I’m tired
I haven’t slept through the night in over a year. Please help me…
The last trimester of my pregnancy with Louis was very uncomfortable and I didn’t sleep at all well. He was born almost 1 year ago. He still isn’t sleeping through the night. He wakes 2-3 times a night to nurse. But often only for a few minutes before dropping back off to sleep. We’ve tried everything we can think of. Warm bath. Cereal. Nursing. Massage. A lovey (favourite stuffed animal). Quiet. Music. Warmer. Cooler. Lots of Prayer. In fact, the last one is the only thing that has kept us from completely losing our minds.
The last trick I have left in my bag is to give him a pacifier. This is no small task. Louis, like most of the other children, has a tongue tie. Unlike his siblings, his tongue tie is much more pronounced. This makes it very difficult for him to keep the nipple in his mouth. And we’ve tried several styles. He generally pops them right back out again. I think I might have found one that will work. It has a long, bulbous nipple on it. I’m praying that this will work once and for all.
But just in case it doesn’t… What tricks have you used?
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:34 am
My son used to get up 10-15 times a night, and is still (at almost 10yo) a very light sleeper. At around 18mos I just couldn’t take it anymore, and my husband decided he had to ‘take over’. He would get The Boy up, sit in the rocker, read him a book, get him a drink of water, take him to the living room and turn on the news, put on a CD of classical music (which he still listens to every night), etc. Whatever it took, Hubby would do- except wake me up. It only took a week or so, and even though he would wake during the night after that, he wouldn’t bother calling for Mommy because he knew it was Daddy who would be showing up
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:37 am
We swaddled DS so that the blanket kept the pacifier in his mouth
THEN we taught him how to put it back in… we bought one with a stiff handle so he could grab it.
I started out by ONLY nursing her when she NEEDED it… so maybe once a night. I would hold her and rock oher off to sleep the other times.
With DD it was weaning her that helped. I stopped the night nursing, and she started to sleep through
Then I realised she did not NEED the feedings at night, so I stopped it, nursing her once before bed and first thing. She took it with grace, but I did make sure to cuddle her off the other times.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:39 pm
I can’t be of much help on the “getting him to sleep better front” other than lots of fresh air and sunshine during the day. I had a few little people that needed to be outside A LOT! I think it was a combination of sunshine and a great deal of large motor play..who knows, maybe it was the dirt too! When they didn’t, I paid dearly. I also found that the Carlsons Cod Liver oil helps…must be the vit D.
For me, with my twins, who didn’t sleep for like 4 years, I found that if I started to bed 2 hours earlier, I didn’t mind the night wake ups. It became a regular rhythm to me and not too much a cause for martyrdom…LOL ;o) I always thought it was because they were born earlier that I had so much trouble with them.
October 24th, 2007 at 9:28 pm
I have a one year old. I just pop her into bed with me & nurse her laying down. I know this might encourage “snacking”, but I don’t miss any sleep. I’m always surprised to learn that their are so few women who do this. I have 4 children & the last three I learned to night nurse. Everyone’s well rested this way & baby is comforted.
October 30th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
My 12-mo-old still nurses about every 2 hours at night, my first 2 sons did the same thing and dh jokes “hey, who can blame them?!”
Not funny for a sleepy mama, though. I haven’t had a good night sleep in 5 1/2 years and YES I am keeping track!!
The only resource I’ve found consoling is The No-Cry Sleep Solution. No, it hasn’t really worked for me, but I haven’t given it a full-faith effort, either. Part of me just has come to believe that until you wean some children, they are just going to demand their “favorite” thing as the way they want to go back to sleep. And I haven’t yet decided when to wean this latest little addict.
Blessings on your discernment! Great blog.