11 week old waking every 45 minutes

[fothers]

DD3 is 11 weeks old on Saturday and was doing great in the sleeping department until she had really nasty bronchiolitis at 6 weeks old and then had to be held completely upright for almost 3 weeks so she could breathe/not choke/ not vomit etc.  I slept with her in our rocking chair for more than 2 weeks and she was basically held 24 hours a day for that period.

Anyway, since then over the last couple of weeks the sleeping has gone from bad to worse.  I can AP her for naps during the day so she takes more than 45 minutes- sling and walking in pram.  At night she used to go 5h from going down before she woke and then woke every couple of hours after that.

On a good night now she will go 3 hours 7-10pm last night- but then will wake every 45 minutes.  The last 3 nights I have co slept out of desperation as I have 2 other children to look after in the day and can not cope with that little sleep.

I know I need to make the effort to break the assosciations with co-sleeping etc but I need someone to kick my bum and make me do it!  I am very up for it during the day but come night time after a few 45 minute wake ups I give in and get her into bed to get some rest.

How many nights is it likely to take?  If I could get my head round it just being 3 sleepless nights etc I might be more inclined in the middle of the night to persevere rather than crumble!

Has anyone got any advice or experience or just want to hold my hand and drag me through it??!

TIA x

[ZacsMumme]

Hugs, she is still very little so I doubt you are a major prop already. If she is well, and has no other conditions such a reflux then you should have not too much trouble gently sleep training.

Can you please post your easy, I wonder if your LO is OT by BT which is why she wakes frequently after BT.

Do you use or have tried or used shh/patt?

[fothers]

I think she is certainly getting over tired at bedtime as I do struggle getting her to nap as much in the day as I should due to having the other 2 dd to look after.  They are young too dd1 has only just turned 4 and dd2 was 2 in October.

I have been trying shush pat in the day where I can but it is difficult with the other 2 and pre school runs etc so a lot of her naps are AP.  She is EBF and hasn't been weighed for a while but is BIG maybe almost 16lb already.  I try and get her to go 3 hours between feeds though it is sometimes slightly less.

Another issue I am having is she always does a massive explosive poo sometime between 4am-5.30am- we are talking all the way up the back to the hair job.  I need ti get up by 6am as the other 2 are up then (house of EWs here and dp goes to work then.  It means that by the time I have sorted her poo out she is wide awake and I have difficulty getting her back to sleep before I need to get up for the day.


I don't have a great EASY yet- I am trying but was getting really stressed with her naps and the other 2 not letting me get her down at the right time and doing shush pat etc so I am trying to just get her to nap at the moment as and when I can.

Last night-
alseep 6.45pm- was BF before sleep and roused slightly as went into cot (beside my bed) held for 10mins to make sure she was gone.

Wake- 9.45pm- fed and put her back down mainly asleep but roused slightly, held until about 10.15pm to make sure jolts finished.

awake- 11.05pm- gave up and took her into bed with me.  Slept happily snuggled next to me with just a cuddle if she woke or occaisional feed.

5.30am- woke and wouldn't settle closely followed by poo explosion.  Ended up getting her up about 5.45am.


E- 6.30am
S- 6.50am (shush pat in pram)
A- 7.30am
S- 8.20am (in pram on way to school so movement)
A- 9am (back from school and pram stopped- is a 40min round trip so oftn wakes up as co-incides with sleep cycle)
E- 9.30
S- 10am in sling around house
A- 11.15am
E- noon
S- 12,40pm- in pram on a walk
A- 2pm
E- 3pm
S- 3.10pm- was drowsy after feed- put down and slept for 10mins but woke despite holding through jolts.
Wore in a sling around house until 5.30pm as was dealing with other DD- dozed but didn't fall properly asleep.
E- 5.30pm- changed and ready for bed- fed in dark and cluster fed
S- 6.30pm- put down more or less asleep and held for 10 minutes or so


I know my easy and routine are far from great but I am really struggling with 3 DD and just fire fighting at the moment and trying to cope as best I can!

She sadly will not take a pacifier although if she would I am sure it would make naps better and she will not take a bottle either.

I have never done a dream feed with her either as I normally go to bed at 8pm or 8.30pm to try and cope with the sleep depravation!

I am not great at swaddling- I have tried but she doesn't like her arms being in and always manages to get them out.  She has recently started to try and suck her fingers sometimes.


Any thoughts on how I can manage better would be great.  I would love to improve things during the day but really struggle with having the other 2 girls to look after.

She used to nap in her pram at home after being put down for a couple of hour but we are into 45 minute naps unless she is on the move now.  I haven't been able to resettle her if she wakes in the house (though to be fair I haven't tried as hard as I should due to other DDs)

Thank you again.

[fothers]

Just to add that she is a really quick feeder so although some of the E times are near the S times *most* of the time there is a small gap between the 2.

[ZacsMumme]

Can I just say I think you are doing amazing! Is hard with 1 let alone having other kids to tend too and really her nights are not that bad, and her BT is reasonable.

I'm just going to see if I can get some more eyes on this one for you but a few thoughts

1) Paci...have you tried a few different types?
2) Swaddle, have you seen the swaddles with the arms up? http://www.lovetodream.com.au/babySwaddle_swaddle.htm do you think something like this would help. Is your LO in a sleep sack? Do you think she could be getting cold at night?
3) I think the sling is a great way to get your L napping while you are on the go. Of she won't nap late pm in it do you think she would nap anywhere else?

Does she have a dark room and white noise in her room? Some babies need this to sleep better at night.

(hugs)

[fothers]

Hi, sorry I haven't had the chance to reply sooner. We had a really good night Saturday night without doing anything different.  She was in her hammock rather than cot but she has had plenty bad sleep in the hammock too.  She went down around half six, woke at 11pm, fed, was awake for an hour and the went back to sleep in the hammock until 4.  She woke and fed again and was awake for around 45 minutes and went back to sleep until 7am.  I felt like a new woman!

The next couple of nights weren't so great but at least she has shown me she still can do it happily so I feel a bit better. 

Most naps over the weekend have been in the buggy out and about getting on with the rest of family life and she did take a dummy today for a little while.


Thank you again.  I may well be on here in a few months trying to do it properly and get rid of all these props but I think I need to tick along as we are for the moment and maybe just play it by ear for the meantime.

[ZacsMumme]

Thank you again.  I may well be on here in a few months trying to do it properly and get rid of all these props but I think I need to tick along as we are for the moment and maybe just play it by ear for the meantime.

Great, we didnt really even start sleep training till Z was 4mths + as he was a refluxer, plus they are only teeny tiny once right