help me!! hard to settle at night
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Category: Have A Baby?
Forum Name: First baby? Second or more?
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Topic: help me!! hard to settle at night
Posted By: jack_&_charli
Subject: help me!! hard to settle at night
Date Posted: 09 November 2006 at 11:07pm
charli, bless her, is hard to settle at night from about 9.30-11.30/midnight.....hence the time i am posting this!
she isn't hungry, has clean bum, burped etc and when we put her in the bassinette, 5mins later she'll start crying. i've tried the controlled crying thing but she just gets more and more worked up. if we pick her up, she stops, if we rock the bassinette she stops for a wee while. i've given her a dummy but she spits it out. is anyone else going through this with their new bubs? ------------- http://www.alternatickers.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
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Replies:
Posted By: emmaohara
Date Posted: 10 November 2006 at 8:54am
| We had the same with our little man, tried the dummy put he did the same and spat it out, I realised in then end he just wanted to suck to soothe himself as probably had a bit of a sore tummy and get a bit more to eat probably so I put him on the breast until he fell asleep. This did not lead to a baby who needed boobie to go to sleep it just helped him at this time of the day (and me!). Hes a happy wee thing now who sleeps well from 6pm onwards so if you can handle a baby on the boob until she relaxes deeply i'd give it a go, Good luck, I know how hard it can be when they should be happy and settled but aren't. Have you tried weleda colic powder in case its that? |
Posted By: Syd
Date Posted: 10 November 2006 at 9:01am
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My little man does the same, hates going to sleep at night (is great once hes down) I do the same, just give him a wee feed and it does the trick. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: pepsi
Date Posted: 10 November 2006 at 9:09am
| Not to say your problem is the same, but I had issues with Alyssa not sleeping well or self settling at that age. When I spoke to the plunket nurse she said aside from the obvious nappy change and feeding, just make sure she is really well burped and also swaddle her nice and snug. I had always swaddled Alyssa but had started to loosen it up by 1 month, so when I did it again properly it really helped her snuggle in for the night. Thank goodness for the 6 week mark! |
Posted By: jack_&_charli
Date Posted: 10 November 2006 at 9:50am
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i'll try giving her a top up feed tonight and see what happens. once she's asleep she's great, wakes only once during the night and during the day she's an angel....just when i want to go to bed she kicks up a stink!
thanks for your suggestions ladies.  ------------- http://www.alternatickers.com">
http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: Andie
Date Posted: 10 November 2006 at 9:56am
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Have you tried e-mailing Oh Baby's sleep expert? She gave me some good advice for Ella. Dunno if Charli is the same as Ella with this, but she'll refuse a dummy if she's still hungry, and if she's just wanting to suck but not hungry, she'll take it happily. I'm still trying to work out if she'll refuse it when she's got wind as well. Dunno bout that one. Good luck though! Hope she settles soon. ------------- Andie |
Posted By: Kelpa
Date Posted: 10 November 2006 at 10:17am
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Is she okay the rest of the day???? Does she go down happily for other sleeps???
Blake still does that. Yes he has had trouble with reflux but generally is he does what your wee one is doing - it is bad wind so I try getting it up or give him gripe Water to ry get it out the other end. -------------  
 
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Posted By: Maya
Date Posted: 10 November 2006 at 1:51pm
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LOL Andie - Mercedes sucks her dummy so hard sometimes that her tongue pushes it out of her mouth...
Vanessa - both my girls do the unsettled thing too, thankfully at a more sociable hour than Charli by the sounds of it. They feed at 4pm then want to be carried around and cuddled until pretty much 7pm when I feed them again and they crash out. They have a half feed around 5.30ish as well. They won't settle in their cots, and only last a few minutes on the floor or in the bouncer before they scream to be cuddled. I'm hoping that all the feeding then will eventually get them sleeping a longer stretch at night. Maya was the same, funnily enough at the same time of the day. -------------  Maya Grace (28/02/03)
 (02/01/06)
The Gremlins:Sienna Marie & Mercedes Kailah (14/10/06)
Lil miss:Chiara Louise Chloe (09/07/08)
Her ladyship:Rosalia Sophie Anais (18/06/12)
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Posted By: busymum
Date Posted: 10 November 2006 at 7:42pm
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You do need to cross out colic and/or reflux if it continues for a while, but most babies do have a unsettled time during the evening for no apparent reason Will she rock to sleep? Do you swaddle her? If it continues I'd go to a Doc or Plunket for advice. It's no good if you're up that late with a crying baby every night! ------------- |
Posted By: linda
Date Posted: 10 November 2006 at 8:46pm
| The last time Alex was sick with a cold we rubbed Vick on his chest and that helped settled him. So reminded me of when I was a kid and had a cold (many years ago for me) |
Posted By: my2angels
Date Posted: 10 November 2006 at 8:50pm
| I dont really have any suggestions sorry vanessa but Addison was the same for the first month or so, hopefully its just a stage like it was for us. good luck. |
Posted By: jack_&_charli
Date Posted: 10 November 2006 at 11:01pm
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i'm hoping it's a stage she's going through. tonight she's asleep like a log, but she's had formula instead of boobie as mummy needed wine to drown some sorrows
she's wrapped/swaddled in bed and sleeps perfectly during the day so i'm not sure what her prob is. tomorrow i'm making up her cot and putting her in bed there during the day. i'm thinking maybe it's because she's used to sleeping in the bassinette in the lounge all day with all the noise and then at night we go to bed and take her into our room where it's quiet.....maybe a long shot but i'm giving everything a go at the moment!! ------------- http://www.alternatickers.com">
http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: Kelpa
Date Posted: 11 November 2006 at 8:28am
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Paige and Blake have always slept with some kind of music in their room as babies (well Blake still a baby!!).....Paige sleeps through HURRICANES AND LIGHTNING STORMS....Blake once he is asleep sleeps pretty soundly. Its usually something soothing like lullaby. And he knows its bed time when i put it on too.
Poor Mum.... its very frustrating!!! Big HugsXXX -------------
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Posted By: Two Blondinis
Date Posted: 11 November 2006 at 9:32am
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Vanessa we had the same problem with Caitlin (turned out to be colic though).
Re. the too quiet at night-It was always impossible to keep this house quiet when bubs slept during the day and like you said night time is then TOO quiet. We put the stereo on in her room and play nursery rhymes/soothing music all night long. This works great for us. Have you tried cluster feeding her just before her bedtime? Make sure you rule out colic completely though, as we found that trying to get as much milk into her as possible agrivated the colic. The Pro-BFing gang won't like this, but we found that Caitlin slept through the night (6 hours straight) from day 1 on formula and still does. If all else fails - Go to a Plunket Family Centre. You can spend the whole day there if you need to and they observe what you are doing and make suggestions. Good luck! I know how shattering it can be for all  ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
 
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Posted By: busymum
Date Posted: 11 November 2006 at 10:35am
It could be the lack of noise/company while sleeping, certainly worth a try to rule out. You'll probably need to put her in her own room during the day soon anyway  ...nosey little bubbies sometimes!
I would try cluster feeding, and what Toni said about formula feeding making babies sleep longer is true... if you want to go down that road. ------------- |
Posted By: thunderwolves
Date Posted: 11 November 2006 at 7:09pm
| My little boy has his unsettle time from about 3.30 in the afternoon for a few hours, he never seems to have a full feed, just a little top up in this time, and then he falls asleep and wakes as soon as i put him down, he wont take a dummy during this time, but will happily suck on my finger, so we normally have a few hours in the afternoon just hanging out on the couch with him sucking my finger, not ideal but i get a bit of a rest, and he is so good the rest of the day i cant complain |
Posted By: Two Blondinis
Date Posted: 12 November 2006 at 8:47am
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Just had a thought re. lack of company
Try putting a worn t-shirt of yours at the head of the cot (so she can smell it) or wrap it in a warm wheat bag and put it in the cot near her so that she can feel the heat and smell you (then she'll think you're always there). We did all of this with Caitlin (I'm too scared to try to find out which method worked through a process of elimination, I like my sleep too much lol) ------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: aimeejoy
Date Posted: 12 November 2006 at 10:15am
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Hope things are improving for you Vanessa, I have nothing to add to everyone else's great ideas tho...
And all of you that have a bub that just wants to be carried around in the evening, have you tried a sling? That way they are still all snuggled up with you, but you have free hands to do stuff! ------------- Aimee Hannah 22/10/05 Greer 11/02/08 |
Posted By: jack_&_charli
Date Posted: 13 November 2006 at 2:24pm
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last night was the pits!! i think i got maybe 2hrs sleep. lil madam had her feed all over with by 8pm and fell asleep nicely. then, 9pm almost on the dot she was awake for more, so i obliged thinking she was topping up for the night and then she didn't go back to sleep til 11ish with me sitting in the lazyboy rocking her!
dean came in at 12.30am wondering where i was, so i went back to bed, put her in her bassinette and 2mins later she was screaming blue murder! so i feed her again seems it had been 3hrs since her last one and after that she cried til i fell asleep with her in bed with me about 2am! 
i've wrapped her, given her gripe water, rocked the bassinette, propped her head up a little and nothing seems to work! i didn't get to make her cot up on the weekend, ran out of time but i'm doing it as soon as i get my arse off here. how would i know if it was reflux/colic?? she's fine during the day and it's only at 9pm she starts this, almost on the dot...i kid you not 
i'll try the t-shirt thing, thanks toni. i lost the plot this morning trying to get jack ready for daycare while she was crying and also getting myself dressed etc as i had to catch a bus to dean's work. my dad came around and i burst into tears as soon as he walked in the door!!  ------------- http://www.alternatickers.com">
http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: nikkitheknitter
Date Posted: 13 November 2006 at 3:37pm
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If she didn't get any wind up between those feeds then she may have been crying because of that???
Other than that suggestion I have nothing! Good luck Vanessa! Wish I could be more help
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Posted By: jack_&_charli
Date Posted: 13 November 2006 at 7:30pm
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sometimes she doesn't bring any wind up between feeds but i hold her upright for 5mins after. i'm just confused as to why it's only at that time of night and during the day she's fine.....although, in saying that she's been crying and upset this afternoon from 2pm so maybe tonight at 9pm she will be ok..... ------------- http://www.alternatickers.com">
http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 13 November 2006 at 7:54pm
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They say at the end of the day baby is overwhelmed and overstimulated and tired and its basically when they feel the most like crap!
I hope i helped a little chicka on msn
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Posted By: Kellz
Date Posted: 13 November 2006 at 7:55pm
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My midwife told me that your breast milk is a better quality in the morning, and babies often are unsettled in the evening cos the milk they getting isnt as good,...lol,..sorry thats not a very good desciption,...I cant think of a better way of putting it,..I am very sleep deprived too
Hope things get better for you soon
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Posted By: Maya
Date Posted: 13 November 2006 at 8:23pm
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Mine said the same thing Kellz. But my girls are unsettled in the evening and the expressed milk they are getting is the mornings milk so it doesn't explain it for us.
Hope Charli settles better tonight. ------------- Maya Grace (28/02/03)
(02/01/06)
The Gremlins:Sienna Marie & Mercedes Kailah (14/10/06)
Lil miss:Chiara Louise Chloe (09/07/08)
Her ladyship:Rosalia Sophie Anais (18/06/12)
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