I am exhausted. Truly. Henry is still not sleeping through the night. He wakes up one to three times every night. Honestly, it feels like winning the grand prize if it is just once. We have tried everything except letting him cry for hours. We give him time, and sometimes it works, but that doesn't change the fact that we are awake. Laying in our room listening to him fuss in his room. Waiting and holding our breaths that he will go back to sleep. Sometimes I think the nights I get up and nurse him are easier than that. At least he goes back to sleep easy when I nurse him. Back to sleep for the night, or for a few hours. No way to know.
We have been bringing him back to bed with us on the really bad nights, and then he will sleep easy. I just don't know that we want to start always letting him sleep with us. I am tempted to join the co-sleeping camp and call it quits. We are just so...tired. Exhausted. Beat. But, he sleeps so well in his bed sometimes. It doesn't seem like I should change that. His bedtime is way before ours, and I don't want him in our room alone. Plus, he is rolling so much now it doesn't feel safe to have him in our bed without both of us there. The other morning I was in the shower and he managed to get close to the edge in that fifteen minutes. I just don't know.
We have added more food in before bed. We try to let him calm down and not go in his room. We try to avoid nursing in the night and just going in there to sooth him, but leave him in his crib. But then there are the times he gets so worked up. Screaming and getting chocked he is so upset. I just don't understand why he keeps waking up when for so long he slept all night. It is so frustrating. And it is getting so old...
I know I have posted about this before, but it is still happening so we are back here again. When I sat down to post all I could think was, "I am too tired to blog". So...that's where we are. Any advice (Again) is welcome.
Wyatt's sleep pattern completely changes every time he is teething. Have you checked his gums out? I am guilty of co-sleeping quite often. I am so paranoid now it is hard to sleep.
ReplyDeleteObviously what works for one parent might not work for another, but here has been my approach: My (now almost 4yo) son always nursed to sleep. Always, until the day he was officially weaned at 14 months. And all through that time he would wake up once a night, I would nurse him, he'd fall back to sleep and I'd be back in bed in about 10-15 minutes. Once he was weaned, he also slept through the night, just like that. Maybe I was just lucky that way, but I am trying the same approach with my 11month old now. I just don't fret about nursing or rocking my babies to sleep, it's the easiest thing for me and also I love that snuggly feeling - even at 2am! Also, Moxie has some good advice about crying and whether you baby is a tension releaser or tension increaser when they cry (mine both gain tension by crying.) Good luck!
ReplyDeleteSarah, I am in the EXACT same boat. Well, not exact since Connor's never slept through but from once a night to two - three times lately. I am also knackered - got to work again an hour late second day in a row!
ReplyDeleteAnd then of course there's Kendra who also wakes 2 - 3 times a night. Some of the ladies posted some good advice on my post - have a look and see.
I'm still at a loss.
I know that some people frown on letting baby sleep with you, but if that's the only way you can feel rested, then gosh darn it! Do it!
ReplyDeleteMy girl has only slept thru the night a handful of times (like 6!!). Soo no advice here :) She ends up in bed with us pretty much on a nightly basis. My motto has just been to try and soak up the final months of baby time. I will get to sleep again ONE day right?? ;) Good luck!
ReplyDeleteOh I feel your pain! My almost 8 month old went from sleeping all night to waking up crying 3 or 4 times a night. After MUCH trial and error we finally figured out that he was getting cold during the night which is what was waking him up and then he was crying once he was awake. We moved him back into our room in his little bed and started over trying to help him sleep. We also noticed that he sleeps like a log if he is in our bed (which is soft and squishy) so we padded his bed just a little bit to make it feel more like ours. This, and a nice blanket, have both made dramatic differences in how many times he wakes up crying. I know I am doing everything they say not to do, but I was at my wit's end! He actually slept all night last night without waking up at all!! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteLack of sleep is such a miserable place to be. I have been through lots of times with my two girls at different stages when they didn't sleep well.
ReplyDeleteOne thing a doctor mentioned to me is that they can get into a routine where waking is just part of that routine. He suggested going in 30-45 minutes after they are asleep and moving them just a bit to where they change position. He said that helps reset that routine and should cut out the night time wakings. It worked for both my girls.
I have also seen that their sleep patterns change when they go through a growth spurt or teething or get a cold. I liked the example of the baby being cold and so not sleeping well. There are so many possible explanations and therefore so many possible solutions. Only you as the parent will know what your baby needs. I've seen amazing insight come to parents that was so out of the box! Hang in there :)