Exhausted mum needs helps with 8month old 1-2 hr NWs

[Atomic1010]

Yesterday looked like this
6.30 awake
10.10-10.40 asleep and I woke him as I didnt want him sleeping too long making the afternoon nap late.
1.30-3.00 first afternoon nap in ages where he hasnt cried alot and woken half way through.
6.25 asleep.

Today has been pretty much the same although he slept half an hour longer in the afternoon.

I am finding that he is struggling to go down for the morning nap over the last few days, and with what you said about A times, have decided to put him down for morning nap a little later although this means I have to wake him.  I think if I let him sleep as long as he wanted in the morning and tried a short afternoon nap it might not work as he might struggle to go down again.

[Kellyjs]

This is great actually. Well done you finding the pm A time that works. You have got room to extend your day a little considering he's never really done 12hrs ONS has he?

So we could move that first nap just 15mins later for now and that should lengthen your day a little wdyt? xx

[Atomic1010]

Thanks, well it was your comment on his A times that made me think it was worth doing. And for the last few days his naps have been better and he is settling ok without me breastfeeding or rocking which is great! I can certainly work on moving the first nap back although the I don't know how well that will go as every night since Monday night he has been awake for up to 2 hours in the early hours. I have no idea why and last night I ended up feeding him three times to settle him which upset me as I was working hard on cutting down the feeding from 2 to 1. Just feel I'm going backwards with the progress :-(

[trimbler]

Oh (((hugs))) we can actually see massive improvements but it's so hard when something else seems to go backwards at the same time Just off the top of my head, I'd suspect either UT (especially if he's been having better naps now) and/or discomfort - do you medicate during the night at all if you think he's in discomfort? If he had meds at BT they'd have worn off by the early hours... If UT then what Kelly said about moving the first nap later a bit could help to push the day later - you may even find that if he can repeat the lovely long pm nap that he can then stretch his last A time further, wdyt?

[Atomic1010]

Since I last posted things have massively gone downhill. Night time has been awful last two nights with LO waking every hour or less, struggling to settle and when he does settle often waking crying after 10mins. He has been so hard to settle that I've been breastfeeding back to sleep both at night and for naps yesterday and today as the crying was that bad he was having awful reflux and almost choking  I think he has a cold but it appears to be very minor and certainly isn't bothering him in the day when he is up so its a bit puzzling - you wouldn't think anything was wrong with him then, these top teeth aren't through still and are just below the gum so I expect that's not helping the reflux.

I've being giving him calpol before nap and at bedtimes but it seems to be having no effect. Going with ibuprofen tonight to see if that helps him.

This is rubbish - it's one step forwards twenty back again. On Friday I had been feeling so pleased we had made such great progress with the naps and not breastfeeding so much at night and when we are through this latest blip I'm going to have to start all over....

[trimbler]

Oh dear I 'm so sorry (((hugs))) I do hope those teeth cut through soon, they certainly can't be helping in themselves, let alone with the reflux

[Atomic1010]

Just thought I'd post an update. Things haven't been going great as LO went down with a virus last weekend and has been very poorly. This has affected his sleep and I've been up every night with him every hour since Sunday night :-( I've been feeding to sleep a lot at night again and for most naps as he can't settle himself and ends up crying which has only led to him getTing more uncomfortable and more upset.

We had our paediatric reflux review yesterday and to cut a long story short the Dr said that he doesn't believe the night wakings we have seen over the last few months are down to reflux now and are more bad habit caused by the reflux. He recommended we sleep train and he will see us again in a couple of months.

Not great but he was very sympathetic and I understand why he has come to that conclusion. We were seeing some improvement with sleep training so I plan to restart that once LO is better. I'm very down about it all and the lack of sleep has made me very tearful the last couple of days.

No teeth yet either despite being so close! LO is the slowest teether ever I'm sure 

[trimbler]

Oh no I'm so sorry you've had this nasty virus to contend with on top of everything else Yes it sounds like the sleep training was going well so worth continuing with once he's better, but I do hope he's still on meds for reflux? I don't cope well with sleep deprivation, I get tearful too (((hugs))) you will get through this

[Atomic1010]

Yes Dr said to continue on high dose of ranitidine for now as its doing him no harm and it covers all bases. If dr is right and NW are a bad habit how long do you think will take to crack it?
Thanks for your support and sticking with me I do appreciate it

[Kellyjs]

How's he feeling now hun? And how are you doing more to the point? xx

[Atomic1010]

Hi kellyjs he is much better now just got the night time cough to go. I'm thinking of starting up the sleep training tonight and seeing how it goes. Last night he was waking every 1.5-2 hrs so better than previous nights but this is the second night we have had a 2hr long NW and I'm worried it's going to be a new habit. Tbh I'm feeling pretty low as a consequence of lack of sleep but trying hard to look forward and be positive. Hope you and your little one are ok.

[trimbler]

Sleep deprivation is horrible Hope it goes better than you fear tonight, glad to hear he's well enough now for you to consider starting ST again. Keep us posted and don't forget to post your daytime routines too

[Kellyjs]

dropping off some more hugs for today xx

[Atomic1010]

Thanks both that's very kind. We haven't started sleep training as LO has been unsettled particularly at bed time last few days which was unusual for him. Anyway that tooth we have been waiting ages for is now through. The second of the pair is close too so hopefully that will be through soon.

We moved him into his own room today and both his naps were fine and settling for bedtime wasn't too bad which was a relief. Im not expecting it to change anything but really needed to feel some progress in some way given he is ten months old this week.  Also it will eliminate any issues that were there with him disturbing me and vice versa.

DH and I have been talking about sleep training and I think we have decided to start PU/PD later this week, given the paediatricians view of LOs reflux, and when I did do the shh pat thing a few weeks ago before the virus hit it wasn't really making a consistent and significant difference when I looked back at my diary. We also did this with DS1 which worked well and he was a reflux baby, so we feel comfortable with it...we just have to decide when to start...

[Kellyjs]

Ok, as long as thats what you feel comfortable with. You do know pu/pd can aggravate a LO's reflux so just keep it in mind.

Absolutely wonderful news about the transition to his own room went well. Yay! Can you keep a log of the day sleep for me and how the nights go with the ST? we were nearly on one nap with DD at this age and I have a feeling you might not be too far behind xx