sleepers (take after me my Mum says). DS started sleeping through the night I went to hospital to have my daughter! Daughter has just started sleeping through (once a week or so) and is almost 2 and a half.

I know what it is like to be sleep deprived. The only thing I can suggest (which you may not like) is that you adjust your expectations (this is not meant to sound like a criticism, although when put down in writing sounds like it!). When I was at a low point with my son (when he was 10 months old), I realised part of the issue I had was that I felt he OUGHT to sleep through and that I could somehow engineer this by changing something/reading a new book on sleep for babies/getting advice from someone whose baby miraculously slept through.

Many babies do not sleep through the night at 11 months. Remember she is not just developing physically, but also emotionally - while it is important to check all the physical things, maybe she just feels scared/alone/uncertain about the big wide world. I found that by having my son in my bed all night that he slept better and I could have a bit more sleep as I could sort of dose while he rattled around half awake. Could you try having her in bed all night with you - not clear whether you did this or not from your post? Also, if she is really crying, maybe a music box might break the cycle - I found it useful for my two - I had one that displayed pictures on the ceiling as well. It would distract them, so at least I had a baby who was not crying.


I did not do controlled crying. I do not agree with it, and I do not care who criticises me for that view. I know it is really hard. I was working full time when my son was 8 months old, and my husband was working shifts, so I had many many nights on my own with a crying baby having to get up to work in the morning.

Your daughter won't need you like this forever. She will sleep through one day. It will get better!

I also strongly recommend a US web site called www.askdrsears.com which has lots of tips and hints, but comes from a gentler approach than many others I have read.

Karensteps

The mummy whisperer (I think it is) Is a book I got when I got my wee un. She was a pain to get to sleep but i did the pick up/put down routine, it was hard for like 3days and after that it was perfect. I had her sleeping through the night without feeds at around 4 - 5months if I recall. Oh and never take them in your bed, it upsets their routine, if your daughter is used to sleeping in her cot, and she has an unsettled night, you take her in your bed...she will soon catch on "If i cry mummy will take me into bed" my mum made the mistake of doing that with my little sister...shes now 5 and she still cant get her out the bed!!

Lillys_mum

(((((big hugs))))) to you. I know how you feel.

my youngest is 2yrs 3mths and still doesn't sleep through. I did have her in a routine of bed and asleep by 8.30 and she would wake once then go back to sleep until 8am..........that was until my husband went to Iraq in November. Now she just wont go to sleep. She will fall asleep on the sofa with me and I take her up to bed already asleep. Within an hour of her being in bed she is up again, the only thing that settles her is coming in with me and sleeping on Daddys side of the bed. I know I shouldn't let her but it is the only way I can get some sleep and I also have 2 older children and work to deal with so I need my sleep. I am hoping when Daddy comes back in April she will settle again.


Try and find a trigger for the problem, has anything changed in your lives at the moment? Babies/Children are very sensitive to change and sometimes even the slightest thing can set it off.

Just a thought - is she walking yet? Is she in a cot/cotbed? Sometimes moving them into a bigger bed helps as they don't bang themselves on the rails and wake themselves up. I moved my eldest into a bed at 11mths as she was doing the same, we got her a princess bed on Ebay which she loved and would want to be in it all the time so I wouldn't let her play on it and she was always excited to go to bed, from then on she slept through.

Hope you sort it soon

LM
xx

loobylou2

Not sure what to suggest here I'm afraid although I"m really sorry you're having problems.I really sympathise with you because if its any consolation my 25 month old had us up at 3 am this morning and and refused to go back to sleep until around 6am!!! Not the first time shes done it either, it does seem to be becoming a pattern with her. We've tried everything too including letting her sleep in our bed even though she refuses to settle if you try to cover her up!!! . Am going to wait and see what she does next week when shes back at nursery as I know her routine has been disrupted over the holidays but if she's still doing it I"ll speak to the HV.

Try not to get too stressed out about whats happening, I know its hard because like you I can't function if I don't get enough sleep but it is something she will eventually grow out of. I seem to remember that my older 2 now aged 10 and 8 did similar sort of things when they were smaller but can't remember how I coped at the time. Its all a bit of a blur due to lack of sleep I"m afraid, but they certainly don't wake up in the middle of the night now!!! Good luck and let us know how you get on!!!

MissEyre

Have no children myself, so don't kow what it's like, but sympathies-my sister had a nightmare with her two small people, and ended up going to a sleep clinic with her youngest, and she said they were great. She also had PND and did go back on the anti-ds for a short time after coming off them originally, and said it really helped. Do talk to your GP/ health visitor, won't you? x

kay41_2

alwaysonthego wrote: »

You could try controlled crying method it has worked for me. You need to ring up your health visitor and ask if they run a sleep clinic locally. This really gave me confidence to try the controlled method. Good luck!

I agree - I did just this at 8.5 months she still wasn't sleeping through and we were bringing her into bed with us, I was still feeding her - it gave me the confidence to do sleep training and guess what ? It took one night of hell, but boy was it worth it. She's now much older and still very good at going to bed and not waking up! Lack of sleep is horrid. NCT's book of sleep is good too. Good luck. I was also advised to do it before she could stand up and rattle the cot bars (this may be too late for you) - how about doing it before she can yell out words to make you feel worse!