Print Page | Close Window

Sleeping - how bad is this?

Printed From: OHbaby!
Category: Have A Baby?
Forum Name: First baby? Second or more?
Forum Description: Want help? Need support? Want tips? Men and women share advice and tips in this supportive community
URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=36397
Printed Date: 26 August 2025 at 7:17pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com


Topic: Sleeping - how bad is this?
Posted By: T_Rex
Subject: Sleeping - how bad is this?
Date Posted: 25 October 2010 at 4:29pm
I'm just curious how far outside the norm (if at all) my girl's sleep patterns are. I'm not after suggestions, just comparisons

At 10 months, 2 hours at night is a huge stretch of sleep for her, and about 1 hour is the norm. She needs resettling 6-8 times on a *normal* night. She takes about an hour to settle for the night, and is keen to get up for the day at 5.30-ish. Night wakings can be anywhere from 2 minutes to more than 2 hours and usually involve plenty of tears I usually BF her 2-3 times overnight.

What were your babies like at her age?

And if they were like my DD, dare I ask when things improved? I'm tired

-------------
http://lilypie.com"> http://lilypie.com">



Replies:
Posted By: monikah
Date Posted: 25 October 2010 at 5:18pm
by that age DH was sleeping 7 - 7 but he didnt start dropping the 11pm feed til about 8 months. all my friends kids were sleeping 12 hour stretches from anywhere between 4-6 months so i felt really hard done by until i came on here and realised that it varies heaps.

i am still feeding finn 8pm, 11pm, 4/5ish and he gets up at 7am with my other son but doesnt eat til 8ish. he is formula fed too. but before DH moved to aussie he was doing 11pm-7am. i think both kids are a bit unsettled.

if you are coping on that much sleep i have to say you are amazing! good luck and i hope things get better soon

-------------




Posted By: 1st_Time_Preggies
Date Posted: 25 October 2010 at 6:12pm
My DS is about a month behind (so 9 months) and isn't sleeping through the night so you are not alone!

He goes to bed at 7pm, and is up between 6.30am and 7am. In between that he can wake anywhere between 10pm and 5am for one or two feeds. On a good night he will go straight back to sleep after feeding. On a bad night he cries the minute he is put back into his cot. On a worse night, he won't settle and I take him into bed with me for the rest of the night. Luckily this has only happened on the odd occasion so far (crossed fingers!!!)

I think you are amazing to cope on so little sleep.


Posted By: High9
Date Posted: 25 October 2010 at 7:05pm
Lily goes to bed between 7 and 8pm, she usually wakes about 9pm (regardless of her bed time) has a quick feed (despite having dinner and a BF before bed...) umm... Wakes sometimes at 11.30pm, 2am, 5am and then 7am start otherwise if it's a goodnight I get 9pm-2am, 2am-6.30am. But that's rare! Sometimes she refuses to go back to sleep (once a month) and I take her back to bed with me and she sleeps through...

-------------
http://lilypie.com">


Posted By: myonlineself
Date Posted: 25 October 2010 at 8:02pm
Teyla was pretty much exactly the same unti l3 or 4 weeks ago. I was up every 1 - 2 hours and often up for 2 hours at a time for no apparent reason. Things have settled down now - I am not sure why exactly - she's now got 6 teeth and can't see any other white buds so hoping we have a break from teething for a while. I've also stopped feeding her over night and am now settling her without the dummy (which means settling is much more challenging)... but she has started sleeping from 8 - 6, sometimes right through, sometimes a wake at 2, sometimes at 4.30...

ANyway - that's just what we've done, but just giving you some hope maybe that it can get better, cause OMG at 9 months I was thinking "will this ever get better".. I am not convinced we have solved the sleep thing completely but at least I know it isn't always going to be bad!

-------------
http://lilypie.com">
http://lilypie.com">


Posted By: Kimnthekids
Date Posted: 25 October 2010 at 8:05pm
DS was similar at that age , until i got so sleep deprived that we decided to try for one of the sleep strategies - when he started crying we left him first for 2 mins then hugs, then 5 mins, then 10, then 15 etc.

The first night was hell, the second night he was settling by the 10 min time, the 3rd night he woke twice and then he seemed to start settling himself - we still usually had 1 wakeup most nights for food - butwe'd hear him wake other times and get back to sleep.

I know its not for everyone though, but i was starting to mentally lose it and needed to try something.

-------------
http://lilypie.com"> http://lilypie.com">


Posted By: _SMS_
Date Posted: 25 October 2010 at 8:12pm
From memory at 10 months dd would be waking at least twice a night. But sometimes ALOT more.

If you BF her does she go straight back to sleep?

-------------


Posted By: mollycat
Date Posted: 25 October 2010 at 8:29pm
That's pretty bad but my DS could be the same. He didn't start sleeping through on a somewhat consistent basis until 11 months. Like Kimnthekids, we did the Farber (sp?) method where waited 5 mins, then 10, then 15, etc. By the 3rd night he was pretty much settling himself. I tried this method several times before but it wasn't until he was a bit older that it actually worked! At the same time I completely cut out BF at night. It was a bit hardcore but I had to do something for all of us - including DS. He was just as exhausted as the rest of us.



-------------
http://tickers.cafemom.com">


193


Posted By: MrsMojo
Date Posted: 25 October 2010 at 9:06pm

Until 10mo DD was similar.  It took hours to get her down to sleep at night and then she'd wake within 1-2 hrs, if I resettled her back into her cot it would only be for another 1-2hrs so she usually ended up in my bed on the first wakeup. 

By 10mo I was constantly exhausted, not eating properly because putting her to sleep took so long I missed dinner and by the time she was in bed I was too tired to care and at my wits end.  I was working fulltime and was in a rut - the norm wasn't working for me but I was too tired to do anything about it.  I spoke to several mums including Louise from The Sleep Store and took advice on how to encourage her to self settle, picking and choosing what would work for us.  I took a week off work to instigate the new routine which involved set bedtimes, no more feeding to sleep, no more rocking to sleep, no more night feeds, clearer sleep cues, darkened bedroom, lots of cuddles and reassurance (I won't do CC or CIO).  It took me an hour the first night to get her too fall asleep in her own cot, only 30 mins the next night but on the 3rd night she went to sleep almost immediately and what's more she slept through the night - I was stunned.  For months afterwards I still couldn't believe how well she went to sleep and slept through.

I started using sleep cues and routines when DS was still a newborn and he started STTN from 7mo, which is only 3 months earlier than DD but he was self settling from 7 weeks old and having decent daytime naps too (which DD didn't do).



-------------


Posted By: whitewave
Date Posted: 25 October 2010 at 9:35pm
Campbell did the same thing at that age - that's when he started co-sleeping with us again, because I got sick of getting up all the time.

Hate to say it, but at 20 months old, he still co-sleeps at night, and still wakes 3-4 times a night on a good night! He's slept through the night only twice this year! But he nearly always goes back to sleep immediately after a breastfeed.
I feel like I need to break the habit, but i don't have the energy to put a new plan into place and to stick with it. Sooo much easier to feed then turn over, when its the middle of the night and I'm so tired.

I hope you have better luck than me!


Posted By: Mum_mum
Date Posted: 26 October 2010 at 8:50am
I think at 10 months (and that wasn't that long ago but shows what lack of sleep does to your memory lol) DD was still waking 3 times a night, and would have a quick feed for about 10 mins and then fall back asleep. Around 10 months I introduced water at night time and over a week or two cut out the night feeds, if she really screamed I gave in and fed her but other times she was happy with a big drink of water and a cuddle and rock back to sleep and at the most might have taken an hour but usally 20 mins.

Now she still doesnt sleep through the night but only wakes up once, has a drink and a cuddle and falls back to sleep in about 5 mins.



-------------
http://lilypie.com"> http://lilypie.com">
Angel baby - May 2008


Posted By: Lucky apple
Date Posted: 26 October 2010 at 10:27am
http://www.mybabysleepguide.com/p/index.html - My baby sleep guide has some good info....overviews all sleep methods, including cry and non cry methods.



Posted By: naysgirl
Date Posted: 26 October 2010 at 11:15am
My DS (who shares a birthday with you wee one) usually sleeps through the night. He goes to bed between 6.30pm and 7pm. Usually wakes for the day between 6am and 7am. Although this morning is was 5.30am!

I have night weaned him, started that at around 8 1/2 months. But before that he was usually only having 1 feed a night. If he does wake at night, he might grizzle for a wee bit but then he will go back to sleep. We were having problems with him moving around the cots heaps at night and waking himself up etc but we have a brought a Babe Ok sleep sheet which has helped heaps and his day and night sleeps have been so much better. I do not cope well with not a lot of sleep, it starts to wear me down.

I think you are amazing to be able to cope with that broken sleep!! I hope things improve and that you start getting some decent streches of sleep.

-------------
http://lilypie.com">
http://lilypie.com">


Posted By: millymollymandy
Date Posted: 26 October 2010 at 12:55pm
At that age was sleeping from 6.30 - 6.15 ish, with one dream feed. Possibly would wake for say 30 seconds make a noise and put herself back to sleep. I have had early wakes, but giving a snack at 4.30 ish and then dinner at 6ish seems to have fixed it - fingers crossed.

Prior to 9 months she was waking every two hours and taking between 20mins - 2hours to go back to sleep. It was prue hell - I know how you feel.

I was getting so sleep deprived that I feared that I was going to hurt her or me. Plus I decided that it all the crying that was going on in getting her back to sleep (and there was a lot of crying) was a bit cruel and as much I hated leaving her crying I decided that I needed to help her learn to self settle. I didn't want to be a zombie mum anymore.

After one night, and a lot of reassurance and checks from me, she was settling quickly and after 3 nights no crying, and only crys now if overtired. A quick cuddle usually helps and she will settle quickly.

She tells us when she's ready for naps and bed and blows kisses and waves night-night when is put to bed. I think she kinda chats and giggles to her toys when going to sleep. Its adorable.

Big hugs - you are doing a great job - hope you find something that works.


Posted By: MamaT
Date Posted: 26 October 2010 at 10:03pm
I feel your pain, although DS isn't awake for hours at a time, he is waking every hour at night at the moment, on a great night its every 2 hours (I co-sleep). He only sleeps during the day if I'm holding him.
Its all got so much worse in the last month, for a while there he was sleeping pretty well, waking just 3 or 4 times a night and sleeping in his cot (which is next to my bed)
Its lovely to hear similar stories but with success at the end of the day, I can see a light at the end of the tunnel.
Hugs hun, I hope it does improve for you. You are soing amazing, especially with working too.

-------------
 


Posted By: T_Rex
Date Posted: 29 October 2010 at 1:05pm
Oh T, I'm sorry to hear things are still rough in your house too.
MrsMojo, thanks for the post - it's pretty much me exactly right now. The norm is so hard but with work i'm too tired to change it.

But seeing as there are some encouraging stories here, I'm making a big effort to improve things and we *only* got 4 wakings last night.

-------------
http://lilypie.com"> http://lilypie.com">


Posted By: E&L+1
Date Posted: 29 October 2010 at 1:46pm
We had multiple wakings for I can't remember how long. About a month ago I was so over it and starting to think about weaning which was something I didn't want to do so put a plan in place. I wrote it down stuck it on the fridge and set a date to start it on. I had tried gentle techniques but they hadn't worked for DD despite using them consistently for months. She always self settled to sleep at night but never during the day. Co sleeping didn't work as she woke more and was really restless.

I used verbal reassurance which is basically controlled crying but added in some extra things from sleep sense. I decided that I would stick to it for 1 night and if that was horrible then I would go back to using the gentle techniques and try again when she was older.

First night I was surprised she did do her protest cry (the one she makes when things aren't going her way) but only for a couple of minutes each time she woke and she was asleep within 15 minutes each time. So I persevered and each night got better with cries mainly grizzles. Now we still have night waking but we have broken the feed every time she wakes habit (and it was a habit as often she'd stop sucking as soon as let down happened). Last night was the worst night in about 2/3 weeks. She woke 3 times first 2 I went in and lay her back down and she was asleep before I got back to bed., the third I fed her. Most nights she wakes only once or shock horror sleeps through! My rule of thumb is if she wakes after 4am I feed her otherwise I just check in.

GL in finding something that works for you!

-------------
http://lilypie.com"> http://lilypie.com">


Posted By: Inlove28
Date Posted: 29 October 2010 at 8:47pm
Hi T Rex, guttered for you that your still not getting good sleep.

I have dropped one of Soph's day sleeps and she sleeps through now bar a dream feed which was suggested by the sleep store. You should write to them they were awsome! Down at 7pm and up 6-7am.

Bubs has been going great but shes just had her 3rd molar pop through so shes had enough of teething (11 teeth at 10 months)


Posted By: Nikki
Date Posted: 29 October 2010 at 9:08pm
Jake slept 7pm til about 7am at that age, with two day naps, and Morgan did 7pm til about 6am with mostly 2 naps but starting going to one at 10mths (both on one day nap by 14mths). They rarely woke.

Although both of mine slept thru young and didn't wake around that age, I've found just over 1 they do/did wake the odd night, usually related to molars or being sick (I think Jake stopped that by 18mths tho, but we still have it once or so every week or two with Morgan).

Hope things improve for you soon. sleep deprivation is horrible!!!

-------------
DS (5yrs) and DD (3yrs)


Posted By: Emmecat
Date Posted: 29 October 2010 at 9:16pm

Um sounds about like what we had...except I think I was pg again by about the tiem Clody was 10 months old so I night weaned her (although still demand fed during the day).  We don't do CIO or CC either so yep it was a matter of lots of cuddles, lots of BF, lots of tears from everyone and not much sleep and quite frankly it was bloody awful. I thought I was getting PND at the time but it turned out to be utter sleep deprivation . It does get easier as they get older but having said that, we still get woken up twice a night now-on avearge- but resettling is usually fairly quick. Or we have nights like tonight where its been a work in progress since 7.30pm. Sigh. Can't help sorry, but can commiserate. ((hugs))



-------------

http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">


Posted By: T_Rex
Date Posted: 30 October 2010 at 11:46am
Emme, how hard was night weaning? She's just a wee dot, even though she eats like a horse, so I kind of feel like she should be getting fed in the night still. Especially as she's down to 3 feeds - morning, lunch and bedtime - on daycare days. But I'd much rather feed her once or twice, not 4 times! And feeding isn't a guaranteed settle anyway. We were up for 90 minutes after the 3am feed this morning. I think lots of milk feeds triggers her reflux

-------------
http://lilypie.com"> http://lilypie.com">


Posted By: millymollymandy
Date Posted: 30 October 2010 at 2:15pm
T-rex my girl was about 6.5 KG when I night weaned her, gradually decreasing what she got and dream feeding before she woke herself. She didn't bat an eyelid and eats even more during the day. I did find that not feeding at night made it eaiser for her not to settle, as it was less confusing for her.


Posted By: Emmecat
Date Posted: 30 October 2010 at 6:21pm

T-Rex, suprisingly night weaning wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.... Clody is also a bit of a dot, but shorter rather than skinny iykwim? She sits about the 50th percentile for weight for her age so I was never worried about her not getting enough calories or anything. And I'm pretty sure I would've been feeding her 3-4 times a day at that age? Maybe more? But yeah we had a looong BF before her bedtime, I just let her have her fill and she'd often fall asleep on the breast.

We went about night weaning by getting Daddy to go to her when she woke during the night. It took about 3/4 nights of her being a bit upset, but he was always there to hold her and cuddle her and give her a sippy cup of water etc, so it's not like she didn't have anyone iykwim? Now when she wakes she calls for Daddy and generally resettles fairly quickly.  I think I also made sure she was getting a good size dinner, complete with 'dessert' of yogurt and fruit and weetbix etc...stuff that I thought might fill up her wee tummy so I knew she wasn't waking from hunger.

You can only try it if you can't face BF bubs overnight! the only thing I would say is make a cut off time for BF that makes sense...ie a bedtime feed then the next one a morning feed. It's pointless (IMO) to say oh I'll feed her up till midnight, cos babies can't tell time lol so to her it's just dark iykwim? Dr Sears has some great advice in his books, as does Elizabeth Pantley  Oh I also told her that 'milkies' or-whatever you call them- where going to sleep too lol and that we would see them again in the morning



-------------

http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">


Posted By: T_Rex
Date Posted: 31 October 2010 at 8:52am
Lol, Emme, I love the idea of *milkies* going to sleep. Do you think at 10 months, she'd understand that? How many night feeds was she having when you weaned her? It seems a bit mean to suddenly go from 6 feeds to none, cutting out about 2 hours of feeding in one hit. But I agree about it not being fair to feed her sometimes and not others. I was wondering about cutting her feeds shorter for a while, but that might just prolong the tears and confusion?

-------------
http://lilypie.com"> http://lilypie.com">


Posted By: Kalimirella
Date Posted: 31 October 2010 at 1:27pm
I did the cutting feeds shorter, then just cuddles, then just patting, she stopped waking within the week (though it was a week of hell!) So it does work but you have to be disciplined. But then I'm a bit strange, I don't mind my baby crying (depending on the cry) so long as I'm there to comfort her. So no crying it out but yes there was some crying involved but not left alone IYGWIM.

-------------
Kiara is 3 and Teagan is 2, now we're expecting our long awaited 3rd!
http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">


Posted By: T_Rex
Date Posted: 31 October 2010 at 2:14pm
Thanks Kali, not strange, its somehow better if you are there for them. How fast did you reduce the feeds?

-------------
http://lilypie.com"> http://lilypie.com">


Posted By: Emmecat
Date Posted: 01 November 2010 at 1:22pm

Um we weren't BF 6 times a night (thank god and all his minions lol) but prob 1-2 times a night? We introduced a sippy cup of water during the day so she got used to using it, altho I'd still offer her breast first before water iykwim....but at night when DF got up to her, he would offer her the water and 9 times out of 10 she'd take it, which reinforced my belief she was BF mainly at night for thirst and/or habit. As DF was always holding her then she was getting the comfort side of things from him

I'm not sure if I'd go cold turkey on 6 BFs a night to none BUT then having said that, you want your last one to be very clearly the last one you're prepapred to do until morning iykwim? So if you choose a midnight feed then i would still somehow try to convey that to her- I know, not easy at 10 months old.  I would def start saying milkies/boobies/whatever you call them have gone ta-tas or byebyes etc during the day when you're done BF and then when it's your last feed of the day try introducing something more like 'sshhhh milkies sleeping now. See you in the morning milkies'. Of course she won't understand but hopefully over time she will. Clodagh def understands now and understood I think a good few months ago....of course it took a while but now I just need to say (if I don't want to/can't BF her during the day) 'sssshhh milkies sleeping, see you tonight milkies'...she puts her wee finger to her lips and says sssshhhh lol  And in the morning if she's watching me getting dressed she sees my breasts and does her milk signal then says byebye and waves to them (we recently dropped the morning feed). It's very cute. I feel a bit sad dropping most of her feeds btw but my nipples are literally gonna fall off if they don't get some rest before new bubs comes!

That's my opinion on how you might wanna try stuff anyway. I'm no expert though hehe



-------------

http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">


Posted By: Emmecat
Date Posted: 01 November 2010 at 1:28pm
Oh and yeah there will def be crying but it's completely different crying in Mama or Daddys arms and being comforted while doing so. It's not CIO or even CC.  Just keep making sure all her other needs are met- ie she's burped,warm,  dry, not hungry (for solids) or thirsty etc.

-------------

http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">



Print Page | Close Window

Forum Software by Web Wiz Forums® version 12.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Copyright ©2001-2022 Web Wiz Ltd. - https://www.webwiz.net