Club for sleep deprived mums of 6 & 7 month olds!

[Jaxsta81]

Sending you big ((((HUGS)))) Jo as these days are the ones that are real bloody testers!! Have you got anything arranged to do today? Is there a friend/family member you can see to help or even distract you or Jessica for a bit so you get a break? I've found getting out and about on days where I'm EXHAUSTED sometimes the best thing to do as it kind of does blow the cobwebs away. I have gone to Sainsburys to literally sit in their cafe and drink a hot cup of tea cos having one at home seems impossible sometimes!

And finally you are not a useless Mum. These babies are just doing their thing and it's nothing you could have or should have done sometimes. Even if it is, you are being a great Mum by being with her when she wakes and not ignoring her or shouting at her. You are doing the best you can, and trying to do it through tears and you need a massive pat on the back for that. Stay strong xxxx

[Charjanemom]

It's so hard to not blame ourselves. I have been doing that a lot lately too. But at the end of the day all these babies needs is to be loved, fed, clean and warm. A friend yesterday said to me think of it as dance and that the footsteps are always changing
It's hard not to feel guilt but we are all doing the best we can. My dd loves her night sleep and I can see in her eyes that not having her 11-12 hr solid sleep is effecting her. Sometimes I just look at her and cry and say I'm sorry. But we need to stop blaming ourselves. I'm sure in a few months we will look back at this time as little bump in the road that we all survived. Hang in there.
And I agree about getting out. I've been so house bound lately cuz I want to figure out her routine but yesterday I went to stroller fit and then we went swimming after. It was great to get out and clear my head.

[Jo1stbaby]

Hi girls,

You are so right about getting out, if I'm out and doing things I'm fine it's just when I'm sat at home feeling sorry for myself, The exhaustion is just unbelievable.  I think part of the issue is Jessica had hand, foot and mouth disease a couple of weeks ago and then I got it the following week so I've been house bound for 2 weeks.  All better now so can actually go out again now.  I've felt better last couple of days and your words of encouragement have really helped, so thank you girls.  I do have to sit back sometimes and think how lucky I am really things could be a lot worse.  I have a very happy, independent, intelligent girl.  I think she doesn't sleep be jade the world is too exciting, she was crawling at six months and now she's just turned 8 months on Wednesday and she is letting go of the sofa for a few seconds at a time and cruising around.  So I am really lucky really.  It's so good to come here and vent or just open up.

I know it's not my fault and I know I'm not a bad mum really but just some days really get you down.  I'm back to work next week so although I'm tired (only going back 3 days and not full days) I think it will be good just to be out of the house a bit and some me time even if it is at work.

[missmom]

Is anyone making any progress? After months of OBSESSING over my sons sleep I have made ZERO progress. His naps are still 30-40 minutes long no matter what his A time, except for a handful of longer ones that I am sure were designed to drive me insane. Mission accomplished.  And despite the fact that his no longer has any props and puts himself to sleep he is still up 6-8 times a night.  This kid is never going to sleep, never ever ever ever.  I feel like such a failure..  why won't this kid just SLEEP!

[Charjanemom]

Hugs!!

It's so so hard. We have made a bit of progress with the Ew. We had a few rough nights with multiple night wakings. Not sure if it was teething or just a phase. We are still struggling with afternoon nap. I have found that I need to give her a little extra A before pm nap and a long wind down. I also go in at the 30 min mark if she wakes and rub her back. It works sometimes but not always.

Have you started solids? Maybe he is waking cuz something is bothering his tummy.

[My little Liam]

We are also going crazy with NW and especially EW! My LO actually takes great naps but I can't seem to figure out his A time before bed since i have to cap his second nap and I think that is a big part of our problem.

[Jo1stbaby]

Missmom I'm with you on the nap situation.  My LO sleeps 30 -40 mins with the occasional 1 hr/ 1 1/2hrs nap and on a very rare occasion a 2 hr nap.  When it happens I think I've cracked it and then the next nap or next day it just goes back to the 30 min nap.  I go in at the 25 min mark to help her past the 30 min wake up, again sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

She is teething at the moment we thought her two top ones but she's actually got 4 top ones coming through, but I don't think that's the issue as they are really not seeming to bother her now.  Ew are anything from 3 - 4.30am, we end up apop with us in bed just to try and get more sleep sometimes we get 1hr or if we are lucky another 2 hours but not without a wake up in between.

[Jaxsta81]

Hi everyone - just thought I'd check in and see how we're all doing!??

[My little Liam]

Not good! I have 2hr long NW and EW for the past week. LO is EXTREMELY OT!! Starting to go crazy myself...

[Charjanemom]

We are getting 10.5 hr nights with wake up just before 6. My dd also seems ot. Not sure if I should push more to try to get that ew gone or its the long A during the day causing ot. If only babies came with manuals
This kid used to sleep 12 hrs no problem.

[Jaxsta81]

I know what you mean. We had a 2 hr NW the other night, I was getting beyond frustrated and constantly thinking "do I pick him up? What if he falls asleep on me and then I have to put him back down and it wakes him and we go back to square one? Should I just persist with him in the cot even though he's getting really wound up!?" Heaven knows what is the best thing to do - I'm just thankful he won't remember this when he's older! ha ha!

I'm blaming a lot of my issues down to teeth. I think Leon is a really bad teether and it comes out in night like a vampire!

[My little Liam]

Ha! I wish I could blame teeth but there are none here! I have tried mess just in case but no difference.
We had another EW at 0420. This time I picked him up and we sat in the rocking chair. He immediately closed his eyes but couldn't sleep. If I moved he opened them. It's as if he was resting with his eyes closed. I guess that's better that being awake for 2 hours... I just don't understand why he is having such a hard time sleeping. I don't know how much longer I can last sitting in a chair half the night!

[Jaxsta81]

I know what you mean. Leon did that exact same thing when he woke up from his afternoon nap today. I got a tickly cough whilst holding him and I just knew even the slightest of cough would just jolt him awake.

Today has been a very trying day....he just seems so wingey ALL DAY. If we weren't past the point of colic I'd swear he has it.

My back kills too - and I start a p/t job in a pub tomorrow night - I'm going to look like death warmed up by Friday!

[Jo1stbaby]

Good luck with the job jaxsta81, I went back to work last week.  I'm doing 3 days a week, the shifts are not too bad it's afterwards I just seem to die.

Jessica is I'll AGAIN, it never seems to stop.  She's had diarrha for over a week now, took her doctors last week and was told there is nothing actually wrong with her but I'm oing have to take her back.  Can't keep her off the solid food and she is starving, not really sure the best action to get rid of it.  And to top that off she now has an awful cold which has resulted in the last couple of nights her in bed with us as I can't cop with the every half hour wakings.  I can't try and sleep train when she's constantly got something wrong.

I'm so unbelievably tired though, although last night was slightly better.  I wish she had an off button so I could just turn her off for a few hours so I could catch up on some sleep.