**The No Sleep Club**

[petchy]

he slept till 5am!!! he stirred and fussed a bit at 4am, to the point where i got up to feed him, but went downstairs for a glass of water first. was just about to open the door to the nursery when i realised he'd gone quiet again! after a 15 minute feed at 5am he slept till 6.45, and chatted away to himself in his cot until i got him up at 7!

it was the other man in my life causing problems last night... at 11.30pm he came home pissed! now he was supposed to be at work?!? (works 10pm-6am), but was too drunk to talk any sense so i don't know what excuse he has. his friends dropped him off and had the music BLARING from the car, to the point where ruben who was settling nicely nearly woke up. (i shouted out the window at this point for them to "turn the f***ing music off, the baby is sleeping!!!" not like me to swear like that but i was well pissd off. he's 36 for goodness sake, not 16!!!

i made OH sleep on the sofa, he's still there snoring away. he wasn't best pleased about that, tried to come in the bedroom, but no way was he sleeping in the bed with me, disturbing my already disturbed sleep! at least he hasn't been sick, which i was worried he'd be....

men, 'ey???? he's got some explaining to do when he wakes up! hope he's not jeopardised his job by turning up drunk...

 

[Urchin]

Yay that's great news Petchy

Brody had a setback last night, I gave him a dream feed at 11.00pm, but then he woke at 4, 4 and 6.
No only that but when he woke up he was fussing and whiinging and he doesn't normally do that

 

[petchy]

i think he's sussed it! last few days sleeping pattern:

11.15-4.05, 4.45-6.45
11.30-5, 5.30-6.45
11.00-4.30, 5-7

so he has now managed to go a 5 1/2 hour stretch in the night, hopefully he will keep increasing this little by little until he can sleep from 11-7!

it was so nice this morning, i woke up by his cooing and babbling at 7 o'clock on the dot! (7 is when i get him up regardless of whether he is still sleeping or not as if i don't the routine goes to pieces, so hopefully he is getting used to 7 being waking time!)

he's in a fantastic mood this morning, he's been very excited on his playmat on the floor since after his feed!

URCHIN: i don't do a dreem feed at the last evening feed, as if he doesn't wake up fully then he will not sleep more than 2 hour stretches in the night! he sleeps well from his bedtime of 7pm-10/10.15pm most nights, then i turn the lights on at 10.15 and let him wake up properly. at 10.30 i feed him most of his feed, usually one boobie and 2-3oz of formula (with the bright light still on), then i change his nappy, dim the light right down and feed him the other boobie. i make sure he is always fully awake for at least one hour at the last evening feed. the formula top-up seems to keep him going longer too, it's the only formula he has and if it means i get to sleep a 5 hour stretch it's woth it! lol any feeds in the middle of the night i do keep the lights down though and don't talk to him or stimulate him in any other way.

 

[beanie]

A bit of progress, Seren went to bed at 7, asleep for 7.30, woke at 2.30am and again at 4.30am til about 7am.

 

[Tara & Liam]

Hi

Just noticed this, i think i will join.

Liam is a nightmare waking between 1 1/2 hours to every 3 .

Going back to the first page, i am going to do what you had posted urchin, we are going to bath and feed him earlier, then i will give him a bit of a massage then play a bit with some of his toys.

can anyone give me advise on a good cot toy.

x

 

[Urchin]

Well Brody seems to have gone back to his old routine of every 2 hours again.
Yesterday he had 3 meals, mostly mixed with formula ( plus I Brought the times of them forward so he has his last meal earlier so he has more room for milk before bed)

He had one "practice" oz. of formula in the daytime (trying to get him to understand a bottle when he was tired wasn't working.) Anyway, he took one oz. at lunchtime so I gave him another 3 oz. before bed, plus as much brestmilk as he could fit in.

He went to sleep at 9, but then still woke every 2 hours.

I know what it is though I think, a couple of times this week I have fallen asleep with him next to me in the bed, and he has slept better both times. Usually when I lift him back into the crib he goes straight back off. Not this week though, this week he's getting wise to it and is having a little moan about it

 

[petchy]

7-10
11-4.30
5-7

...again! seems to be a little pattern emerging! yay i'm getting some sleep!

 

[emilia]

You know what - I'm actually starting to accept my night time routine... I'm passed getting stressed about it. I've tried everything, but nothing is really cracking Oscars' waking.
He had some vaccinations today and after a very tiring and grizzly day, I put him in the sling at 5.30pm - he slept until 7pm when I woke him up. He was so befuddled, I quickly changed and dressed him, fed and bed. Who knows - he might sleep all night, then again, he might just follow his old ways.
Slowly but surely, I'm becoming nocturnal...
Emilia xx

 

[Urchin]

I feel like every time I post on this thread I may as well copy and paste my previos post into the box!
(Brody woke every 2 hours again)

The first time he woke up I stuck my knuckle in his mouth to try and get him back to sleep without feeding him. It didn't work

 

[emilia]

The first time he woke up I stuck my knuckle in his mouth to try and get him back to sleep without feeding him. It didn't work

I tried that last night too, didn't work for me - too sore with two pegs grating my knuckle!!
Urchin, how is Brody taking to the weaning? What is he eating?

Emilia xx

 

[Urchin]

Hiya Emilia

Brody LOVES his food!
A typical day goes like this

10am, breastfeed then Breakfast, "oats and apple" baby cereal.
1pm Breastfeed then Lunch 2 Ice cubes of carrot mixed with babyrice, fruit puree for dessert.
5.30pm breastfeed then Dinner, 3 Ice cubes of sweet potato, baby yoghurt for dessert

He wolfs his food down, and will moan at me if I don't spoon it in quick enough.
The speed he eats has kind of reassured me, as he never breastfed for that long either. Now I know he's just a fast eater!

 

[emilia]

Brody sounds like a boy who likes his food!! How nice!!
I'm thinking of introducing some foods to Oscar - I think he's getting ready for it, maybe?
Your menu sounds lovely... can we come over for tea?
Emilia xx

 

[Urchin]

Much better night here!

But I think it's cos I gave him a dummy when he woke up the first time at 1
so then he only woke up at 2 then 5, then slept again till 7.45

I will use the dummy only at night when he wakes the first time and see if I can use it to break the habit, then I will try to stop giving it to him.

He is definitley more of a "sucky" baby than Mason was, and sucks his hands and his toys and his muslins etc. I'm hoping the dummy will settle him back down without a feed, then he might stop waking at the time altogether.

 

[emilia]

Sounds like his teething, Urchin.... glad you had a better night though!!
May I ask which dummy you used? I tried the Avent ones - no luck!
Thanks
Emilia xx

 

[Lucy]

Hi everyone

Really pleased to hear Brody is sleeping better

Emilia - I tired lots of dummies with Olivia and the only one she will take is the Tommee Tipee Nuby ones, they sort of move a bit when the baby sucks so it mimicks the boob a wee bit. Olivia rarely takes a dummy now, she usually spits it back out!

Olivia is getting better at night, she either wakes once at 1.30 ish or else 5/6 ish (depending on whether we put her down at 8/9 or 11. Whenever I give her a dream feed she wakes up really often after that so I've stopped that!

Lucy

 

[emilia]

Thanks for that Lucy!
A friend of mine suggested I put Oscar down a lot later, but he can't keep his eyes open past 7pm (that's when we bath, boob, bed). He goes from about 7.30 until 12am - sometimes 11pm or even 2am.
I have no idea how i can possibly delay his bedtime. It's also getting darker earlier now with Autumn which doesn't help.
Any advice?
Emilia xx

 

[Urchin]

Hiya again
Emilia would he have an extra nap at around 5-6 then wake up again for some playtime before bed at say 9pm?

If you want him to get the hang of it you could try a nap time and slowly bring his bedtime further back every night.

I have a tommee tippee dummy, the orthodontic one, it falls out as soon as he's asleep, I just hope he doesn't start crying for his dummy as I don't really like them, and am only using this one to try and break the 2 hour wake-up habit.

 

[emilia]

Yeh Urchin, I agree with you - I tried it tonight as he slept from 5.30 - 6.30. Still at 7pm, he whinges for his bath, but only just put him down - nearly 9pm. Will see how it goes.
Thanks for all the advice!
Have a good night too!
Emilia xx

 

[Lucy]

Emilia, interesting what you say about Oscar not being able to keep his eyes open.. what happens with Olivia is after her bath she just wants boob then she falls asleep after about 40 mins (so that's about 8pm), a few times I have tried to put her to bed at that time but she wakes up and is full of beans! I try to just sh-sh-sh-sh her back to sleep but she has none of it (that was when I introduced the dummy), so after her spitting out the dummy and still being awake I leave her for a bit but then she gets grumpy and eventually starts crying so I'll pick her up and give her some more boob then we do the above 4 or 5 times until it's about 10.30 when she finally stays asleep when I put her to bed (or at that point she might take the dummy). In the early days my MW said this was cluster feeding but as she constantly falls asleep on my boob I think it's comfort suckling. Some nights if she hasn't slept much during the day she'll stay asleep when we put her down about 9ish.

I've just started taking her up to her room to finish the "cluster feeding" in the hope that she'll learn that it's getting near bed time but it's hard sometimes when DH is sitting downstairs and I'm up there for most of the evening.

Where do sit to give them their last feeds Urchin and Emilia?

Lucy

 

[emilia]

Big yawn..... exhausted this morning.... Oscar was on booby binge all night long!!! I actually feel "hung over".
Oh well, I think I'm just a big softy. I keep thinking that I should really be a bit tougher and letting him cry is out when he fights his sleep. I don't have the heart though.

Lucy, I sit on my bed in dimmed room. 30 Minutes after feed his out for the count. He's really brill at bedtime - it's a routine we've followed from day one. I should really stop taking him into my bed at night, but I'm so knackered when he wakes, I just pop him in beside me.

I can't tell you how much I'd love a good sleep - even just for one night!!!!
Emilia xx