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Old March 24th 09, 12:51 PM posted to misc.kids.pregnancy
Welches
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Default Mummy vibes and sleep needed!


"lu-lu" wrote in message
...
Hi all

I am so so tired. I thought I'd been tired over the last few weeks, but
now
I'm exhausted. Kieran just seems to be sleep phobic, and I need advice!

Jessica was a perfect baby to get to sleep, and I think this is partly my
fault for not getting him straight into a routine. Well, kind of. He now
naturally wants to go to bed about 8pm and sleeps really well. I go to bed
at about 10-11pm and he wakes up at midnight. I'm now so tired that I take
him into my bed to feed, and then put him back in his crib, next to the
bed.
Then he realises he's not in my bed and wakes throughout the night until I
just end up falling asleep with him in my bed. I don't like doing this as
I
have narcolepsy, and I'm scared of being a risk.

The only thing that settles him is being breastfed. I can't give him
formula
as it constipates him, and he screams all night, and expressed bottles
make
him gassy as he's a guzzler. Back when I still have extra strength, I'd
try
and keep him awake longer so as to feed him more and fill him right up,
but
it didn't make any difference. I'm also shattered as I'm just feeding
constantly.If anything, he's getting worse, he did at least used to sleep
until 04.30. i've tried waking him earlier for feeds, but he just gets
unsettled and goes back to the constant waking. Even when he's in my bed
with me, he'll feed all night.

During the day is just as bad. He's always been a clingy baby, but he will
at least go to other people for 15-20 minutes at a time, but there's no
way
I can leave him with DH during the weekend days as he screams the house
down
until I get up. He takes very limited naps during the day unless I'm
holding
him - even in the car and pram he doesn't sleep well. When Jessica goes
for
a 2 hour nap in the afternoon, he'll maybe sleep in his crib for about 30
mins, and then wake me up and I end up falling asleep with him again.

I know that my narcolepsy causes excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS)
anyway,
and I'm aware that the whole condition is worsening, but I can't carry on
like this. If I'd had just one night's sleep lately, I'd be able to give
myself advice, but I can't. If DH gets him during the night, I end up
having
to get up as he screams til he gets me.I know I'm making it worse by
taking
him into my bed, but I'm so tired that I just need to grab sleep where I
can.

Please, mummies, tell me you went through this, came through the
otherside,
and that you have a magic sleeping wand that I can borrow!

Lucy - apologies if any of this makes no sense, I corrected as many
mistakes
as I could!

It does sound similar to what I had with #2.
#1 slept 12 hours at night from 2 months. She was usually down about 8:30,
but if she went down later then she still slept that 12 hours. During the
day she wasn't brilliant-slept best in her buggy, and not for longer than
30minutes at a time in her cot. But at 10 months she started sleeping 3
hours in the afternoon, and still the 12 at night. She did this until she
was gone 3yo. I don't think she woke more than once a night more than a
couple of times.
#2 came.I did exactly the same with her. Except she didn't settle well in
the evenings. She had her best awake period from about 7-10pm. So I would
feed her at 10pm... then she'd wake 3+ times during the night. (and did this
until she was gone 2yo) At about 18 months she went through a brief stage of
waking at 4am for the day. She'd then want to fall asleep about 8:30 as I
had to get 1 ready for preschool. She didn't sleep more than an hour at a
time and stopped her day sleep by 2yo.
I had similar problems that she wouldn't go to anyone. #1 would go to
anyone, but #2 wouldn't go to dh most of the time. I got used to doing
everything with her in the sling. When she fell asleep in the sling I would
try moving her to her cot, but it didn't usually work. She didn't sleep in
the buggy at all, or even in the car. Dh wouldn't get her during the night
as she'd just scream for me totally. I described her waking as 0-60 in 2
seconds, as in she woke, she screamed. #1 would wake gently, giving me time
to come to and listen to her moving before she would start gently crying.

But now she's in a lot of ways easier on both those fronts than #1. She's
much less clingy at age 5yo than #1 was. If I take her to a party, she's
usually telling me to leave before I've got her through the door, whereas #1
would be asking me to stay. She also recognises feeling tired and will put
herself to bed early if she thinks that she needs to. (she used to do this
at about 5pm when she was 3-4yo and I'd have to try and watch that she
didn't or she wouldn't sleep at night) whereas #1 thinks early bed is
dreadful and will object to even 10 minutes less reading time when she's
very tired.

#3's a mix between the 2. He slept through (12 hours) for a couple of nights
at 8 weeks. Then he had his 2 month jabs and reacted badly. He's hardly
slept through since, although he's managed 3 out of the last 4 nights at 21
months. But he's had a lot of ear infections, and they disturb him, plus he
learnt to climb out of his cot very early, so as soon as he was awake he was
climbing onto me going "mama milk" and it was easier to give it to him than
refuse. He also has a tendency to wake between 6am and 7am, which I don't do
very well.
Both #2 and #3 slept better in the bed than the cot, I don't really know
why, but moving them into the bed made an immediate difference to both. It
may be luck of the timings.

Don't worry you're not alone, and it's not what you're doing. I did exactly
the same with all three, all breastfed, and the same bedtime routine, and
they've been different. I blame dh's genes for the bad sleeping...
Debbie